2012: Time For Change (2010)

Kai Hansen formed Helloween in 1984, playing guitar and singing on the speed metal band's first four albums. He left in early 1989, however, and founded Gamma Ray with vocalist Ralf Scheepers (formerly with Tyran Pace). The duo intended to record a one-off project that Hansen originated while in Helloween, so they recruited bassist Uwe Wessel, drummer Matthias Burchardt, and several other musicians…

This new release features the three-act opera Kaivos (The Mine, 1962) by Einojuhani Rautavaara. The patriarch of Finnish composers wrote this, his first opera, in 1957–62 and today considers it, “perhaps the best opera I have ever written, a real thriller whose underlying theme – that a human being defines himself through his choices – is nevertheless universal.”

In the CD programme Psychedelic Gems, psychedelic and progressive bands and their background are featured bands, whose overall output of published or unpublished material would not be sufficient to justify a CD on their own. Most of them played during the late sixties and early seventies, having published no more than a demo tape or a single, which is why several of them are presented together on one CD. Each group - so far all of them coming from German-speaking countries - is accorded a full-page colour picture of the cover of their single, a band history in German and English and, if space is available, a photo of their label. In contrast to bootleg labels such as Visions of the Past, Electrick Loosers or Prae-Kraut Pandaemonium, all licenses were legally obtained from the artists or their record companies. Overlapping releases are therefore nothing to be surprised about. Together with the one of the Garden Of Delights series…

Asaf Avidan is a singer-songwriter and musician from Israel. His vocal - sounding very much like the legendary Janis Joplin - is unmatched; and he sings primarily in English.
In 2006, he recorded his debut EP, Now That You're Leaving, a six-track record dealing with his breakup with his long-term girlfriend. To promote the self-released EP, Avidan put together a backing group (featuring bassist Ran Nir, drummer Yoni Sheleg, guitarist Roi Peled, and cellist Hadas Kleinman) and went on to perform as Asaf Avidan & the Mojos. Avidan's first full-length album, The Reckoning, followed in 2008, followed by Poor Boy/Lucky Man in 2009. A licensing deal with Sony/Columbia resulted in official European re-releases of both albums in 2010 and 2011, respectively…

A progressive metal band based out of Denmark, Royal Hunt employs a melody-rich blend of neoclassical power metal and progressive and traditional hard rock. The group found success in the mid-'90s via the albums Moving Target and Paradox, with the latter LP delivering the instrumental "Martial Arts," which became synonymous with professional Japanese wrestler Masahiro Chono when he chose it for his entrance music…