Headcharger Against The Storm

"Through the Storm" is the twelfth studio album by American heavy metal band Riot. It was released on August 26, 2002. It is the only Riot album to feature drummer Bobby Rondinelli, best known for his work with Rainbow and Black Sabbath. We're in 2002 and, 25 years after their first album, they are making almost the same music as in their first years. It's evident they are not the most innovative band in the world but, people who like classic Heavy and Power Metal will be grateful for records like this one in the XXI century. Japanese edition of this album has an extra track: Somebody. And the CD has two cover songs "Only You Can Rock Me" of UFO and "Here Comes the Sun" of The Beatles.

Blyndsyde were a technical rock band from the North West of England, hinting at Rush/early Yes, with very strong and original vocals by their pretty female vocalist Paulè van Wijngaarden.Their debut album Into the Storm of the Eye was released in Feb 1993 and was engineered by Roger Boden (who has produced Charlatans/Stone Roses). They gigged extensively and supported bands such as Pendragon, The Enid and IQ, and earned a lot of respect from fanzines with their powerful and extremely tight live performances.

Germany’s most crushing extreme metal act NEAERA will release their new album Ours Is The Storm through Metal Blade Records on March 5th in North America, and on March, 1st/4th in Europe.The band comments: “We are very proud of this record and the hard work we put into making it. We hope that you will be as excited about it as we are. Once again, we trusted our good friend Alexander Dietz of Chemical Burn studio with the production as well as the mixing process. The mastering was handled by Tue Madsen at Antfarm studio. We want to thank Alex for his sheer will and tireless work on this record, and Tue for bringing out the details and making them shine. This record is one of the most open sounding and versatile we have done so far. We want to challenge ourselves and give you guys something new everytime we step up to the plate. There will be some surprises on this one, we are confident you will enjoy the result of our approach.

There's always an air of pretentiousness that accompanies classical performances of pop and rock classics, and most performances are quickly dismissed to the muzak-filled realms of elevators and doctor's waiting rooms. The fact that classical violinist Nigel Kennedy has dropped his first name for this set (to become Kennedy) doesn't bode well. Which makes it all the more surprising that this collection is quite good. Teaming up with producer Jaz Coleman (who has previously reworked Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin in the same vein) and the Prague Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy's violin replaces the vocals of Jim Morrison. Fortunately, lurking underneath Kennedy's guise as a rebel lies the thing which first brought him so much attention: his ability to play exquisite music, both technically and emotionally…