Redemption - Cross Country Driver - The Banishment

Some CD's for you to check out.

Redemption - I Am the Storm

There was a time almost 20 years ago that Redemption were to me the new kings of progmetal. Fates Warning went on a long hiatus and Pain of Salvation lost the plot after Remedy Lane. All four albums released in odd years between 2003-2009 hit the bull for me. Than 2011's This Mortal Coil had a high emotional value as I spent the summer of 2009 also far from easy. After that the albums became less frequent and to be honest the surprise had gone a bit. Still all of Redemption's albums remain to be among the very best in progmetal, since their style is very much Redemption. Even the loss of Ray Alder and entrance of Tom Englund did not result in a major change. So when I Am the Storm was announced a smile passed my face. What after several spins? Well the smile is still there. The album holds everything we came to know and love by Redemption. A fast and heavy opener, two epics well over ten minutes, lots of melody and that riffing that makes them so recognizable. Any critics? well maybe the fact that the last two songs are adding less for me. A second version of The Emotional Depiction of Light is for me not necessary, neither is a second cover song. Than again the album is long with 71 minutes and this gives the opportunity to push stop after one hour. Redemption are back and they did it again. No surprises, but top class progmetal.

Cross Country Driver - The New Truth

Rob Lamothe is back with a band. Well the basis of a band, with lots of guest appearances. Ever since the debut alum by teh Riverdogs, Rob Lamothe remained among my favourite voices in rock. With guests like Dug Pinnick, Mike Mangini and Vivian Campbell, expectations were high. Were they met? yes songwriting wise, no on the heaviness side. Overall the album falls somewher between Riverdogs and Rob's solo singer/songwriter work. The luck is that his voice lost nothing of his power yet and some bluesy rock on a Sunday morning falls always fine. So don't expect a very hard rocking album, but some classy songs you will get.

The Banishment - Machine and Bone

George Lynch, the guitarist is the one that drew me towards this band. Known from Dokken and Lynch Mob this is a whole different affair. The Banishment goes industrial here with a dirty edge at times. When I first heard the song Got What You Wanted via Youtube I was sold and noted down the date to purchase this album. Now that I played the full album a few times, I realize I might have been won over by the best song. Still the rest is not bad either and the album gets better every next time I play it. Another good thing is that it is different from what I usually put on. I saw the Aardcschok review panel being far from amused by this album, I would like to see this band live on stage as I do appreciate the sleazy industrial rock and George Lynch can still play, even if not attacking you with solos.

Sorcerer & High Inquisitor Woe - Ragnarok Bree, 25 March 2023

15 November 2018 The Netherlands were saying goodbye to Slayer. Not Hans and I as we preferred a show by Sorcerer in Dynamo. The band exists since 1989, but only got into my picture, since their 2015 release of In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross. Sorcerer play Royal Epic Doom, as the shirt said and they were rather brilliant that night. In March I saw some local shows, but no bigger names. Than Mario started sharing this gig in Ragnarok and a roadtrip sounded interesting to both of us.

Off we went to Ragnarok for an evening of doom. The north-easter area of Belgiun has lots on offer for metal fans, but it is just a bit too far a drive for frequent visits. Today was the exception and we had dinner in nearby Tongerlo, where I shot for free a picture for Sorcere's next album cover.

Inside Ragnarok the place was slowly filling up nicely and Belgian doom band High Inquisitor Woe opened the evening. This band plays a kind of doom not miles apart from Sorcerer. I felt that at time the guitars were a bit low in the mix, making solo's not always standing out. The best was kept for last. First a cover of Reverend Bizarre's Doom All Over The World and than an epic song about Neptunes' Trident. A nice warm up for Sorcerer they were.

15 minutes before announced Sorcerer kicked off. It did not take long to discover why we loved their show in Dynamo. Sorcere play epic indeed and a solid rhythm section supports two flying guitars and a great voice. teh setlist went through their career and mentioing highlights is hard when the set is this good. A special mention goes out to drummer Richard Evensand, who could not yet walk straight after a hip injury, but drummed tight as doom. Further I do not know if Bree gets this a lot by English speaking bands, but Ragnarok is in Bray  and not French Cheese Brie. A great set was appreciated by all in and thanks go out for all organizing this on short term basis as Sorcerer were originally scheduled to play a festival that was cancelled. Glad they came over anyway and see them next time in The Netherlands. Proof of me loving their show attached below.

Callous Intent & Dance with Dragons - Musicon The Hague, 17 March 2023

A tiny footnote in the book of Heavy Metal, but Callous Intent played their last show ever with Maus on drums in Musicon. As that book is my bible, I decided to attend. The second band Dance with Dragons was a blanco for me, so open for new music. Musicon friday nights are as unpredictable as Dutch elections audience wise. Usually it depends on who the bands bring along and what the competition is over the weekend. This weekend many people choose Baroeg either the Saturday, the Sunday or both. As I can't make both it was close to home Musicon for me. Tonight it was not all that busy as people tend to get picky. Next to the Friday evenings with Dutch Metal, there are also a lot of big international names announced recently. So with shows of Rhapsody of Fire, Raven, Vicious Rumors, Exciter, Artillery and Evilded being recently announced some might snub your national underground. well not me.

Dance with Dragons was completely uknown to me, even if coming from nearby Delft. Six band members including a female vocalist. Now female voices come in different categories for me. First there are the top voices (Oceans of Slumber, Madder Mortem) than there are the heavy metal voices (Leather Leone) the extreme ones sounding like one of the boys and finally the operatic ones, whom I tend to avoid. Upon first notes it became clear that Dance with Dragons go for the operatic voice. So for me they started losing like Tome Egbers entering a Jinek studio filled with female guests only. Luckily matters were not all that bad as the band obviously holds some experienced players and the songs were built up pretty fine as well. Further teh girl can sing operatic or not. I did not get why their friends and fans decided to stay at the back, as getting an empty Musicon going needs some help. An OK show they gave us, while I thought the song Betrayal could have been dedicated to many famous Dutch men being judged by national press nowadays.

Callous Intent were to close the evening. I saw them several times before (first as Priapsis) and quite like their Death/Thrash metal. Remember how in the eighties you would check out LP's by the bandshirts members would be wearing on the bandpicture? Well if tonight that was anything to go by it meant two Callous Intent shirts, plus Revocation, Anihilated and Gojira. Not meaning all it gave a direction, as did the Sepultura cover Slaves of Pain. What we mainly could see is that it is a pity that Maus is leaving the band as he is one hell of a drummer. Callous Intent gave us a proper metal set, where I believe their anthem on the killer Uhu went missing this time. Still a nice set and curious how and if they will recover from their loss of drummer. 

Haken - EBB - Insomnium

Some more albums you might want to check out (read should check out). The artwork alone of all three should be reason enough to buy the albums.

Haken - Fauna

A new Haken album is always a matter of let's wait and see what they come up with this time. For me the double Vector/Virus was a clear step back up from their The Mountain / Affinity dip. When I read trusted sources reviewing this album (Matt manofmuchmetal and Andrew at Ave Noctem), both mentioned this album needs time. I only received my copy a few days after release and thus after a few hundred reviews. Haken we all look at from another angle so what did I find? Well a first spin at the background was slightly disappointing. Then I played the album with headphones reading along with lyrics. Well that meant a major improvement. Now a few plays further I still didnot get everything, but can safely say it is a great album. Diverse as always and enough songs to make me happy. The artwork is also a joy, with animals appearing all over the fauna cover. I saw pictures of Haken on stage in Hawaiian shirts with the wallpaper design. If that is available at the merch stand I might need to go to 013 after all next week.

EBB- Mad & Killing Time

For this discovery all credits go to DPRP. I encountered the name EBB before, but never checked out this album. And then DPRP went raving mad on it. Reason enough to go to bandcamp and guess what I got their enthusiams. What a great discovery this is. The label quoted a comparison as bastard daughters of Heart and King Crimson. I see where that came from, but it is too simple. Five women and one man play an alternative kind of prog, with a dirty edge at times. Brass instruments can pass by, but darkness reigns in this story about a war veteran who lives with a sex worker. Unlike DPRP I do love the cover as well and artwork in general. My CD came in a small booklet with some backgroud information on the story, lyrics and photographs. I would love to see this band at Complexity 2024, as I gues sthey would go down fine there.

Insomnium - 1696

Insomnium take us back to 1696, when witchhunts were going on and the church had far too much to say in the world (so what changed?). This all packed in already the best package of 2023. A short story tells us the tale of the album in both English and finnish. Further some great drawings make all clearer as well. Lots of options for nice merch here. And most important of all the music is as good as what I came to expect from Insomnium.  I came late to the insomnium party when Shadows of a Dying Sun was their best album. Winter's Gate gave us also a story and my first live show by them. Heart Like a Grave had a beautifull Nordic large picturebook and now it combines all three in one album. Insomnium's Melodic Death Metal is possibly my favorite one in this style. So much to enjoy here the special edition is a must, you even get a bonus disk with 3 extra songs keeping you another 22 minutes far from sleeping.

Mick Pointer Band - De Boerderij Zoetermeer, 11 March 2023

Mick Pointer Band is the very one celebrating Script For  A Jester's Tear. Marillion's debut album when Mick Pointer was drummer in that band. This group of friends pays hommage to that classic album, but to me is more than just a cover band. First there is the original drummer, second Marillion never plays the album in full and third the members are all going strong in other favorite Neo-prog bands like Pendragon, Arena, Landmarq and Credo. This outfit came together 15 years ago, to celebrate 25 years of Script. Over the years they played de Boerderij 5 or 6 times I believe and this was the third time I attended. One year I sadly missed for undutch reasons. I did not want to drive due to sudden heavy snowfall and when waiting for a tram to de boerderij I found it never came either. That year it was the best version ever, as they had a support in Dec Burke. I love all his work and never saw him live. One day I will and Darwin's Radio are recording a new alum. So yesterday I did go again and after my comment while playing and ranking Fish earlier this week, Alex reacted he felt like joining. So we could talk some (slighly heavier) music before and after yet another impressive evening of Mick Pointer's Band.

Before writing some words on the show, let me share some thoughts on Script and it's meaning for me. Script For a Jester's Tear is the most important album in my live. Why? because it is among my favorites anyway and it opened for me the doors to the world of progressive rock. For all other styles I would love I cannot pinpoint one album as starting point. It was a sort ofa  natural development from young me hearing Hans playing Queen and Quo, to Meat Loaf and Cheap Trick. Than it started with Whitesnake, Van Halen, UFO, Thin Lizzy, Uriah Heep, Scorpions in the late seventes. NWOBHM was a natural follow-up with I guess Saxon's Strong Arm as my first purchase. Later Thrash, US metal, Progmetal and decades later extreme metal all sort of followed automatically without one starting point.

Script was for me definitely the first progrock album I bought and before that I only knew of Pink Floyd. I was reading Kerrang at the times and Marillion would appear often. They were compared with Genesis and I was confused. Genesis to me were that pop-band with hits like Abacab, so why would a band in that style appear in Kerrang. Only a few years later I would discover 70's Genesis. So when 13 March 1983 Script was released I went to Supertracks in town at the time and asked to play the album on headphones. Well I was sold after one side, bought the album and the Market Square Heroes EP immediately thereafter. To make matters even better in June 1983 Marillion came to open Parkpop (yes Magchiel the Marrilion named show) They played most of Script that day, plus Assassing and Charting the Single.I was fan for life and still follow Marillion. Next week Marillion come to Holland for another infamous Marillion Weekend. I attended two in Minehead and several in Holland, but stopped going nowadays. This mainly because during my last weekend (2019 in LIsbon) they dared to play only one song from the Fish years. This while to most including me, the Fish years are golden.

So now I get to the show and I can be short. From So Here I Am Once More until Ma-ma-ma-Margaret we know what to expect still loving every minute of it.  Like me, 95% of the audience knows every word and every note from start to finish. We just come to celebrate one of the most beautiful albums ever written, plus the EP that came before it. So yes that does include Grendel, a song that Marillion never will play as long as H dictates over there. Brian Cummins does a great Fish and his delivery is a joy. Even with an apparent cold he did hit most notes. The only slihghtly less performance was when shooting with his microphone stand during Forgotten Sons. Original Fish did this more expressive on the rhythm of the drums. Nick Barrett is after Steve Rothery my favorite guitarist in prog rock, so he delivers a fine show and every time when Chelsea Monday passes you'll be amazed by the wonderful solo gracing that song. Script indeed is an album with no filler on it. Finally how can you tell teh differnce between a Mick Pointer Band show and a Marillion show nowadays during Market Square Heroes? During MPB people do get that after the phrase Are You Following Me? you shout yeah a sloud as you can. Thsi unlike the silent Marillion crowd waiting for teh next H crooning song. Loved the set, the show and thus the evening. This was supposed to be their last performance ever, but musicians and quitting is as reliable as a Dutch sport TV presenter in front of a young female colllague. So come back for the 45 year anniversary and I will be back again as well.  

Prestige, Rages of Sin & Axident - Musicon The Hague, 3 March 2023

Another Friday metal night in Musicon brought us a diverse package this time. I believe some visitors still did not realize that nowadays three bands means 20:00-23:00 and no longer 21:00-24:00. So upon arrival with Marko, Musicon looked empty as an influencers brain. Luckily that improved over the evening and atmosphere improved accordingly.

Opener were Axident from Belgium. They brought some friends along from Antwerp and gave us a decent opening set. While I was wondering if it was more death, thrash or just metal suddenly a long song (The Bitch of somehwere) had a grunge intermezzo where vocals went goat like Eddie Vedder (tks Marko). Overall a good show, with some good instrumental work. Tonight they open again for Prestige in Belgium, so if you ar earound go early.

Next on were Rages of Sin. If you are from The Hague and haven't heard them during the past 10 years you must be living under a soft rock. If you haven't heard their full album Divergence ever, we can blame Covid. I remember picking it up under Covid rules in het Paard, where during Covid local bands were on sale. That album is in my opinion the best extreme metal album released in The Hague for a long time. Rages of Sin are hard to decsribe as they play OSDM, but also vocally slam death, or thrash, or melodic death metal, or tech death and progmetal. I like this mix and their songs are not all that easy at first hearing. If you take your time you get rewarded. Yesterday apart from songs of their EP. The Gospel Of... and Divergence we also got some new songs. Opening with a song sung in Dutch a french title (je accuse) about a letter of Zola (right Floris?) thinks tend to get complicated. But I loved their set again and their playing is of a high level. Pity of the sudden end, but time schedules are ruling under permits.

Headliners were Prestige from Finland. This thrash metal band is around since the late eighties, but flew under my radar until being announced for this evening. Turned out they were great fun live. Especially as they seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage as well. Their thrash is not the most aggressive one, but goes towards thrash &roll at times. Pretty catchy their songs are and all presented with a smile it came over fine. After receiving Insomnium's special edition this week I thought about teaching myself Finnish through the short story included in the package. Not needed as according to Prestige the only Finnish word we need to know is Perkele. So Perkele it was and one fine evening in Musicon yet again.

The Enigma Division - Electric Mob - Uriah Heep

Herewith some albums that made my year 2023 kick off better.

The Enigma Division - The Enima Division

Startig of with the first big surprise of 2023. This Progressive metal band holds in Conor McGouran someone you might know from Xerath. This album is a very interesting blend of progressive metal with here and there very accesible melodic rock parts in their songs. While the first seven songs present a very interesting album, The closing epic yet adds a surprising finish. A 20 minute instrumental with some spoken word samples. On paper maybe not that interesting for some, but in reality one of the highlights of the album. Mentioning highlights, the full album is one really. Recently the band asked which songs they should play live. I suggested the full album at a certain festival in Baarlo later this year. Sure they would go down like a storm there with music like this. 

Electric Mob - 2 Make U Cry & Dance

Electric Mob are from Brazil. This is their second album released on Frontiers Records. And still I never heard of them before reading a review on this album in Aardschok. There namedropping Badlands made me check them out. Well that was a surprise. Catchy as Dengue in a moist Brazilian summer this band gives us 11 songs that make you cry og joy & dance indeed. I would not expect this kind of melodic metal coming out of Brazil. So apart from extreme and power metal Brazil can give us top quality melodic metal as well. Frontiers please bring this band to Europe, as I saw a clip of a live show and that sounded as good.

Uriah Heep - Chaos & Colour

Uriah Heep are now over 50 years running and still going extremely strong. This album is bookended by short and sweet songs (read fast) Save Me Tonight and Closer to Your Dreams. Inbetween we have the classic Heep sound where some songs can proudly stand next to their best work of the seventies. For me Uriah Heep are the best band who started this beautiful musical genre of us (over Black Sabbath, Purple and Led Zep) they also are the band that still releases albums that can bring me enormous (not big) joy. Any lover of melodic Hard rock should listen to this album once and my bet is that most will buy it thereafter (ignoring teh spotify crowd here) Hope that I am around this time, when they tour their latest album.