KADAVAR - Last Living Dinosaur (4:04)
Album: Berlin (2015)
Label/Distribution: Nuclear Blast/Warner
www.nuclearblast.de
The riff monsters from Berlin have set a heavy rock monument with this disc of their adopted city. From now on all Black Sabbath epigones of this world will have to be measured against this album. And at the same time Kadavar have set the bar damn high for their future studio works.
SPOCKʼS BEARD - Minion (6:52)
Album: The Oblivion Experience (2015)
Label/Distribution: InsideOut/Universal
www.spocksbeard.com
On their second album with singer Ted Leonard Spockʼs Beard can easily preserve the good form of "Brief Nocturnes And Dreamless Sleep". The band's 12th studio album contains both dramatic long tracks and straight rock material. Independent, fresh, inspired and fantastically produced!
RIVERSIDE - Found (4:00)
Album: Love, Fear And The Time Machine (2015)
Label/distribution: InsideOut/Universal
www.riversideband.pl
With their sixth album "Love, Fear And The Time Machine" Riverside once again underline their exceptional position in today's art rock/prog landscape. The Polish quartet now adds eighties pop elements to their unique melancholic style, making it both enigmatic and familiar. Album of the month!
GRAVEYARD - The Apple And The Tree (3:01)
Album: Innocence & Decadence (2015)
Label/Distribution: Nuclear Blast/Warner
www.nuclearblast.de
Well hung and psychedelically colored and earthy bluesy Hardrock, which is staged unagitated, that's what the Swedish band stands for. With their fourth album they neither reinvent themselves nor tread on the spot. Maybe that's why Graveyard is unstoppable. (Release: 25.09., Review to follow in eclipsed 10/15)
THE PRETTY THINGS - Dirty Song (5:11)
Album: The Sweet Pretty Things (Are In Bed Now, Of Course...) (2015)
Label/Distribution: Repertoire/Smaris
www.theprettythings.com
With such old men you can be skeptical at first. All the more pleasing what the Sixties Revoluzzer band around Phil May and Dick Taylor managed to do: the very best material between Bluesrock and Psychedelic. Recorded completely analog like in old times and also the Mellotron was mothballed again. (Review: eclipsed 6/2015)
DEMON'S EYE - Closer To Heaven (4:57)
Album: Under The Neon (2015)
Label/Distributor: MMS/Supermusic/Alive
www.demonseye.com
Demon's Eye and Doogie White (Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock and ex-Rainbow) seem made for each other. The German band and their Scottish singer inspire each other on their second album together. So songs arose that Doogie could hardly have done better with Rainbow. (RELEASE: 18.09.)
BLACK SPACE RIDERS - Born A Lion (Homeless) (3:44)
Album: Refugeeum (2015)
Label/Distribution: Black Space Records/Cargo
www.blackspaceriders.com
Their strongest album so far was rightly voted eclipsed album of the month in the last issue. Black Space Riders' jam-like spacy and psychedelic heavy rock is addictive. Like all BSR panels, "Refugeeum" is a concept album. This is about the refugee problem, which is unfortunately all too topical. (Review: eclipsed 7-8/2015)
MOTHER'S CAKE - Ecstasy (4:30)
Album: Love The Filth (2015)
Label/Distribution: Panta R&E/Rough Trade
www.motherscake.com
The stage show of the Austrians is an energetic, sweaty affair. You get a good impression of this power on the second album, which is more like dirty blues rock than its predecessor. Of course, more extensive psychedelic passages should not be missing.
SEA + AIR - Lady Evropi (4:54)
Album: Evropi (2015)
Label/Distribution: Glitterhouse/Indigo
www.seaandair.net
On the way in search of love, a home, the feeling of not having arrived and not belonging - what is described here by means of folk, pop, rock and jazz is perhaps the story of a journey through Europe, but also goes through as a universal metaphor for a journey through life.
WHALERIDER - Thanatos (9:15)
Album: Thanatos (2015)
Label/Distribution: Whalerider (own production)
www.whaleride.com
If a band chooses a god of the dead as name giver for their debut, one can assume that it's not just cheerfulness dripping from the speakers. In fact, the people of Mannheim deal here with the dark sides of existence, prefer sluggish rhythms and plumb the depths of Stoner Rock. (Review: eclipsed 6/2015)
