MAGNUM - Forbidden Masquerade (4:58) Album
: Lost On The Road To Eternity (2018) Label/Distribution
: Steamhammer/SPVwww.magnumonline.co.uk
One direct hit at a time. No other MAGNUM album of modern times delivers as much classic-suspicious material as "Lost On The Road To Eternity". "Forbidden Masquerade" begins as if it were a "Lost" track from "On A Storyteller's Night" (1985), but MAGNUM have a lot more to offer here and on the album.
ERIK COHEN - Fehmarn (4:42) Album
: III (2018) Label/Distribution
: RYL NKR/Rough Trade
www.facebook.com/erikcohenofficial
They still exist - or again?!: German rock music that is sweeping and not only floating in the masses. ERIK COHEN's music is accessible, yet not chumming. Hard rocking and somehow sensitive at the same time. If you like guitar rock and have no problem with German lyrics, you will be very happy here.
BIRTH OF JOY - Forenoon (4:27) Album
: Hyper Focus (2018) (Release: 16.02.) Label/Distribution
: Glitterhouse/Indigowww.birthofjoy.com
The Retrorock is currently experiencing a renaissance. And BIRTH OF JOY are at the forefront. The new album is crisply rocky, but also relaxed and elegant. A trademark of the Dutch is that they not only rely on guitars, but also use a wonderful old organ.
CAST - Through Stained Glass (8:46) Album
: Power And Outcome (2017) Label/Distribution
: Progressive Promotion
www.castofficial.com
The Mexican Prog-Institution delivers one of the best albums of their truly not short career and finds a wonderful balance of complexity and wonderfully catchy melodic parts. "Through Stained Glass" is a prime example of how well done prog can sound these days.
CLOUDS CAN - Life Is Strange (6:54) Album
: Leave (2017) Label/Distribution
: Progressive Promotion
https://dhuettermann.wixsite.com/cloudscan/clouds-can-who
Thomas Thielen on a (kind of) pop way out? Well. Everything is relative. "Life Is Strange" is anything but an ordinary pop song due to its scenic intro, with its basic rhythm and the liberating outburst towards the end typical for the compositional class of "Leave".
NIGHT IDEA - Perfect Water (4:23) Album
: Riverless (2017) Label/Distribution
: Eigenproduktionwww.facebook.com/NightIdeaMusic
This band from Richmond has its own point of view on the Modern Prog. After her debut "Breathing Cold" she looks at this still quite young genre with her successor "Riverless" from different 80s angles. It sounds like The Nits in this song, but also strange sounds like you heard on XTC.
BLACK SPACE RIDERS - Another Sort Of Homecoming (3:55) Album
: Amoretum Vol. 1 (2018) Label/Distribution
: BSR/Cargowww.blackspaceriders.com
The BLACK SPACE RIDERS simply do it sovereignly. On their fifth album, the German quintet serves many a cliché, but it adds many facets to the hard guitar space rock of the early seventies and succeeds in creating some magnificent grooves, melodies and hooklines.
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT - Caught In The Middle (2:39) Album
: A Deeper Cut (2018) (Release: 16.02.) Label/Distribution
: Earache/Warnerwww.thetemperancemovement.com
With irresistible groove, energetic rubbing iron voice, wild guitar riffs and scratchy drums the Brits make you want blues rock of the good old school, which they like to bring into the here and now with a shot of alternative, as the entrance track impressively proves.
BROTHER GRIMM - Born Under Punches (3:40) Album
: Home Today, Gone Tomorrow (2018) Label/Distribution
: Noisolution/Soulfoodwww.brothergrimm.de
BROTHER GRIMM's second stroke. The Berliner-by-choice also played "Home Today, Gone Tomorrow" on his own. His music may seem dark, minimal, nightmarish, fucked up - and without a doubt it is. But she is also pure, intense, very close and deep inside simply beautiful.
HOT 'N' NASTY - It's Only Money (8:05) Album
: Dirt (2018) Label/Distribution
: Sonic Revolution/Bob Media/Soulfoodwww.hot-n-nasty.de
With their new album "Dirt", the blues rockers around Dortmund guitarist Malte Triebsch deliver a fine, stylistically open and thus varied album. One of the highlights of the longplayer is the slow blues track "It's Only Money" on which Triebschs even reminds us of David Gilmour.
