For just under a quarter of a century, Deep Purple/Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has been part of the music scene with his wife Candice Night in medieval garb. By devoting himself to live hard rock in recent years with a newly formed Rainbow lineup, the musical pressure on Blackmore's Night has been lessened. This also seems to have had an effect on their new album "Nature's Light". Candice Night at least seems very deeply relaxed - and definitely takes a look beyond the horizon of medieval pop ..

eclipsed: When you approach a new album, is there a route to take beforehand?

The rock band Wheel may come from Finland, but their frontman James Lascelles is a real Brit who, by the way, doesn't mince his words. On their second album, a stimulating mixture of new artrock and progmetal with very political lyrics, they again show themselves strongly influenced by atmospheric-progressive music à la Tool.

Besides singer and guitarist Lascelles, Wheel consists of Santeri Saksala (drums), Aki "Conan" Virta (bass) as well as newly added lead guitarist Jussi Turunen. In the video interview, the opinionated bandleader talks about the motivation behind the new album, musical influences and the negative consequences of media filter bubbles.

eclipsed: "Resident Human" is your second album. Where do you see the differences to the previous album "Moving Backwards"?

Thunder, for 32 years now an integral part of the blues-soaked classic English hard rock scene, have since their founding already provided many a genre highlight. Their first two albums "Backstreet Symphony" and "Laughing On Judgement Day" have remained unsurpassed. Now, with the grandiose "All The Right Noises", they are going all the way again. "Gold Voice" Danny Bowes took the editors' praise in a British-casual manner.

"This band has what it takes to be our successor," David Coverdale never tired of pointing out a good three decades ago. He hoisted Thunder into the Whitesnake opening act, and the troupe succeeded in getting to the top, at least in the United Kingdom: The debut album "Backstreet Symphony" landed at No. 21 in 1990, the sophomore album "Laughing On Judgement Day" broke through to No. 2 on the charts in 1992, and the nine singles from the two albums made it into the Top 40.

The Dutchwoman is known for her versatility, her musical biography accordingly dazzling. Many will remember her as the frontwoman of The Gathering, and she has also drawn attention to herself through numerous collaborations with Devin Townsend, Arjen Lucassen, Anathema and Within Temptation. With her prog project Vuur (Dutch for "fire") and solo she rocks the stages of European clubs and has already released six albums under her own name. Why "The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest" has become less rocky and much more intimate instead, she explains in an eclipsed interview

eclipsed: What's the story behind your new album? Actually you wanted to make another Vuur album.

When "Out Of Myself" spills over to Germany via the American label Laserʼs Edge in 2004 and from then on circulates as a real insider tip in the prog scene, the album is already more than a year old ... Together with singer/bassist Mariusz Duda we look back at the early days of Riverside, but first direct the focus on the present and the near future.

eclipsed: Mariusz, how are you dealing with the rigors of the Corona pandemic?

Suzi Quatro has been a PR pro for more than five decades, and she makes clever use of her skills by throwing headline-grabbing morsels at the non-music media like "Angus Young pinched my butt" or "I've had the corona virus, too." She knows it makes good headlines and draws attention to the now 70-year-old singer and bassist's new album. Yet the latest work, "The Devil In Me," speaks for itself. It's snotty, rocks mightily for the most part, and Quatro in particular, who entered the music business in the Sixties with her sisters as The Pleasure Seekers and Cradle in Detroit, still has a monster pipe that gives the songs power and identity. In other words, you recognise a lot of the artist who stormed the European charts from 1973 onwards with hits like "Can The Can", "48 Crash" and "Devil Gate Drive"

eclipsed: You're now reporting in via Skype from England. That is still your adopted country, isn't it?

In 1970, a formation with the idiosyncratic name Ougenweide was founded in the far north of the republic. 15 years later they breathed their last. Although there was a one-time reunion in 1996 with the album "Sol" - but without the authoritative female Ougenweide voice Minne Graw and musically quite far from the former concept and also not very convincing: too much esoteric steam, too little gripping medieval rock was heard.

It could have all been so festive and beautiful: in 1990, the blues-progrock formation Flying Circus was founded in Grevenbroich near Düsseldorf. And now, on the occasion of their thirtieth anniversary, they wanted to go on an anniversary tour, with a "best-of" album in their luggage, on which 15 songs from the seven studio productions released so far can be found: partly re-recorded, partly remixed, partly in the original version. This record, simply named after the band, has recently been on sale. However, it's only in its 31st year after the quintet's formation. And the live performance falls flat. Frontman Michael Dorp is nevertheless not frustrated: "There are also better times coming again for us creatives", the 52-year-old says hopefully in the interview.

eclipsed: The idea of creating a "best-of" compilation - when did that come up?