REVIEW: ALPHA TIGER – Man or Machine

 

ALPHA TIGER – Man or Machine (2011)

Sonic Attack Records

“Man or Machine” is the debut album of the German metal band ALPHA TIGER, or more precisely their first release under that name. Until early 2011 the group was known as SATIN BLACK, and under that moniker they put out the album “Harlequin” in 2008 and the demo “Martyr’s Paradise” in 2010. The name change also brings a change of direction: where SATIN BLACK leaned towards a thrashier sound, ALPHA TIGER play U.S. power metal with a number of European power metal elements, a combination that gives the album a classic yet fresh character.

The album makes a very strong impression. The vocals of Stephan “Heiko” Dietrich are outstanding, powerful and expressive, and they carry the melodies with confidence from the first track to the last. The guitar work is equally impressive, with inspired riffs and melodic leads that give each song its own identity. The album is consistent throughout and has no weak moments, yet a few tracks stand out clearly: “Starrider”, “Against the Time”, “Karma” and the title track “Man or Machine” are the highlights and are bound to leave a lasting impression on any listener.

So far it is the best album of the year in my view, and a safe choice for every fan of classic metal, who should not hesitate to pick it up. The band has made a promising start under its new name, and the next release is awaited with great anticipation.

A final word on the artwork: the cover is a pleasure to look at. It is handcrafted in spirit and avoids the sterile, computer-generated look of many modern covers, which suits the music inside well.

Ioannis Kaskamanidis

REVIEW: DEF LEPPARD, Hysteria

 

DEF LEPPARD, Hysteria (1987)

Mercury

Δεν τους συμπαθώ από εδώ και πέρα.

Κι ένας από τους λόγους είναι αυτό το άλμπουμ. Εντάξει, έχω τα τέσσερα πρώτα τους σε CD, αλλά αυτό είναι εκείνο που ακούω λιγότερο απ’ όλα. Απορώ κι εγώ που κάθομαι να γράψω αυτή την παράγραφο. Πολύ του πέφτει! Θα έπρεπε να πληρώνομαι από την Q-Prime, την εταιρεία μάνατζμεντ που τους ανέλαβε τότε!

Το εμπορικό, αμερικάνικο, νερόβραστο στυλ αυτών των Άγγλων μού ανεβάζει το αίμα στο κεφάλι. Κι άλλοι άλλαξαν, λίγο ή πολύ, αλλά εδώ έχουμε την αποθέωση του «πουλάω τα πάντα» στον βωμό του κέρδους. Ποιον βωμό, δηλαδή; Τα «Women», «Rocket», «Armageddon It», «Pour Some Sugar on Me» και «Hysteria» είναι μεγάλα hits. Αυτό μπορούν να κάνουν εν έτει 1987;

Μόνο το πρώτο τους, το On Through the Night του 1980, παλεύω να ακούσω ολόκληρο, και με το ζόρι. Το Pyromania, το τρίτο άλμπουμ τους, είναι το όριο της υπομονής μου. Υστερικό και μέτριο, όσο κι αν ο δίσκος πούλησε και τη μάνα και τον πατέρα του!

Το MTV να ’ναι καλά κι αφήστε τους καλοθελητές να τους αποθεώνουν. Περισσότερο τους ενδιαφέρουν τα λεοπάρ κολάν που φορούσαν τότε πολλοί —και που εξακολουθούν να φορούν κάποιοι—, καθώς και τα αμάνικα με τη βρετανική σημαία και το λογότυπο του συγκροτήματος από πάνω, παρά η ίδια η μουσική.

Κατώτερος βαθμολογίας για μένα. Καπέλο μου!

English:

I’ve Had Enough of Them Since This Album

And this album is one of the reasons why. Okay, I own their first four albums on CD, but this is the one I listen to the least. I can hardly believe I’m even bothering to write this paragraph. That’s more than it deserves! I should be getting paid by Q-Prime, the management company that took them under its wing back then!

The commercial, Americanized, watered-down style of these Englishmen drives me up the wall. Other bands changed, to a greater or lesser extent, but here we have the ultimate example of selling out completely in the name of profit. What am I talking about? “Women,” “Rocket,” “Armageddon It,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” and “Hysteria” were all major hits. Is this really what they were capable of in 1987?

The only album of theirs I can bring myself to listen to from beginning to end, and even then with considerable effort, is their 1980 debut, On Through the Night. Pyromania, their third album, is about as far as I can go. Hysteria is hysterical in all the wrong ways and mediocre, no matter how much money the album raked in!

Thank God for MTV, and let the well-wishers keep singing their praises. They seem more interested in the leopard-print leggings so many people wore back then — and some still wear today — as well as the sleeveless shirts featuring the Union Jack with the band’s logo emblazoned across it, than in the music itself.

A low rating from me. To each their own!

Τάκης "Ε-Μortal One" Γιώτης

REVIEW: ALICE COOPER, Goes To Hell

 

ALICE COOPER, Goes To Hell (1976)

Warner Bros. Records

Κατά διαόλου, είναι δυνατόν;

Κάποτε έψαχνα αυτόν τον δίσκο με τρέλα! Τον βρήκα τότε σε CD, στα κλεισίματα του ιστορικού Metropolis, στη γωνία Πατησίων και Πανεπιστημίου. Το ομώνυμο κομμάτι, ή σχεδόν ομώνυμο, το «Go To Hell», ήταν ήδη γνωστό και αγαπητό.

Πάντως, το δεύτερο σόλο άλμπουμ του τραγουδιστή και συνθέτη Alice Cooper —ή το ένατο, αν υπολογίσουμε και τα άλμπουμ του συγκροτήματος Alice Cooper από το 1969, όταν ξεκίνησε, έως το 1974— κυκλοφόρησε έναν χρόνο μετά το Welcome to My Nightmare, του οποίου αποτελεί συνέχεια σε επίπεδο concept. Ωστόσο, μουσικά δεν ανταποκρίνεται στις προσδοκίες μου, ακόμη και είκοσι τέσσερα χρόνια μετά την κυκλοφορία του στην αγορά. Πόσο ακόμη πειραματισμό και πόσες επιρροές από τον ήχο της Motown θα άντεχε τότε ο μέσος ροκάς οπαδός του;

Πολυσυλλεκτικό, το άλμπουμ περιλαμβάνει, μετά το ομώνυμο κομμάτι, σχεδόν τα πάντα! Jazz περάσματα, ηλεκτρικό rock, fusion, disco… όχι, αυτό τουλάχιστον δεν το έχει, ή δεν το έχει σε αισθητό βαθμό. Ανάμεσα στα υπόλοιπα κομμάτια που αξίζει να ακούσετε βρίσκονται τα «Didn't We Meet», «I Never Cry», «Give the Kid a Break», «Guilty» και «Wish You Were Here» —με τον τίτλο να φέρνει στον νου τους Pink Floyd—, καθώς και η διασκευή στο θεατρικό-βαριετέ θέμα «I'm Always Chasing Rainbows».

Από εδώ αρχίζουν τα σκαμπανεβάσματα για τον Alice Cooper. Μια σειρά από εναλλαγές ανάμεσα σε μέτριους και κάπως καλύτερους δίσκους θα αποκαλύψει σταδιακά ότι ο καλλιτέχνης αντιμετώπιζε προσωπικά προβλήματα με το αλκοόλ. Μια περίοδος με λιγότερο φως σε σύγκριση με την πορεία της καριέρας του έως το 1975.

English:

To Hell and Back? Seriously?

I was once absolutely obsessed with finding this album! I eventually tracked it down on CD, just as the legendary Metropolis record store, on the corner of Patission and Panepistimiou streets, was nearing its closure. The title track—or almost title track—“Go To Hell” was already familiar to me and a personal favourite.

Still, Alice Cooper’s second solo album—or his ninth if we also count the albums released by the Alice Cooper band between its formation in 1969 and 1974—came out a year after Welcome to My Nightmare, serving as its conceptual sequel. Musically, however, it falls short of my expectations, even twenty-four years after I first got my hands on it. How much more experimentation, and how much Motown influence, could the average rock fan have been expected to tolerate back then?

A diverse collection, the album has just about everything after “Go To Hell”! Jazz passages, electric rock, fusion… disco? No, not really, or at least not to any significant extent. Among the other tracks worth your attention are “Didn't We Meet,” “I Never Cry,” “Give the Kid a Break,” “Guilty” and “Wish You Were Here”—a title that inevitably brings Pink Floyd to mind—as well as Cooper’s adaptation of the theatrical vaudeville number “I'm Always Chasing Rainbows.”

This is where the ups and downs begin for Alice Cooper. A succession of albums alternating between mediocre and somewhat better efforts would gradually reveal the personal problems he was facing with alcohol. Compared with the course his career had taken up to 1975, this was a period when the light began to fade.

Τάκης "Ε-Μortal One" Γιώτης!

REVIEW: SLAVES TO FASHION - Artistic Differences

 

SLAVES TO FASHION - Artistic Differences (2011)

Hands of Blue Records

Norway’s SLAVES TO FASHION are generally labeled a progressive rock/metal band. The description is fair enough, but it doesn’t capture every aspect of their music, nor does it place them in any more precise category. I can’t offer a tighter definition either, because with their debut full-length album, “Artistic Differences”, the band has shaped a thoroughly personal sound that sets them apart.

There are skeptics who believe the contemporary music scene has little left to offer. The best way to change their minds is to have them listen to a release like this one. SLAVES TO FASHION weave an abundance of musical ideas and genres into a result that is both beautiful and homogeneous, balancing energy with enchanting melodic lines. Rather than sounding like a patchwork of influences, the album feels unified, with each idea serving the song it belongs to.

The song structures, riffs and melodies are memorable enough to draw the listener back to the play button again and again. The choruses are catchy, and the tunes and lyrics linger in the mind for hours after the album has finished. The arrangements reward repeated listening too, since new details surface with each return.

The technical side is equally strong. The production is crystal clear and dynamic, giving every instrument room to breathe, and the band is made up of highly talented musicians. The vocalist deserves particular mention: his passionate, emotive delivery lifts the songs even further and gives the album much of its emotional weight.

For anyone seeking music that is melodic yet catchy, and that marries the past with the present and the future, “Artistic Differences” is a release that can bring that search to an end.

Christine  Parastatidou

BROKEN MORNING Release “Victory Through Loss” Music Video

 

Greek band BROKEN MORNING have released the official music video for “Victory Through Loss,” available on YouTube. The track is the second single from the band’s third album, which shares its title.

Combining heavy riffs, forceful drumming, atmospheric elements and an intense guitar climax, the song explores themes of oppression, resistance and personal resilience. Its lyrical message focuses on overcoming fear and transforming loss into a source of strength.

Described as one of the album’s heaviest and most dynamic moments, “Victory Through Loss” presents a dark, uncompromising approach to heavy music, built around the idea that defeat can become a starting point for renewed determination.

ANTHYR Release Debut Album Tidens Famn

 

Swedish melodic death/black metal project Anthyr has released its debut album, Tidens Famn. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Markus Kristiansen Seterlund at Nordblod Studios.

Operating as a solo project, Anthyr combines atmospheric black metal and melodic death metal, emphasizing striking melodies, immersive soundscapes, and narrative-driven compositions. Drawing inspiration from Scandinavia’s pre-Christian heritage, ancient Norse mythology, and northern spiritual traditions, Tidens Famn explores themes of ancestral forces, forgotten lore, aggression, and introspective darkness.

REVIEW: BOREALIS - Fall from Grace

 

BOREALIS - Fall from Grace (2011)

Lion Music

I often ask bands from the ’80s how they think the metal scene of that decade differs from the contemporary one. I believe it is time for me to offer my own answer to this question. What I love about the ’80s is that bands and musicians seemed to be more carefree. They had their dreams, their passion for playing metal, and the ambition to become known like the bands they had admired while growing up. Most of them were not great musicians in terms of music theory or technical ability, but they had enthusiasm, determination, and a certain naïveté that often worked in their favour. These qualities helped them create songs that, in some cases, have stood the test of time and continue to be remembered today.

Nowadays, we have highly skilled musicians and technology that offers almost unlimited possibilities for composing, recording, and producing music. However, I sometimes feel that many musicians no longer allow their emotions to guide them in the creative process. After all, metal is music that should come from the heart. Instead, technical knowledge and the desire to demonstrate one's abilities can become the main priorities, turning music into a rather pointless competition. Of course, there are exceptions, but technical proficiency alone does not guarantee memorable songwriting or a distinctive musical identity.

BOREALIS hail from Canada, a country with a metal scene I have always appreciated, and play modern power metal, combining the traditional characteristics of the genre with melodic death metal elements reminiscent of IN FLAMES. Their sound also brings EVERGREY to mind, particularly in terms of atmosphere, although that band's approach has never been particularly appealing to me. BOREALIS have clearly put considerable effort into their music, and Fall from Grace is a well-constructed album, featuring competent performances, a polished production, and a consistent musical direction.

The problem, at least for me, is that the album lacks one essential ingredient: a sufficiently distinctive personal touch. The songs are enjoyable, and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the way the band combines power metal melodies, heavier guitar work, and darker atmospheric elements. Nevertheless, the overall result sounds too familiar, recalling the work of numerous contemporary bands operating in a similar musical territory. Everything is in place, but I find myself missing that individual spark that could make BOREALIS stand out from the crowd.

Ultimately, Fall from Grace is a professionally executed release that should appeal to listeners who enjoy modern, melodic power metal with a heavier edge. Personally, however, I prefer a more individual approach to songwriting, even when it comes at the expense of technical perfection. Within this particular musical field, I find ORDEN OGAN more convincing, while ASPERITY, despite having released only one album, have also offered something that appeals to me much more. BOREALIS have the musicianship and the necessary ingredients, but for my taste, they still need to develop a stronger musical identity to make a lasting impression.

Nick Parastatidis