Category Archives: Music

Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, Spirit On A Mission. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Consistency is the hardest of all endeavours. The near creative peak is one that at times can be insurmountable, overwhelmingly impossible to try and surpass and for which even Hannibal on a good day, with elephants and gallons of vinegar in which to destroy a few thousand boulders blocking his way, might think twice before giving up and going home for a plate of cheese and grapes. For the Spirit on a Mission to entertain and thrill still looms large in one of Europe’s greatest Rock God-like figures.

Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, Spirit On A Mission. Album Review. full post

(407 words, 1 image, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Revolution Saints, Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The ancient civilisations such as the Greeks and Romans had words to defend the meaning of when supreme beings banded together to take on a foe that threatened their way of life. As with all things, poetic quality has been lost in translation over the corresponding centuries and now the only phrase that seems to justify the immensity of talent that comes in the shape of Revolution Saints and their superb eponymous debut album is one of a Titan’s fury, a divinity of rock elegance and soaring spirit.

Revolution Saints, Album Review. full post

(423 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

North Of The Mind, Twisted World. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

The way the world is squeezing the creativity out of people as a whole, it’s always heartening to when you come across an album that may have taken a while to record, possibly because of many different factors but sounds as though each delicate step was thought out, processed with great care and attention. In the end, it is a testament to their inventiveness and never say die attitude.

North Of The Mind, Twisted World. Album Review. full post

(352 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Dan Webster, The Tin Man. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We have roads to travel upon; it’s how we explain the stories to those we meet along the way that is the key. One man’s pleasant trip down a leafy lane in the middle of spring with the sun at his back is another’s trudge through winter’s terminal grasp with nothing but the eyes of desperate and ravenous wolves reflecting the light of the dwindling fiery torch.

Dan Webster, The Tin Man. Album Review. full post

(387 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Sundowners, Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

When waiting for an album to come out by a band that you know deep down could have been the talk of the town and the greater music world in any of the decades since Liverpool gave birth to popular music culture in Britain, caution can seep in. It can mess with expectancy, it can gnaw at the promise you have made to yourself that it surely must be good because the gigs and the songs have suggested nothing but a wonderful sense of timing and delivery. Caution is good, it keeps both the listener and musicians grounded but it can also feed on you like a Succubus caught in the middle of a midday snack asking for extra bread rolls.

Sundowners, Album Review. full post

(500 words, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

36 Crazyfists, Time And Trauma. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Everything in life comes down to two subjects, sex and death. For the witty, taxes comes into the equation as a means of pointing out that everything alive between finding a lover and the point of ultimate demise is just basically because everybody is out to take advantage of you. In amongst it all though is the somehow forgotten entity of Time.  Sex and death may be the two romantic visions that a poet will surreptitiously weave into a new sonnet and mentally ask their readers to gouge out the sentiments tied up within, but Time is ever present and demands more than the other state of affairs put together.

36 Crazyfists, Time And Trauma. Album Review. full post

(447 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Blind Guardian, Beyond The Red Mirror. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Proof, if proof were needed, that the vast array of Metal, in which ever guise or sub genre it takes, is in such a healthy state of mind as soon as you go past Dover and head east, south or across the North Sea to Scandinavia is to found in the latest album by German Metal Kings Blind Guardian, the sensational Beyond the Red Mirror.

Blind Guardian, Beyond The Red Mirror. Album Review. full post

(586 words, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

Mike Grogan, Make Me Strong. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In the darkest moments we all need to be held. It is the basic principle of humanity, to feel compassion, to understand that it is not a weakness to show concern for another or even basic kindness to one who has done you wrong in thought or deed. To be able to do so is to show strength and it doesn’t manifest itself enough in what has become at times an intolerant and growing steadily selfish society.

Mike Grogan, Make Me Strong. Album Review. full post

(385 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Steve Rothery, The Ghosts Of Pripyat. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The only true surprise awaiting anyone who makes the right choice in spending that week’s hard earned money on Steve Rothery’s debut solo album, The Ghosts of Pripyat, is that it has taken so long for the celebrated and revered guitarist to place his own stock out before his own special audience.

Steve Rothery, The Ghosts Of Pripyat. Album Review. full post

(467 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

T’Pau, Pleasure & Pain. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

In the spirit of George Harrison, all things must pass, eventually. For some it’s a relief, the death of a dystopian and despotic regime, ground to dust or wiped out by plague is a thought that a cheery liberal would welcome with huge applause and gladdened heart; a new release by a band who filled a lot of teenage hearts with inspired lyrics and power ballad like affection finding themselves at the crossroads of the much missed Mr. Harrison’s almost fatalistic scenario, it can be a daunting proposition.

T’Pau, Pleasure & Pain. Album Review. full post

(360 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)