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No matter how good you are, how unique you sound, the freshness you bring to the table, trying to stand out in a world that has seven billion people all trying to carve themselves a little notch of history and to be remembered for the spirit and talent they possess can be a daunting and sometimes discouraging prospect in a world that even now, is essentially a jungle.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The mixed emotions, the taste of an intoxicating, anything goes atmosphere; the piercing and stimulating feel of a time which you can only ever imagine having lived, inhabited and immersed yourself into as you wander around Upper Manhattan in search of the next big star and cool smooth voice. These are the qualities the listener will find on the stunning album by House of Trees, the superb Where’s The Butcher, Where’s the Baker?
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It doesn’t matter how late in life you come to some musicians or artists, they will wait for you to catch up to them. They will continue to perform and make music knowing full well that at some point even the most ardent non-believer will find that they have been wrong all the time, come along with flat hat tightly wound around their fists and apologising for taking so long for getting on board with their best laid plans.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It may not happen often, but sometimes you come across an album that once you have heard it you realise what an honour, a rare privilege, it was to have taken the C.D. out of the plastic cage and set it free to sing and flourish.
Out of the Black by the sensational Tiki Black may have been released in 2013 but when you find an album of such pure quality which contains a voice which seems to get more beautiful the more you let the C.D. play along its merry way and the haunting performance of the collection of musicians that contribute to such a stirring debut.
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Not only does David Serby have an affinity, a sort of undisputed empathy with the emotions of humanity; the desire to get deep down and dirty in the psychology of what drives us all, but his way of getting that affinity across is almost pure and full. He has that great skill of being able to hear without speaking, for listening with full attention and giving a song of great humour and emotion in return in the album David Serby & The Great Scam.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
From the opening segment of Van Halen’s sixth studio album, you can’t help feel the expectation ooze majestically from the American rock band.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Humanity has always liked to believe it is the top dog when it comes to life on Earth, but when it all boils down to it, away from the great art, the spoken word and the ability to make the most beautiful and electrifying music, in the end we are food for either worms or bacteria. It may not be a pleasant thought but one to consider when listening to the unrelenting sound of the Netherlands Legion of the Damned and their brand new album Ravenous Plague.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It is way too early into the start of a New Year to even suggest that whilst 2013, with a couple of notable exceptions, was a pretty poor affair for any band on either side of the Atlantic Ocean that finds itself placed into the all-encompassing Metal genre, 2014 already has the feeling of being a million times better. The notable success stories came from the lands of Scandinavia and mainland Europe, these bands took on the old guard and walloped them to all corners of the stage as easily as a one-armed Australian batsman taking apart a 100 English bowlers. Now perhaps the time has come for the retaliation and in that colossus of Iced Earth and their new album Plagues of Babylon, Metal lovers can once more see the real face of American Metal.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
From picking up a guitar for the first time at the start of one year to releasing an E.P. full of songs that have the strength of character to suggest that the path sometimes least expected is the right one, American folk singer Tamara Laurel strikes all the right notes in what is sure to be an acclaimed release – Lightning.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Compilation albums can fall into two categories. There are those that are compiled with the thought of adding almost nothing to the popular consensus of music appreciation, usually bought by a member of the family with almost no interest in which music the person they have bought it for actually listens to but it has saved them a bundle of money by buying just one album. Then there are those that are released which the keen listener knows have been put together with an almost semblance of love attached to them. The belief that comes flowing out of every track is more like an introduction at a party to the host and finding that they have heard of you and want to spend an enormous amount of their time with you.