Chthonic, Bú-Tik. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In amongst all the areas in which the Metal world resides, whether the old guard of the U.K. and America through to the new emerging and sometimes surprising steel fortresses of France, Norway and Sweden, it can be quite easy and utterly shameful, to forget that Metal in any guise is loved all over the world. It is not something that just purely belongs to one particular set of fans or even one country. Perhaps nowhere is this better typified than in the Taiwanese band Chthonic and their fast paced, vocally crunching and bitter but well placed rage that chokes the life out of pretenders to the throne of Eastern Metal.

Chthonic, Bú-Tik. Album Review. full post

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

Blue Remembered Hills, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: James Bolt, Phil Cheadle, Tilly Gaunt, Adrian Grove, Joanna Holden, David Nellist, Christopher Price.

It may not be considered as the pinnacle of Dennis Potter’s career as a playwright, that surely goes to the plays Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective but Blue Remembered Hills is certainly a Potter classic and one that shows that cruelty is not just confined to the adult world in which the backdrop of the Second World War rages but resides within us all from birth.

Blue Remembered Hills, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Iron Maiden, Piece Of Mind. 30th Anniversary Retrospective.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

As debuts go, Bruce Dickinson’s first album with Iron Maiden, The Number Of The Beast was and still is, a huge success, a towering behemoth full of stand-out Metal songs that even after 30 years can make the hair on the back of the neck not just stand up but revel in what the band put together. To follow that up would take something monumental, something that would have to crawl out of the pit of darkness and shine a light on the group that Iron Maiden were to come.

Iron Maiden, Piece Of Mind. 30th Anniversary Retrospective. full post

(1448 words, estimated 5:48 mins reading time)

In The Guise Of Men, Ink. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

French Metal is being cunning. No matter which part of the various guises the genre sits, the music it is offering to the spectrum, the diverse range in which the sounds plays in, it is slowly and surely eroding, eating away at the idea that only the U.K., North America and North Europe is truly capable of offering music to the masses. On the back of Eyrn Non Dae’s fantastic album Meliora, the stage is set for French Metal to rival that of the other bourgeoning scene that is coming out of Norway and Sweden and who better than In The Guise Of Men and their E.P. Ink which was released in April.

In The Guise Of Men, Ink. E.P. Review. full post

(361 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

A Small Dancing Confession.

It might seem like a big thing to most of the people in the world

But I have never really enjoyed dancing

The Quick Step or a Tango across a clean cut lawn and through the rose bed.

Don’t get me wrong, as in my head I am cool as Fred Astaire

Or even as good as Ginger Rogers but obviously not in high heels.

You see I wanted to dance as it always looked so much fun,

However,

When I first tried it having found a willing and wonderful dancer,

A Small Dancing Confession. full post

(337 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

Steve Hackett, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Gig Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It is near on nigh impossible to recreate a classic. To recreate a masterpiece and make it epic takes musical genius and a talent that coupled with a deep burning desire to give some of the great tracks of Progressive Rock a re-imagination could only be found in the hands and minds of some of the very few that practice the art.

Steve Hackett, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Gig Review. full post

(672 words, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)

Beth Hart And Joe Bonamassa, Seesaw. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If any woman around today can cope with the pressure, albeit pleasurable and gratifying, of performing alongside producer Kevin Shirley and perhaps the finest Blues/Rock guitarist of the last 20 years in the form of Joe Bonamassa then Beth Hart is that woman. The gutsy and fiercely independent lady matches the intensity of Joe Bonamassa’s guitar and the strength that he quietly carries around, a man who could walk into a room and turn heads but would be reserved enough to point to his musical weapon and say that’s the star.

Beth Hart And Joe Bonamassa, Seesaw. Album Review. full post

(441 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Life Of Crime, Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Hayley Atwell, Richard Coyle, Joel Beckett, Con O’Neill, Amanda Drew, Julian Lewis Jones, Ruth McCabe, Stephen McDade, Ray Pantthaki, Amaranthe Partridge.

Everywhere you go these days Hayley Atwell appears to be. The reason of course that she has been in some very high profile television programmes, films and even audio plays in the last couple of years and that all stems down from the fact that in every part she plays she is so believable and can hold the camera’s and audience’s attention unlike almost any other female actor working today, only Maggie Smith perhaps can have the same plaudits laid at her feet.

Life Of Crime, Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(345 words, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With James Styring Of The Popdogs.

The IPO (The International Pop Overthrow) is coming to Liverpool this coming week and as one festival of music closes so begins another. These are exciting times for the city music-wise as there never seems to be a day where you cannot head into the city centre and find something to listen to.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With James Styring Of The Popdogs. full post

(1640 words, estimated 6:34 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, Nightmare In Silver. Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Warwick Davis, Tazmin Outhwaite, Eve de Leon Allen, Kassius Carey Johnson, Jason Watkins, Eloise Joseph, Will Merrick, Clavin Dean, Zahra Ahmadi, Aiden Cook, Nicolas Briggs.

The Doctor is never better when he is the only lunatic in the room, the mad man completely outside of his box fighting against himself, for there really can be no victor, the Timelord is not triumphant and in the penultimate episode of the series, Nightmare in Silver, that rage that he keeps well hidden is finally able to come out and play for a while.

Doctor Who, Nightmare In Silver. Television Review. B.B.C. Television. full post

(543 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)