Heaven & Earth - Hard To Kill (2017)

Straight out Compton...no wait make that Los Angeles comes the hard rock act Heaven & Earth which is the brainchild of guitar virtuoso and Ritchie Blackmore protige Stuart Smith .  If you like classic rock and some bluesy rock, read on.  In fact, the Rainbow/Deep Purple influence is very evident on tracks like Hard To Kill and my personal favorite Walk Away.  Walk Away has hit single written all over it.  It's got the obligatory catchy chorus, fantastic harmonies and is well, the song is just fun. Think Whitesnake self titled album and this song is as good as any song on there.   Bleed Me Dry is another great song with a catchy chorus.  Another personal favorite was Monster, it's got one of those great lead in guitar pieces that was a signature of early Deep Purple/Rainbow songs.   Hellfire was another uptempo song which in my opinion, is where Heaven & Earth really shine.  

Hard to Kill is the fourth release from Heaven & Earth and though this is Stuart Smith project it's far from a one man show.  Joe Retta (The Sweet, Greg Rollie, Dio's Disciples) has got a killer set of pipes,  Lynn Sorenson (Bass - Bad Company, Paul Rodgers Band), Ty Baillie (Keyboards - Katie Perry, Robbie Robertson), Kenny Aronoff (Drums - Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, Rolling Stones) round out this extremely talented band.  

If there's one flaw with Heaven & Earth (and many might disagree), it's that the band is all over the place musically.  I love how they start so strong out of the gate with two blazing rock anthems, but then the band delves into some really bluesy rock and some slower rock.  It's not that the songs are bad, quite the contrary, there's some very good music throughout this disc. It's just a personal preference, I'd like to hear an album full of songs like Hard to Kill, Walk Away and Hellfire and less songs like LA Blues.

Heaven & Earth have the makings of a very special band. They know how to write a very catchy tune, they've got a great vocalist with  powerful voice and they've got a very very talented band.  With the right break this band could (and should) get some well deserved exposure on stations like Ozzy's Boneyard on Sirius Radio.  They'd be a perfect fit for that channel.   I personally cant wait to catch this band live.  Rating: 8/10

Tracklist:
1. Hard To Kill
2. Walk Away
3. Till It’s Over
4. Bleed Me Dry
5. The Game Has Changed
6. Anthem
7. Monster
8. LA Blues
9. Hellfire
10. Beautiful Monsters
11. Bad Man

Wobbler - From Silence To Somewhere (2017)

I have to profess, I had never heard of Wobbler prior to listening to this and all I can say is that's a shame they've remained under my radar for so long.  Every review you've read probably says the same thing and I'm not going to deviate from that.  These Norwegian's play Symphonic classic progressive rock and damn do they do it well.  I hear so much Yes influence but I think there's a heavy dose of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and a dash of Gentle Giant.  And lets be honest, if your going to emulate your sound and style those are three pretty darn good choices.

From Silence to Somewhere has been 6 years in the making and has seen a changing of the guard...well actually guitarist. Original guitarist Morten Andreas Eriksen has been replaced by Marius Halleland, but make no mistake, Wobbler is far from a one man show. In fact,  the plethora of sounds and instruments is what truely makes Wobbler unique.

From Silence to Somewhere starts of with a 21 minute opus and is appropriate the title track of the disc.  I have to say, a 21 minute song is really hard to listen to by my standard but the song is so captivating, it captures so many sounds and styles and wraps them in to one long magnificent piece.  I swear I even heard a little Allman Brother riffing at the :59 second mark that sounded like Whipping Post.  I absolutely love this song, there's so much going on that you really need to sit down and focus on every aspect of it.

Fermented Hours is the 3rd track and again combines some of the best of classic rock, love the Chris Squire-esque bass playing by Kristian Karl Hultgren.  In fact I wish at times it was more at the forefront of the production.  The song is keyboard dominated, not that it's a bad thing, but the musicianship is so outstanding that I try to focus on all aspects of the song.

The final song is the 13 minute tune called Foxlight. Again this song has so much depth to it and I love the harpsichord added in the mix.

For a band having such a big retro Prog Rock sound they are a fresh of breath air.  This disc has really piqued my interest to the point I will be going back and visiting the rest of their catalog.  Well done my friends, the only thing that would make listening to this disc even sweeter would be to hear it performed live.  Such an outstanding disc and well worth the 6 year wait.[Rating: 9/10]

1. From Silence to Somewhere
2. Rendered in Shades of Green
3. Fermented Hours
4. Foxlight

Alcyona - Enchantment (Maxi Single Self produced).

Alcyona are a very new band and coming from Minsk, Belarus,  One thing that is very apparent upon first listen is they love their Hollywood Metal.  It's very symphonic, love the choirs used on the songs and great, well written tunes.  Alcyona has done 3 songs and released videos for all 3, one of whichs is a Bryan Adams cover.  Taking a page out of the Neo Classical song book is the song The Lost Valley.   Guitar heavy with strong female vocals and a good melody make this a must listen.  However the real draw for me on this band was the song Enchantment.  Holy crap, this song is musical deliciousness.   You can tell they were heavily influenced from Nightwish with the symphonic elements and heavenly vocals and choirs accompanying Olga and the band.  This is what makes music exciting, discovering new talent.  The last song that Alcyona offered up was a cover of Bryan Adams hit song Here I Am.  Not really representative of what the band is, personally I'd like to see a more symphonic flare ala Enchantment.  I'm really excited to see what will happen in 2017 and 2018 for these folks.  (Rating: 10 for Enchantment, 7.5 for The Lost Valley, 6 for Here I am)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkkeCML3SPA