With a distinctly American sound and name, you might believe South of Salem hail from sunnier US climes rather than from right here in the good old UK. Only really notable for its beaches and a football team of intermittent quality, Bournemouth might not be a seething hive of metal activity but it is home to one of the best up and coming bands of the last few years. Continue reading
Ah, Eurovision.
That strangest of competitions where coming last can be as much of a badge of honour as winning. Continue reading
The holiday season is here and the zany hair metal act Steel Panther is on the road to get you in the festive spirit. The LA glam group is on a short run titled the “On the Prowl Winter Holidaze” tour where they are supporting their latest album, On the Prowl (Republic Records) that came out earlier this year. One of their twelve tour stops includes Michigan’s Vehicle City. Flint is home to the independent and nationally acclaimed music venue, The Machine Shop. This iconic concert hub was an optimal choice to host this racy, yet lovable group of stylishly bold fellas for two nights in a row. Everyone forgot the dreary December cold as they entered the small-sized venue where these fiery, comedic rockers sizzled things up.Continue reading
There aren’t many metalheads who haven’t heard of Dokken. Whether it’s due to their huge popularity during the eighties, the constant if occasionally amusing public sniping between frontman Don Dokken and former lead guitarist George Lynch or, most likely because of “Dream Warriors,” the theme song from 1987 horror sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3, Dokken’s name still stands above many.
CMFT2 (Decibel Cooper / BMG) is the second solo album from one of the largest mouths in Metal, a musician who you might have thought had all bases covered for his creative output by virtue of being the frontman in two wildly successful bands.
In their forty-three year (!) recording career, it isn’t unfair to say UK rock stalwarts Def Leppard are known for a pretty steady formula and approach of, in the main, pristine, polished hard rock songs, centred in an eighties sheen. Most of us could recognise a Def Leppard-style song without too much difficulty, and they aren’t (a few deviations – RetroActive, Slang, Taylor Swift, and Ghostly interactions – aside) known for their musical risk-taking or surprises.
As subtle as a brick and as silly as a juggling monkey riding a unicycle, Swedish Hard Rockers H.E.A.T are back with new album Force Majeure (earMUSIC). It is the Swedes seventh record and despite its over the top, everything and the kitchen sink nature it is a damn good time. It is a rich mixture of AOR, glam metal and hard rock with big riffs, flashy solos and huge choruses coming at you thick and fast. Continue reading
Get ready to rock! Brought to you by the minds behind the Monsters of Rock Cruise, Monsters on the Mountain brings together the best names in classic 1980s hard rock and hair metal! Taking place this October 15th-17th at the LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge (2986 Teaster Lane, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863) in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, a huge lineup of bands from Tesla, Vince Neil of Motley Crüe, Night Ranger, Winger, Kix, Slaughter, Firehouse, Eclipse, Pat Travers, Bulletboys, Vixen, Kingdom Come, Lynch Mob, Rhino Bucket, Liliac, Native Sons, Gilby Clark, John Corabi, Anthony Corder, Mark Evans, Randy Hansen, and Jeff Scott Soto & Jason Bieler, plus a surprise or two to be announced will perform. Serving as official event hosts are Eddie Trunk (VH1, SiriusXM) and comedians Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine (former hosts of VH1 Classic’s hit TV show, “That Metal Show”). Plus, SiriusXM’s Boneyard and Hair Nation are certain to keep the party going. Tickets are on sale now at the link below!
I love Metal music, my name is Skullgurl Metalchick after all. Full disclosure, I am still a sucker for the music of the Glam Metal days. The sub-genre had many aliases, Hair- Metal, Cock Rock, Bubble Gum Rock, depending on who you ask. The last couple of years there has been a renewed interest in the bands of the era of hair, I call it Nostalgia Rock. The headbangers of the 1980s now have 401ks, disposable incomes and the silent yearning to connect with the carefree days of youth. In all reality, most of these bands, are content to do some festivals and then go back to their own suburban democracy. Then there are bands like Spread Eagle, that did not go gentle into that good night of musical obscurity. Spread Eagle continues to make their music tantalizingly relevant with the release of their newest studio album, Subway To The Stars (Frontiers Srl).Continue reading
Life after the eighties has proved difficult for Los Angeles based shock rockers Lizzy Borden. Right from their inception in 1983, the act were casually lumped in with the burgeoning LA Glam scene, but in reality owed just as much to Thrash and US Power Metal as anything else. So when over-the-top stage theatrics and bewilderingly big hair suddenly became passé, and the aforementioned genres were effectively wiped out due to the onset of grunge and the alternative scene, the band eventually succumbed and joined many others like them, and in 1996, laid down their axes for what appeared to be for the final time.Continue reading