Tag Archives: Seventies Rock

ALBUM REVIEW: Butterfly – Doorways Of Time

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Butterfly’s full-length debut isn’t the least bit shy about its Seventies Rock inspirations. That is made immediately apparent with the cover art contrasting Vikings and a mystical title with an innocuous band name, but the music plays out like a grab-bag of Montrose, Uriah Heep, and Budgie among others. Its free-spirited attitude is comparable to their contemporaries in Freeways and one can occasionally detect hints of otherworldly haziness in line with Tanith and Brimstone Coven.Continue reading →


The Riven – The Riven

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It would seem that this is Scandinavian ‘Drenched Riffs’ Week, but to pigeonhole Swedish quartet The Riven as mere seventies Rock does them no justice whatsoever. Their bass-heavy groove machine is positively electric and eponymous debut album The Riven (The Sign Records) drips The Blues while shooting fire from both hips.Continue reading →


Haken – Vector

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Oft breathed by those in the know in the same exhalations as Dream Theater, Leprous and Devin Townsend, London’s Haken frequently pass below the radar of those outside of Prog spheres. New album Vector (InsideOut Music) is, however, the fifth in the band’s ten-year existence and shows a level of accomplishment to surpass those more notable names.Continue reading →


The Sword – Used Future

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Remember The Sword? The Austin, Texas group’s 2006 debut Age of Winters (Kemado) was a perfect blend of Black Sabbath and Sleep with a hint of Mastodon’s relentless drive. As one of, if the not the outright best debut albums that year, it gained widespread acclaim and sold an impressive 80,000 records. The follow-up, Gods of the Earth, was another slice of the same pie and saw the band bag a tour with Metallica. Continue reading →


Demon Eye – Prophecies & Lies

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Taking their name from a Deep Purple song from the 1971 classic Fireball (Warner Bros.) are Demon Eye. Arising from North Carolina, Demon Eye started out life as a ‘70s rock covers band called Corvette Summer before transforming into a fully-fledged band in 2012. As their origins suggest, their sound is an amalgamation of 70s hard rock and metal – with Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, early Judas Priest and Iron Maiden the major influences. Their third album Prophecies and Lies (Soulseller) was produced by Corrosion of Conformity’s Mike Dean and continues down this old school path. Continue reading →


Avatarium – Hurricanes and Halos

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Two fingers to convention, I’m jumping straight to the reveal: Avatarium are a superior breed of band that you’d be mad to overlook and Hurricanes and Halos picks things up where the sultry excellence of The Girl With The Raven Mask (both Nuclear Blast) left off. Fashioned from the music of yesteryear, don’t be fooled into thinking this is “just another” Retro outfit, or an “Occult Rock” band; this is the mastery of the music of a fifty years ago, not to be cool, or hip, but as a means of producing powerful, diverse and strong songs.Continue reading →


Biters – The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be

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Two years on from the impressive bluster of the debuting swagger of Electric Blood, Atlanta’s Biters are back with another notable bag of goodies in the shape of The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be (both Earache), and a mission statement to make Rock n’ Roll relevant again. While album one came from out of nowhere, shining bright with its proto-punk melodies, has the curse of the “difficult second album” struck now that there are ready ears awaiting the follow-up?Continue reading →


Ecstatic Vision – Raw Rock Fury

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When told that a band pride themselves in being part of the psychedelic rock scene, certain images come to mind almost instantly; from acid to colourful retro art to funky sunglasses – the point being, this is a scene very much rooted in the past and an era almost incomprehensible to some.Continue reading →