CONTENTS04 Rick Spr ingf ie ld06 A Perfect Day07 Orden Ogan08 L ionvi l le + S. Larsson09 Royal Hunt + AOR10 Lover Under Cover1 1 Sole i l Moon12 Reviews14 Issa17 Gene The Werewol f19 Tra i l o f Murder20 J imi Jamison22 Y&TMelodic Rock Fanzine

The official Frontiers Records magazineYear #8 - Nr. 6 / Issue #53

Editor-in-chief: Elio BordiGraphic & Design: Elio BordiWriters: Bruce E.J. Atkinson, Duncan Jamieson, BarryMcMinn, Vitale Nocerino, Rob “Ezy” Bone, GemaFernandez, Primo Bonali.Headquarters and general contacts:Frontiers Records - Via Gonzaga 1880125, Napoli - ItalyTel: +39.081.2399340/7753Fax: +39.081.2399794E-mail: elio@frontiers.itWebsite: www.frontiers.itFacebook: facebook.com/frontiersrecordsofficialTwitter: twitter.com/frontiersrecEditor and publisher: Frontiers Records s.r.l.Copyright©2012 Frontiers Records. All rightsreserved. Reproduction in whole or in part

without permission is prohibited.Printed in Italy.

Focus on: RICK SPRINGFIELD - Songs For the End of the World (Frontiers Records)If this is the end of the world then bring it on. Springfield returns with a feisty set of songsthat have all his trademark hooks and angsty, thoughtful lyrics. The dark lyrics are nicelyjuxtaposed with music that’s gloriously upbeat. Driven by Matt Bissonette’s bass andRodger Carter’s great drumming, such as on the bouncy opener “Wide Awake”, this songis a strong mission statement and when Springfield sings, “Feel free to be a kid again” youbelieve he could be Peter Pan as the energy courses through the track like a hyper-activeteen. There’s his customary big production sound with a myriad of harmonies and hooksthroughout and some delicious pop rock guitar riffs like the ones that herald in “Our Ship’sSinking” and the terrific “Love Screws Me Up”. The self-loathing “I Hate Myself” is an infec-tious sing-a-long. For a genre that often suffers from cliché, Springfield’s lyrics are refresh-ingly honest and clever; at turns poetic, funny or just downright pop. It’s immediate yetrewards even more with repeated listens and the songs are consistently strong enough tomake this close to a career best. Duncan Jamieson (96/100)

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artist. rick springfieldalbum. songs for the end...Interview with. r.springfield

interviewed by:. d.jamieson

Question: The new recordsounds terrific. Can you tellus about the recordingprocess?Answer: We recorded the basictracks at Henson's Studio inHollywood to a Studer 24 track,transferred it to Pro Tools thentook it to my studio The BlackLagoon and did all the overdubsand vocals in about 20 daysthen sent it to Chris Lord-Algeto mix (which he did in about aweek) and we were done. Itwent pretty quickly because ofall the demos we did plus thecouple of days rehearsal.Q: The style of the cover art-work is as a kind of cyber-netic soviet-like stuff. Whythis choose?A: In the states we did four dif-ferent covers, but the Red "ColdWar" cover was my favorite andthe original choice for thecover. I'm a big steam punk fan,I have these steam punk rayguns all over my studio, and Ilove them. I wanted it to betongue in cheek since the albumtitle is a bit heavy.Q: How important was hav-ing your road band play onthe record?A: Well they're a great band andI couldn't think who would do abetter job. Their input wasinvaluable too. Its my music butI listen to all ideas becausethese guys are all so good theirideas are usually great as well.They are all super accomplishedmusicians and because we'vebeen playing together for solong, no session players couldbe tighter... Or funnier. Welaughed so much during thesesessions it was good for themusic too.Q: Wide Awake is one of themost powerful and hardestsong you played in your life.Heavy metal nostalgia?A: Thanks. Not consciouslygoing heavy metal but it 'smeant to rock hard as a wakeup call! All the songs are aboutrelationships. Wide Awake isabout being free of all the stuffthat weighs me down.Basically, with all the crap goingon in my life, it's a call for meto Wake Up and enjoy life.Q: You’ve got some bignames in rock helping youout on this one such as JohnWaite, Richard Page and TimPierce. Can you tell me howyou got them involved?A: They are friends and itsalways easier to have friends towork with than session players.

You don't have to be polite orbeat around the bush andbecause these guys are soamazingly talented they bringso much to a session. Richardsang on all my early stuff beforeMister Mr took off and John hasbeen a touring friend for a whileand was the musical guest onmy first RS and friends cruiseand Tim is a friggin’ genius whonever comes up dry when youask for ideas. His guitar soundsare among the best in theworld.Q: It’s a rocking affair. Wasthis a deliberate decisionbefore you made the record?A: Yes I wanted a more uptempo record than VIO. They'remore fun to play live and I hadan ear to doing them live asthey were written so they defi-nitely have that going for them.Q: This record is an instantclassic and will sit comfort-ably amongst your back cat-alogue. How do you view thenew record and what wouldyou pick out as musicalhighs in your catalogue?A: I think its as good as any-thing I've ever recorded. As faras past stuff, I'm just too closeto it all. I have songs that I amproud of and songs that Ithought should have done bet-ter. They're kind of like yourchildren, you live with them forso long... Except they don't takethe car without asking.Q: Are we close the the endof the world that you aresinging for? Or is the worldalready ended?A: I think we're getting close tocrossing a line and won't beable to go back. The world is aliving thing, and we're killing it.But there's also a tongue incheek aspect to it. The tracksare all about relationships thatare in the world we're living innow. The world needed a sound-track for us to go out to!Q: Your lyrics are as inter-esting as the music. You’revery self critical and honeston songs like “Our Ship’sSinking”, “Love Screws MeUp” and “Depravity”. Areyou a better husband thesedays?A: I am I hope but I'm stillstruggling with being a betterperson. That's the big one. Thetrouble is there's nothing towrite about when everything isgoing smoothly in my personallife. That's the bummer. Q: What’s your secret forstaying 20 years younger

looking?A: Red wine. Actually I have towrite a book on it one day soon.Its a lot of stuff. What you putin your body, what you put inyour mind, how you deal withshit when it happens and whatyou do with what u are bornwith. I have also exercised con-tinually and just gave up diarywhich has been an amazingaddition with unexpectedresults. I tried to be vegan for afew months but I think I havethe wrong body type and I lost20 pounds... Too much weightfor me to lose. So I had toadjust my intake a little. Its allabout a life choice all that stuff.I could talk for hours on it.Actually in Cancun thisNovember (it takes the place ofthe cruise) I will be doing a lit-tle lecture on all that stuff...And then going out for a drink.Hahahaha.Q: In the 80s when you tooksome time out from record-ing. Did you ever think youmight not return to music?A: I considered that I mightnever go back but once I start-ed writing again (Rock of Life) Iknew I would continue. It was avery necessary break and Ineeded to do it for my head andto reset my focus and goals.Q: Your acting career ismore precious to you nowthan it was in the 80s. Haveyou got any acting workcoming up?A: Yes we have some stuff inthe hopper and some thingsthat have been offered but Iwant to do the right things andthere is so much great writingnow on TV that its very excitingall the possibilities.Q: You had an incredibleartistic career. Is there any-thing you would l ike tochange about you musicalproductions of the past?A: No. I've learned a lot fromeverything I've done. I'm awriter first, and you can't writewithout the good and the bad.I'm a firm believer in Ying/Yangand for every bad thing, goodwill come out of it. Q: What will it take to getyou to come over to Europe?A: Dude. I so WANT to tourthere again. Its actually a gam-ble for a promoter to book usthere because I've been awayso long and its kind of anunknown how it would go. Thefew things we've done recentlyhave been pretty cool and Iknow it will happen eventually.

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Focus on: A PERFECT DAY - A Perfect Day (Front iers Records)A Perfect Day is the brainchild of Italian Metallers Labyrinth co-founder AndreaCantarelli (Anders Rain), who along with fellow Labyrinth members Roberto Tiranti(vocals and bass) and Alessandro Bissa (drums), set out forming a Modern HardRock band built on strong melodies and hard edged riffs and the resulting album istrue to this belief. From the opener and title track “A Perfect Day”, the heavy toneshit hard and make the bands point. This is continued throughout the album withmassive rockers like ‘Now and Forever’ and “Alone And Free”, although the guys alsoshow us their melodic side with the stunning ‘Long Road To Ruin’ and the equallyimpressive ‘Warm Embrace’. This is definitely one of the surprise packages of theyear so far. It’s American rock done with Italian passion and flair. I believe there isno such thing as perfection, but this is damn close. Barry McMinn (95/100)

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Question: How did A Perfect Daycome about?Answer: In the very beginning Andreawanted to write down a solo album.After some time he asked me to joinin this new adventure ‘cause thematerial he wrote was closer to a realband than a tipical solo project. It waseasy for me to take care about themelodies and lyrics, we know eachother since 1997 and we both thinkabout music in the same way.Q: The band are all Labyrinthmembers, so why develop anoth-er band? A: A.P.D. is just another way toexpress our vision of the rock musicwith a straight and direct sound,maybe easier than Labyrinth but notin a catchy or mainstream mood.Q: Can you tell us why the name APerfect Day?A: Wheels of life are turning and weare almost forty (sad but true:)), APerfect Day means another way toface our life, with a touch of ironyeven if sometimes it’s not easy tosmile. I guess we are old enough to

accept all the good and bad times wehave day by day.Q: The album itself is great mix ofHard Rock and edgy guitars with akick-ass rhythm section, was thissound you were setting out forfrom the beginning?A: Thanx a lot!!! What you hear iswhat we are! Nothing was planned,we followed our mood. We alwayswanted to write our music withoutclichés, using our heart at first... Iknow most of the times this is not theright method but is the only we know.Q: Where do you guys think thisband sits in today’s Rock market?A: Good question! In hard times likethese I really don’t know, only timewill tell! But I’m sure that a good pro-motion on the web and on the roadwill give to A.P.D. the deserved atten-tion.Q: Was there some time-pressurethroughout the productionregarding any deadlines? Or didyou have all the time you neededto fully work out everything toproduce the album you wanted?

A: Between January and March weran so fast and we put a lot of effortsfor the recording sessions and thefinal mix. Time is always not enoughwe all would like to have days madeof 32 hours :) In the end I can say weare really happy about the sound, itwas a good experience, we learnt a lota now we know what is ok or what wehave to improve for the next work!Q: The album really mixes thingsup from the heavier side rightdown to the more melodic, but isthere one track that defines APerfect Day for you?A: Any song inside this album has itsown life but if I have to chose: Nowand Forever, Slent Cry and WarmEmbrace.Q: Do you see this a studio projector will you be taking the band outof the studio and onto the road?A: Of course we wanna play our musicon a stage, no matter how big… Weneed to share it with everybody wantsto listen it... Now and forever :) Thanxa lot to you and all your readers, hopeto see ya on the road!

BAnd. a perfect dayalbum. a perfect day

Interview with. roberto tirantiinterviewed by:. b. mc minn

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Question: I just listened to yourthird work “To The End” and itrocks really hard.Answer: Thanks a lot! The workingprocess took much longer thanexpected, but now in the end we are100% happy with the result. And thefeedback we receive so far is amaz-ing.Q: I couldn't but notice youincluded in the track list AngelsWar” and “Mystic Symphony”,why this decision?A: That’s true. Both tracks are veryold, from the early days of ORDENOGAN. At that time making musicwas only for joy, we didn’t have pro-fessional structures, aims or a recordcompany. Both “Mystic Symphony”and “Angels War” date back fromthese “demo days” of the band, butwe play them live ever since. And thefans kept asking us for the tracks ofcourse. So when we started workingon “To The End”, we decided to makethem available on an official ORDENOGAN album for the very first time.Q: Can you tell us more about thewriting and recordings of “To TheEnd”?A: Writing was not the problem thistime at all. In fact, right after therelease of “Easton Hope” in January2010 I had 6 or 7 basic ideas for newsongs. But then we got offers forsome great tours like Grave Digger,Tiamat and Van Canto later, then thefestivals… this pushed our scheduleback a bit. In early 2012 we set therelease of “To The End” for April, but

to be honest – the album was just notready. It needed some more monthsto be completed and refined. I wrote90% of the song all alone and did allthe mixing.Q: You teamed up again withAndreas Marschall to do thecovert art and also the comicbook for the limited edition boxset. What about this strong col-laboration?A: The collaboration with Andreasstarted with the “Vale” album, ourdebut from 2008. We thought about acover artwork that should suit themusic well. Then our guitarist Tobisaid: “hey, why don’t we ask AndreasMarschall”? Well, he said this just forfun, but I couldn’t get this thoughtout of my head. So I tried everythingto get in touch with Andreas. It tooksome time because he isn’t reallypresent on the scene anymore, butfinally I got in contact with him. Atfirst he said that he usually doesn’t docover art anymore, but then he askedme to send him a CD. A few daysafter he called me, said that he likesour album a lot and would like topaint a cover artwork for us. It was ahappy day for me and ORDEN OGAN!After this, we never lost contact. Infact, we became friends with Andreasand he asked me to compose thefilmscore for his horror thriller“Masks”. This movie is very influ-enced by the 70’s Italo horror movies(Giallo’s “Suspiria” for example). Themovie won many prices on film festsand it was a great experience for me

personally to compose the sound-track. We will also film a third videoclip for the “To The End” album soon,where we will team up with Andreasagain.Q: Any news and behind thescene facts for the video for thetrack “The Things We BelieveIn”?A: Oh, this was really nice! Weteamed up with director RainerFränzen, who did clips for a.o. DimmuBorgir before. Rainer is a very enthu-siastic guy with great knowledge andinterest in role plays. He and his teamgave 100% and I’m sure that “TheThings We Believe In” became ourbest video clip so far. It’s great to seethat the video is even shown atBurger King TV in Germany. Q: You are very successful liveband, what your thoughts aboutthe rock scene here in Europe sofar?A: I think compared to other parts ofthe world, we have a very lively scenehere in Europe. But on the other handthere are so many bands and they allwant to tour. So it can become some-thing like an “overkill”. I very muchlike the variety of the Rock/Metalscene.Q: Talking about touring, any planfor gigs in the coming months?We have a tour with Luca Turilli’sRHAPSODY in November/Decemberand first festivals are booked for 2013as well. We are also thinking aboutdoing a headliner tour in the first halfof the next year.

band. orden oganalbum. To The EndInterview with. Seebinterviewed by. f. mainardi

Bruce Atkinson: what is different from these recordingsand your initial effort? Stefano Lionetti: I think the new album is more mature and alsomore homogenous than the first one. I paid more attention tothe details of the arrangements and I worked more on theinstrumental parts. Also I played more guitar and keyboardparts this time. The musical direction of the new record is focus-ing more on the AOR side of Lionville.BA: Has your vision changed regarding the group? SL: At first I thought of Lionville as a project because of theguests and the geographical distance of all the musiciansinvolved. Now I like to see Lionville more as a band even if themain singer, Lars Säfsund, lives in Sweden…BA: “Lionville” is a vehicle for great songwriting andsongcrafting, is the current line-up that of the first? SL: Yes, as for the Italian musicians we have basically the sameline-up that played on the first album. This time Bruce Gaitschgot even more involved in the recording sessions as he plays onseven songs of the album, so we consider him an integral partof the studio band, also because his playing adds a very specialtouch to the Lionville songs. Then we also have Robert Säll andHerman Furin, both of Work Of Art, as well as Peter Friestedt(Williams Friestedt), Sven Larsson (Street Talk) and Joe LaViola, who is a legend on saxophone in Italy. And we are veryhonored that Bill Champlin (formerly of Chicago) is singing leadand backing vocals on one song and his wife Tamara is singingadditional backing vocals on the song. BA: Being that this is your second effort, are you planningto take this to the world’s stages? SL: This is a good question…After the exciting experience ofFirefest I seriously intend to play more concerts with Lionville.This will be my next dream to be realized, we will see if the reac-tions to our second album will be positive and if this gives us thepossibility to do more shows some time in 2013.

LIONVILLE - II(Avenue of Allies)This is Stefano Lionetti’s sec-ond attempt with his belovedmusical project “Lionville”.From the very first track “AllWe Need”, one can hear thelove that is poured in to thisset of gorgeous Melodic Rock!Stefano has again teamedwith keyboardist extraordi-naire, Alessandro Del Vecchioand the result? Music that

soars... Up tempo and uplifting. Stefano has also invitedother gifted musicians to “Lionville II”: Alessandro Mori ondrums, Lead Vocalist Lars Safsund and more musicalfriends populate this Work. Most of the music has beenaffectionately composed by Stefano, while collaboratingwith Lyricists such as: Migael Persson, Robert Sall,Alessandro Del Vecchico and Pierpaolo Monti. A modernday ‘Toto’, “Lionville” is the epitome of orchestratedMelodic Rock. Each creation will lighten the spirit andheart, sending us on a diverse, beautiful and fluid musicaljourney. Tenderly put this disc on to your stereo, lie backand let these loving currents awash over you! Yes, it isthat good! Bruce Atkinson (90/100)

Gema Fernandez: Why did you choose the samemusichans that you “used” in Street Talk?Normally solo album is for exploring differentcontexts that you use to do.Sven Larsson: I have played with the drummerChristian Johansson and the bass player Björn Lodmarkfor many years and in many different situations. Wehaven´t done anything with that band for nearly sevenyears. It was very natural to have these two guys play-ing with me on this album.GF: How do you define Bad Mad Man music, thereare many influences...SL: For me the music on this album is Melodic Rock withinfluences from different kinds of music. I have hadmany influences over the years and the songs reflectthis. For example I have listened to and played a lot ofFusion and Progressive Rock so I guess it´s a lot ofinfluences from those styles.GF: While you are listening the songs the record iscatching consistency. Maybe the first couple ofsongs are little bit out from the rest…SL: The first songs are a little bit more regular Rocktunes. Later on it becomes more progressive andfusion-inspired. There’s also a lot more instrumentalparts. One thing that I have seen as a red line throughthe album is the way I have used rhythm guitars.There´s a lot of fifth chords coloured with open stringsand whammy bar. I used this style of playing in almostevery song.GF: For me it was wise to use Hammond on somesongs, the sound you get is inimitable and appre-ciated, I think that these kind of details are reallyimportant for you…SL: I have always loved the sound of a Hammond. AndI am very used to have that sound around me. I haveoften played with organ players. The sounds are veryimportant to me. I like to use different keyboard soundsand work with different guitars and amps.SVEN LARSSON - BadMad Man(Avenue Of Allies)These eleven songs area journey into the past.There would be manyadjectives to define thedifferent styles we havein this album, but wecan just say that is aclassy rock album withprogressive influences.This record is very elab-orated and every single note on it is always in theright place and absolutely amazing. Sven has been“dressed” of some of good friends and members ofStreet Talk band such Goran Edman, ChristianJohansson, Fredik Bergh among others. So take acup of coffee, seat down and relax listening thismasterpiece and all its elements like Hammond,sax, flute: this is the perfect combination to listento during a rainy day. The perfect album for all themelodic rock lovers and for all the progressive rocksupporters! Enjoy! Gema Fernandez (89/100)

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Barry McMinn: 20 years is a great milestone, didyou ever think the band would be still going afterall these years?Andre Andersen: I could have never imagined it 20years ago, but now I kind of getting used to this thought:-) BM: It was back in 2011 with ‘Show Me How ToLive’ that we saw DC Cooper return to Royal Hunt,who approached who with regards to returning tothe band?AA: It all started very prosaically without any “master-plan” in mind: DC and I started talking on Skype andsuch and after a few chats decided to “test the waters”– so to speak – and do a little tour, just to make sure ifwe could still recreate the vibe we used to have…and itworked out beautifully. So – obviously – the next stepwas to try and record an album and I´m happy to informyou that the whole process went down smooth andeasy… and now we just finished our second tour. So whoknows – we just might keep going with this line-up :-) BM: We are about to see the release of the 20thAnniversary-Special Edition "best of" CD/DVD, butwho decided what tracks from the 11 albums toinclude? AA: Basically everybody did – we all have our favoritesand our fans have them as well – it took time but I feelthat we managed to complete the most “representable”side of RH on this one.BM: For anyone who hasn’t experienced themajesty of Royal Hunt, would you say this “bestof” album is a good introduction to the band?AA: Absolutely.BM: The band recently performed live in the UK atthis years Firefest festival, how did that go andwhat was the crowd’s reaction like? AA: I knew that RH was the heaviest band on the billand maybe a little bit “too much” for the FireFest but, tomy surprise, audience seemed to enjoy our set greatlyand – according to the reaction of the fans and journal-ists alike – were much more familiar with our work thanI previously thought.BM: Are you working on a new studio album, if sowhen can we expect its release? AA: We´re still in the process of planning our futureactivities, so no solid ideas on the release as of yet.BM: It’s been a while since we’ve seen an AndreAnderson solo album, have you thought aboutdoing another solo project?AA: I might do it someday but definitively not this year.BM: With 20+ years under your belt where doesRoyal Hunt go from here? AA: As usual – trying to get better at what we do.

Barry McMinn: When you’re putting a newalbum together, do you write the songs for aparticular artist or do the artists get to pickwhich songs they’d like to sing on?Frederic Slama: Usually I write the songs with anartist in mind, hoping that particular name would dome the honor to sing it! It's a long process of writingsomething that would perfectly fit a singer in partic-ular! But usually all these famous musicians seemreally happy with what I come up with, that's whythey keep coming back!BM: How long did the album take to put togeth-er and how long after “The Colors of L.A” didyou start working on “L.A Temptation”?FS: I started to work on "L.A Temptation" almost atthe same time as "The Colors Of L.A" but with a dif-ferent vision in mind for that new album. It can takeyears to finish an album like that with so many pres-tigious guests, so I have to record one song at a timewith a clear vision of each project. And thanks to theinvaluable help of friends like Tommy Denander,Paul Sabu, Alessandro Del Vecchio & many others Ihave completed the new album faster than I expect-ed. I must add that all the people I contacted aboutthis project was very enthusiastic and all these tal-ented musicians went all the way to give me the bestfor this 11th AOR album !!BM: This album has a bit more edge to it thanthe previous albums, was this you intentionfrom the off, to make this one a touch heavier,or did it just evolve that way?FS: It was my intention to evolve to a harder sound.I've always loves Westcoast music & Melodic Rockand most of my albums is a mix of these 2 styles.But for "L.A Temptation" I wanted to have a stylecloser to Journey, Survivor or Foreigner who'vealways been among my favorite bands. And with thegreat names involved like James Christian, ChrisOusey, Goran Edman, Philip Bardowell, Paul Sabu orTommy Denander, it was easier to have a rockiersound than on all my previous cds. I'm sure the fanswill like this style even better with very melodicsongs and fabulous playing!BM: Where do you take your inspirations fromwhen writing, is it a case of art reflecting life?FS: Every day when I see people and life around me,I find ideas and themes for new songs. Anyway i pre-fer to talk about positive things. There's already toomany dark & negative stuff in this world. So I hopemy music brings some joy and happiness to the fansand people who listen to it. The lyrics are veryimportant for me and reflect the writer's way of lifein a sense. Anyway for all those interested by thenew AOR album "L.A Temptation", don't hesitate tovisit my website and to say hello ! www.slama101.fr

Attracted by the cover-artwork and intrigued by the band name, I have to say that I’veapproached the album in a very positive way. And I was right! Lover Under Cover might be anew band, but it’s composed by well known musicians in the Melodic Rock scene: MikaelErlandsson (Last Autumn’s Dream) on vocals & keyboards, Martin Kronlund (Gypsy Rose,Phenomena, Salute) on guitars, Perra Johnsson (Coldspell) on drums and Mikael Carlsson onbass & guitars, with special guest Ged Ryland (ex-Ten) on keyboards. Useless to say that thestyle that Lover Under Cover offer is a hi-quality Swedish Hard Rock/AOR, not far from what theirown bands, especially Coldspell and Last Autumns Dream, are playing. What I like most on thisalbum are the vocal melodies, really infectious and sweet, influenced by (or, at least, similar to)bands like Enuff’z’Nuff and Cheap Trick (not to mention The Beatles!); the thing is thatErlandsson’s vocals here really shine and bring the whole thing to the next level. You can still finda couple of weaker songs, but the overall impression on the album is very good, the productionis polished & clear and the musicians’ performance is top-notch. Primo Bonali (85/100)

Focus on: LOVER UNDER COVER - Set the Night on F ire (Escape Music)

Question: Your debut-albumsounds very fresh and melodic;especially the vocal melodiesare really infectious. How doyou feel about it and about thealbum in general? Which areyour most important influences,musically talking?Answer: Thanks a lot for your kindwords. It´s very flattering to bementioned along with such greatbands. We are very pleased withthe album. The sound is awesomethanks to Martin Kronlund who dida magnificent work with the pro-duction. The rhythm section is sotight and heavy. And on top of thatwe got some stunning guitarworkand Mikael Erlandsson that singsbetter than ever. We think it is areally good album and we hope thatyou guys agree with us. I have lis-tened to a lot of great bandsthrough the years. But if I have tomention the most important bandsfor me we have to go back in time.When i first started to listen to rockmusic back in the 70,s i listen tobands like Sweet, Slade andNazareth. And of course Thin Lizzyand Whitesnake. They´re all fan-tastic rock bands that always putthe melodies in focus of their

songs. And of course Mike Slamersamazing band City Boy. There weare talking serious melodies. Wewant to do all that but with a heav-ier approach. Q: How does it happen thatmost of the BEST melodic Rockbands around are coming fromSweden, nowadays? Did theyteach how to write great songswhen you’re still ?A: I think it all started with thegeneration when we were kids.Most kids stated to play some kindof instrument in the first grade inschool, and back in the early 70'sall schools in Sweden had a verystrong will to let as many kids aspossible learn to play a instrumentwith a good will from the govern-ment. I started out with pianoaround 1972 and then changed tobass around 77-78 or so. That gen-eration is now parents with goodskills in music and of course theyare great influences to their kids.So there is a lot of great amateurmusicians in Sweden Who canmake the step easier for their kidsto became professional musicians.There is a lot of great young bandsin Sweden in all genres today.Q: Your band’s name is very

appealing and nice. How haveyou chosen it? I also think thatthe album cover as well fits per-fectly with the band’s monicker!A: The name actually comes from asong that me and Daniel Boscovicwrote for the first version of LUCback in the 90,s. The refrain in thatsong goes: When will he discover,that I’m your secret lover, yourlover under cover… And we boththought that… Hell… That might bethe name for the band… And so beit !!! The song exist just as a demorecording so far. But who knows?Maybe it will pop up to the surfacesomeday.Q: How did you get in touchwith Escape Music?A: Thanks to Martin Kronlund! Hehave worked as a professional pro-ducer for many years And knowswho to talk to. And he said thatEscape Music is the right label forthis kind of music. Martin hasworked With artists like: SteveOverland, Phenomena, Joe LynnTurner, Paul Young (Mike And TheMechanics), Sad Cafe, David Reece,Alistair Gordon, Rob Morati (SAGA),Hammerfall, Brian Robertsson (ThinLizzy), and that list goes on forev-er.

band. lover under coveralbum. Set the night on fire

Interview with. Mikael Cinterviewed by:. p.bonali

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Bruce Atkinson: I understand that you haveworked with many Artists throughout your career,including Michael Thompson. Is “Soleil Moon” thevehicle that you can fully express your Artisticviews?Larry King: 100%! Soleil Moon was designed to be thevehicle for me to put out the material that I held close tomy heart. I do a lot of writing for others and every oncein a while I write a song that I want to keep to myself.This project allows me to spread my wings and step outof the box. The collaborations that I’ve been able to puttogether to create this record have made the process alittle left of center. It was a pleasure to not adhere to thetypical pop formula.BA: “On The Way To Everything” is a very interest-ing title, do I detect a certain theme here? LK: I look at each song on this record as it’s ownvignette. The stories that are being told take you on alife’s journey individually and it’s quite a roller coasterride through the record. The main theme being that nomatter what happens in life, you always have the abilityto start over. Each path that an individual chooses to fol-low will provide him with new challenges, victories anddisappointments. It’s what we choose to do with theseadventures that create our individual character so nomatter where you in life or what you have done in yourpast, at any point in time you can choose to be on yourway to everything.BA: You have Michael himself on this record, plusothers…such as Dave Hiltebrand…is this the ulti-mate group line-up?LK: As a producer, certain musicians shine in certainplaces and the musical landscape that I’ve been able tocreate based on the themes of each song I feel havebeen best displayed by this particular group of musi-cians. I’ve enjoyed working with them all and they’vemade me a better musician in the process.BA: I also understand that you produced thisrecord, was this a daunting task, or were you ableto keep an objective point of view? LK: This was definitely not a daunting task. Being at thehelm of any project gives you the freedom to paint thepicture 100 different ways. I collaborated a lot on thisrecord because I felt that I needed to broaden my ownmusical horizons. BA: If you were to compare the North Americanscene to the European scene, what are some of themajor differences? LK: This is a difficult question for me to answer becauseI’m new to the European scene. Although Soleil Moonwas exposed in 2000 with the international release ofWorlds Apart, our main focus has been North America.We are thrilled to be able to release the new Soleil Moonrecord through Frontiers and hope that by this time nextyear I’ll be able to give you a much more in depthresponse.

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ASIA - Resonance (Frontiers Records)It’s been a very productive few years for Asia since the reformation of the classic line-up. Three wellreceived albums have seen the band enjoying a late creative purple patch. This live album, record-ed last year in Switzerland. Eighteen tracks show off all the different elements that make Asia whatthey are. There’s the early pomp rock of “Only Time Will Tell”, the atmospheric prog of “Holy War”,the rock of “Go” and “Sole Survivor” plus the AOR classic “Heat Of The Moment”. There’s alsofresher material from more recent albums like the uptempo “Finger On The Trigger” to offer some-thing different from other Asia live discs. Other than an over heavy bass sound in places , the pro-duction is spot on, almost studio sounding, and there are great performances from the whole band.There’s more fire here from Howe in this live setting than he has shown in the studio recently.Downes crystal clear keyboard sound,Palmer’s sterling drumming (although do we need a drum soloin 2012?) ,Wetton’s distinctive voice and easy banter with the crowd all prove that Asia are a sea-soned outfit who are still a class act. An easy buy for an Asia fan. Duncan Jamieson (85/100)SOLEIL MOON - On the Way To Everything (Frontiers Records)This is a very special project. The Michael Thompson Band’s lead vocalist; Larry King has paired with key-boardist John Blasucci to give us thirteen very thoughtful, provocative rivers of word and music. JohnBlasucci himself, is also the keyboardist for Dennis DeYoung of Styx fame. The both of these Artists havecreated passionate music in “Soleil Moon”. “On The Way To Everything” is simply an all encompassing musi-cal expression from warning us of our mistaken paths to the compassion of human love and respect.Embracing musical expressions from the world over and firmly setting them in to a broad Rock base... thisalbum is always fresh! Larry’s vocal abilities are second to none, at times even angelic! His version of“Blackbird” brings new life to the song... and his Rock sense is so precise that he creates a “razors’ edge”to many of the music contained herein. Enlisting a variety of musical friends, including Michael Thompsonhimself, ‘Soleil Moon’ is a lasting and living testament of astonishing musical talents! “Worlds Apart”, theactual debut of “Soleil Moon”, (from 1999), is also present here. Taking on the form of two bonus tracks...Just another testament of how much Talent these maestros have! Bruce Atkinson (88/100)Y&T - Live At the Mystic (Frontiers Records)An American Rock institution, “Y&T” celebrated their first studio album in over thirteen years, twoyears ago! “Facemelter” met with acclaim from fan and critic alike. That strength and energyshows through on this, a Live document captured exactly one year ago, last November! From the“Facemelter” tour, “Live From The Mystic” is a vibrant documentation of this group of veteranmusicians. Despite the enormous loss of Bassist Phil Kennemoe, the group pulled strength anddetermination from within and decided to carry on with their musical mission. “Live From TheMystic” displays just why this group has been a major force for over thirty years! They play mate-rial from all facets of their storied career, including the latest Recorded Work, “Facemelter”. Everyperformance sounds as fresh and new as it was when we first experienced this Rock n’ Roll jug-gernaut! First Class band, First Class performances, “Live From the Mystic” is a “must have” fortrue blooded Rockers the world over. Bruce Atkinson (90/100)ROYAL HUNT - 20th Anniversary Special Edition (Frontiers Records)Royal Hunt was forged back in 1992 by keyboard maestro Andre Anderson, this Moscow nativeemigrated to Denmark to find suitable musicians to bring his new vision for keyboard orientedMetal. But it wasn’t until 1994 when D.C. Cooper took up the vacant mike spot left by HenrikBrockman, that Royal Hunt began to make waves in the metal world and the rest they say is his-tory. To celebrate this milestone Frontiers have released a CD/DVD special edition package thatnot only cover the bands vast back catalogue, but also the DVD portion has the videos from theband over the years. The CD portion also has one new song ‘Save Me’ and 3 acoustic versions ofthe classics ‘Bodyguard’, ‘One by One’ and ‘Restless’. As you might expect from a “best of” albumall your favourites are there ‘Clown In The Mirror’, ‘Far Away’, ‘Tearing Down The World’, ‘Messageto God’ and so much more. This is must buy for fans of the band, as well as a great introductionto anyone unfamiliar with a band that defined a genre. Barry McMinn (90/100)AOR - L.A. Temptation (AOR Heaven)“L.A. Temptation” is the latest album from Frederic Slama and his AOR project and once againhe has an array of stars of the Melodic and Hard Rock world both musically and vocally. Thelist reads like a who’s who and far too many to name, but I can tell you about the music. Thisalbum has a little harder edge to the previous albums, but don’t worry, Slama hasn’t gone allThrash Metal. He’s taken a few more Hard Rock and Melodic Rock elements and mixed themwith the traditional Westcoast AOR sound that we’ve become familiar with from the AORalbums and produced a gorgeous mix that will warm the hearts of fans of all three genres.Some primes examples have to be the riff laden “A Heartbeat Away” (feat James Christian),the moody “Silent Victory” (feat Paul Shortino), the rocking ‘Out On The Street’ (feat PaulSabu) and “The Price To Pay” (feat Hank Erix & Göran Edman). Just a few of the twelve melod-ic monsters on what is another tremendous album from Slama. Barry McMinn (90/100)HAMMERFALL - Gates of Dalhalla (Nuclear Blast)Hammerfall are back! And they are back with something very special. “Gates of Dalhalla” is not alive release, it is something all heavy metal and true metaheads should always have in their col-lections. This is the live recording of the 15-year anniversary show that took place on the 28th ofJuly on the historic open-air stage Dalhalla, built in an old quarry near the small Swedish villageRättv. Amazing stage, extraordinary performances by all the band members and an incredible setlist. It is so amazing to watch / listen to songs like “Heeding The Call”, “Riders Of The Storm”,“Crimson Thunder”, “Renegade”, “Let The Hammer Fall”, “Glory to The Brave” and all the mostimportant and famous songs that made this band a calssic. 2 CDs and 1 DVD set, 26 songs and2 hours and 15 minutes... this is all you need to spend your time headbanging all the time! Plus,on the DVD, as bonus, you can find the “Behind the Scenes”. “HAMMERFALL with extra everything,100% live, 0% bullshit” (Oscar Dronjak). Vitale Nocerino (92/100)

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DANGER ZONE - Undying (Avenue of Allies)Danger Zone are one of the many bands who have that never say die quality that hasbecome a trade mark in the world of Melodic and Hard Rock over the years. When thegenre has never been seen a trendy or monetarily viable, it’s the likes of bands and fanslike these who have faith in the music we love to keep the flag flying. The band of GiacomoGigantelli (vocals), Roberto Priori (guitars), Roberto Galli (bass) and Paolo Palmieri(drums), got back together in 2010 to work on live shows and new material the result oftheir endeavours is the excellent new album “Undying”. The album ticks all the boxes forfans of the genre with great melody rich tunes wrapped around some great vocals, with mypersonal favourites being the title track and album opener “Undying”, the hard hitting “I ToI”, the sublime ballads “Falling Up” and ‘The Dreaming’ and the all out rocker “Desire”, butthis album has a whole lot more to give so check it out. Barry McmInn (86/100)BLOODBOUND - In the Name of Metal (AFM Records)“Raise your fist in the name of Metal”, sing the Swedish metallers on the opening track oftheir new album, the fourth of their career. Nothing new here, right (btw, Doro just startedher new album with the same lyrics!!!)? Power Metal played with energy, force and power-ful vocals… but let’s be honest, how many times have we played an album like this before?Hundreds. Thousands. And especially one name comes to my mind after the first listen ofthe album: Hammerfall. Epic arrangements, anthemic (almost cheesy) vocal lines, stereo-typed lyrics… yes, you’ll get all of this and even more here! Don’t take me wrong, I like thisgenre, the album is very well played and the vocals here are great (Patrik Johansson reallyknows how to sing a Metal song!); the thing is that Bloodbound follow carefully the stylethat bigger bands play since years. If you’re a Traditional & Power Metal fan, you shouldcheck it out, anyway. This is definitely METAL on METAL! Primo Bonali (78/100)SAPPHIRE EYES – OSapphire Eyes (Avenue of Allies)SAPPHIRE EYES is the new AOR band of songwriter and keyboard player Niclas Olsson, wellknown for his female fronted Melodic Rock band Alyson Avenue and lead singer ThomasBursell. The songs are highly melodic with hooklines catchy as hell, the musicianship is ofthe highest order and the mix handled by Anders “Theo” Theander (Cloudscape, UrbanTale) finds the right balance between guitar power and keyboard heaven. The keyboard jobis perfect and it emphastizes all the songs and the extraordinary voice of Thomas Bursellthat contributes to the amazing final result such as “I Want You To See Me”, for exemple.This album is well done for the backing vocals work as well, they really give to the soundan incredible melodic touch; give a listen to “Only Feel Love” for exemple... FeaturingArabella Bitanc (Alyson Avenue). It is not possible to say which song is better than other...The level is really high here. A must buy! Gema Fernandez (90/100)DORO – Raise Your Feast (Nuclear Blast)Everybody knows DORO, right? And what everybody might expect from a DORO album, ifnot a full-force no-frills Heavy Metal Work? And when the opening-song is called “Raise YourFist (in the air)”, an anthemic hymn a la “All We Are”, we should have no doubts about it!13 songs on the album, Teutonic Metal at its best, featuring a duet with long-time friendMotörhead’s Lemmy on the epic & emotional track “It Still Hurts”. More traditional MetalRock songs here are “Coldhearted Lover” and “Rock Till Death”, while “Engel” is a Germansong led by heavenly keyboards and by Doro’s unique and emotional vocal performance. Aparticular mention goes also to the final track “Hero”, dedicated to the legendary RonnieJames Dio, with its magical and touching atmosphere. All in all, “Raise Your Fist” is anoth-er glorious chapter in the never ending Doro’s career and an album that will make any Doroand Warlock fans fully satisfied. Long Live Metal! Primo Bonali (86/100)F.E.A.S.T. – Strong, Wild And Free (Avenue of Allies)This is the second album for Italian rockers F.E.A.S.T. It ‘s a terrific hair metal mix ofLynch Mob, Badlands, Tora Tora and Burning Rain. Fabri Kiareli’s delicious riffs and lips-macking solos are from the same school as Eddie Van Halen and George Lynch with flashytechnical wizardry and shownmanship. There are a number of big chest beating anthemslike “Pleasure And Pain”, the throatily riffed “Hard Rockin’ Man”and the Ratt sounding“How Long”. While the guitars sate your appetite , Kiareli’s vocals add extra sauce to themusic and are at times remincent of Oni Logan. The best tracks are stacked at the begin-ning with more ballads towards the end and a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Dancing To TheRhtymn” which has an upfront keyboard sound that seems out of place here. Overallthough, if you’re a fan of 80s hair metal then you’ll want to gorge yourself on this tastyplatter. Duncan Jamieson (90/100)WHEELS OF FIRE – Up For Anything (Avenue of Allies)100% Hard rock, fresh guitars riffs and catchy melodies are the 3 elements that make thisalbum one of the highlights of the year. The compositions impressively show the progression ofthe band, since the first album, into a contemporary Rock act incorporating modern elementsinto their sound while staying true to their musical roots of the Melodic Rock sound of the 80s.WHEELS OF FIRE stand for instantly memorable vocal lines and choruses with carefullyarranged harmonies, hook laden powerful guitar riffs and solos combined with well balancedkeyboards and piano entries, big sounding drums and solid bass tracks. There are some excep-tional collaborations by wellknown musichans like James Christian (House of Lords), RobinBeck, Michele Luppi (ex Vision Divine singer, Killing Touch, Los Angeles) and Rob Marcello(Danger Danger). It is clear from the first song how this album will be: “in you face” and pow-erful! This release is just what an hard rock album should be! Gema Fernandez (89/100)

“Can’t Stop” is the latest offering from Norwegian songstress Issa (Isabell Oversveen)and like her debut release “Sign of Angels”, Issa has put her own spin on some greatMelodic Rock songs from the likes of Mark Free, Aviator, 21 Guns, Atlantic, Regatta,Worrall, Blvd, TowerCity and others. Issa delivers near perfect rock vocals once moreand deserves to be ranked among the greats in the genre like the Wilson sisters andRobin Brock, but along with great vocals come a great band and joining Issa on thisjourney are Alessandro Del Vecchio (keyboards), Mario Percudani (guitars), AnnaPortlupppi (bass) and Alessandro Mori (drums). Issa has one of those vocals that cancarry the listener on a magic carpet ride of pure melodic bliss and great songs like “JustA Wish”, “Wherever You Run” and “Stranded”, but this girl can also rock it out and somegreat examples are “Can’t Stop”, ‘Heat of the Night’ and “These Eyes” all beautifullyarranged by Del Vecchio. If there was ever any doubt of the talent of Miss Oversveen,then this album will certainly halt this. Great stuff. Barry McMinn (96/100)

Focus on: ISSA - Can’t Stop (Frontiers Records)

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Question: This is your third solo album andagain a great album, so how did this albumcome together? Answer: Serafino and the Frontiers guys organ-ized everything with the new album, they chosethe songs and the producer.Q: With “Can’t Stop” we see you putting yourown spin on some hidden AOR gems, buthow did you pick which songs to include onthe album?A: Serafino at Frontiers picked the songs and Iloved them all instantly.Q: When you cover someone else’s song,how important is it to make them fresh andto put your own stamp on them?A: It’s very important for me to put my ownstamp on each song, but still sticking to themelody and idea of the song.Q: How did you find working with AlessandroDelvecchio on the album?A: Working with Alessandro has been a pleasure,with this particular set of songs he has managedto keep the songs true to their original sound butupdate each one with a fresh feel. We had to raisethe keys of the songs as well, he also brought inhis Italian team of musicians who performed bril-liantly on this album.Q: With three albums under your belt now,do you think the Melodic Rock crowd hastaken you under its wing in this mainly maleorientated world?A: From the response I get at gigs and on myfacebook it’s just overwhelming, wonderful mes-sages of support and inspiration. The advantageof being a girl in this scene is that you do stand-out as it is mainly male vocalists in these kind ofbands, so that’s a cool thing.Q: Your second album ‘The Storm’ saw you spread your wings with a few songs of your own, will webe getting an album of original songs in the not to distant future?A: I really hope so, I have enjoyed doing this album but writing and performing original songs will always be themost important thing to me.Q: Your vocal style has been compared to the likes of Ann Wilson and Robin Beck, how do you feel aboutbeen identified alongside such big names in the world of Melodic and Hard Rock?A: Well it’s an honour to be identified with these girls as they are some of my vocal heroes and if I have half thecareer they had I will be very proud.Q: Can you please talk about your image and clothes for this album?A: When we took the photos I think we just had a focus on creating something that’s me. I normally wear naturalmake up so it reflects me in a way I guess. We had such a fun time shooting the pictures as well as the video- itwas all done on the same day and im so proud and happy about the result.Q: With the New Year just around the corner what does 2013 have in store for ISSA?A: Plans are already in progress for a tour and festivals, and I am hoping to start on my 4th album with originalmaterial, so fingers crossed and 2013 could be a very exciting year for me.

artist. issaalbum. can’t stopInterview with. issa

interviewed by:. b. mcminn

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This is good time, hard rocking party music. Taking their name from their hirsute leadsinger and guitarist Jon Belan’s alter ego, the Pittsburgh band’s influences are prettyapparent. The first single “I Only Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll” and the title track have the BonScott swagger of early AC/DC while “Superman” has the pout and booty wiggle of Kiss’sPaul Stanley with a touch of Black Oak Arkansas thrown in. Gene doesn’t just howl,he can really sing. Rocky, yet soulful he reminds me at times of Nev MacDonald of Skin.Their party anthems froth and fizz like a vigorously shaken can of beer. While the ‘wolfhave the claws and phat riffs, they also have a great ear for a pop rock melody and thesongs are sing-a-long from start to finish. It’s an accomplished disc. As well as theaforementioned songs, the power pop of “Heart Of Steel”, the hyper catchy “RuffneckWoman”, the glam Reckless Love energy of “Firecracker” and the upbeat disco meetsheavy rock of “Give It Up” make this album a hard rocking, bubble-gum joy that’s guar-anteed to have you howling at the moon. Duncan Jamieson (94/100)

Focus on: GENE THE WEREWOLF - Rock N Rol l Animal (Frontiers Records)

Question: This a great rock ‘n’ rollrecord. What’s Gene TheWerewolf’s mission statement? Answer: Thanks! Gene's mission issimple: to go back to a time whenmusic was still 'allowed' to be fun! Notto say that there's not a reason ormarket for serious, thought provokingmusic, but we wanted to take a differ-ent route with this project. We threwaway the rule book so to speak!Q: How did you come up withunusual name?A: The band name kind of came froman inside joke among our group offriends. Somehow a few years ago,when Jon grew out his beard and hadreally long hair, he developed the nick-name “Gene The Werewolf” since heso closely resembled a rugged were-wolf. So, it became the obvious choicefor us when we decided to take onstart working on a project that wasgoing be this crazy and fun! The namehad to fit, right?!Q: Although you’re obviously influ-enced by some of the classic rockbands of the 70s and 80s, no-one’sdoing this music quite in the wayyou are at the moment. Did you setout to go against the musicaltrends of today?A: We set out to just do whatever the

hell we wanted, really! Like I saidbefore, we have NO rules when writingsongs, so that's how a song like“Wicked Love” has a drum solo, tempochange, and a 1 minute long guitarsolo wrapped up in a 5 minute song.We know that songs with drum solos inthem don't get played on the radiothese days, but we really don't give adamn!Q: It rocks hard but you’ve also gota great ear for a hummable popmelody. How do you write yoursongs?A: Jon (aka Gene) usually comes upwith the basic structure of all oursongs. Interestingly enough, he humsor sings the melody into his cell phoneand records all his ideas for later use.Thereafter he usually demos said ideasand sends them to the rest of theband. From there, we each add ourtwo cents and personal flavor. It's kindof a unorthodox way of writing butgone are the days of us sitting aroundtogether and writing. Technology hasmade it much easier for us!Q: There are some great AC/DCstyle rockers like “I Only WannaRock ‘ N’ Roll” and “Rock ‘N’ RollAnimal” and the Kiss like“Superhero” but there’s alsosomething like “Give It Up” which

sounds like a disco-rock track.Which artists have inspired youmusically?A: Even though we all have very eclec-tic music tastes currently (from punkto hip hop and everything in between),we channeled the music we grew upon for this band. So you're going tohear the KISS, AC/DC, and evenMICHAEL JACKSON influences. Theywere all really important to us whilegrowing up! Q: There’s a very joyous “Life’sone big party” vibe to the record.You’re not one for depressinglyrics.A: Not at all. I think the music indus-try as a whole has given the generalpublic enough of that already! We did-n't want you to forget that music canstill be crazy, fun, and maybe even alittle silly every once in awhile!Q: Being signed to Frontiers findsyou sharing a roster with some ofthe biggest names in rock. How doyou think being on this label withhelp Gene The Wolf’s cause? A: We are completely elated to besharing a label with so many of rock n'rolls house hold names! It's a truehonor! Hopefully Frontiers gives Genea platform to serve Europe with ahealthy helping of bad ass rock n' roll!

BAnd. gene the werewolfalbum. rock n roll animal

Interview with. drew doneganinterviewed by:. D. jamieson

Question: Hello guys!“Shades Of Art” is yourdebut - album as Trail OfMurder, even if you alreadyplayed in other more knownbands (Tad Morose,Bloodbound). What do you think Trail OfMurder are bringing andadding to the current musi-cal scene?Answer: It's hard to tell. Whatwe do isn't anything new, exceptmaybe the combination ofstyles. There's something inthere for everyone. Some metal, some catchymelodies, some heavy riffs...It's all been done before, onlywe do it better... Q: It looks like in the lastfew years Sweden hasbecome the country forPower and traditionalMetal… Is there something inthe water or what, eh eheh??? Seriously, what do youthink is the reason behindthis great Power Metal wavecoming from Sweden?A: It must be all the aggression

coming from the lousy climate...I don't know really. We get thatquestion a lot. Especially usbands from Bollnäs. We have apopulation of less than 30.000people and there are severalbands that had a least somesuccess on the metal scene. Myguess is that it's the same thingas in the world of sports. If someone is successful in anarea others feel that "if they cando it, so can we". It's an inspira-tion to see that it's possible tomake it.Q: Which are your mostimportant influences, musi-cally talking? And which yourfavourite bands?A: That's another hard questionto answer about your ownmusic. We didn't have a plan tosound a certain way or writemusic for a certain genre. We just wrote songs we likedourselves. I think that's the onlyway to write music that feelsgenuine. If you plan your song writing tomuch you will limit yourself. Ithink what makes us special is

that we like a lot of the sameartist but we also like very dif-ferent kind of music. We allbring our personal stuff to thetable. People have said to us that theyhave heard influences of WASP,Queensryche and Savatage andI can't argue with them.Q: Which are the themesyou're dealing with, lyricallytalking, in your album? A: Urban always write songswith so many levels that I'm nottoo sure to be honest. I know that the song “Shades ofArt” is him reflecting on his lifewith ups and downs.Q: Any plans for live-shows?A: We are currently looking intothat. It sound really great whenwe are rehearsing and we areextremely eager to do liveshows. It will be awesome!Q: That's it! Thanx a lot foryour time. Any last words?A: Make sure to check out ourdebut album and keep your eyesopen for future shows! I canpromise you that you won't bedisappointed! Cheeeerz!

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Formed by ex-Tad Morose and Pyramaze vocalist Urban Breed together with for-mer band-mate Daniel Olsson on guitar plus Morgana LeFay drummer PelleAkerlind, Trial Of Murder play a traditional and melodic Metal, that, without put-ting any new ingredient on the table, it’s always very enjoyable and a pleasure tolisten to. 12 tracks full of great and powerful guitar parts, loud vocals and a tightrhythm section... that’s what Melodic Metal is all about! The vocal lines mightrecall somehow Jorn Lande, with a large use of vibrato and powerful harmonies,and the overall sound is not far from the style of Tad Morose and Morgana Lefay,also if with a more melodic approach (a thing I always like!). Plus, here and thereI can also listen to some traces of Savatage and Queensryche-“Empire” era. Welldone, guys! A pleasant surprise. Primo Bonali (86/100)

Focus on: TRAIL OF MURDER - Shades Of Art (Metal Heaven)

band. trail of murderalbum. shades of art

Interview with:. pelle Akerlind interviewed by:. p. bonali

Focus on: JIMI JAMISON - Never Too Late (Frontiers Records)

artist. jimi jamisonalbum. never too lateInterview with:. jimi jamison

interviewed by:. B.atkinson

From one of Rockdom’s hardest working Singer / Songwriters’, “Never Too Late” isthe latest from Jimi Jamison! Just last year, Jimi rejoined Survivor, but found timeto compose another fine solo effort. Re-energised, Mr. Jamison has partnered withthe multi-talented Songwriter Erik Martensson, whom is no stranger to EuropeanMusic-lovers. Together, these two musicians give us a musical set that puts theEnergy Needle way past 10! Now, can Jimi deliver! The title track “Never Too Late”is just one small example of how much energy this seasoned singer can produce!Wrap this up with ten more creations and you have a masterful musical journeythat will continually soar! Seems Jimi has strapped on the Rock and is taking noprisoners. “Never Too Late” is a very ‘meaty’ collection. Tracks that show thetoughness of this fluid Vocalist. Perhaps more so than previous Works. “Never TooLate” could very well be Jimi’s finest effort to date… Don’t hesitate to pick this oneup, you will not be disappointed!! Bruce Atkinson (95/100)

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Question: Since our last con-versation, during the releaseof “Crossroads Moments”, youhave toured across Europe andin the course of this time metErik Martensson… At this junc-ture did you think that you andErik would produce somethingas special as “Never TooLate”?Answer: Hi Bruce, Thank you…This is a pleasure to be able to talkto friends and fans and give themsome incite about the cd. I wasfamiliar with Erik's work from hisother projects so I knew that hewas going to come up with a greatformat for me to add my part to.He really put his heart and soulinto this very special album and Ican't thank him enough for nevercutting corners and truly workingas if every note might be his last.Thank you Erik.Q: I realize that 2011 wasspent in creating this record,let’s go through some of thecreative process. Did youapproach this project any dif-ferently than others?A: Yes, actually I was on tour somuch in 2011 that I relied heavilyon Serafino to choose the songs…Which was really no worry for meas both ours tastes are prettymuch always spot on. I have agreat respect for this man and hislove and knowledge of greatmusic. Also, its the first time I'vebeen in the studio alone to pro-duce my own vocals on a cd that isabout be released world wide so Iworked extra hard to make themas good as they could possibly be.Q: On the cover artwork, thereis New York at the and of adesert, the Mount Rushmoreand the American eagle. Whatis its meaning?A:The US has been through alot inthe past few years. The images onthe cd represent events in our his-tory that we will never forget.New York of course represents thetragic attack on 9-11 which tookthe lives of so many innocent peo-ple and the heroes who bravelygave their own lives to save oth-ers. Mount Rushmore reminds usof the great leaders who set thestandards on which this countrywas built and the Eagle stands asa symbol of the pride of this greatcountry. Q: You also have assembled agreat line-up of musicalfriends, please talk abouteveryone else’s contribu-tions…A: I owe a debt of graditude to thewonderful talents and heart given

in every track to each of the mem-bers of this fantastic team whomade this album something wecan all be proud of. ErikMartensson - what can I say… Histalent is something that only Godcan bestow - producer, mixer, leadand rhythm guitars, bass, key-boards, backing vocals and formaking the magic happen MiqaelPersson - whose lyrics touched myheart and visually paint a picturethat we see in each song. MagnusUlfstedt - My friend, bandmateand the most incredible drummer -I ever performed with JonasOijvall - unbelievable job onHammond B-3, piano and analogsynth. Magnus Henriksson -Absolutely amazing leads on"Heaven Call Your Name" and"Street Survivor" And… For thefirst time, I am so proud to intro-duce my daughter, singer / song-writer Lacy Jamison - who sangharmony and backing vocals withme on "Heaven Call Your Name"and inspired me to vocally performbeyond normal emotions on thisspecial song. I am very thankful.Q: Magnus Henriksson hasguested on this album as well,with “Street Survivor” and“Heaven Call Your Name”… Didyou write specifically for hisguitar stylings?A: Eric and Miqael wrote these twosongs and I'm sure Magnus was intheir minds as they were writing.Great honor to have Magnus onthe album.Q: Some are saying that“Never Too Late” containssome of the hardest / heaviestmusic from you in a longwhile… Do you agree?A: I agree and I love it ! There issomething inside us all that justwants to ROCK! Always has beenfor me. There is nothing like goingto a concert and feeling thatexcitement and power.Q: Of course, I must ask theobvious questions, are youpreparing to tour this album…If so, where and when?A: Yes, I'm not sure about whenand haven't worked out the detailsbut I really want to play thisrecord live.Q: Would your touring band bethose we hear on “Never TooLate”?A: That would be amazing... ifthey are available. Plus adding acouple of killer players I'm think-ing of.Q: You have a long standingworking relationship withFrontiers… Why, in your opin-ion, and with everything out

there that is available to theup and coming musician isFrontiers so successful inreaching the music loving pub-lic, where others don’t seem tobe?A: I can't speak for Frontiers but Ican give my opinion as I see it. Tome, Frontiers is about giving thefans as much great music as pos-sible. They know how to relate toartists in plain language and theyare willing to take a chance onnew groups where others are onlythinking of making a new youngartist big and making as muchmoney off them as possible andgiving the unsuspecting new artistas little as possible. Frontiers real-ly does go beyond the call of dutyand works with groups on a per-sonal level as well as a businesslevel. Also: There are a lot of for-merly successful bands out there… great bands with great newsongs who somehow are ignoredby radio and big labels in the ris-ing noise of internet music.Thankfully Frontiers realizes that aton of fans still want to hear thesegroups and their new music aswell as their hits and, as I see it,come to the rescue of many ofthese groups. Don't know exactlyhow they are able to do this buthey... They are doing it … andgrowing, and that helps us all.Q: “Never Too Late” willundoubtedly open up new vis-tas, will you concentrate moreon North America or do yousee Europe and Asia being themore receptive?A: If we can get this record in theear of the public, I think it couldbe successful anywhere. US,Europe, Asia etc... I'm proud ofthis cd and I enjoy listening to itas does everyone I have heardfrom who has listened to it so far.So, it doesn't really matter wherewe start.Q: Have you heard the newPride Of Lions album“Immortal”? If yes, what doyou think about it?A: Yes I have and it is wonderfulas usual. Q: Thanks so much for takingthe time to chat, and as is mytradition… I like to leave thelast words to my guests… soplease feel free to leave uswith some final thoughts…A: To all fans/friends everywhere.Thank you for reading this inter-view and hopefully for listening tomy new cd. In fact… Listen toevery cd you can. Don't miss outon great music no matter whosemusic it is. Thanks you all!

Bruce Atkinson: Can you tell us how the idea ofthis live album came out?John Nymann: I´m not gonna say we really planned it,but every time we come off this two month tour herein the fall, the band is really tight and solid and weplay this final show at Mystic Theater and we do itevery year and it´s always a great show and we´rewell rehearsed by then, so we went “Why don´t weshoot a video or let´s just document it and do some-thing?” and since we were doing that, Tom Sizebrought all his recording equipment to link up with theDVD, but the problem with this place is that it´s got aterrible lighting truss and it just doesn´t look goodenough for a DVD, so after we saw the footage wewent “Naahhh, it´s no good.”. But we started listeningback to the tracks and we go “Fuck, it´s pretty hot!”,so we thought “Let´s just release this thing.” and wedidn´t think much of it. It was just gonna be a under-ground thing, but Frontiers said “We want thatrecord!”, so it counts as another part of our contractso we gave it to them. It made a pretty big splash sothat´s good. It´s the perfect record if you´re a Y&Tfan because it´s our whole show and it covers all thebases. There´s a lot of good stuff on there. But we´redefinitely full of ideas and ready to go and keep play-ing.BA: Are you already working on a brand new stu-dio album?JN: Absolutely, yeah. “Facemelter”, it was a surprisehow good that turned out considering we had no ideasgoing into the studio. I mean, I had a few and Phil hada few, but it wasn´t like… we were under contract andJill said to us “You have to have this record done inthree months!” and so we just started and then boomafter a couple of weeks, the ideas started to flow andwe had more than enough.BA: Do you think it will be worked in the sameway? I mean, was it a good move doing it inrush? When do you think the new album will beready?JN: I´m gonna say it was in a way because other wiseit´s so easy to go “Well, maybe we should redo it?”.We got to a point where we didn´t have time and“Those tracks are good enough.” And they turned outto be fine. Who knows? I can´t say for sure, but it´slike when you´re cooking. You don´t wanna over sea-son it and all of a sudden you´re ruining it. They onlything I´d say about that record is we didn´t wannahave it over produced like in the 80´s. We wanted itto be more pure and keep it more organic. Some peo-ple were like “Why don´t you put more jizz on it?” andwe were like “Why, let´s keep it raw.”. Straight aheadtones and not a bunch of echo and stuff on the vocals.I can´t say for sure when we´re gonna go back inthere and do it, but within the next couple of yearsI´m sure. We have to do something.