Do we understand how great this year is. We're only halfway through and I realize that you have to go all the way back to the 80s to find so many good releases in one and the same year, fantastic! Now it's time for Norway's nr.1 furious and complexed metal flagship (Conception had the throne earlier). I thought I heard it all with marvelous albums delivered by Kamelot, LanFear, Wanishing Point, Iron Mask, Dark Moor,Thunder Head and Brain Storm, but I had not. Pagan´s Mind is hammering in some new killer songs and take a very high jump up on the bombastic progressive metal podium. It's hard to find new words to say about great metal bands, so forgive me if I repeat myself. I have tried to hold back the score as much as I could this winter, otherwise I would have ended up around 95% with to many albums. As I reminder the score 90% is just one step (100%) from a classic album, so everything above 70 % is worth checking up. Blah, Blah, Blah...And now back to the review. 

These Norwegians hit back hard with their powerful melodic progressive metal and this time with stronger refrains, but at the same time harder and with a more extreme outfit. 65:43 minutes of fascinating conceptional album on the extraterrestrial origin of mankind. It has taken them over a year to complete the songwriting and the album was recorded between October 2004 and January 2005 in media maker studio. Fredrik Nordstrom was once again (he also produced the Celestial Entrance album) behind the production and the final touches of “Enigmatic : Calling”. Not many bands can handle to deliver brutal songs and yet be so catchy at the same time. They have been inspired by Conception, Aha and even classical names like Edward Grieg. The sound on here are spreading it wings in a very broad spectra and it will take some time to discover it all, if ever possible. Patience is one word you will use very often in Pagan´s Minds musical world. I hope they will show up in my neighborhood soon. I promise to go and get the longest red carpet I can find and the biggest hat that I can take off. Another release to go crazy about. This is good, damn good, but remember that this is a progressive metal release and the score are judged from that point of view. If you're only into aor and melodic rock and don't like this type of music, this score might seems a little high so have that in mind while reading the score of my reviews from now on. A high score is not always what it seems to be, always keep in your mind what type of music/style the review deals with.

85/100

Johnny Forslund

Sha-Boom originally emerged with the "Fox on the run"/"Dangerous" single in 1988 and were purveyors of Sweetish glam. 2005 sees vocalist Dag Finn as the sole survivor of those days, although bass player Peo Thyren lends a lyrical hand. Finn has assembled a veritable who's who of Scandinavian hard rock including Tommy Denander, Sayit, Kee Marcello, John Leven, Joel Starander, Marcel Jacob and Mic Michaeli for "The Race is on".
The result? the kind of album that would be the perfect soundtrack for some mythical endless summer. Drawing on elements of Def Leppard, Queen, Marvellous3, Treat amongst others, the songs, all delivered in Finn's warm rasp, are masterpieces of pop rock, wrapped in big harmonies and a crisp production.
"Blah, blah, blah" is a snotty melodic two fingers to some erring miscreant with a chorus begging for radio play, as is the Leppard arena leveller of "Somewhere in the dark".

Built around a Clarence Clemons sax riff and a Stonesy riff, "Get the party started" does exactly that and dull would be the curmudgeon who could not croon along, while "Message of Love" is a mildly guilty pleasure, perhaps it's the hints of Abba in the chorus.
Loved WigWam? Seduced by The Darkness? Sha-Boom blows the bloody doors clean off. Now to find that endless summer!

85/10 

Andrew Paul

Carol Chase has carved herself a niche as a backing singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd alongside Dale Krantz-Rossington, though she has been going about the music business for some time.
"Blue Highway" sees Chase stepping out from the freebird's long shadow and a welcome step it is too. Produced by the lady herself and a cool take on Dylan's "Gotta serve somebody" aside featuring her own material, "Blue Highway" is a balanced blend of blues, soul and country tinged low slung rock, with the spice being that elusive Southern flavours that draws the listener in.
"Back to the well" is low-key Skynyrd with Chase's warm and expression suggesting considerable vocal kinship with the aforementioned Mrs Krantz-Rossington, while the easy lope of "I'm the blues" is perfect for a dusty roadhouse in the small hours.
The title track is a dip into Blackhawk territory, Chase's intimate vocal charting a course along a long road ahead, while the stand-out track is the acoustic elegy to finding the strength to opening one's hand and releasing someone, physically or in terms of memory that is "Let go".
Carol Chase is talent too long in the shadows, and "Blue Highway" suggests the limelight will become her.

80/100 

Andrew Paul

These guys don't spit out studio albums every year. They take their time and do it when they are ready to rock. When I say Finland you probably think: Another power metal release again, but no. Not this time! Myon are a Finnish band and were founded in 1995. In 1998 the debut album “Heavens In Garden” came out and the result was convincing enough to release the follow up in 2002 called “Ghost In Paradise”. After that Myon changed vocalist and found a perfect match for the bands charismatic sound. Jukka Nummi blends in perfect behind the microphone. Myon have changed their sound pretty much for this third album. 

With Jukka in the band and also his participation in the songwriting the band came out from the recordings with a different attitude and style. You will hear some progressive elements and some unusual cool keyboard passages throughout the entire album. I can only agree with the band about their sound, stylistic in the same vein as Saga and also a hint of Aha involved. Plenty of guitars and keyboards or as they say, “cat and mouse” antics”. This album gives you tons of interesting sound variations into a melodic rock territory you haven't been in a long time. Almost very clever in some songs and other parts have a beautiful angel with a clear mystic touch over them. I also exhort you to give this album some time before you decide if you like it or not. I guarantee “Slideshow” will grow and become a very personal affair. Maybe not the best melodic rock album so far this year, but still very exciting and a pleasant trip to discover.

75/100

Johnny Forslund

The third album and the real break through for these Australian metal guys. They have done some huge songs before, but this time they deliver 13 even stronger and well written tracks of around 79 minutes of pure magic metal heaven. You get melodic progressive metal with roots. It's packed to the maximum with deep feelings and tons of emotion. Melodic riffs, great vocals, thoughtful lyrics and mega bombastic drumming side by side with the speedy driven keyboard. This is what I call a “Fat” release. Hard to melt at the first round, but in the long run it last and passes many of the other metal albums released so far this year. European fans will go crazy about this, and I think the band will nock big time on your door very soon, how about a tour with Kamelot and Lanfear? 

I know they are touring with Nighwish in Australia, so beware. “Embrace The Silence” represents a serious attitude in a progressive world, given to you with heart, body and soul. Well written songs, they must have picked them up from deep inside somewhere. You will believe every word they sing. Wanishing Point deliver a musical landscape and takes you on a journey to new hidden places. This album needs to be discovered and I'm sure it ends up on my top ten at the end of 2005. Australia is not only about AC/DC anymore.

80/100

Johnny Forslund

Ten songs and 46 minutes is what you get from Edge Of Forever, nothing more and nothing less. It is produced by legendary Bobby Barth (Axe). On vocals Bob Harris (Axe) doing his best by convincing you to like the songs. Here we're talking traditional hard rock with keyboards backing up the melodic tracks. If you liked the 80s and still haven't left it for one second this will be a new trip back to the days of thunder. I must admit that I'm not a very strong fan of this band. The debut passed through quickly and I thought I give them another fair chance with the new disc in my player. After the first spin I didn't really get it the right way, but after a few days with it I suddenly got it straight. 

The album doesn't really lift in a positive way. I can't put my finger on what it is. I guess I need to live with it for a longer period to come to a final conclusion. The feeling is the same as the good old classics use to give you, quality some how, but the songs are gone as soon as you press the stop button. It's not a new gold digger album, far from it, but it's enough to be happy and somehow nostalgic for a while and that's not to bad after all. I will try to focus next time.

60/100

Johnny Forslund

MTM is teasing us with some good classy and a little dusty Zeno songs while we are waiting. As you probably already know the real big bang (new studio album to be expected soon) is on the way with newly written material. Just by mention the names Zeno Roth, Michael Flexig (what a special voice he has), Tommy Heart (guest vocals on Hard Beat & Dreaming The Night Away), Ule Winsomie Ritgen, CC Behrens. It gives you the big shake, can you feel it? It gives you a pure nostalgic feeling. I have to mention Tommy Heart again, by hearing him I wish from my heart and soul that Fair Warning was alive and kicking again. We need Zeno and Fair warning, they had that quality around them. 

OK! Back to this compilation. “Zenology II” is a new collection of previously unreleased Zeno tracks. The songs are taken from recordings in different studios around Hannover between 1983 and 1989. If you have got the right feeling for melodic hardrock or melodic rock this is one of those must buys. Zeno belongs in any record collection. It proves your hard rock status among friends. Zeno Roths older brother is no one else then Uli John Roth (Scorpions and more), so now you know how good this guy is. The Roth names could almost be a trademark for the branch.

80/100

Johnny Forslund

I've been waiting with baited breath ever since I heard that Russell Allen one of the best vocalists we have in the world of rock was to release a solo album. The wait let me tell you was well worth it. The singer with the awesome Symphony X band has put together eleven songs that I'm sure will surprise you all. Why surprise?, well if you were expecting an album full of neo - classical prog metal in the same vein as Symphony X then you will be sadly disappointed. For what is on offer is an album crammed full of old school hard rock , that brings to mind the likes of Rainbow / Purple / Dio / Tony Martin era Sabbath with splashes of The Quill and even Audioslave for good measure. Sounds good doesn't it, well believe me when I tell you it is. 

The musicianship throughout is as you would expect fantastic , Allen having roped in old friends from Symphony X / Phantoms Opera and Stratovarious to help out , yet as good as they players are it's the vocals of Russell Allen that are the real killer on this cd. Lets face it this guy could sing the ingredients on the back of a cornflakes packet and make it sound good. So I'm not going to bore you with what tracks to lookout for, suffice to say they are all wonderful. All I will say is that I think you should all own this , hard rock heaven simply wonderful .

95/100

Ian Johnson

This guy has done some major metal classics (tunes) over the years. He has been hanging out with bands like Axel Rudi Pell, Joshua and also with Chris Impelitteri among others. After this journey he decided to take the career further on and started a respectable solo attack. With one of the cooler and angry-aggressive voices in the harder category he performed well with both “Rage Of Creation” (first album, 2000) and “Eyes of Eternity” (2003) which went really well among the metal believers and hard edged rock friends. He have never left the 80s field and without any doubts the story continues on “Holy Hell” and will not be any bigger disappointment for die hard fans around him, but maybe for the rest. It could have been a good idea to change the sound a little bit into a new metal territory, not much! Just a little here and a little there would have been enough and to the better for the end result of “Holy Hell” and Rob Rock. The songs are slightly too similar to each other. 

This guy is so talented and he has a fantastic melodic voice, so please give him some new tuff stuff to work with and I'm sure he will turn the songs into classic hymns. I would like to see and hear him in a pure melodic hard rock band, nothing else. This is still a pretty good album and it has got its charm. But! Rock on Rob!

70/100

Johnny Forslund 

This is I think the third album to have the name of Brunorock not sure about the first one, but the second was called X-Over and was reviewed as sounding like Winger and TNT it didn't. They then dropped off the face of the earth only to pop up on the MTM label with this their new cd Interaction. The album features ten tracks of melodic hard rock that while not going to set the world on fire are on the whole pretty good. For reference points they remind me this time round of Pink Cream 69 and maybe Jaded Heart at a push , if I had to use one word to describe them it would be the word NICE. 

That about sums this album up for me nice try and if MTM give them another chance then they may just hit it right on the head. If you want to look out for the songs then It's All Been Done Before / Pray For Rain and Castaway are for me the pick of the bunch, I feel I may be being over critical as there really is nothing wrong with this album it just didn't do anything big for me, sorry guys.

73/100

Ian Johnson

This I think is Lana Lane and Erik Norlanders 20th or 21st album together, and is easily the best they have put out. As the years have passed by each release from the Lana Lane band has gotten better and the leap in writing and everything else on this album is simply amazing. Lady MacBeth is a concept piece but all of you groaning out there stop no , although it is a concept it is also a fantastic hard rock album that most aordreamzone readers will love . After only one play I could tell that my top ten for the year was going to have to expand to a top 20 ( at least ). 

The other thing I noticed on playing the cd for the first time was Lana Lanes vocals which while always excellent have really come of age on this cd her best performance to date, for proof listen to "Someone To Believe" and tell me that that song doesn't send chills down the spine with it's totally powerful yet emotion filled vocals, she is without a doubt one of rocks best singers today. Added to this is a superb musical ensemble that play out of their skins with of course Mr. Norlanders keyboards coming in for high praise, which all go to make an album that on repeated plays rewards the listener every time. Anyone out there who crave top notch symphonic / hard rock sublime vocals and excellent musicianship must buy this album .

90/100

Ian Johnson

Last year Henning Pauly of the excellent prog rock band Chain put together a superb cd called Unweaving The Rainbow under the Frameshift banner, it featured James LaBrie on vocals and was full of subtle yet engrossing prog and was a favorite of mine. Sadly James LaBrie wasn't able to sing on this new cd so a new vocalist was needed, who would step into the shoes of arguably the best prog metal vocalist around? Well on Mr. LaBries recommendation Sebastian Bach ( yes he of Skid Row fame ) was recruited. You at the back all ready to leave don't because as strange as it seems he dose a fantastic job , mainly I think because Henning Pauly has gone for a much more rocky affair on this album, in places it is very heavy indeed. This at first threw me as it wasn't like anything I was expecting but again it works, oh not on first, second or even third listen but the more you play it the more you understand and like the music. 

The music itself is all about the violence in the world today especially murder and I think that is where the heavier side of this project comes from , Henning Pauly again plays everything ( including the kitchen sink ) except drums and dose a remarkable job.  It is hard to tell you what songs to look out for because every time I play the album I find a new favorite but one that always sticks with me is Just One More ( about a serial killer ) which every time I play it gives up a different side of itself and is all the better for it. If you were expecting Unweaving part two then you may be sadly disappointed but if you like heavy prog or wish to see what Seb Bach is really capable of then this Frameshift might just be for you.

85/100

Ian Johnson

I first read about this band on the web , touted as a pomp prog band with touches of Styx / Zon and Angel I was to say the least intrigued. I tracked down a copy and after a couple of listens can tell you that it sounds like none of the above bands, yet is still a very good album non the less . Reminding me of a less technical Vox Tempus in places , the band have put together ten slices of melodic prog that have lots of catchy hooklines coupled with some wonderful guitar runs courtesy of Rich Stewart and Chris Welcher. Also for an independent release the production is of a quite high standard which always helps this kind of music . I feel that if given the chance and the right deal say on Now & Then or maybe Inside Out or one of the other labels branching out into this field of music then they could be a real find . Standout tracks to look for include Redemption / Vertigo / The Burn and Heart Of The Storm, I hope they get to do another album because I think with the proper backing and more money they could go far, well worth the few dollars investment in their cd .

80/100

Ian Johnson