I am proud to present you the new AOR sensation: RADAR! They come out of Long Island, New York, USA and were kind enough to sent me an advanced promo copy of their forthcoming debut CD 'R.P.M.'. This CD will be released shortly, but I had the opportunity to hear in advance the album and I must say that this is really brilliant pure AOR/Melodic Rock in the best 80s tradition. I haven't heard such a superb sounding production on an independent AOR record for years.

The production and quality of 'R.P.M.' is very impressive and without any doubts, this band is beating a lot of the bands that are now signed to the European AOR labels. This is really powerful AOR at it's best, everything sounds just perfect! Radar is a five-member band
featuring lead vocalist Pamela Moore. You may know Pam from her work as "Sister Mary" on QUEENSRYCHE's "Operation: Mindcrime" album. RADAR is nothing like that band, because you can know enjoy Pam singing pure 80s AOR/Melodic Rock.

This CD is filled with lovely huge sounding AOR/Melodic Rock and features those powerful lead vocals of Pamela who has such a strong voice that I can't understand why they never put out something before this album. Anyway, there are 10 songs on the CD and musically it is right up there with the big sounding records of bands like HEART, WITNESS, VIXEN and I even noticed a little WHITE SISTER (with female lead vocals of course) similarities in a couple of songs.

The CD opens with "The power of money", not the best song of the CD, but you can hear from the first seconds on that this band captures the big 80s Arena Rocksound that has been put on hold for one decade, but is now happily making a comeback with bands like NORWAY, SAVANNAH and now this RADAR. That first track is a nice 80s melodic hardrocksong a la PRIVATE LIFE, HARLOW, JOSETTE… Next track "Mirror mirror" is stunning. This song is a great semi AOR/Melodic Rockballad a la WITNESS. Man, this band is really HUGE!

Next up is the wonderful tune "Something's going on", a superb midtempo AOR song that totally has the perfect 80s sound, sounds like a cross between 1985-HEART, WITNESS and the first TONE NORUM. I like the songtitle of the next track which is called "Lookin' for love", but unfortunately the song itself is the first and only weaker track on the album. Following track "Shot down" is Classic 80s AOR all the way. This song will amaze every AOR fan in the world! This song is really HUGE and features not only some wonderful keys (by Russ Salerno), but also has a killer AOR chorus. This is the best song of RADAR and actually this one reminds me of WHITE SISTER, yet with female vocals.

It's not over, because also next track "Celebration" is very impressive. This song is wonderful AOR/Melodic Rock (with again great keys) and could've easily been on the WITNESS classic. The CD continues with the lovely semi AOR/Melodic Rockballad "In your eyes" which moves again into WITNESS, VIXEN, LAOS territory. Also "Yours tonight" is in this style, a classy piece of 80s AOR/Melodic Rock. The song "Win your heart" really has a superb start with classic AOR keyboards all over the place, though the song itself is a nice semi progressive AOR rocker like LANA LANE and SARAYA.

The CD closes with "Rockin'" and that's a surprise, because this song was already released way back in the mid 80s by an artist called DONNA CRISTY. She put out a record called 'People will talk' which featured superb female AOR rock and on that record was also the song "Rockin'". I am going to find out what the connection between RADAR and DONNA CRISTY.

There's a lot more history behind the members of RADAR, because besides Pam backing up QUEENSRYCHE in the 80s, also keyboardplayer Russ Salerno has done something interesting. Russ recorded a demo of VALENTINE (with Hugo) in his Mom's bedroom when they were known as "Afterimage". He's also the one who played the silly farm animal samples in "Too Much Is Never Enough".

So, there's only one thing we can do very soon and that's an interview with RADAR. Everyone that likes the good old 80s AOR/Melodic Rock of bands like WITNESS, HEAT, LAOS, HEART… needs to check out this RADAR as soon as possible. E-mail them at: radarmusic@yahoo.com and visit the website of their label at: http://www.kivelrecords.com

Rating: 9/10

A Finish Melodic Rockband formed in late 1992 who have put out a same titled mini-CD. I can call this mini-CD, because there are only 4 songs on the record, but you also get two full-length videos of two of the songs as a bonus, so you can also call it a normal-length CD, because those videos are worth the price of 4 songs! And how good these videos have been made, very professional indeed! It was very nice to see the videos of the band's songs "Cry of an eagle" and "Rainmaker".

And what about the music then? Well, it sure is good melodic rock and is reminding me of German bands like BONFIRE, VAMP, JADED HEART… "Cry of an eagle" and "Rainmaker" are two good melodic rocker with catchy choruses a la BONFIRE. The third track is "Forever gone", a great semi melodic rocker with a very good catchy chorus. This song has a very good 80s typed melodic guitarsound which I really like. Closing track of the CD is "Firedance", a good semi melodic rockballad. FREE SPIRIT is a pretty good band that needs to be heard by fans of German oriented Melodic Rock (BONFIRE). Their website is located at: www.mp3.com/freespirit

Rating: 8/10

WILD BLOOD is a band out of Nelson, BC, Canada. They have released a mini-CD which features 5 tracks. The melodic hardrock of WILD BLOOD reminds me a little of bands like LITTLE AMERICA, CHOIRBOYS, KICK… The best song is "Intensity", a great uptempo melodic rocktune in a pure 80s style. The song also captures a great guitarsolo. Also "Child of the wild ones" and "In love with Dracula" are nice uptempo melodic rockers, though not as good as "Intensity". The remaining tracks are "Modern day women" (slower tempo rocksong) and "Hypo manic meltdown" (the only weak song, a 90s sound and distorted vocals). A nice band and worth to check out at: http://www.mp3.com/wildblood

Rating: 7/10

WISH is a Swedish band that has released its debut CD 'Think' some time ago. The CD contains 6 songs and sounds pretty good actually. This is quality melodic rock in the style of DOKKEN, BONFIRE… The CD starts with "Think", a good semi melodic rockballad. Next up is the best song of the band, which is "Barbie", a great 80s typed uptempo melodic rocker a la DOKKEN. Following track "Trust me (deep)" is a very good semi melodic rockballad like JADED HEART, BONFIRE…

Also in this style is the next track "Road to eternity". Then comes the calmer acoustic AOR song "Secret song". The CD closes with a second version of the opening/titlesong "Think" and this version is really awful. I don't know if we should take this joke of the band serious, but I have never heard something worse on my own CD-player than this second version of "Think". This version has absolutely nothing to do with the other 5 songs on this CD. This is pure top-40 house, really horrible and now you see how easy someone can make such a song, a rockband making a housesong which could easily turn out to a big hit, I don't
think that's the thought behind this version of "Think".

The band informed me they were going to change their style for the next record (happily not in the style of the final track of this CD). WISH will probably be moving into a Progressive Melodic Heavy Rock/Metal style (a la STRATOVARIUS, RHAPSODY, DREAM THEATER), so next CD will not be that interesting for the pure melodic rockfans as this release. More info on WISH can be found at: http://listen.to/wish

Rating: 7,5/10

I haven't heard such a diversity on one CD since a band like LAKE (remember them?). This band is really out of the ordinary. The band consists of Gil Davis and Mike Rickenbaker and they come out of the state of Georgia. The CD starts with "Long days, long nights", a superb mid 80s pompous AOR song that can easily be compared to WHITE SISTER, STYX and PATRIARCH, especially the keyboards/synthesisers sound HUGE! This is very good stuff and actually I was onto something really sensational. This wonderful song is followed by "Under the gun", a nice 70s oriented midtempo Pomprocker that sounds like a cross between URIAH HEEP and STONEBOLT.

Next up is "Do you want the girl", a cool early 80s AOR/Poprocker a la EDDIE MONEY, only with weaker vocals. I don't know what happens then, but the rest of the CD (7 songs) has absolutely nothing to do with Rockmusic. Songs like "Summer garden" (hippies-type early 70s ballad), "Ride the wind" (weird 60s country-folk), "When the night comes in" (Jazz-Pop) and "Love and devotion" (FRANK SINATRA!!! typed 50s ballad) are really hard to recommend to a Rockfan.

I really don't understand why this band didn't continue the style created on the wonderful opener "Long day, long nights". If they had written more songs in that Classic Pomprockstyle, then they would be a hit for the fans of this genre. Now, they have one wonderful Pomprocksong, a few nice rockers and a bunch of Popsongs. I really don't know what to say further about this band. The only thing I can say to the bandmembers is that it would be much better if they would write some more rocksongs for a future CD, because this is way too diverse for everyone. Now I can recommend it to a fan of Pomprock, but also to fans of FRANK SINATRA! Such diversity shouldn't be put on one CD. Anyway, for people who want to check out this band, visit their website at: http://i.am/retro

Rating: -

This American band sent me a demo tape. The tape features 5 songs in a style which is becoming quite popular in the USA these days. This is 90s oriented melodic pop/rock and although the band has probably been influenced by bands like MATCHBOX 20, GIN BLOSSOMS and whatever, I do feel that they also will attract people that like the last NELSON album 'Life' as well as fans of PROMOTION, HIGHER GROUND... The catchy melodic poprock is perfectly suitable for radio airplay.

The tape opens with "Promise", a nice 90s orientated melodic pop/rock song that sounds like HIGHER GROUND/PROMOTION, yet with a poppier chorus. The next song "All I Need" is much better actually, because this is a cheerful uptempo melodic poprocker that sounds like the last NELSON record. The following track "Here for You" is a nice semi-ballad. "Orion Flies" follows and is a nice semi-melodic rocker. The tape closes nicely with "Best Friend".

This final track is also the best song of 12 MILE LIMIT, because this song is a great 80s-type uptempo melodic rocker. Instrumentally, this is the perfect melodic rock sound which was so popular in the 80s. Bands like this can make that melodic rock sound come back. I sure hope the band writes more songs in the style of their track "Best Friend" on a future release.

For now, more info on this band at their websites: http://12ml.homepage.com and at http://mp3.com/12ml

Rating: 7,5/10

This Austrian band sent me a new CD-single titled 'I'll be there for you'. The sound and production of the two songs on the CD are very good. The songs are titled "I'll be there for you" and "Where's the sun", both are nice semi ballads. You can listen to them via their website at: http://get.to/xfears

Rating: 7/10

This is a band from Poland and they have sent me a DEMO CDR that features 3 songs they have recorded. The band is formed around guitarist Kret and vocalist Ania. Ania has a pretty good voice actually that sounds a little like KAREN LAWRENCE (1994). Musically the band is playing a mixture of 80s melodic rock and 90s pop/rock. They sing in the Polish
language and like I already said this is a demo and not an official release. And I need to inform you this is just a demo, because the production is not really good.

But it's the music that counts and actually the first song of the demo CDR is pretty good. This song is called "Bedziesz" and especially the chorus is sounding very good. This is almost an AOR chorus and the melody line is very catchy and keeps sticking in your head, so these guys have made a great song! The lead vocals of Ania are really good and very nice to listen to. The only thing is the quality of the recording, if they would be able to do a big budget recording, then it would all become much more interesting. Now the band has to work with a low budget.

The other songs of the CD are "Walczyk" (bit weak 90s orientated pop/rock) and the instrumental "Caty". That first song is really good and has a very good melody that shows that this Polish band is also able to write catchy tunes. The only thing they need to do is to find a sponsor, so they have some money for a higher budget. Still, check out the first (?) Polish melodic rockband, e-mail them at: A.Kondrowski@ec.opole.pl and visit their website at: Avalancha

Rating: 6,5/10

"Contagious Grooves" is the follow up to Jaye's debut "Infectious Licks". This record is more versitile than the first, alot more experimentation can be heard through out the songs which resemble more bizzare and outlandish arrangements that take on many different forms of playing, this if you like has become the trademark for artists like DREAM THEATER's - JOHN PETRUCCI and ZAKK WYLDE. Songs such as "Angst","Zombieland" and "The Untamed" build into quite tasty songs which bring to mind the progressive roots of DREAM THEATER mixed with some radically bizzare tapping patterns. "Beginnings" features numerous chord changes and has this lovely melody running through it, as does the subtle "My Own Abyss" both of which remind me of SHAWN LANE and ERIC JOHNSON.

"Transition" and "Hippo Groove" are my fave tracks possessing some hot licks, perhaps a little more commercial sounding than the other songs due manily to the consistant melodies which reminds me of BRETT GARSED and RICHIE KOTZEN. Jaye possess a wide range of musical understanding, which is very rare today, her music allows her to explore her skills, and in doing so has provided us with a no nonsense instrumental album filled with great compositions. For more info: http://www.jayefoucher.com or email: jfoucher@aol.com

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

I was amazed how hard n' heavy these Chicago based rockers were on first listen to this album. My first thoughts were big meaty driving rock songs played with a hard punch, but after further listens the album became not that exciting, but still it's a nice hard rock album that bares resemblences to TED NUGENT, MR.BIG, ATELLO, WHITE LION,VAN HALEN, TESLA, RATT and especially BULLETBOYS, vocalist/guitarist Ray Aguilera has that smokey Marc Torien, David Lee Roth range with a subtle hint of SAVANNAH's Earle Lord.

They pack a mighty punch on the majority of the tracks, like the cool strut of "Senorita" which reminds me of AEROSMITH, THE WHO (in places), MONTROSE and VAN HALEN, the songs are vibrant rockers and feature some very in your face shred work from Ray , but the album comes across to one paced and is perhaps a couple of tracks too long. However I do rate the cd and I urge you to check them out if you need a fixx of firey eighties hard rock, DUDE!! Website: http://www.iuma.com or email: alibirocks@aol.com

Rating: 8/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Ahh, Das return and are in fine form with these two sample tracks from their fouth coming album "Never Say Die". Like Chicago's ALIBI, Das play straight forward eighties hard rock with powerful catchy chorus' and great axe work. Das can now proudly class themselves along the likes of TESLA, XYZ, VAN HALEN, SHOTGUN MESSIAH, DANGER
DANGER, WINGER, VELOCITY, VON GROOVE, BON JOVI, HELIX, SHARK ISLAND, HEAVENS EDGE, EYES, LYNCH MOB,BRITNY FOX, BILOXI, BABYLON A.D., AEROSMITH, SVEN GALI, TERRA NOVA, XENON, etc..as they are rocking with the best of them.

Of the two tracks I really enjoyed the bombastic "Wildside", this song has enough crunch to make any self respecting hard rock fan happy, listen to the song loudly and you will be singalong like a fool, I love the guitar parts on this song to as it resembles everything we love about eighties hard rock, "Wildside" is just so damn infectious it's scary, "Never Say Die" is also well groovy and very melodic and reminds me of SWEET FA, SOUTHGANG and SNAKES IN PARADISE. The bottom line is that Das are a great band, the album is due very soon, and I can hardly wait, if you wanna rock, then rock with DAS!!! Website at: http://www.dasmusic.com

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

2ND OPINION REVIEW
(FRONTIERS/NOW AND THEN RECORDS)

After the collapse of the ZERO label Germanys finest melodic rockers found themselves with out a record deal, but not for too long as Frontiers/Now And Then have snapped them for their brand new release simply entitled "4". (No imagination used there then)

Whilst everybody praises this band and their debut and "Go!" albums, I for one found the underrated "Rainmaker" album to be a hugely enjoyable album which featured the incredibly catchy driving summer rock song "The Heart Of The Summer" which is one of my favourite radio-friendly tracks of all time. I also totally rated ULI JON ROTH's "Sky Of Avalon" masterpiece which featured perhaps Tommy Heart's best ever vocal performance on the cover of "Bridge To Heaven", which to this day I still have to listen to once a week at least, an awesome song, and if you know that album then you can see that Fair Warning have sneaked in some of the inspiration of that experience into "4".

The album sprints into gear with "Heart On The Run" which sits nicely with all the other Fair Warning tracks, but whats nice about this track is that ULI ROTH has obviously rubbed off a bit as there are some guitar parts from Andy Malecek and Helge Engelke that sound very similar to his work on "Sky Of Avalon", perhaps maybe even hinting towards a touch of the ZENO style, the parts often use neo- classical phrasings with an almost charging cinematic spiritual feel of electric melodies. The song is very nice and very melodic with a singable chorus.

"Through The Fire" starts with some big fat guitars and some nice synth work and catchy chorus, but the song in itself for a band of Fair Warning's status is not so good, also a bit on the weak side are "Dream" and "Time Will Tell". We move on with "Forever" a stirring song that goes back to the roots of the debut, as does "I Fight" which is very melodic and rich with some skillfully played instrumentation. One of Mr.Heart's strong points is the range of power that his voice manages to pull off, especially on power ballads, we have three on four which is sure to send their Japanese fans into to totally dreamstate. "Night Falls" is a soothing melodic ballad and the accoustic/electric "Break Free" is a powerful gut wrencher that should be issued as a single. Tom's voice is huge and total magic, the other ballad is "Tell Me I'm Wrong" which is perfect and is led with a very passionate performance by Tommy, this is a huge, huge, huge song that you will all love to death, again this takes it's cue from the ULI ROTH experience.

The best songs for me are "Wait", a very heavy rocker incorporating some tasty axe work and keyboard parping, "Eyes Of Love" is pure and melodic and very much in the classic tradition of Fair Warning "1",a great song that is very easy to sing along with, "For The Young" and the afforementioned "Tell Me I'm Wrong"are perhaps the standout tracks, "For The Young" is an epic track that starts off with some Celric influences possibly inspired by the film "Braveheart", this is a very strong song, huge melodies the lot, what I like about it, is the backing choir, vey nice, as I said this song has a cinematic feel, a bit of a rebel song.

Overall the first impression of "4" left me a bit cold because I was expecting songs that would hit you in the face instantly, but you must persevere with "4" it's an album that won't get pushed to the back of your collection, that i'm pretty certain of.

Rating: 9/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Street Legal's debut album has been causing a bit of stir in these pages, so I felt that I had better put in my two penneth. It's blatantly obvious that this band want to get back to the basis of melodic rock, and oh boy, we are fed a mighty feast of rock songs in the traditional style of bands like WHITESNAKE, THIN LIZZY and VAN HALEN. And they even manage to give those bands are run for the money, when you get this disc, make sure that there is no one else in the house, and turn the volume up full!! No wonder they got pulled of the stage at a recent W.A.S.P. gig, phew, the amount of energy this band has is awesome!!

Street Legal is the brainchild of ex- DA VINCI man Bjorn Boge, but leave the room right now if you are expecting the style of DA VINCI, no fucking way, this rock like a mean mother fucker, every track pounds through big powerful drums, electrifying guitar shredding and big god like vocals that send you into a head banging frenzy, you get your token ballads like "Shine On", which reminds me of EXTREME's "Who Cares" from "III Sides To Every Story" with some nice violin playing added into the mix. and "Will I Ever Love Again" which reminds me of WHITESNAKE's "Crying In The Rain".

Top moments are awarded to the mega furious hard n' heavy assault of the fretalking "Red Light District" this song is as as easy to get into as a London whore, as is the excellent "Stranger In The Night", the best song however is "In The Mood", this song rocks big time, like VAN HALEN when DAVID LEE ROTH fronted them, big fat crunching guitars, a thunderous slap of drum pounding and some great singing. Yep this band have got everything worked out and show all the ingredients of a band on the verge of...just watch the sparks fly at the next gods festival, should they play..ESSENTIAL!!!

Rating: 9,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Out of Houston, Texas comes multi-instrumentalist FRANK WEST JR., a talented man who released his second CD 'First licking hard' last month. The CD contains mainly instrumental melodic rock and because Frank uses only keyboards and guitars, it sounds a bit hi-tech due to the use of drum machines.

A very good instrumental 80s typed uptempo AOR/Melodic Rocker is the song "Ring it up" which sounds like PHIL VINCENT without vocals. Very good song indeed and also good are the songs "Fretting on down" and "OK". Though my complaints are the songs with vocals on it such as "I'm not fooling" and "I'm busted". I have to be honest, because Frank can't sing this type of music. Frank is instrumental doing things fine, but the vocals are just not good enough to be put on his music. Anyway, for the instrumental guitar freaks another artist worth checking out at: Frank West Jr.

Rating: 6,5/10

Axminster come from the same label people who bought you the latest and greatest 8084 album. Axminster were originally around in the mid eighties and like label mates 8084, they have recently reformed, this album has been produced by the legendary HIRSH GARDNER, you know if POSION, KIX, RATT, LA GUNS, QUIET RIOT, PRETTY BOY FLOYD, MOTLEY CRUE hadn't happened then I think Axminster might have been in with a chance in those good old days of rock n' roll !!!

Axminster you see are a shit hot band, who offer loads of anthemic fist flying hard rock songs, that are so fun and bouncy, for proof check out "Only A Stranger" this is god damn infectious and reminds me of DAMN YANKEES' " Coming Of Age", with a SHOUT it out chorus!!!

"Life's A Knockout", "Shame" are so cool, great fun songs that would have been a hit, with a great boogiewoogie swing that DAVID LEE ROTH or LA GUNS would have been proud of, then again maybe not ha ha!! The whole album is full of fun high energy songs, that grab you on first listen. If you miss your fixx of "Girls Girls Girls, Dr.Feelgood" cica MOTLEY CRUE check out "Teenage Livin'", to the EXTREME/TUFF sounding "Dirty Magazines", look get into this album as it's great, got it? get it? GOOD!

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)