In the noughties, Norwegian hard rock band Winter Parade released two albums for two different independent hard rock labels: while ‘Midnight Paradise’ [MTM Records, 2002] and ‘Two’ [Perris Records, 2008] were a huge commercial success, both found a cult audience. Following the band’s demise, bassist PB Riise teamed up with guitarist Tore Meli and Coldspell [...]

Under the creative guidance of bassist Alec Mendonca and boasting the vocal prowess of ex-Unruly Child vocalist Philip Bardowell, N.O.W.’s 2010 debut album ‘Force of Nature’ had the makings of an cult AOR classic.  It had the well arranged tunes; it had some strong choruses.  On the surface, the album had the potential to be [...]

Those of a certain age should already be familiar with some of Player’s previous work, since the pop-rockers scored a huge US hit in 1978 with ‘Baby Come Back’, a track which even entered the UK chart peaking just inside the top 40. In their 70s heyday, the band toured with Heart, Boz Scaggs and [...]

Sometimes it feels as if half of Sweden were raised on Journey and Survivor and in AOR terms have chosen to keep the dream alive (to borrow a phrase from an old Now & Then Records sampler) with their own punchy melodic rock bands.  For those who’ve enjoyed the melodic rock and AOR over several [...]

‘Heaven Knows’ may be the first outing for Swedish rockers Edge, but the more aware listeners among you will certainly recognise a couple of band members.  The core of this band features vocalist Jonas Forss and guitarist Tobias Andersson, both of whom have also plied their trade as members of Seven Wishes.  Upon first hearing [...]

In 1980, Rick Springfield’s fifth album ‘Working Class Dog’ shifted the Australian singer away from the teen market and into the pop/AOR market, its lead single ‘Jessie’s Girl’ subsequently propelling him to stardom.  During the next few years, he released album’s of a similarly high calibre, ending his most high profile period with the classic [...]

Instead of capitalising on her very enjoyable second album (2011’s ‘The Storm) with another set of specially written melodic rock tunes, on this third outing, Norwegian songstress Issa and her band venture into the wobbly world of the  covers album.  It would have been easy for Issa to wheel out a few of AOR’s best-loved [...]

Eight years is a long time between albums, especially for a band that is less than established, but that’s how long it took Bonrud to follow up their self-titled record from 2004. While it is unlikely Paul Bonrud and his chosen band spent all of the intervening years working on this sophomore release, the end [...]

Dokken are not exactly well known for their classic album covers, but with regard to 2012’s ‘Broken Bones’ their sleeve art hits an all time low.  A retro skull and crossbones? The album may reference the word bones but, surely, they could have chosen something better?  As indie-rock band Ash once put it, pirates are [...]

‘Immortal’ is the fourth studio album from Pride of Lions, the melodic rock project pairing one-time Survivor keyboard player Jim Peterik and vocalist Toby Hitchcock.  Right from the release of their debut in 2003, the band have received almost constant praise from the melodic rock community – somewhat unsurprising, since Peterik is considered one of [...]