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 decades, quite understandably, many of these bands have felt somewhat “second division” (and most of those in turn have seemingly signed to Escape Music). There have, however, been a couple of bands whose early works could stand proudly against releases from AOR’s eighties heyday. Both Work Of Art and Wigelius have wowed genre buffs with their near perfect records between 2010 and 2012; joining them in the early part of 2013 is Gothenberg’s Diamond Dawn, whose debut release ‘Overdrive’ is rather splendid.
Monthly Archives: February 2013
Xentrix to support Kreator at UK shows in April
Cut British thrash band Xentrix have reformed and will be gigging again. So far, the band have three dates confirmed.
In April, Xentrix will be supporting German thrashers Kreator at the following shows:
April 26 – Dublin @ The Academy
April 27 – Manchester @ Ritz
April 28 – London @ Forum
More gigs will be announced later.
Xentrix released three albums in their original incarnation, gaining favourable press for their 1992 Metallica-inspired release ‘Kin’. For some, they’ll be best remembered for their cover of ‘Ghostbusters’, released on a 12″ single which could be found in many UK thrash metal fans collections at the time.
SWINGIN’ UTTERS – Poorly Formed
Branching out from their street punk beginnings, over the course of several albums, Swingin’ Utters have constantly evolved. They may have become more commercial with the passing years, but if 2013’s ‘Poorly Formed’ tells us anything, it is that vocalist Johnny Bonnel and company know how to pen potentially very memorable tunes. Crashing through fourteen tracks in approximately half an hour, a couple of one-line choruses aside, ‘Poorly Formed’ is anything but. Its running time may be slightly lean – the album seeming to zip by in the blink of an eye – and it may be more varied than some of their past works, but, most importantly, there’s absolutely no filler.
Authority Zero: European tour dates
Authority Zero will be trekking across Europe in the spring. Fans can catch the Arizona punks at these venues:
Green Day: all confirmed 2013 tour dates
Having postponed all live appearances at the end of 2012 due to health issues, Green Day are set to hit the road in support of their ‘Uno’, ‘Dos’, ‘Tre’ album trilogy once again. All of the band’s confirmed dates can be seen below.