Since reforming in 2007, UK rockers FM have been on a roll. Each of the releases following a twelve year hiatus have reinforced why the band are much loved in melodic rock and classic rock circles. Boasting a dozen strong songs, their ninth studio album ‘Heroes & Villains’ is a very welcome addition to their catalogue.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
SCOTT JANOVITZ – Fall In EP
Scott Janovitz will be familiar to some retro-pop aficionados as the mastermind behind The Russians – the mysterious indie/power pop band who left us a sole full length album ‘Crashing The Party’ in 2011. Although a rather melancholy listen in some places, it’s collection of songs were very well crafted, with sounds borrowing from the sixties, eighties and nineties in almost equal measure. The years passed, but nothing more materialised from either Janovitz or The Russians, leading some listeners to wonder what could have been…
THE GREAT AFFAIRS – Dream In Stereo
Following their third release ‘Happy Ender’ in 2011, US roots rockers seemed set to call time on their career, with frontman Denny Smith moving on to other projects. Luckily, they had a change of heart and following a shift of line up, 2013’s ‘4’ was arguably the best of their career to date.
VOICE OF THE SOUL – Catacombs
Forming in the late noughties when the band were just teenagers – young enough to rival Def Leppard in the precociousness stakes – Voice of the Soul always had very grand musical ideas. Following three self-released EPs between 2009 and 2011, the Middle Eastern extreme metallers found themselves in a great position to expand on their previous works. Taking to the studio in early 2014, the band set about making their first full length release – and in melodic death metal terms, the dark and sprawling world conjured up on ‘Catacombs’ does not disappoint.
ANDREW DANSO – Fly EP
In 2011, Devin Townsend released his fourth “project” album, ‘Ghost’. A record heard by millions, it combined ambient-ish qualities with a mellow style that showed off a very relaxed side of the man who once gave us skull-crushing metal as frontman with Strapping Young Lad. Around the same time that those millions were getting (rightly) excited about Devin’s ‘Ghost’, somewhere in Northern Ireland, guitarist Andrew Danso had not long finished work on ‘f i n d’, a collection of largely instrumental soundscapes which appeared to share more than a few traits with Townsend’s record, but approached atmospheric music with an even spacier slant. The album, unsurprisingly, slipped under the radar of most of the people who really should’ve heard it, as is the plight of many an independent musician.