Mind Scans Volume 6

RICK MILLER is a Canadian musician, who has been making music for 30 years now, balancing musically speaking somewhere between Progressive Rock and New Wave. ...

 

Seems like everybody is getting addicted to getting their mind SCANNED huh? Seems like a nice idea to present more bands, more views and yes you guessed it……..MORE MUSIC to YOU the reader!!! Here is once again a new issue of MIND SCANS volume 6!!!

 

 

1. PRISMA – YOU NAME IT

PRISMA is a Swiss band, which has been active since the early 2000s and are now releasing their new album ‘You name it’. The music is situated between modern Progressive Rock and Alternative Metal, with a focus on big massive guitar riffs and catchy clean melodic choruses. The vocalwork is quite good actually and combined with a modern rocksound, the result is a strong album that might appeal to both prog and alternative fans. Fitting somewhere between PORCUPINE TREE, RIVERSIDE, THE MARS VOLTA, COHEED AND CAMBRIA and TOOL, this band delivers a high quality album that will definitely be appreciated by fans of the mentioned bands. The band’s 2nd album ‘You name it’ was mastered by Howie Weinberg (MARS VOLTA, SMASHING PUMPKINS) at the legendary Masterdisk Studio (NYC) and you can clearly hear that, because it is a high quality and very professional soundind album. A song like “8” is sounding quite sensational actually and for a Swiss band they definitely have something to offer internationally speaking. Prog and Alternative Rockfans will absolutely love this band and it’s the vocalist that makes the difference here, because MICHAEL LUGINBUHL has an own way of singing that sounds quite excellent and one a bit of the COHEED AND CAMBRIA singer. Check out more at: http://prismaband.com

2.Kelvin Fischer and Love Hunter – Drawn to the Light

Straight from the sunny side of life, out of the city of Naples in Florida, USA, we received the new CD of LOVE HUNTER, a Melodic Rockband we also reviewed in the past. Now they are back with a new CD titled ‘Drawn to the light’, which is more or less a compilation CD of some of the best tunes LOVE HUNTER has written the past 15 years, yet all newly recorded in a stripped-down unplugged acoustic version. Actually LOVE HUNTER is formed around multi-instrumentalist KELVIN FISCHER. The new album contains 19 tracks and is musically speaking a singer-songwriter AOR album. The melodies are quite nice and you have to think of JESS HARNELL’s solo-CD from the 1990s and also a bit MARK SPIRO when we start comparing, although vocally it is reminding of PHIL VINCENT and BON JOVI. Highlights are “Now that you’re gone”, “Never say never” and “The destination” (best song, nice mystic background). More info at: www.lovehunter.us/

3. Patrick Hemer – More Then Meets the Eye

German guitarist PATRICK HEMER is not only a superb guitarplayer, but he can sing very well too! We’re not done yet, because he also writes, produces and plays bass and keyboards on his first solo-record ‘More than meets the eye’! Quite a busy guy and a very talented one too, because the album sounds very impressive. Musically speaking it is a mix of Melodic Hardrock and Melodic Progressive Metal, with impressive guitarwork and strong melodies, reminding me a bit of MOB RULES, mixed with 80s DOKKEN melodies. Patrick is not entirely new to the scene, because he was part of the Melodic Metalband HORIZON in the past, with whom he released a couple albums on MASSACRE RECORDS about 10 years ago. Now solo, he is able to do almost everything on his own and I must say that this is definitely quality stuff from start to finish. The guitarwork of Patrick is picture-perfect high-class based and although the vocalwork is quite good as well, it is not exceptionally good, so some improvement might be possible there. Nevertheless, the music is very nice and is balancing between the prog of MOB RULES and the straight-forward stuff DOKKEN released in the 1980s. Check it out for yourself at: http://www.patrickhemer.com

4. Rick Miller – Dark Dreams

RICK MILLER is a Canadian musician, who has been making music for 30 years now, balancing musically speaking somewhere between Progressive Rock and New Wave. His latest album is titled ‘Dark dreams’, released on the Russian MALS record label. The album contains lovely laid-back Progressive Rock, very melodic, with quite strong vocals of Rick himself and clean melodies all over the place, a bit reminding of 1970s BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST, RENAISSANCE, CAMEL. This is what you would call beautiful intelligent music, featuring melodic precise guitarwork. Songs like “Return To Uqbar” and “Angels In The Forest” are really excellent calm laid-back prog, reminding a bit of the last OPETH. This is a high quality album for sure and definitely recommended to any Progfan! More at: http://rickmiller.bandcamp.com/

5. Devil’s Train – Devil’s Train

It’s not bad when your debut album is released on a label that is also home to bands like DEEP PURPLE, FOREIGNER, EUROPE, YES, GAMMA RAY, KAMELOT, DURAN DURAN, MARILLION, STATUS QUO and many more. In the case it concerns the first CD of DEVIL’S TRAIN, a new band formed around MYSTIC PROPHECY mainman/producer R.D. Liapakis, STRATOVARIUS drummer Jorg Michael, guitarist Laki Ragazas, as well as bassist Jari Kainulainen (ex EVERGREY, ex STRATOVARIUS). This semi-Supergroup doesn’t sound too far away from MYSTIC PROPHECY, not only due to the fact both bands feature the same singer/songwriter, but the whole vibe is just the same, combining a massive guitarsound with strong melodies. Overall, DEVIL’S TRAIN is a tiny bit calmer than MYSTIC PROPHECY, but the strong melodies and choruses are basically the same. Highlights on the album are “Forever”, “Sweet Devil’s Kiss”, “Find New Love” and “Coming Home”, but basically any of the 12 tracks will be up your alley if you enjoy the likes of MYSTIC PROPHECY. Only closing track “American Woman”, the THE GUESS WHO cover feels a bit useless. Check out this new project at: http://www.devilstrain.com

6. The Sweet – New York Connection

From out of nowhere comes a new album by the legendary Glamrockband THE SWEET. The album is clearly a tribute to their beloved city of New York, because all the included songs are about New York. Quite a few covers are included, such as PATTI SMITH’s “Because the night”, ACE FREHLEY’s “New York Groove” and even THE RAMONES’ “Blitzkrieg bop”. Although the performance is quite well and the only original member ANDY SCOTT is doing some nice guitar licks, I can’t help but feel this is not really a groundbreaking album. The fact that the band now features the excellent lead singer TONY O’HARA does not help either. The material is just a little bit too simple Rock and Roll orientated and including so many covers does not make it an interesting record at all. THE SWEET were once becoming a sensational band during the 1970s and even during the 1990s they did some great stuff, but ANDY SCOTT is really able to come up with something better than this record. Nevertheless, absolute die-hard THE SWEET fans will be relieved to see a sign of life from Andy! More info at: www.thesweet.com

7. George Gakis – Too Much Ain’t Never Enough

Greek Singer/songwriter GEORGE GAKIS has already released a bunch of albums in his 25-year career, but is now releasing his latest CD ‘Too much ain’t never enough’ through US label PERRIS RECORDS. He has some very special guests appearing on the album, such as JOE LYNN TURNER, BOBBY RONDINELLI, JAMES KOTTAK, while KIP WINGER co-produced, mixed and mastered the album. The result is a nice Melodic Hardrock affair with a bluesy touch, dangerously close to WHITESNAKE and BAD MOON RISING. George’s lead vocals are quite strong and remind a lot of KAL SWAN and KELLY HANSEN and among the 11 included tracks, the highlights are “When opposites attract”, “License for love” and “Under my skin”. Without a doubt, this is a quality release that is recommended to fans of HURRICANE, BATON ROUGE, XYZ, WHITESNAKE, BAD MOON RISING and BADLANDS. More info at: www.georgegakis.gr

8. Joey Summer – One Bite from Paradise

This talented multi-instrumentalist as well as singer/songwriter comes out Rio De Janeiro and releases his 3rd CD on the American label PERRIS RECORDS. Although the music on ‘One bite from paradise’ is typical 1980s AOR/Melodic Rock which we have heard many times before, it is done exceptionally well and therefore very listenable from start to finish, especially if you’re into Classic 80s AOR in the style of the 80s FM, AVIATOR, FROM THE FIRE, TYKETTO, OUTSIDE EDGE… FREDRIK BERGH (STREET TALK), FREDERIC SLAMA (AOR) and TOMMY DENANDER all make a guest appearance on the album and without a doubt, this is JOEY SUMMER’s finest record so far. He really knows how to write and perform a Classic AOR tingled tune, because the SURVIVOR meets JOURNEYish orientated pieces “Running through the night”, “Sailor on the moon”, “Addicted to your love” and “No Margin’ for Erro” (STONE SOUP/CAPTIVE HEART style as well) do feature some lovely melodies, both the choruses and the guitarsolos from Joey himself. In the end, this album is a surprise, because it sounds really impressive and the AOR fans really need to check it out. Check out Joey’s site at: http://joeysummer.com

9. Kaisas – Unify

Greek musician BABIS KAISAS was able to get lead singer TONY MILLS (ex-SHY/TNT) on board for the debut release ‘Unify’ of his band KAISAS. The result is a very nice Melodic Rock affair that obviously sounds a lot like the old SHY. Songs like “Sins of mankind”, “Innocent cry” and “Somewhere someplace” are high quality SHYish Melodic Rock, but also several songs are a bit average, such as the Christmas song “Jingle bells” that clearly should have been left off the album. Nevertheless, SHY fans will definitely love this album! The band is currently working with MARK EVANS of HEAVEN’S EDGE on a second album that should be released soon, but in the meantime Melodic Rockfans might want to check out this first album of KAISAS, because it definitely has some interesting material to offer, although like already mentioned not everything is impressive. However, for a first album, this Greek musician shows he is able to come up with some great old fashioned Melodic Rock. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/kaisasband

10. One Soul Thrust – Know One Knows

Out of the Canadian city of Edmunton comes the female fronted band ONE SOUL THRUST. This band features a truly amazing lead singer called SALEM JONES, who sounds as good as ANN WILSON of HEART. The music of ONE SOUL THRUST is slightly heavier, more akin to a rockier HEART circa “Barracuda”, so heavy Bluesrock with however a Melodic Hardrock approach. Opener “We gotta change” is a nice groovy Hardrock tune, but following track “Drivin” is a really awesome uptempo Melodic Rocker with a rather catchy chorus and a great guitarsolo by JAG MOLLERUP. In total 12 tracks are included and I am quite convinced that this ONE SOUL THRUST might have a big break someday soon, because if you have such a great singer in your line-up, then you simply can not go wrong, especially when you are backed up by a strong guitarplayer and a tight rhythm section. Despite a few weaker slow bluesy tunes (such as “Laughin’ all the way to heaven” and “No”), the band offers enough to keep you interested, although they are at their very best during the uptempo rockers like the earlier mentioned “Drivin” and “Never too late”. Any fan of female fronted rock must check this sensational band out at: www.onesoulthrust.com

 

Well, there it is guys, I hope you all enjoyed this latest edition of Mind Scans and hopefully some of you may have discovered a release or two that you may have missed otherwise. If you found anything interesting here feel free to leave us a comment below…

A New Widget is featured below for snippets into these bands featured here on Mind Scans. Most of them are here, a few we could not add. Have fun!!!

 

 

This volume of MIND SCANS brought to you by Gabor (Staff Writer)

 

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