Frontiers Records

Uriah Heep is one of those bands, that, like The Rolling Stones and other bands, have been around for so long, you almost can’t remember when you first heard them.  This once again shows that in the days these bands were founded, it was their steadfast determination and their quality as musicians that made them famous.  Oh, and a bit of luck also of course.  In comparison a lot of present day bands are massively hyped by their record companies, score one or two hits, and fade away into oblivion after a few years.

Since their founding in Sacramento in late 1982, but at that time under the name of City Kidd, changed into Tesla  during the recording of their first album ‘Mechanical Resonance’, this is only their seventh studio album. So despite their six year break you cannot say these guys have been very productive.  On the other hand you can also state that they never delivered bad quality material.

California Breed is a new band, consisting of two old timers – so to say – in the persons of Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham, both formerly busy in Black Country Communion and newby Andrew Watt, a singer-guitarist.

Formerly a member of Stratovarius, guitar wizard Timo Tollki with his new band/project Timo Tollki’s Avalon are in a period a bit longer than one year, already at their second release.  Since the first album received good reviews, I was surprised if this second album was going to be another success, or instead couldn’t stand up to it’s expectations.

‘High Road’ is ‘Nightrangers’ eleventh Studio album. ‘Nightranger’ is known for its feelgood- and catchy songs. And on ther latest album it’s not so different, and it’s a great album as usual. Of course they can never beat the years where they brought out albums such as: ‘Down Patrol’ (1982), ‘Midnight Madness’ (1983) and ‘Big Life’ (1987) but that goes for all the bands that exist more than 25 years.

 The older rock fans among us will undoubtedly remember that Sebastian Bach started his musical career in Skid Row, but before Skid Row  he was in another band called Kid Wikkid.  He fronted Skid Row from 1987 until 1996.  His first solo album ‘Bring ‘Em Bach Alive was released in 1999, it was partially a live album with songs from his Skid Row period, and partially a studio album, containing five new solo tracks. He also performed on some Broadway shows, and on TV.

What you cannot say is that in its existence Winger has been a prolific band.  Between 1988  and now they’ve released only six studio albums.    Nevertheless they had their fair share of fans, which might not sound as a wonder, since musically these guys have always stood their ground.  OK, not all albums were that good, but they do have a few memorable songs.

How the guys at Frontiers Records are able to start of projects or bands with members from different bands, and get them to bring us fantastic music most of the time is a riddle to me.

This new band/project Three Lions consists of Vinny Burns (Dare, Ten, Asia), on guitar, Greg Morgan (Dare, Ten) on drums and introduces Nigel Bailey on vocals and bass.

A new Vanden Plas album is always something to look forward to. They’ve never failed to amaze me with their fantastic albums.  Four years have passed since their last album ‘The Seraphic Clockwork’.  But it has definitely been worth the waiting .

Yet another great release from Danish band Pretty Maids.  They’ve kept on releasing good album after good album since 2010’s Pandemonium album.

However mind you, this is not a totally new album.  It consists of 12 tracks, 8 of whom are re-recordings of tracks they did in their period with Massacre records, and 4 are new tracks.  But it’s the four new tracks that steal the show.  Two of them are straight forward heavy metal songs, and the other two are very good ballads.