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Although this is an 100 % German band, their sound contains some vry heavy Southern Roc influences.  Yet they do not sound convincing enough, by which I mean something is lacking in their music to sound really ‘Southern’.  As a matter of fact I also hear some groove in their music.

The vocals aren’t too bad though, since Sven Zaklikowski is a rather good copy of Zakk Wylde, but alas with a German accent, like so many of his countrymen – vocalists have. The other musicians in this band also acquit themselves very well of the job.

The Shins really wanted to start with a clean sheet again before releasing new music. Therefore, singer and guitar player James Mercer kicked out all band members and replaced them with some fresh blood. Such a thing could go in two directions of course: or it would be a huge success for The Shins, or it would be a huge disappointment again, which could lead to the hiatus of The Shins.

Pythia is the name of a priestess from Delphi at the Temple of Apollo, also known as the Oracle of Delphi. She was known for her hallucinations, translated into revelations or prophecies, spoken in a weird tongue, said as it came from the Gods directly. Some historici think it was because of the use of certain drugs, others think she acted under the influence of certain gasses (Greece is a rather seismic region, as you know), or it might have been some sort of self-hypnotic or mental state of whatever.

It must be two years now when the cinematic rockers of The Murder Of My Sweet released their debut album, which went by the name of Divanity. These Swedish rockers have now released their second album under the wings of AFM Records, entitled Bye Bye Lullaby. It turns out to be a traditional, highly recognisable, though excellent record.

Black Magic Six is a a dynamic duo from Hellsink, Finland and was founded in 2006. Someone said Black Magic Six sounds like a mixture of Howling Wolf and Venom, another claims that there´s some influences for The Stooges, Dead Kennedys, Sweetheart or AC/DC.

I was one of the lucky when I was able to attend Y&T’s concert at the Biebob last year, where they played the complete Earthshaker record, in celebration of its thirtieth release.  I also remember to this day when that record was released.  It’s one of those records that, although dating from my youth, still regularly is played, and seems to have lost nothing of its freshness.

Give Em Blood is a fairly young band that only started in 2009, and playing single shows since 2010. A year later they released their first split EP in 2011 through BDHW records and started touring that very same year. And for those that never heard of them, these guys play metal core.

The story of Tankard is an exceptional one. It was around 1982 when they came into life, but it wasn't until 1986 when their first album was recorded. The band was somewhat of a pioneer, they were spearheading a wave of German thrash bands who became successful worldwide (Kreator, Destruction, Sodom, …).

I remember when way back in 1982 one of my friends bought a copy of the first Tank album ‘Filth Hounds Of Hades’, and how it created quite some kick.  This was almost raw energy, poured into a musical equivalent.  However this didn’t mean that I became a great fan of this band, but they had some good tunes.

This is the fourth album for French band Spheric Universe Experience.  I have no idea what their previous albums sounded like, but apparently their sound was more situated in the progressive metal genre.

And although there are still some prog elements there, they seem to have been reduced to a strict minimum.  No intricate keyboard parts are to be found, as a matter of fact keyboards are even spares and between.  However the album is not bad, since the guitar parts are very good.