embrock

Although it is kinda hard to tell how good the songs really are from these samples, to me it sounds like they've improved from the debut (which I liked)... Hilarious video by the way

You can listen to their new single "Forever" at Noisecreep No screamo left at all in this one! Completely over the top, I like that chorus a lot! Promises to be great album if these two new tracks are anything to go by.

Can't wait for some new Crazy Lixx! The bits and pieces from their studio-blog sounded awesome (business as usual for this band)! Read an interview with Martin from Hardcore Superstar and he said that they're probably going to release a new album in early 2013. Not a bad thing to spend some more time on the road and come back swingin' with their batteries reloaded. Although I liked every album they've released since their ST imo their last two seemed a little rushed.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to each and everyone! Thanx for keeping the discussions running and a huge thank you to Dan for making it all possible! Cheers!

Been stumbling over more Danish bands via Facebook recently...seems like there's a nice rock-scene building up there as well! Here's two more bands: Kings in Exil: Their album has been released through Warner Music in October. St. Prostitute: Official Page Seems like their debut is due soon...

The Supercharger release is one of my most-played albums of 2011! Love it! 2012 kicks off with yet another kick-ass Danish band called Bullet Train Blast. Check out their single: Bullet Train Blast I'm liking that a lot!

After a couple of spins I like it a lot as well! Definately a grower and it's so good to have these guys back.

That few seconds between 2:52 and 3:10 off the second video alone got me excited! Erik sounds fantastic!

To me starting from 2008 every year has been great and it's really hard for me to even rank them as there have been sooo many great releases. I'm not afraid of a new "grunge" thing at all, quite the other way around actually: I think that the whole 80s-styled music is only starting off now (in pop-music as well, just listen to Lady Gaga or Kelly Clarkson and compare that stuff to pop-music from about 5-10 years ago – miles more melodic and better imo) and we should have a lot of great years ahead. Plus the big rock-bands from the past decade are starting to embrace the stadium-rock elements: Bands like Nickelback or most of all Papa Roach have adapted a lot of elements from the late 80s and are much better than 10 years ago, when in fact some of them were labeled "post-grunge". So don't worry mate!

While I tend to agree that "Here and Now" is not a great album (still a good one IMO) and I definately love it when bands write many more songs than needed to compose an album, it was the other way around for me with Hinder: They wrote around 70 tracks for "American Nightmare", but it falls short compared to "Take it to the Limit", which was a collection of 11 (out of 13 I think) tunes.

That would be awesome!!

Beggars & Thieves – We are the Brokenhearted Up-front: Their debut is one of my all-time faves! But after my first spin I don't know yet what to think of their newbie. Some excellent songs (We come undone; Stranded; Title-track) and a superb production (every 80s band recording a comeback disc: this is how it's done!), but also some songs I found to be rather boring. Anyway, to me worth alone for the three tracks mentioned above and I'm pretty sure some other songs will grow on me after a few more spins! Nice to have this band back!

Love that part!

Hopefully... not? That Trixter shout-out is a piece of random. I was listening to Stereo Fallout the other day and it crossed my mind that I thought Trixter were meant to be recording again. Man, that one could be a surprise packet - I really hope it's as good as it could and should be. Well, if it's more like "Saudades de Rock" they really don't need to release it but if they are actually going back to their "III Sides"-sound, I'm excited! Yeah, Trixter somehow managed to keep their youth-energy on the 2 new tracks from a couple of years ago. So, hopefully the new album is in the same vein! I kinda like 'Saudades' man, not as good as their early days of course, but it has grown on me big since my first purchase but it's a difficult experimental album, has a modern feel, and definitely need some good serious time and mood to digest though it has that 'Pornografitti' funky feel, and grown better especially when I saw Extreme live in Jakarta back in 2008. They do have lots of energy, Gary's vocal is still top notch but Nuno steals the fuckin' show, he likes to joke around and plays like a monster. One of the most exciting bands out there yeah perhaps 'Waiting For The Punchline' is their only lowest. and back to this Trixter, hm I don't know why that I'm not really interested in them, and even in their early days, I found the first two albums are too bubble-gum and lack of something that I can't explain. They do have 4-5 great tracks though. Yeah, don't get me wrong, I love Extreme and I didn't want to sound too harsh with that "Saudades"-comment, but I had such high hopes for that record. Still love a couple of tracks ("Last Hour" comes to mind), but overall I thought it could have been much better, as I still rate Extreme as top notch musicians and songwriters! Agree with your judgement regarding "Waiting fo the Punchline", although I adore "Shadow Boxing"! I always thought the first Trixter album was ruined by horrible punch-less production. "Hear" on the other hand is one hell of an album imo. and to deliver somehing on topic as well : Jettblack and Heaven's Basement are going to release albums in 2012 as well.

Hopefully... not? That Trixter shout-out is a piece of random. I was listening to Stereo Fallout the other day and it crossed my mind that I thought Trixter were meant to be recording again. Man, that one could be a surprise packet - I really hope it's as good as it could and should be. Well, if it's more like "Saudades de Rock" they really don't need to release it but if they are actually going back to their "III Sides"-sound, I'm excited! Yeah, Trixter somehow managed to keep their youth-energy on the 2 new tracks from a couple of years ago. So, hopefully the new album is in the same vein!

Babylon Bombs unfortunately have split up...but who knows, maybe they're coming back in 2012. Would be great! Brother Firetribe are very unlikely to release an album before 2013, as it's going to be a massive year for Nightwish. Koritni's new album is finished and has been picked up by Warner Music (France) for a spring 2012 release!

You can add a new Gotthard album to that list, out in spring 2012! I also hope for a new Wig Wam disc, but unfortunately it seems they've lost momentum with "Non Stop Rock'n'Roll". I think I read somewhere that Extreme have been writing sort of a concept-album (àlà "III Sides") for the last two years, so hopefully it's going to get released next year. Hardline seems off the cards, BUT Mario from Frontiers mentioned something about Johnny Gioli being involved in another album slated for release spring 2012 over @melodicrock. One I forgot about is Trixter! Judging from their FB-page they have pretty much finished an up-coming record. I'm really looking forward to this one!

Have you guys heard the new song yet? It's available as a free download from their Homepage I like it quite a lot and I'm convinced they've made a great choice!

Wow, great news! They seem on a roll! Love the fact, that quite a few bands start releasing albums on a very regular basis again! Looking forward to this one!!

"Outcast" is written by Hardcore Superstar! That's cool!

Okay, that's an interesting choice! I always thought he sounded a lot like Steve Lee on a couple of Maeder-songs, but I'm not sure if he can pull it of in the live-setting.

So, his first album is out in a couple of days, what do you guys think about it? Samples Judging from samples it's got nothing to do with what Durbin claimed it to be, but it sounds pretty good for what it is. I'm mainly interested in the track that Hardcore Superstar wrote for him (Outcast)...hopefully it gets them some exposure in the states!

I really can't understand, why modern society doesn't want to really posess their "things" anymore. I mean look at it: – digital photos: I like 'em and it of course enormously simplifies taking photos everywhere, BUT I'll probably never get the same emotion again as when I was skipping through photo-albums with friends 10 years ago. – digital music: This is just unlearing to appreciate true art. Period. I completely understand when people download a couple of songs off an average album, but can you seriously rank an album, which you only posess as MP3 or FLAC or whatever, amongst you favourite albums of all time? There's so much more to that imo. and the most stupid "thing": – friends: It's sad to see how many people use facebook as their main tool to keep contact. It's a fantastic tool to get in touch with people at the other end of your country (or the world for that matter), but I get the impression that more and more "old" (non-digital) friends rather chat through facebook instead of meeting down at the bar and having a drink. Seriously, this is sick! digitalism leads to oversaturation in every part of life and while that is it's plus-factor it's also its downside (yes, that includes porn as well, Geoff ) okay, rant over: Keep the CD alive! Maybe there's going to be a nice side-effect when Major-labels drop the CD-format. If labels like Frontiers are going to keep it up, our music is going to rule the charts...and that has to make an impact on society

I agree guys, very promising on the AOR front! As you mentioned Crazy Lixx and H.E.A.T are going to release newbies, as are Crashdiet and from what I've heard Treat! Then there's the sleazier stuff: Baby Jane, Koritni, Million Dollar Reload, Chris Laney... And probably quite a few superb 'modern' bands: Papa Roach, Hinder, Airbourne, Buckcherry, Blessed by a broken Heart, Cavo, Divide the Day... ...and Erik Martensson is going to be heavily involved in yet another album: The Friday Nights' debut!

That's great news indeed and well deserved! Too bad mainstream-people are going to buy everything as long as some famous name is on the cover, as that Loutallica's gotta be one of the worst discs on a major-label ever. Any other chart entrys available for Steel Panther? Germany could be interesting...