Welcome to another collection of latest releases in the rock and metal world. As usual it's a wide range of music from Bowie-like to death metal. Overall it's pretty good, whatever the age.
DVD Reviews
Catamenia: Bringing the Cold to Poland
It seems oddly appropriate to film a live DVD in Poland. After all this lot of Viking metallers are not the first lot of their kind to hit Poland. Of course, last time they were raping and pillaging; this time they are merely raping eardrums. This is a pretty good package with twelve live tracks from all eras of the band, a couple of behind the scenes videos, and a promo video for "Tuhat Vuotta". There are extra audio tracks in the form of their '95 demo and their "Winds" demo from '96 for a total of 120 minutes.
As with most good DVDs these years, there are the normal links, photos, and discography. While the DVD is not the flashiest one you have ever seen, it is quite a good package that does what it says on the tin. The music therein is some damn good, well played, heavy metal from the cold north. Melodic death metal from Finland is always nice. What is there not to like?
CD Reviews
Decoy: Call of the Wild
Former Grand Illusion singer Peter Sundell has a new band which produces quite clever hard rock. The title track is typical of this genre and is quite unsurprisingly a good mix of excellent musicianship. It has a good arrangement and that wonderful Scandinavian take on the genre. Songs like "How Long" have all the elements one needs whether it is the instantly catchy chorus or memorable music. Is this CD breaking any new ground? Not really, but its material like this that make a great addition to your listening rotation.
Foreway: From the Ashes
Interesting collection of tunes from a band I had not heard of yet. This Spanish group of hard rockers is really doing their bit for a piece of the hard rock action. There are still a few language problems that remind you of Klaus Meine's attempts in the early days of the Scorpions but that does not really distract (save for a few chuckles) from the solid rock on here. While there is nothing spectacular on this disc, they do give a cracking good shot at covering Hall & Oates' "Maneater". This release is certainly good enough to get them a deal with a bigger player in the hard rock game in Europe. It's a solid effort that surprises in its consistency. Ones to watch methinks.
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