It's extremely hard to think of any band that completely pivots lineups and stylistic approaches, and then turns out well - unless of course you're Fleetwood Mac. Formed in the U.K. as a hard-edged British blues combo in the late '60s, the troupe eventually gradually morphed into a polished pop/rock act over the course of a decade, and in the process, became one of the most influential bands of the '70s. Throughout all their incarnations, the only consistent members of Fleetwood Mac were drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie; the rhythm section that provided the band with its name. Ironically, they had the least influence over the musical direction of the group. Originally, guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer provided the band with its gutsy, neo-psychedelic blues-rock sound, but after their departures, the group began moving toward pop/rock, first with the songwriting of pianist Christine McVie, and then with the addition of singer Stevie Nicks and guitar marvel Lindsey Buckingham. In The Many Faces of Fleetwood Mac, we will go down the rabbit hole to explore the lesser known side of the band and also to review the work of most of its 18 past and current members . To complete our journey, we will enjoy the band live during one of their most popular concerts of their half-a-century career. We open CD1 with one of the most successful hit singles of the "early incarnation" of Fleetwood Mac. Man of the world, written by Peter Green, was originally release in April of 1960 and peaked at #2 in the UK chart. Green re-recorded it in 1999 with his Peter Green Splinter Group for their 1999 release, Destiny Road. It's undeniable that the "classic" line-up of Fleetwood-McVie-McVie-Buckingham-Nicks has been the one that has provided the band with its biggest hits. For that reason, the final part of CD2 of our collection is dedicated to five of the band most well-known songs re-invented by Karen Souza, Jazzystics and Anakelly among others. The CD 3 of our project features the band during a live presentation in California in 1997 that features most of their greatest hits including Dreams, Go Your Own Way, Everywhere, The Chain, Big Love and Gypsy Also, it features the live debut of the song Temporary One and Silver Springs for the first time in concert since 1977.

Der Name bezieht sich auf Sleipnir, das Pferd des Odin. Im Jahr 2008 folgte ein erstes Demo unter dem Namen Wisdom Calls for Sacrifice. Nach der Veröffentlichung folgte das erste Konzert der Band zur Wintersonnenwende. Seitdem wird zu diesem Termin jährlich ein Konzert abgehalten. Danach begann die Band...

U.D.O. has been on a hot streak lately, ever since the early 2000's band ran out of steam with "Rev Raptor" and "Dominator" he reshuffled the deck and got some new players in, it reinvigorated the band. How this man can still churn out such consistantly good Heavy Metal music is a wonder. Hot on the heels of the excellent "Steelfactory" and "We Are One" comes this embarrassment of riches, yes, it runs for more than an hour but after about three listens you realise there is no fat here, every track deserves it's place. There is a strong 80's Accept feel to this album but I enjoy U.D.O. better than the current Accept as it is a lot more fun and his voice sounds fantastic here, as good as it ever was.

По словам Удо Диркшнайдера, объединяющий посыл альбома — показать, что если человечество не изменит свое поведение во многих аспектах, нас ждут непоправимые катастрофические последствия.
Диркшнайдер бьет в самый корень проблем. Если человечество не переосмыслит некоторые аспекты, это может иметь фатальные последствия. Например, сингл "Kids And Guns" рассказывает об увеличении продаж оружия и слабом регулировании оружейной промышленности в США, что также приводит к более высокому уровню насилия с применением оружия среди детей и подростков.

Данная компиляция выпущена в 1996 году в Германии лейблом Century Media, а в 1997 и 2000 переиздана в США с несколько изменённым треклистом и добавочными треками.

This is now the third release from Serious Black that I have reviewed within the pages of manofmuchmetal.com and it is safe to say that the results have been rather varied. 2017’s ‘Magic’ scored highly, as it delivered a very positive and enjoyable slab of melodic heavy metal. ‘Suite 226’, their 2020 offering didn’t hit the same level in my opinion and was ultimately rather disappointing. Always one to maintain an air of optimism, I refused to just turn my back on the band. Instead, I have checked out their sixth full-length release, ‘Vengeance Is Mine’, and have decided to bring you my thoughts on it subsequently.

В новом альбоме группа отошла от предыдущих историй, связанных с магией и другими потусторонними вещами. ‘Suite 226’ – история душевнобольного, разрывающегося между ужасающей реальностью и своими иллюзиями. В его мире грёз он – живущий в замке король, окружённый прекрасными женщинами. На его столах чудесное вино и роскошная еда, а под его командованием – непобедимая армия. В реальности он заперт в психбольнице, в камере-одиночке номер 226, и врачи проводят бесчеловечные эксперименты над его мозгом. И чем дальше это продолжается, тем больше протагонист скатывается в свой личный ад, с обширной паранойей и приступами паники.

I do enjoy short albums I can have easily in one sitting (you could literally watch a movie in the length of time it takes to spin the new Nightwish, for fuck’s sake), and so this is a nice record to consume on a quick walk. It helps that all the songs are of a high quality, and as this is probably the most Serious Black have leaned on the up-tempo power metal aspects of their sound, I’ve been spinning it a fair bit. Urban Breed sounds much better here than he did on ‘Suite 226’, more like his old Tad Morose self but a bit softer, as fitting for the material, which is generally very melodic, keyboardy power metal that functions as a run through conventions set out by Edguy, Helloween, and Stratovarius, with a tip of the hat towards old Queensryche. After a pointless symphonic intro (didn’t these go out of fashion fifteen years ago?) we launch into ‘As Long As I’m Alive’, a killer double kicker with a great verse and invigorating chorus, straight into one of Serious Black’s best tunes, the mighty ‘Castor Skies’. This one has plenty of harpsichord runs and snappy riffing before hitting the absolutely stellar chorus, probably my favorite moment on the whole disc. ‘Heartbroken Soul’ ends the trio of slick opening cuts, another highlight with a downhearted lyric and some nice melodic play.

The year 2015 started more than promising for fans of high class melodic metal: SERIOUS BLACK, a so-called 'allstar band' appeared on the scene and dropped their highly acclaimed debut album 'As Daylight Breaks'. Much to the surprise of many, SERIOUS BLACK indeed proved to be a real band and they kept their promise of rocking the stages wherever possible. So during only a year they not only successfully released a fantastic debut album, but also went on extensive European tours with HammerFall and later Gamma Ray. In addition, SERIOUS BLACK was chosen to be special guest on Kamelot's German Summer shows and also played numerous festivals in Europe. Being that active in the past 18 months, it's surprising to see the band announcing a brand new studio album already. You'll be even more surprise when 'Mirrorworld' sees its release: SERIOUS BLACK have managed to excel their excellent debut! Prepare for something special: the 'Mirrorworld' opens on September 9th…

Serious Black ist eine im Januar 2014 gegründete internationale Power-Metal-Band. Ihre Mitglieder sind daneben oder waren vorher bereits in anderen Bands erfolgreich. Der Bandname ist abgeleitet vom Namen des Magiers Sirius Black aus der Buchreihe Harry Potter. Um keine Markenrechte zu verletzen, wurde die Schreibweise abgeändert.

A new band - 6 members, 6 friends - all with huge experience and knowledge from many years in the business and being part of the most successful melodic metal bands: this is SERIOUS BLACK! The line-up consists of Roland Grapow (Masterplan, ex-Helloween), Thomen Stauch (ex-Blind Guardian), Mario Lochert (ex-Visions Of Atlantis), Dominik Sebastian (Edenbridge), Jan Vacik (ex-Dreamscape) and (last but not least) the golden voice of Urban breed (ex-Tad Morose). SERIOUS BLACK is different to many of the so-called 'all star' bands, because in fact, they are a real band. A band that crafted their incredible debut album 'As Daylight Breaks' together, with every member involved into songwriting and recordings, a band that can't wait to enter the stages. 'As Daylight Breaks' is a real teamwork effort, a melodic metal jewel displaying conviction, amazing musicianship and outstanding songwriting.

Featuring ex-HELLOWEEN member Roland Grapow on guitars, as well as Thomen Stauch, who used to be in BLIND GUARDIAN, amongst other particularly good musicians, this vinyl release means a real power metal treat. 'As Daylight Breaks' was originally released in January 2015 on CD, here comes the vinyl version: A must-have for fans of Power Metal the way it should be done, there's heavy and melodic riffs, soaring vocals, and great songwriting throughout this mammoth of an album!

Serious Black is basically typical German style heavy/power metal, albeit a little bit more on the melodic side and with a few more hard rock/AOR leanings than your average Helloween or Gamma Ray or Rage or whatever other German power metal band one might fancy, except perhaps Edguy's latest efforts.
There are some really enjoyable songs here even if they're extremely formulaic. It's more consistent in terms of song writing than many established bands' recent efforts even though the older bands' standout songs are still better. On the other hand Serious Black are still far better than the myriad of power/heavy metal bands in terms of getting the most out of generic song structures and equally generic melodies. In some ways Serious Black have written the ultimate examples of power metal archetypes. This is the benchmark for stereotypical power metal.

Rock Believer is the nineteenth studio album by German rock band Scorpions, released on 22 February 2022 in the United Kingdom and 25 February elsewhere. This is the band's first studio album with drummer Mikkey Dee, who replaced James Kottak in 2016, and their first studio album in seven years since Return to Forever (2015), making it the longest gap between studio albums.

Rock Believer será el próximo décimo noveno álbum de estudio de la banda alemana de hard rock y heavy metal Scorpions, cuyo lanzamiento está previsto para el 22 de febrero de 2022 en Europa y el 25 de febrero en América del Norte.​ Este será el primer álbum de estudio de la banda con el baterista Mikkey Dee, quien reemplazó a James Kottak en 2016, y su primer álbum de estudio en siete años desde Return to Forever (2015), lo que lo convierte en la brecha más larga entre álbumes de estudio.