Keiko Matsui is an icon of Contemporary Jazz. With over 1.2 million units sold in the U.S. along and sold out appearances at concert halls across the world, she is one of the most recognized artists in the genre. Her elegant piano melodies and gentle jazz grooves have enormous appeal and never disappoint the loyal fan base which she has cultivated with over a dozen albums and hundreds of stunning live shows.
Keiko follows up 2012 s critically acclaimed production The Road with the brilliant new album Soul Quest without a doubt her most heartfelt release yet. The impressive list of special guests includes saxophone greats Kirk Whalum, Andy Snitzer (of Rolling Stones fame) and Dave Mann, hit making guitarist Chuck Loeb (Fourplay), superstar bassists Marcus Miller (Miles Davis) and Will Lee (of David Letterman fame), drummer and mega-producer Narada Michael Walden (Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston) and more.

After our 3-year-long and sensuous journey and love affair with the remarkable Soul Quest release and tour, our resident princess ofKeiko Matsui Journey CD contemporary jazz and World music, pianist/keyboardist/composer/visionary Keiko Matsui is back with – what else?—another guaranteed smash hit project called Journey to the Heart. Oh yes. Get ready for yet another colorful and soul-satisfying journey offered up by one who has never learned the meaning of the words “quit” or “mediocre.”

“Meaning of Life” is the eighth studio album by American singer Kelly Clarkson, released on October 27 of 2017, by Atlantic Records. The album is Clarkson’s debut on Atlantic after completing her recording contract with RCA Records. Kelly announced “Meaning on Life” on Twitter, sharing the cover and saying: "This is the album I’ve always wanted to make!"

Five years since her last album, Warrior, and three years since she became embroiled in a famous sexual-abuse lawsuit with her longtime producer “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, Kesha has released a long-promised new album. The 15-track Rainbow is a blatant, angry response to the singer’s battle with a legal system that has left her feeling frustrated and trapped as an artist—but also a powerful pop album that earns the anticipation.

Katatonia and Opeth have historically been muttered in the same breath as fellow impresarios of fugue metal, even if the former hasn't been anything remotely close to metal in quite some time. Of course, the bands shared Mikael Åkerfeldt through the Nineties, so they were bound to share the spotlight as well. Over the years, however, the two bands have become divisible even while rolling as touring mates. Since "Discouraged Ones" and "Last Fair Deal Gone Down", Katatonia have taken ongoing steps away from a pure metal path. Opeth continues to embrace it while exploring new courses, as "Damnation" and most recently, "Heritage", have proven. In both cases, their progressive refinement is world-class.

Gods of Violence reminds me a whole lot of Sodom's latest record in how it tries pretty effectively to be everything for nearly every generation or tier of the band's audience, and it does so with a close approximation of success. Granted, if you're pining for a tip of the hat to Endorama, Outcast, Renewal or Cause for Conflict then you might be largely left out in the cold, but that would at best comprise only a literal handful of listeners on this entire planet, and Kreator would be wise to do so if they want to pump up their base. They also don't delve back into the primacy of their demos or debut. However, if you're interested in hearing an amalgam of their later 80s, involved riffing patterns with the melodic overtures of records like Phantom Antichrist and Violent Revolution, all wrapped up in the accessible thrashing echo chamber of an Enemy of God, then this should fit rather snugly to your interests. Hell, even the TITLE here is drawn from some of those...

If The Fall of Hearts does something right, it's definitely to correct that very mistake; the production breathes much more effortlessly. However, this doesn't mean that The Fall of Hearts is a simpler Katatonia album. On the contrary, it's probably the most varied they have been in their career. The term progressive has been thrown around Katatonia at least since The Great Cold Distance, perhaps even earlier, but I think The Fall of Hearts is the first real example of a more progressively oriented sound. Anders's clean guitar leads are magnificently ornate and meandering and Jonas is still at the top of his game, where he has comfortably been at least since Night Is the New Day.

Хотя, надо сказать, Kreator пугают законопослушных граждан ужасами грядущего Апокалипсиса, сопровождаемого кризисами как в экологии, так и в общественной морали, да еще и дополненного зверствами новых религиозных войн честно, от души. И обложка на сей раз вышла такой, что ежели заменить, скажем, черепа под ногами кошмарной четверки "лошадок" на что-нибудь более "мясистое", она вполне сошла бы для оформления какой-нибудь из работ знаменитых любителей красочной расчлененки из Cannibal Corpse. Но вот собственно музыка на этот раз способна шокировать скорее не упитанного добродушного бюргера, а определенную часть целевой аудитории - эдакого худощавого волосатого и/или бородатого трэшера "со стажем". И причина тому проста: по-видимому, перед нами самая мелодичная пластинка среди всех, выпущенных Kreator за вот уже тридцатилетнюю историю. Кажется, Kreator на сей раз удалось в оптимальных пропорциях соединить лучшие наработки "Violent Revolution" и "Enemy Of God", дополнив их несколькими удачными "аранжировочными" находками, добавившими альбому пресловутую "нелинейность" развития. Которая, впрочем, все равно никому не была бы нужна, если бы не идеально подходящий для подобного "умничания" материал, подбор которого сделан на совесть.

I'm sure "Terrible Certainty" may have some fans divided. This is Kreator's equivalent to "South of heaven", not because of musical similarities, but they had the awkward task of following up "Pleasure to kill" hailed by just as many as "Reign in blood." They were never going to top the sheer intensity of this album's predecessor, but this album sounds more stable, with plenty of catchy thrash riffs that will stay in the memory for years to come. If the mission was to release an album that was slightly more disciplined without sounding far too refrained, then the mission was surely accomplished. I'm not going to denounce anybody who prefers other Kreator albums over this one, because Kreator have released many a classic, I am just going to tell you why this album has a permanent place in my collection, and why I like it so much. Although I love this album, I can come to terms with why some might carefully tread around it, because it isn't a masterpiece either. The riffs are good which is a given considering it is a Kreator album from the 1980's, but I genuinely find the lyrics more interesting this time around. "Blind faith" is about Romans feeding Christian heretics to the lions in an arena, "Behind the mirror" is about a man who is having trouble facing the reality of the world, hiding behind his thoughts and the imaginary barriers he has set for himself. I find the good lyrics accompanied by catchy riffs, will have most bobbing their head to the lyric sheet.

Alright peoples, Extreme Aggression, my favorite Kreator album. Yes, I said it, this is my favorite Kreator album. The so-called weak point in Kreator's early career that is sandwiched between the technical yet vicious monster Terrible Certainty and the completely fuckin' godly Coma of Souls that outshines almost every thrash album ever. I just, you know, like this one more. Extreme Aggression was where Kreator started polishing their blade a little bit; they started out hacking people to death with a jagged, blood-stained battle axe but around Terrible Certainty and this one, they began introducing more streamlined songwriting elements, better crafted and catchier riffs, and an overall smarter approach to the thrash.

Не буду я поднимать до немыслимых высот Кинга Даймонда, писать о том, что он сделал сверх альбом. Тут и так всё понятно, маэстро как всегда в своём жанре: несколько убойных композиций, соединенных не менее убойным сюжетом. Красивая обложка, отличная музыка, великолепные тексты. На этом альбоме Кинг пытается размышлять о существовании Бога, как такового, философствовать. Вообще, не хочу ни у кого отбивать интерес к этому альбому и к его текстам, поэтому не буду рассказывать в подробностях вам о сказке, которую придумал Кинг к этому альбому, а напишу немного в общих чертах. Появилось новшество: впервые за всё существование этой группы в текстах появилась любовная линия. Правда роман героев длился недолго, увы... Звучание альбома больше ближе к “Voodoo”, нежели к остальным альбомам. Качество записи отличное, здесь и никаких разговоров не должно быть. Музыка этого альбома великолепна, правда, местами занудная. А также здесь есть несколько треков, которые представляют из себя озвученные моменты из сюжета. Завершает этот диск инструментальная композиция, написанная гитаристом Кинга, Ля Роком. В общем послушать стоит определённо, но чего-то мне кажется альбому не хватает...

The early German thrash has a special kind of appeal, largely due to its rawness and unrelenting approach, and of the Teutonic thrashers, Kreator were ahead of the rest in rawness and extremity by some way. This album in particular has gained a reputation for being one of the most ferocious assaults in thrash metal, while also drawing criticism because of its single-minded nature. I am not especially partial to all-out musical destruction, but I must say that Pleasure to Kill is one of the best examples of its kind, almost certainly better than that other 1986 all-out thrash album.

And by A.B.C. I mean: atrocious, bestial and chaotic, this album is the purest definition that can be found for the term "extreme metal", because it is fast, it's very aggressive, it's "hardcore" in that it has no 'soft moments or instrumentals' that go away from the chaos that the whole album creates, except maybe for the first 25 seconds of Dying Victims and fortunately is the last song on this album, so the album is pure aggression itself. This album was released in 1985, but it is way ahead of its time. In that year there wasn't yet any Darkness Descends, nor Reign in Blood, nor Shark Attack, nor anything like this; for 1985, this is the most merciless album that can exist (this one along with Seven Churches and maybe Sepultura's Bestial Devastation ep); however, that doesn’t mean that before 1985 there didn't exist other releases that were extreme, in 1984 Hellhammer released Triumph of Death, an homage to the most horrendous face of metal in their ep Apocalyptic Raids, and in that same year Bathory released their self titled album; although Endless Pain is more extreme than Bathory's, Bathory's album is darker and more sinister than Endless Pain. Maybe there will be people that will want to include To Mega Therion as an extreme and bestial album (same for Bulldozer's Day of Wrath), but I don't consider To Mega Therion as extreme as Seven Churches or this album (but that doesn't mean Mega Therion is bad, all the opposite, it is magnificent).