The Viking in the Wilderness - reviews and news

(19:38; Fastball Music) Track list: 1. Room to Breathe 3:58 2. Kingdom 3:56 3. Your Chains 3:57 4. Afterlife 3:28 5. Twisted Love 4:19 Line-up: Dan Byrne - vocals Veit Schlembach - drums Dani Davies - guitars Christian Buchberger - bass with: Michael Wagner - guitars Vinnie Colla - bass Jona Raischl - keyboards German band Bad Rain have been around for a few years by now, formed after the members past bands disbanded sometime around 2018 if I have understood matters correctly. This year they have readied themselves for the recording part of their career, and following a couple of initial singles they are now out with the EP "Room to Breathe", which was released through German label Fastball Music. And this is quite the vitamin pill of a production. While the band describe their music as hard rock, I am one of those slightly older guys that can recall when music of this kind was still referred to as heavy metal. The truth of the matter, at least as far as I'm concerned, is...

(21:19; Fantai'zic) Track list: 1. 04-06-2080 0:56 2. Bone Meal 3:59 3. The Hemicycle 4:32 4. Bloks 4:30 5. Breaking the Wall 3:22 6. Floating Blossom 3:58 Line-up: Jean-Gabriel Bocciarelli - guitars, vocals Natan Gengenbacher - drums, percussion Benoît Guillot - vocals Matthieu Morand - guitars, synthesizers, keyboards Julien Skorka - bass, vocals French band Dusk of Delusion have been around since 2016 of thereabouts, and have been a consistent unit in terms of creating and releasing new material during their career so far. Three full albums have seen the light of day since the band started, and an additional two EPs have seen the light of day during their run too. The most recent of these EPs is called "Try Your Freedom", and was released through French label Fantai'zic in the fall of 2023. The cover art pretty much states that this EP is a tie in with the band's previous studio album "COrollarian RObotic SYStem", and presumably it is the continuation...

(49:20; Echozone) Track list: 1. Transform the Urge 4:15 2. Hunting a Ghost 5:36 3. Frozen People 6:26 4. Hayley 4:58 5. Deadly Cure 5:24 6. Tyrants 5:49 7. Cold 6:47 8. Don't Lose Yourself 4:20 8. Smalltown Boy 5:45 Line-up: Chris N - vocals Patty J - instruments German band Seekers Are Lovers appears to be a fairly recent addition to the German music scene, with the band starting out back in 2020 and with an initial EP released back in the spring of 2021. "Nephentes" is their debut album, and was released through German label Echozone in the fall of 2023. I will readily admit that the landscapes explored by this band aren't ones I'm intimately familiar with, although I have listened to quite a bit of music related to the material that is present on this album. I guess electronic rock is an appropriate manner in which to summarize this production as a whole, although in this case this tradition is explored with a distinct nod back towards the 1980s. The songs we ...

(39:34; Physico Records) Track list: 1. Chairman 3:32 2. Two of a Kind 3:33 3. Let Your Love Come Down 3:19 4. In the Night 5:10 5. Think I'll Stay in the City Tonight 5:06 6. After Dawn 3:46 7. Empty Heart 3:41 8. I Still Love You So 3:21 9. Our Love Will Last 3:54 10. Close Enough to Know 4:12 Line-up: Kenneth Roy - vocals, drums, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers, melodica, effects Doctor Ryman - guitars, drums, bass, arrangements, effects with: Baron Chase - bass Richard Howell - saxophones, arrangements Geechi Taylor - trumpet Danny Armstrong - trombone Veteran US artist Kenneth Roy has been around for the last three decades or thereabouts, but as I haven't been able to trace just how many albums he has released over the years I don't know how productive he has been over the years. The album "Chairman" dates back to 2020, and appears to be the most recent of his excursions as a solo artist. I was fairly impressed with this album when I gave it a more superf...

(34:44; Physico Records) Track list: 1. Fantasy Fifteen 3:51 2. Something to Say 5:25 3. No Dice 6:34 4. You Can Find a Better Way 3:11 5. Nobody Falls in Love Anymore 2:50 6. You Don't Need Me 3:15 7. December 5:24 8. Shiny Lake 4:14 Line-up: Kenneth Roy - vocals, various instruments with: Michael Spears - guitars Baron Chase - bass Dr. Ryman - synthesizers, bass, organ, keytar Val Caray's - programming US artist Kenneth Roy has been a part of the US music scene for a good number of years, and while his main webpage doesn't easily indicate just how long he has been active, a quick Google search tracked down a self-titled album released back in 1995. Hence this is an artist that has been around for a bit. The album "No Dice" dates back to 2008, and was released through the label Physico Records, a label I suspect may be the artist's own label. This is a production featuring material that to a lesser or greater extent appears to be aimed towards the more pop-or...

(49:30; Fastball Music) Track list: 1. Blood and Stones 5:47 2. Troublemaker 4:24 3. Twilight 4:22 4. She Bob 4:38 5. Confident Woman 4:39 6. Devil's Eye 4:24 7. I Stop Listening to You 4:26 8. Time Goes By 5:12 9. Too Late 5:03 10. C'mon, Tell Me 4:19 11. My Mother Told Me 2:25 Line-up: Robert Brenner - bass Ela Sturm - vocals Guido Stoecker - guitars, vocals Jason-Steve Mageney - drums German band Bodyguerra has been a feature of their local music scene for the better part of 15 years at this point, with their career as a recording unit dating back to 2013. This fall the band is out with their third studio album, "Invictus", which was released on German label Fastball Music. If I have to place Bodyguerra inside of a specific style and orientation, then I'd go for traditional heavy metal. This is a band that at least on this album create and recreate music of the kind that the metal bands explored back in the early 1980's, albeit with a few updates in the mix...