The Viking in the Wilderness - reviews and news

(46:02; Fastball Music) Track list: 1. Gun 4 a While 3:20 2. In My Dreams 3:22 3. To the Ground 3:23 4. Ghost in Me 4:50 5. Daddy You're a Star 4:24 6. Hello! Hello! 3:19 7. Echo 3:48 8. Heartache 3:30 9. Forget About the Past 4:43 10. Waiting 'Til the Dawn 4:23 11. Ready 2 Rock 2:55 12. Forget About the Past [Acoustic] 4:05 Line-up: Thomas Seeburger - vocals Zarko Mestrovic - keyboards, vocals Ingolf Engler - guitars Boris Matakovic - saxophone Ralf Grespan - bass, vocals Matthias Amann - drums with: Chris Lausmann - guitars Kresimir Mestrovic - guitars Stefan Heinz - keyboards, effects German band Human Zoo started out back in 2004 or thereabouts, and at the start of their career they appear to have been a fairly active band too with new material released at a steady pace during their first decade or thereabouts as a band. Since then the creative tempo has slowed down a bit, but the band remains an active one. Coming eight years after their previous album, "Echoes Beyond

(47:27; Fastball Music) Track list: 1. Demons 3:53 2. Said or Done 3:05 3. Diggin' in the Dirt 4:29 4. Fight the Tide 4:06 5. Hold Me Now 3:50 6. Broken Man 3:57 7. Still Got My Time 3:11 8. Memories 3:19 9. Palace of the King 4:30 10. Rocket Man 3:58 11. Black Angel 5:17 12. Hold Me Now [Acoustic] 03:52 Line-up: Markus Escher - vocals, guitars Christian Tilly Klaus - drums, vocals Jan Wendel - guitars, vocals Stefan Pfaffinger - bass, vocals with: Oksana Gessner - viola Thomas Bachmannn - vocals, guitars German band Bowmen started out back in 2015, and from 2017 and onward the band has been releasing new music at a fairly steady pace. The album "Mission IV" is the third full length production by Bowmen, and was released through German label Fastball Music in the spring of 2024. Hard rock is the chosen playing field for the music explored on this production, and the band incorporate many different but often related varieties of this tradition on this album. Many of the so

(41:00; Spleen+) Track list: 1. One Upon a Time 1:06 2. A Heart Cries 3:25 3. Death & Glory 3:30 4. Beautiful Chaos 4:08 5. Broken Dreams 3:23 6. Another Night on Earth 3:18 7. Dreamworld (Dancing Alone) 4:09 8. Dancing at Your Funeral 4:47 9. Little Creatures 2:46 10. The Ghost on the Hill 4:39 11. Diary of Nothing 4:21 12. The End 1:28 Line-up: Kristell Lowagie - vocals Bernard Daubresse – guitars, synthesizers with: Maxx Maryan - programming, synthesizers Belgian band Lovelorn Dolls has been around for 15 years or thereabouts, operating under the name Lovelorn for the first couple of years of their career prior to settling on Lovelorn Dolls. The band has half a dozen or so EPs to their name so far, alongside four full length studio albums. "Deadtime Stories" is their latest studio production, and was released through Belgian label Spleen+ in the spring of 2024. I guess the best overall description to give to the style of music explored on this album is hard rock. This

(32:14; XO La Factory) Track list: 1. Machines 1:29 2. A Place Called Home 3:06 3. Farewell Kisses 3:08 4. Rain or Shine 4:44 5. The Slowest Candle 3:46 6. The Porch Song 3:02 7. Let Your Eyes Wander 3:46 8. Something Beautiful 3:55 9. A New Tomorrow 2:23 10. Adore the Sun 2:55 Line-up: Davide Corlevich - guitars, keyboards, bass, percussion Cristiano Mecchi - vocals, drums, keyboards, percussion Italian twosome Mac/Corlevich feature the talents of Cristiano Mecchi and Davide Corlevich, two musicians with somewhat different backgrounds that have come together to explore musical landscapes that, from the descriptions given, are fairly different from what they have been involved with in any of their other ventures. Their first album as a creative partnership is called "Rain or Shine", and was released through the label XO La Factory in the spring of 2024. What we get on this occasion is music of a simple and stripped down nature. The vocals and the acoustic guitar are the main

(15:48; M&O Music) Track list: 1. Sunscars 3:28 2. Vanish or Vanquish 3:11 3. After 3:11 4. Discount Success 2:49 5. Poisoned by Mom 3:09      Line-up:    Mara Salahou - vocals Tojawak - guitars Antoine Henry - bass Sacha Davidovich - drums French band Broknface is a fairly fresh addition to the French music scene. They have been active for just a bit over one calendar year from what I can see, and appear to be very active indeed and with two EPs to their name so far. "Leave to Live" is the most recent of their EPs, and was released through French label M&O Music in the spring of 2024. Nu metal is how I'd categorize the type of music we get on this preoduction, with a handful of concise tunes that each clock in somewhere around the three minute mark. The riffs and rhythms tends to be of the staccato and often playful variety, and whenever a bit more flow is ongoing the word alternative has a tendency to pop up in my mind. With very occasional lapses into slightly

(52:51; M&O Music) Track list: 1. Jesus 4:21 2. Muddy Waters 7:02 3. The Invincible 6:04 4. Somebody Else 5:51 5. PTSD 7:40 6. Beautiful 4:56 7. Golden Thrones 3:32 8. Fading Echoes 5:32 9. Oldschool Criminal 3:42 10. Shadows 4:11 Line-up: Nikolaj Back - vocals, guitars Christian Weber - guitars, vocals Steve Ely - bass Kay Hemmerich - drums German band Chakora has been around for a decade or thereabouts from what I understand, but as far as I can tell they haven't released all that much material during that initial decade other than a mini-album that dates back to 2017. This spring the band released their debut album "Fractured Fate" through French label M&O Music. Groove metal and psychedelic metal are some of the descriptions I saw used about this band when I started doing some initial research about them. I can understand both of them too, although for my sake I do find those descriptions a little bit lacking. They are both correct in many ways, but lack a lit

(44:05; Sail Cabin Records) Track list:    1. Elena 11:20 2. If Not, Marbles 5:16 3. First Days of Spring 6:51 4. Almost All Things Considered 6:58 5. Can I Have the Bill, Please 8:53 6. Hello Again, Paul 4:47 Line-up: Elin Forkelid - saxophones David Stackenäs - guitars Mauritz Agnas - bass Anna Lund - drums Swedish band Sol Sol appears to have been an active creative unit at least since 2018, with the four members releasing material at a fairly steady pace following on from their debut album "Unaccustomed Soil" which appeared back in 2019. "Almost All Things Considered" is the third studio production by Sol Sol, and was released through fledgling label Sail Cabin Records in the spring of 2024. Instrumental jazz is the name of the game as far as overall style is concerned here, and I guess that fusion or possibly even jazzrock might be descriptions viable to the types of landscapes explored on this production. Probably and possibly with some references to be made i

(120:53; Echozone) Track list: 1. Phalanx 5:05 2. Macht der Stimme 4:45 3. Seraph 5:37 4. A Final Note 6:02 5. My Saviour 5:24 6. Cutting Edge (Live Target) 6:08 7. Lie To Me 6:48 8. Ein Sturm zieht auf 5:15 9. NON 5:12 10. Wipeout 7:03 11. Black Noir (Revisited) 5:18 12. Die Welt ist nicht genug 4:43 13. Stuka 6:00 14. Black Noir (Mach Fox EditRMX) 5:23 15. Seraph (Insect Plasma Remix) 5:41 16. A Final Note (dFortleben Remix) 3:53 17. My Saviour (Synaptic Defect Remix) 5:23 18. Black Noir (Hexify Remix) 5:06 19. A Final Note (Empathia Poethica Remix) 6:04 20. Black Noir (MissSuicide Remix) 4:32 21. Wipeout (Phobos Reactor Remix) 6:01 22. My Saviour (Empathia Poethica Remix) 5:30 Line-up: Thomas Martiné - vocals, instruments German artist Martine is an artist I don't really know all that much about, and from what I can see (or rather not see) with a bit of Google Ninja this appears to be an artist not all that fond of being in the spotlight. Or perhaps on of those creators so caugh