COCO MONTOYA- Good days, bad days

Having a couple of shots of Vodka & caramel while listening to Coco play the blues feels always great.

JOURNEY- Eclipse (2011)

By now you should be aware of the new album Journey released recently. If not, well here we are. Journey's one of the greatest rock bands of all times with countless of millions albums sold and many timeless songs. And their heart's still beating loud. ''Eclipse'' comes 38 years after their debut but it's far from an obligatory, retro album. Just like 2008's ''Revelation'', ''Eclipse'' is here to demand your attention, not because of the brand name, but because of the tremendous songs. With Arnel Pineda on vocals the band is on fire and recaptures the passion of the early days, when they conquered the world. Neal Schon is back with even more fiery guitar work continuing to steer the band into new days of glory. The new songs remind a lot of the ''Frontiers'' era, when Journey wrote their heavier ever material. If one word was needed to describe the album, it would certainly be passion. When you listen to songs like Chains of love or Resonate, you cannot but feel the energy and get carried away by the storng emotions. It's top class stuff the band will be proud of regardless of record sales. It's not only the rockier stuff they recorded in decades, it's also an interesting glimpse at the progressive side of the band, something that we hadn't seen since the early albums. The overall production is really powerfull and crystal clear and performances just as expected perfect. Againa a few words for Pineda: He may sound too close to Steve Perry, but he does this out of true love for his idol and he's original in this sense. And if a voice can be immitated, soul cannot. Pineda prooves he has plenty of soul and it shines through making ''Eclipse'' a very special moment in Journey's discography.

Pastore- The Price for the Human Sins (private 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGEHpFGi2vY

This one came crushing through my stereo and got me down on my knees begging for mercy. Very much like fellow countrymen Painside this is extremely Priest influenced metal. Pastore are only more aggressive, not in a bad sense though. There’s definitely melody here but power is the most significant factor. Mario Pastore is a veteran of the Brazilian metal scene and it’s a shame I’ve never heard of him before, since he is a master of the metal scream. It’s also a shame Pastore is releasing this as a private and judging from the lack of reviews on the net the album hasn’t reached many people. Songs like Far away, Horizons are top class. On the later Mario takes a rest from his metal screams and delivers a beautiful semi-ballad beginning with acoustic guitars end ending with fantastic solos by Rafael Gaza who proves himself a worthy addition to the lineup. Get the album on the net, give it a chance and I’m sure you will give Pastore the support they need cause they deserve it.

FORTRESS UNDER SIEGE

Gladiators were one of Greece's most promising bands, although they had released only one 2-song-demo in 1988 and also took part in the legendary (and ultra-rare) "Greece Attacks" compilation from 1989 with another song, called "Gladiators". Unfortunately, the "typical" problems for every hellenic band of that time forced the band to split up and many years later Fotis Sotiropoulos formed Fortress Under Siege.
(source metal archives)

Fortress Under Siege only released a 4-track ep in 1996 and were put on hold. In 2010 the band was revived writting new stuff and 2011 will possibly be the year of their full return with a full length album.

Painside- Dark world burden (2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE-coKO2eMs&feature=related

These Brazilians can really make a good name. Their debut ‘’Dark world burden’’ is a modern heavy/power metal album that combines European and US metal. Think of Judas Priest’s ‘’Painkiller’’, think of Cage but with a better balance between melody and power and you got the picture more or less. The great advantage of Painside is their fantastic singer Guilherme Sevens, who possesses a set of impressive pipes and belts out high pitched screams in a very persuasive way, without sounding gay. He’s more in the style of singers like Ralf Sheepers or Rob Rock I think, you know, wide ranged but with a raspy tone. There’s some great riffing throughout the album and ass kicking up tempo songs like Ignite the fire, Deviant will make you bang your head for good, while in tracks like This dark world and Forsaken the band proves itself worthy of mid tempo anthemic songs too. I can’t find any real flaw to this album, even the production is clear, tight and powerful transferring the bands full power to our starving-for-good-metal ears.

Cool Feet- Burning desire (1976)

Extremely obscure album (it’s supposed to fetch many hundreds of dollars) by a bunch of German and British guys who were based in Luxemburg. Obviously influenced by early Scorpions, Cool Feet can be proud for managing to recreate part of the Germans’ magic, leaving behind some really good songs. You can easily detect the Scorpions influence even on the sexist album cover and furthermore ‘’Burning desire’’ was recorded at the Dieter Dirks studios in Cologne, Germany. Especially ‘’Fly to the rainbow’’ must have been one of their favorite albums at the time, The man from Marakesh sounds a lot like They need a million and Alone in your cage draws inspiration from symphonic anthems like Fly to the rainbow or Fly people fly. Despite the similarities one cannot underestimate the talent of Cool Feet, nor the great songs they contributed to rock history.