We all miss K.K. Downing in Judas Priest, don’t we? However, the situation has been sorely infected ever since he bowed out of Priest back in 2011 so the chances for us to see him alongside his replacement Richie Faulkner now that Glenn Tipton isn’t able to play live anymore are minimal. With the situation the way it is, Downing decided in 2019 to put his own Priest together – hence the band’s name – using former Priest members singer Ripper Owens who once replaced Rob Halford in Judas and old drummer Les Binks. Binks involvement in the band was short-lived, though, due to health problems.
Black Stone Cherry – Screamin’ at the Sky
Black Stone Cherry has gone from a small club band/opening act to become a headline act but has for some reason never risen to Festival or Arena/Stadium size headliners something that bands like Rival Sons and Greta Van Fleet has – at least in the States. The quality on the band’s albums are for the most part really high with only a few mishaps along the way. The self-titled debut from 2006, the follow-up Folklore And Superstition (2008) and Kentucky (2016) are all examples of killer records that very well could have taken the band up in the sky. The last album – The Human Condition (2020) – however was a disappointment and showed a band treading water with too few songs that actually grabbed a hold. Hopefully the band is on revenge mode with this record.
Vega – Battlelines
Formed back in 2009, British rockers Vega was hailed as the great new hope for the Melodic Rock/AOR genre when the released their debut album Kiss Of Life in 2010 and the band’s popularity increased by each record. I discovered the band with their fourth album Who We Are (2016) and became a fan immediately. But something has happened in later years. Or hasn’t happened might be a better choice of words. Because despite releasing solid efforts one after another it seems that the band has taken a halt when it comes to getting bigger – their popularity curve is treading water and remains pretty much on the same level as it was five or six years ago. Why that is is beyond me as judging by the quality of their music they should be bigger. That said, they do sport a rather large following.
Eclipse – Megalomanium
Since formed in 1999, Swedish melodic hard-rockers Eclipse has been a damn creative bunch. They’re now on album # 10 – the debut was released back in 2001. Ever since their fourth record Bleed & Scream the band has released a new album every two years, a pretty fast pace in this day and age. It’s also impressive that since then the quality on their albums have been sky-high especially since main song-writer Erik Mårtensson (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) is involved in lots of other projects as well, Nordic Union and W.E.T. being two them, projects easily as strong as his mothership. It needs to be pointed out that his cohort since forever, guitarist Magnus Henriksson has been a big helping hand when it comes to song-writing too. This means that every time a new album with Mårtensson’s name on it sees the light of day, it comes with massive expectations. An album that’s only good is a disappointment.
U.D.O. – Touchdown
Here’s a guy who has devoted his life to music. Metal music. Udo Dirkschneider refuses to rest on his laurels and go nostalgia on us, no he needs to create and stay relevant and for a guy in his 70’s – he’s 72 – it’s quite impressive to keep writing, recording and releasing new albums with tours to follow everyone of them. This is Udo’s 20th album as a solo artist and you can add ten studio albums with Accept to that. In my book, Udo has never released a full-on bad album but his career has still been a bit up and down quality wise. The last time U.D.O. released a killer record was Steelfactory back in 2018 with the three albums that came after being more uneven affairs. That said, with his old Accept band-mate Peter Baltes now in the band there are expectations on his new effort.
King Kobra – We are Warriors
When King Kobra reunited in 2010 after almost 25 years apart it was almost the original line-up with Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot) joining drummer Carmine Appice, guitarists David Michael Philips and Mick Sweda and bassist Johnny Rod, replacing original singer Mark/Marcie Free. Two good enough records – King Kobra (2011) and II (2013) were released but failed to make any impact at all so things turned quiet from the camp. Until that dreadful performance at Sweden Rock Festival in 2016. Sweda had jumped ship by then and had been replaced by one Jordan Ziff, an unknown talent that later joined Stephen Pearcy’s version of Ratt. That the band released a live album from that gig is beyond me but after one listen it’s easy to state that the end-result was mostly a studio-job. I thought that King Kobra was done after that.
Greta Van Fleet – Starcatcher
The first time I heard of Greta Van Fleet was when a friend played me a YouTube clip of four teenagers playing in front of their friends at school in something that looked like a lecture hall or something. GVF was on fire but their friends – who had probably never even heard of Led Zeppelin – looked like they had been taken to another planet or something. I thought they were cool as f**k and I also knew that we were going to get more of these guys in the near future. We did. Two E.P’s in 2017 and a debut album in 2018 and Greta Van Fleet was the talk of the town. Of course, accusations of Led Zeppelin plagiarism occurred and even though that was highly exaggerated there was a resemblance both musically and in singer Joshua Kiszka’s Robert Plant like voice. But GVF was also good at what they did. Damn good even and now after two highly acclaimed records a third is out on the market – with a whole lot of expectations in tow.
Alice Cooper – Road
Mr Vincent Furnier needs no further presentation except for two words: Alice Cooper. An icon. A legend. The fact that a guy in his mid 70’s is still relevant is really impressing. It’s also impressing that someone his age refuses to sit idle and become a nostalgia act – hello Kiss and Mötley Crüe. Thing is, despite knowing that albums doesn’t really bring in the green anymore, The Coop refuses to not create. He needs to. It’s in his DNA. So albums keep on coming – sometimes they’re great, sometimes more uneven – ever so often no matter if it’s as a solo artist or as a member of his hobby-band Hollywood Vampires. And he tours. A lot. His latest effort is out but apparently another album with a different angle is in the making as I write this. Respect to The Coop.
Skagarack – Heart and Soul
Formed by guitarist/lead singer/song writer Torben Schmidt, Skagarack became a bit of a name in AOR circles in Scandinavia and the debut – a good album that came with some minor flaws – did pretty good but it was with their sophomore album Hungry For A Game two years later where the band hit their peak. Said album knocked me for six and I was sure it’d take them right to the top. It didn’t. When the slightly heavier follow-up A Slice Of Heaven (1989) more or less bombed the band disbanded and Schmidt tried on a solo career that didn’t set the world on fire either. The band gave it one more shot in 1993 with the underwhelming album Big Time but it was 1993 after all so it didn’t do anything and the band split again. Back in 2020 the band got some offers to reunite for some gigs and so they did and the next step was of course a new album and now the first Skagarack album in 20 years is here.
Mammoth WVH – Mammoth II
Being the child of someone famous can put pressure on just about anyone. Think about being the child of a legend then. An icon. Wolfgang Van Halen is one of them. Ok, the guy did a tour as Michael Anthony’s replacement in Van Halen and worked as the bass player for Mark Tremonti (Alter Bridge) but being a hired gun is way different to be your own boss. The name Van Halen comes with lots of pressure and expectations and there are probably a whole bunch of douche-bags just waiting for him to fail. Thing is, the way things looked, Wolfie took things pretty calmly and just went on his way.
CD & Festival reviews 