reviews roundup 2019-02

souls of deaf - fortune favors the boldSlug Comparison - When You Were Living Heremarenna - livin no regretsCranston IISunrise Auranaut - InserterIt is time to update you on the next batch of reviews we want to share with you!

 

  • First one is from mr. H. (The Rocker) about Souls Of Deaf (January 22). He does not like the name or all of the tunes, but says “There are some good tunes and riffs on offer”
  • French site Neo Prog write a very fine piece about the latest Slug Comparison. Some of their words (translated): “Definitely, it is more than recommended to explore the Slug Comparison universe; between shadow and light, acoustic and electric, this opus listens to one stroke as it is judiciously balanced and you will become indispensable”
  • Next is Get Ready To Rock, also about Slug Comparison. Jason Ritchie says “Those already familiar with his solo work will certainly want this, along with those who enjoy prog rock with a distinct alternative edge”
  • Rocktopia/ Fireworks’ Mick Parry had this to say about Marenna:  “The album oozes a vibrant, melodic sound and it’s easy to pick up the influences from the past, but these guys have added a touch of flair to it all. In Rodrigo Marenna, they have a great front-man with the pipes to match the best out there. If you like Melodic Rock with an edge, go for this and you’ll have ‘No Regrets'”
  • Word wizard Dmitry Epstein wrote about Cranston: ” this little ensemble with a big sound follow their debut record with a sophomore effort that bares their arena-minded ambition” and hands a 3 3/4 out of 5 stars for the album
  • Your Music Blog say about Cranston “prove that Phil and Paul have a great thing going. Fingers crossed we are treated to more of this”
  • Something For The Weekend include Slug Comparison in the 5 albums you need to hear for January
  • Felonafan wrote a 4 star review for Sunrise Auranaut, and says it’s a “good addition to many prog collections”
  • Another one from Dmitry at DMME, this time on Slug Comparison “bound to perplex and enchant an ear in equal measure” with a 3 4/5 star as a result
  • And last but not least for now, a blistering 5 star review for Cranston on ViriAOR. Alicia Albertos recommends the album saying (translated) “An honest and easy listening record where a careful production stands out, with well-arranged arrangements and second voices and some lines of guitars that give the final product a touch of distinction”

All writers, thank you very much!

Recent reviews!

sky empire - the dark towerstill living - ymmij  souls of deaf - fortune favors the bold age-of-aquariusmarenna - livin no regretsSunrise Auranaut - Inserter

 

 

 

 

It is about time to give you an overview of reviews for our releases!

  • Musipedia of Metal gives Sky Empire a 7/10 and calls it a fairly impressive chunk of prog that will certainly entertain fans of the genre
  • DMME gives 3 4/5 stars to Still Living’s Ymmij album and likes the band best in the heavier songs
  • Rockportaal really enjoy the Souls Of Deaf album and call it a damn fine album with catchy and fast metal
  • Dmitry from  DMME also had some nice things to say about last years Age Of Aquarius release and adds several new genre descriptions to the varied sound of the album
  • Zeitgeist / the Rocker have lots of praise for the Marenna live album and state that Melodic hard rock fans should definitely be giving it a listen
  • Belgian Metal Shredder found several favourites on the Souls Of Deaf album and describe it as an old-school album that aims to bring some of that classic Motörhead vibe to you but with a typically Dutch flavor
  • Metal Temple are very impressed by the Sky Empire album and give a 10 for songwriting and a 9 for originality!

And in Empire 127 Martin Dambeck wrote several impressions. For Chinawhite, Souls Of Deaf and Sunrise Auranaut. Read in the next documents:

Empire_127_PREVIEW 56-57

Empire_127_PREVIEW 59

 

chinawhite - differentAnd last but not least the kind words of Mr. H. for Chinawhite:

CHINAWHITE
Different
Rock Company

Another release from the men who never sleep. Yes, Peter Cox (not that one) and Phil Vincent have made another record to go with all their CranstoN / Forest Field endeavours.

Chinawhite, though, is all about the songs of Peter Cox. With all the vocals taken care of by Vincent and the drums coming from Praying Mantis man Hans in´t Zandt they’ve certainly put together a quality product. It’s mainly eighties styled melodic hard rock but they’ve also thrown in a few prog elements as well. It would be no surprise to find some mid-period Asia albums in the collection of Mr Cox.

They kick things off with one of the album highlights – ‘Kiss Of Fire’ – which is as hard rock as they get. The prog starts to arrive with ‘Hello To The World’ and from then on they mix and match as they please. When it works, it’s really enjoyable, although a couple of songs just miss. And just to reinforce the prog credentials the album closes with an eight minute instrumental. Hey! It’s my album and I’ll do what I like. A good one.

Reviews Reviews Reviews!

chinawhite - different fred mika - withdrawal symptoms marenna - livin no regrets Sunrise Auranaut - Insertersouls of deaf - fortune favors the bold

 

 

 

 

The reviews keep coming in! And most of them we are very happy to share with you:

Brian from The Midlands Rocks wrote about Chinawhite and Fred Mika here. Lots of positives, so thank you Brian for you kind words.

DMME / Let It Rock also published very kind reviews on Chinawhite and Fred Mika. Dmitry has a great way with words, you should definitely check these! Thanks again Dmitry.

Next up is Italian site Giornale Metal! They honoured Marenna with 8/10, and Sunrise Auranaut and Fred Mika with a 7/10. The site is obviously in Italian, but Google can translate automatically for you. Thank you Bob, Silvio and Angelica.

To move on we have Dutch site Rock Portaal. Lots of good things about Souls of Deaf. Thank you Filip.

The same applies to LiveReviewer.com. Also lots of praise for the Souls Of Deaf album. Thank you Winston.

French site Metal Integral gave Chinawhite a 4.5/5 stars! Thank you Noctus.

To conclude this gathering, I present a beautiful one published in French magazine Highlands #92, about the Inserter album by Sunrise Auranaut:

For his first title, The Flight Continues, SUNRISE AURANAUT remains in his comfort zone by using what he knows best: a rhythmic Progressive feeling good 70s, with keyboards also retro futuristic. We always hear the programmed battery, limit drum machine, which can annoy by its sound.
In The Old House is more imaginative: varied and articulate on an intriguing Glockenspiel, it establishes a well marked atmosphere in just four minutes.
The rhythm is both more present and better used, serving keyboards from the Moog from the 70s to the 80s. Vitaly KISELEV skilfully slides guitar parts for a more energetic and relevant overall rendering. Keeper Of The Castle Forest push INSERTER in this way, in equal quality.
Based on a very nice guitar part freely inspired by Steve HACKETT, this title is part of a very good balance between guitar-keyboards-drums.
SUNRISE AURANAUT knows his classics and he never hesitates to refer to them, for the good cause. Identification Man (Psychedelic Inserter) could be his sequel: the Hammond organ always holds a place of choice, for a very progressive piece, in the spirit of In The Old House.
Rhythm breaks and other tempo changes are part of the journey and thanks to the contribution of MALAKHOV, KISELEV can refine the programming and the guitar playing, forming a solid and always interesting. The pair works perfectly, which allows him to offer the short but beautiful Fog. This time, we hear the contribution and influences of the Classic claimed by SUNRISE AURANAUT. With his guitar evoking the harpsichord, the keyboard can play its sweet and ethereal part that makes us enjoy a different and pleasant music.
Auspicious before the trilogy The Saga Of The Discovers.

The first two are grouped on the same title and this choice is judicious: it allows us to focus on his six beautiful minutes; SUNRISE AURANAUT is more ambitious than ever and this is reflected in his arrangements: the rhythm section seems more and more natural, serving at best this powerful Progressive rock, in the wake of a romanticism at GENESIS and Steve HACKETT.
The duo makes us take advantage of their great range of sounds, by packing this piece which finds its climax in an excellent third final part.

Taking advantage of the change of track to rest with a soothing introduction, this Saga resumes its cruising pace by finishing as well as it started.
A flawless for this suite that marks his imprint album. The World Of Light keeps in itself the aesthetics of its predecessors, without taking all its strength: the piece is good but with less strength of conviction. The strange One Strange Morning will bring another atmosphere, between Dany ELFMAN and that of a haunted mansion.

Despite an electronic drum too present, we revel in this title lighter, tinged with irony, in a state of mind finally very Russian. Hello, Star Man is very honorably closing the set: even if it does not reach the height of the saga, it returns without complex to a progressive progressive pleasant, without surprise but effective.

By diversifying with the contribution of a musician for this fifth album, Vitaly KISELEV was able to reinvent itself in his style, making INSERTER an excellent record if this is the best of SUNRISE AURANAUT.

In addition to the programmed battery that can displease, the whole is very homogeneous, creative, always located in the Progressive referenced period 70 but not without brilliance and panache. He even surprised us, like The Saga Of The Discoverers, brilliant.
Lovers of instrumental rock, listen to this endearing album. (*** ¾)

Reviews keep coming!

D'Ercole - Made To Burnsouls of deaf - fortune favors the boldSunrise Auranaut - Insertercryptic nature - pandor marenna - livin no regrets chinawhite - different Many reviewers have been spending time listening to our releases and write about them. And while it is still a case of “some get it, and some don’t” many of those reviews are still excellent! So here the current update of available reviews:

And more great reviews for our releases!

chinawhite - differentfred mika - withdrawal symptomssouls of deaf - fortune favors the boldSunrise Auranaut - Insertermarenna - livin no regretscryptic nature - pandorstill living - ymmijtragik - taintedAgain a bunch of reviews have reached our desk. Well, computer actually. For your convenience here a quick overview and the links on where to find them:

Rockportaal wrote an awesome piece about the latest Chinawhite album Different. Find the original here, and an English translation on the Chinawhite site.

Viri AOR wrote about Fred Mika and Chinawhite. These are in Spanish! The Fred Mika review describes it as solid, yet maybe a little irregular because of the style changes throughout the album. Since there are also only 5 star reviews from readers so far, I think it is received well! Chinawhite get a glowing recommended, and you can read a translation here.

Next is Strutter, Gabor has written no less than 8 short reviews on this page. Here his points for them:
Marenna 7.2, Cryptic Nature 7.6, Sunrise Auranaut 8.1, Still Living 7.5, Tragik 8.3, Chinawhite 8.3, Souls Of Deaf 8.1, and Fred Mika 8.4!

Then we arrive at Musikreview.de. They write about Chinawhite (9/15), Souls Of Deaf (7/15) and Fred Mika (10/15). Just shows that tastes differ…

And to conclude for now, we have Crossfire write about Marenna, leaving them a bit confused 😉

Thanks to the writers, enjoy reading!

Have we got reviews for you!

chinawhite - differentfred mika - withdrawal symptomsmarenna - livin no regretssouls of deaf - fortune favors the boldSunrise-Auranaut-The-Ocean-Of-Unspoken-Words

 

 

 

 

 

Been rather busy with lots of things lately, and in the meantime quite a few reviews have seen the light a day. So here a wrap up for you:

Lords of Metal talk about:

  1. Chinawhite – Different and give it 80 points!
  2. sadly only 58 points for Fred Mika’s Withdrawal Symptoms
  3. Marenna’s Livin’ No Regrets does better with 64 points
  4. and last but not least; Souls of Deaf album Fortune Favors The Bold got 73 points

Thanks to all the writers.

On DMME a rather nice review of the previous Sunrise Auranaut album The Ocean Of Unspoken Words has been published. Thank you Dmitry!

On to UK site Uber Rock now:

  1. even when Mark Ashby did not seem to understand the idea behind Different from Chinawhite, he still liked many things on offer
  2. so it’s a good thing Marenna’s Livin’No Regrets got a better reception, thanks Mark

In Italy site Metalhead gave Marenna an 8/10 for Livin’ No Regrets. Nice one, thanks!

And to close for now, how about a 80% for Fred Mika’s Withdrawal Symptoms on AngelicWarlord? Much better, thanks!

Reviews keep coming!

cellar dwellers - junkyard chronicles part 1 German Crossfire Metal Webzine wrote about the first 2 EP’s from the Cellar Dwellers! And they liked it. Read the German version here.

With the next translation by Google:
 
Granted, the Netherlands has been musically a blank spot on my musical map. This is now changing with Cellar Dwellers: The band has released “The Junkyard Chronicles Pt. 1 + 2” the first part of their planned releases, which should include a total of four EPs. The band is dedicated to the various influences of rock and produces a diverse sound. Driving, punchy classic rock with a pinch of punk is just as present as bluesy and dark songs in the style of the early Black Sabbath. Of course there are no guitar solos as well as recurring, polyphonic and ecstatic vocal passages, which are a nice change to the vocals, which are otherwise very pleasantly rough. In music like “Ramones”, there is also something in it musically, the style of the punk legend has been successfully adapted without being compellingly contrived. For Oldschool Rock the songs are extremely powerful, the quality of the tracks is a big plus. All in all, it should be noted that fans of the old rock sounds should stop by here, it is worthwhile in any case. If you like Black Sabbath as much as the already mentioned Ramones, you will definitely be in good hands here.
 
Thank you / Danke Clemens!
marenna - livin no regrets
For Marenna also 2 new reviews can be found. First one is from UK’s Frenzy Fire. They say the album will keep you smiling and singing from start to finish. Thanks Mathew.
The next one is in Portuguese (I think), and you can find that one here. Well the overall score is 91% so I do not think I need to add more… Thank you Marcos.
cryptic nature - pandor
German Magazine Empire have written a nice review of the Pandor album.
You can read some quotes on the Cryptic Nature website, as well as find the whole article (in German).
Thank you Martin.
earthshine v - abstract patterns
And also a nice one for Earthshine, in Empire edition 125. Martin writes:
Peter Cox, the Chinawhite guitarist, continues his journey into instrumental electronic music with Abstract Patterns. The Dutchman describes the music as ambient, new age, film music and lounge, and that hits the spot. The often very melodic themes and sounds invite you to dream. The guitars that are added here and there create a welcom variation. For the quieter moments in life.
Thanks Martin!
Find all the music online, or the CD’s in our webshop or your favourite retailer.

Reviews!

still living - ymmijSunrise Auranaut - Insertermarenna - livin no regretsearthshine v - abstract patterns

 

 

 

Of course we send out all our releases to the press, hoping they will write about it. Alas not all magazines and websites let us know, but here a couple of recent reviews we enjoyed reading:

Heavy Paradise on Still Living – Ymmij And with a 9/10 score I think they liked the album as much as we do!

Zeitgeist – the Rocker also wrote about the Still Living album here. Plenty of good stuff according to Mr. H.!

Rockportaal wrote a piece about the Inserter album from Sunrise Auranaut. It is in Dutch, so some quotes:

  • lots of bombastic tinged instrumental prog spiced with jazzy influences with an overall Seventies mood
  • no easy digested songs here
  • a splendid listening challenge

The album gets comparisons with King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Par Lindh Project and classical composers like Grieg and Tchaikosky.

The Metal Mag spent time with the energetic Marenna live album Livin’ No Regrets. And calls it brilliant!

And also some words on the latest Earthshine release Abstract Patterns! Dmitry from DMME has a unique way of describing his listening experiences and had a few smiles to share.

Thanks to all the writers!

Marenna CD release party rocked!

marenna cd release party

Metal Na Lata wrote an extensive piece on the recent Marenna CD release party, celebrating the recent Livin’ No Regrets live album. Find the original (in Portuguese) here. And now the English translation, provided by Rod himself:

Coming from the south of  Brazil, Marenna landed in São Paulo (Southeast of Country) for a performance for happy fans of hard rock full of attitude and energy of the quartet formed by Rod Marenna (vocal), Aaron Alves (guitar), Arthur Appel ) and Gionathan Sandi (drums).

As there was a little delay to the release of the studio where the show would be performed, we could see the band’s care with official merchandise with many good items for fans. In addition to the CDs / EP, T-shirts of all sizes were available for purchase, which already gave the audience the proper dimension of professionalism and care of the band with the details.

At 9:20 p.m. the room was released and shortly before 9:30 p.m., it began to roll the intro already amended with the great “You Need to Believe” opening track of the EP “My Unconditional Faith” released in 2015. Soon after, 3 tracks from the most recent studio work, the exceptional “No Regrets” (2016), where there is a highlight among them, “Reason to Live” that has the typical 1980s that fans of the style like to hear.

Before announcing the next track, Marenna gave a brief account of the importance of the next track in the band’s trajectory, which was originally produced in partnership with the Busic brothers (Dr. Sin), and which therefore has a strong connection with the city of São Paulo: the melodic “Fall in Love Again”. To announce the track “Forever”, which in the opinion of this writer, is the best track ever recorded by MARENNA, Rod says that this track was composed in 1999, and that the current version was much better than the original; that track that live, gained a renewed air and not less exciting.

Before announcing the penultimate track of the concert, Rod again takes the microphones and says he did not imagine going that far and how great was the happiness of the band to win new friends and feel, that many people hope the band avenge at once for all Although apparently no one misses a cover, the band releases the hit “Breaking the Silence” from the Swedish band H.E.A.T., which is said by the band itself, is one of its main influences. The set list was closed with the track of the album “No Regrets”, leaving in all the audience, that taste of “I want more”.

After the end of the concert, how could that be different, that famous post-show photo and that moment when all the public can have contact with the band, the moment of the selfies, and the autograph on the CDs. it is very worth checking out this talented band, plus a great name for Brazil´s Rock & Roll scene.

Rod Marenna said during the show: “We hope back very soon!”; and fans are also looking forward to it. Showtime!

Thanks to Rod Marenna and Raphael Arízio for the partnership and friendship!

Setlist:

Intro – You Need to Believe

Can not let you go

Never Surrender

Reason to Live

Fall in Love Again

Keep on Dreaming

Forever

About Love

So different

Like an Angel

Life Goes On

Breaking the Silence (H.E.A.T)

No Regrets

 

great review for Marenna

marenna - livin no regretsgreat review for Marenna album Livin’ No Regrets:
Not a stranger at 0dayrox, MARENNA, the AOR / Melodic Rock band fronted by Brazil-born songwriter / vocalist Rodrigo Marenna already pleased us with their solid debut full of songs in the true traditional style of the genre. Now MARENNA are releasing “Livin’ No Regrets”, an album recorded live including songs from the debut CD plus new ones.
 
MARENNA as band, in live set, sounds much more edgy and melodic hard rock oriented. There’s pulsating rockers in ‘Keep On Dreaming, ”Reason to Live’ and the more groovy ‘Can’t Let You Go’.
The live version of ‘About Love’ is still catchy yet muscular, while the anthemic ‘No Regrets’ rocks with ’80s waves.
 
‘Never Surrender’ is one of the best Marenna songs, and this live take is one of the best as well on this recording bringing to mind Hardline.
‘Fall in Love Again’ adds welcomed keyboards for a more AOR sound, while Marenna provides variation via the sweet midtempo ‘Come Back’, with an early ’90s melodic rock feel.
Marenna play the kind of classy Melodic Rock / AOR we all love. “Livin’ No Regrets” features strong compositions, however in a live set these tunes sound rawer and edgy.
You can tell there’s not overdubs here, this is a ‘straight-to-tape’ recording, and I found some flaws both in some playing and mix.
Anyway, this is really all enjoyable, timeless stuff.
 
01 – Intro
02 – You Need To Believe
03 – Can’t Let You Go
04 – Never Surrender
05 – Reason To Live
06 – Fall in Love Again
07 – Come Back
08 – Forever
09 – Keep on Dreaming
10 – About Love
11 – So Different
12 – Like an Angel
13 – Life Goes On
14 – No Regrets
 
Rodrigo Marenna – lead & backing vocals
Aaron Alves – guitar, backing vocals
Arthur Appel – bass, backing vocals
Gionathan Sandi – drums
special guests;
Jonas Godoy – guitar, backing vocals
Mauricio Pezzi – keyboards, synths
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