souls of deaf

Reviews 2019-10

souls of deaf - fortune favors the boldstamina live forest field - seasons battersea - arguments & sentimentslegion - rising

Time to give you another overview of the great reviews our releases are getting around the globe.

  • let’s start with Erik from Rock Hard SK, who gives the Souls Of Deaf debut 3.9 / 5 “strong hard rock that occasionally, but thoughtfully and enthusiastically bursts like rice pudding into the punk rock air”
  • next a very enthusiast review of Stamina‘s live album from Progressivamenteblog “a live album that can be a good calling card to start appreciating this worthy band”
  • the first review for Forest Field‘s latest opus Seasons came from DMME, a 4/5! and “this is the very nature of change, to let things run organically; this is what fuels “Seasons” and warrants its repeated spins”
  • more compliments for Stamina coming from DPRP: “a great collection of melodic prog-power metal, that will entertain existing fans and should tempt any newcomers to dig into the Stamina back catalogue”
  • Italian metallers metal.it were quite happy to explore the Battersea album “an enjoyable disk capable of citing with a certain dexterity and good taste “
  • even more positives for Battersea come from Erik at Rock Hard Sk with 4/5 stars and “The album is well recorded, it contains strong moments, it sounds good and it is very pleasant to listen to”
  • Erik also writes about Legion – Rising (3.7/5) “the album is really good, it has different moods, it has a more massive sound, louder and thick sounding guitars and fans of classical, hard metal cut American metal will surely come into its own after its first playback”
  • Dangerdog writer Craig gives Forest Field a 3.5/5 stars saying “with Forest Field’s Seasons, Peter Cox continues his consistent production of synth and guitar heavy melodic progressive rock. If you liked his previous material, you enjoy this one as well”
  • from ProgCritique Forest Field receive 4/5 stars “On the whole ” Seasons ” always presents the concern to do well and each title offers a well structured music, with sufficient developments to mobilize the attention of the listener!
  • and the last one for today also concerns Forest Field. ViriAor hands it a whopping 5/5! “Seasons repeats the band’s musical formula, although it includes heavy doses of metal, which makes it a more dynamic and appealing album. If you like records that make you leave your comfort zone as a listener, Seasons is for you. Recommended”

Thanks to all the writers!

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!

Souls Of Deaf are Rushed To The Bone

aaannnndddd: here the second single from Souls Of Deaf! Uncompromising on musicality and power, and showing the band in their natural environment, the stage. Here is Rushed To The Bone!

More Reviews

fred mika - withdrawal symptomsCranston IIsouls of deaf - fortune favors the bold

sky empire - the dark tower

D'Ercole - Made To BurnOk, halfway through the month it is time to point you to some more reviews! Let’s first start with Mr. H. from Zeitgeist / The Rocker, writing about Fred Mika. Alas no direct link to the review (it was posted November 23) so here his words:

FRED MIKA
Withdrawal Symptons
Rock Company

It’s the one fans are all waiting for. You know, The announcement that the drummer is doing a solo album.

So fans of Brazilian band Sunroad must have been besides themselves with joy when this appeared. Turns out said band have punted out half a dozen albums over the last twenty years or so. Nope, me neither. But it explains how Mr Mika has cajoled a host of Brazilian rock singers to appear here. See it’s one of those where a different singer is on each tune. Mind you, it’s as much an Andre Adonis record as he co-writes, plays guitars, bass and keyboards and does some singing as well. And he’s in Sunroad. Which just confuses me.

Never having heard Sunroad I don’t know how much this differs from their records but I’m hazarding a guess that this collection of old school, melodic hard rock won’t be a million miles away. And there are a few good tunes along for the ride. The best two are right in the middle when the class of Carl Dixon and Michael Voss help lift the songs on ‘Wired In’ and ‘Artwork Nightmare’ respectively.

There are nods to classic Deep Purple in a few places when the keyboards are a wee bit more prominent but there just aren’t enough to push the record from good to great. There are some jazzy and instrumental interludes which don’t help the flow so even though I quite enjoyed it but I won’t be rushing back.

Thank you mr. H.!

****

Another one I cannot point you to is for the latest Cranston album. And it is getting quite the praise:

To be released tomorrow, the simply titled “II” is indeed the second album from CRANSTON, the band formed three years go by vocalist / multi-instrumentalist Phil Vincent, his former band mate in D’Ercole drummer B.F. D’Ercole, and the legendary Paul Sabu on guitar.
What isn’t ‘simply’ for sure is the material on offer here; a strong bunch of classic melodic hard rockers full of bounce and displaying the best Sabu’s guitar work / songwriting in years.

While CranstoN first album was a good one, this second effort blow it out of the water on all aspects: all songs are good, arrangements & production better, and Sabu’s guitar playing is on fire.
Paul Sabu’s last solo album from some years ado resulted ‘cold’ in my humble opinion, then on CranstoN’s self-titled debut his work was fine however with not much room to shine, but here the talented guitarist seems to have re-captured his essence delivering some truly awesome riffs and solos to boot.

CranstoN “II” has the ‘good songs’ you need to success – well written and catchy tunes – Vincent has proven his talents and skills over the years, but what really takes this CD to another level is Sabu’s work.
His sweet riffs on the melodic rock tunes”Always on the Run”, “What’s it Gonna Take” or the AORish “Wrong Side of Town” bringing to mind Paul’s early albums.

Nicely, “II” is not circumscribed to only one genre, and they suddenly drop a poppy melodious song worthy of massive attention in the form of “Wish I Had More Time” (with Sabu performing cool acoustics as well). Here, as happens on some songs on the CD, Vincent sings with a vocal tone reminiscent of Night Ranger’s Keally Keagy which I like a lot and fits the material.

Then, the band change course to insight the hard rock intensity of the groovy “Throwin’ Down”, the Night Ranger circa mid-Nineties “Tables Turning”, and the pretty killer closing number “Dead & Gone”, a punchy cut again with a solid guitar work.

As said previously, while the first CranstoN album was good, I resulted pleasantly surprised with “II”, a very good melodic hard rock album with an early ’90s feeling.
I wasn’t expecting this Sabu return to form but the man delivers some of his magic again, add to that better songs and a more polished production, and we have here a very solid new album from CranstoN.
Highly Recommended

01. Always on the Run
02. What’s It Gonna Take
03. Wrong Side of Town
04. Soul Crusher
05. Tables Turning
06. Wish I Had More Time
07. One Track Mind
08. Throwin’ Down
09. Sad Truth
10. Take Me
11. Dead & Gone

Phil Vincent – vocals, bass, keyboards
Paul Sabu – guitar, vocals, keyboards
B.F. D’Ercole – drums

*****

Next are Souls Of Deaf. Writer Steven Reid from Sea Of Tranquility gives it 3 stars. Considering they focus on prog and this is a bit more of a metal record, not bad. He does not call it a perfectly decent record for nothing! Thanks Steven.

****

Your Music Blog tell you why (providing you love prog metal) you should buy The Dark Tower from Sky Empire. And some time before the blog wrote about D’Ercole’s Made to Burn.

****

And closing for the moment is Dmitry Epstein from DMME. He always weaves magic words and finds himself pretty impressed with D’Ercole’s latest offering Made To Burn and hands it a 4/13 out of 5 stars! Thank you Dmitry!

 

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!

new Video EPK’s and Pre Orders!

The first solo album from Sunroad drummer Fred Mika is a real hammer! With an all star line up including Carl Dixon, Michael Voss, Rod Marenna, Daniel Vargas, Mario Pastore, Tito Falashi, Andre Adonis, Steph Honde and Haig Berberian. Check out some songs in this EPK and be amazed…

Next it is time to get acquainted with the massive debut from new Dutch hard rockers Souls Of Deaf! Impressive hard rock that on one hand harks back to the sound of the big names from the eighties, yet stays firmly rooted in the now.

Both album are available for pre order and start shipping next week. Limited price up until their official release!

%d bloggers like this: