CONTENTS04 Stryper06 Outloud08 Mind Key09 Howard Leese10 Crash The System11 Danger Danger preview12 Reviews14 Fair Warning16 Optimystical17 Axxis19 Constancia21 Cain’s Offering

Melodic Rock FanzineThe official Frontiers Records magazine

Year #5 - Nr. 4 / Issue #33Editor-in-chief: Elio BordiDesign: Elio BordiWriters: Bruce E.J. Atkinson, Fulvio Bordi,Duncan Jamieson, Barry McMinn, VitaleNocerino, Primo Bonali.Headquarters and general contacts:Frontiers Records - Via Gonzaga 1880125, Napoli - ItalyTel: +39.081.2399340/7753Fax: +39.081.2399794E-mail: elio@frontiers.itWebsite: www.frontiers.itMyspace: www.myspace.com/frontiersrecordsEditor and publisher: Frontiers RecordsUS Headquarters: usa.frontiers.itCopyright©2009 Frontiers Records. All rightsreserved. Reproduction in whole or in part

without permission is prohibited.Printed in Italy.

Focus on: STRYPER - Murder By Pr ide (Front iers Records)I can’t deny I always had a particular love for Stryper, and I used to consider them asone of my favorite band ever. Everything in Stryper always looked so unique and specialto me, starting from the lyrics (that – being myself grown in a Christian community - Iembraced from the beginning), passing thru’ their intriguing yellow and black look, andarriving, of course, to their awesome music. So, what we have now here is the brand newstudio Work for the foursome (the Sweet brothers + Oz Foz and the new bass playerTracy Ferrie), and it’s a “bang”! If compared to the previous “Reborn” (the come-backalbum of 2005), “Murder By Pride” is less modern-sounding (in both departments: pro-duction and songwriting) and more into the classic ‘80s-Stryper vein, with guitars thatmight recall the incredible “Soldiers Under Command” album and Michael Sweet’s vocalsstill so melodic and…. sweet. The band is in top-shape and ready to kick ass live (US andEuropean tour on the way). 13 incredible songs, 13 ways to show the world that, yes,they still trust… in God and in Rock!

Primo Bonali (95/100)

Band: Stryper

Album: Murder By Pride

Interview with: Michael Sweet

Interviewed by: Bruce Atkinson

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Question: May we get re-aquainted with thegroup…you actually began in1983 as a Power trio, cor-rect… Answer: The basis of the groupwas both brothers Sweet, andalso Fox…Q: When you changed thename to Stryper, there was areason behind the namechange… what was that rea-son? A: The record company didn’tlike the name Roxx Regime andwe weren’t crazy about it either.So we came up with Stryper.We already had the stripes onstage, so the name Stryperseemed to work.Q: Through the years youhave collectively releasedtop notch material… yes, fullof messages, but you werenot over bearing, as someAmerican “Christian” musicartists tend to be… any com-ments?A: It wasn’t a conscious deci-sion on our part. It’s just theway God lead us to write. Thesongs just sort of came out thatway.Q: If we look at the period oftime, when personnelchanged / or dropped awayfrom the group, you keptyour friendship… was thisdifficult?A: At times it was. But eventu-ally we always re-kindle ourfriendship. But yes, anytime youseparate from someone you’vebeen with for a long time, it canbe difficult. Q: I would imagine thatthroughout the years, yourFaith and your friendshipcarried you all throughsomewhat difficult times…Now, we see the originalthree back together again:Michael and Robert, and OzFox… chat with us about thereforming… and a bit about“Reborn”… “Murder ByPride” seems to be astronger, more pointedalbum… and obviously withsome very strong messages,would you take us throughthe album? A: It was a long process. Westarted working on this recordback in 2006. We were due togo in to record in 2007 and Kyle(Sweet) got diagnosed withCancer. The record had to be put onhold for a while. It seems like amiracle that it ever got finished.A lot of prayer has gone intothis record. It’s one of our best

records because so much timeand effort has gone into it.Q: Have you ever had ques-tions in your own faith andwhat kind of advice wouldyou give to people whohave? I have, but more in away of “Why God don’t youwant me to do music at thispoint in my life?” or “Whyaren’t you allowing me to domusic?” A: There were times after I leftSTRYPER when I was in a dryspell. In a valley, I like to callit, and I couldn’t get anythinggoing musically. But yet I feltlike God was giving me songsand God had given me the abili-ty to play music… but I wasn’tallowed to do it. So that was a big questionmark. In those ways, yes but asfar as actually questioning myfaith like should I or shouldn’t Ibe a Christian? No, never! Goingback to when I was twelve yearsold and I first chose to live forGod, I had walked away foryears but then we all re-dedi-cated our l ives when I wastwenty as a band with STRYPER.I haven’t looked back from thattime till now. I mean I have my short-com-ings, my failures and my mis-takes but I still choose and Ialways will to live a life for Godand make a bold stand for God.Q: God used Stryper to opendoors in the Christian musicindustry 20 years ago thathave expanded our defini-tion of what Christian musicis. How does it feel to havebeen a part of somethingthat big?A: It's amazing to look back andto realize what we were a partof. Something that was just onsuch a huge level as far as whatGod did with and through theband. As far as why God chose us, Ihave no idea. He could havechosen anyone for that matterand for some reason he chosethe four of us to go out and puttogether Stryper, tour the worldand make music. You know, tolook back on it and to realizethat I was a part of somethingso spectacular and unusual andsuch a powerful ministry, andthat so many lives were affect-ed, changed and renewed, thatis amazing to me.It really is. I don't take anyglory myself at all. But to havebeen chosen to be a part ofthat... what a great feeling. Iwould absolutely love to be apart of something l ike that

again. Be it this tour, if it's thenext Michael Sweet solo record,if it's another band... whatever.But it's an incredible thing to beout there and you have thecrowd basically in your handand the opportunity to sharewith them and they're givingyou their undevoted attention.That's an incredible feeling. Q: How does it make you feelwhen you step out on thestage and realize people stillremember you after all theseyears and that you’vetouched so many people’slives?A: It’s really humbling. I meanfor some reason, we’ve juststopped trying to figure it outbut… for some reason, Godchose us to do what we do. Somuch has been accomplished bythe band over the years and tostep out onto a stage and seehow it’s effected people’s lives,the positive effect that it hashad and the lives it’s changed isjust really humbling because itcould have been anybody!It could have been you, it couldhave been my next door neigh-bor and we were just four any-body’s because we’re all thesame in God’s eyes and we don’tknow why he chose us, but hedid and it really is touching tosee what has happened over theyears.Q: Any regrets?A: Yeah, my biggest regretwould be the “Against The Law”period… but I’ve learned a lotfrom it. And the biggest regretis probably what we put ourwives through, what I put mywife through at that time. Justhaving an attitude, not givingher the time that she deservedand really running her throughthe mill.It wasn’t a good period and if Icould go back and do it allagain, I certainly would. But thegood thing is that we bothlearned a lot from it. Itstrengthened our relationship insome ways. We’re still here,we’re surviving and we’re stillhappily married and it’s goingon twenty years now.Q: You have a very large fanbase and they want to seeyou performing live, anydates planned? A: We are touring. We’re tour-ing the states in September,October and November and theninternationally in January andFebruary of 2010.We post all of our dates atStryper.com.

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Band: Outloud

Album: Outloud

Interview with: Chandler Mogel / Tony Kash

Interviewed by: Primo Bonali / D. Jamieson

Focus on: OUTLOUD - Out loud (Front iers Records)There’s been a large promotional push behind this debut offering from Outloud and deservedly so.It’s a corker! Bob Katsionis and Mark Cross from Firewind, Greek mates Tony Kash and Jason Mercury,and American Chandler Mogel (Talon) combine to make a marvellous mix of melody, European Metaland American AOR. Imagine the latter day muscular sound of Danger Danger, with touches of Talon,TNT and Prisoner of Paradise era Europe. It’s a great band effort but Mogel is the star of the show.He might be a skinny guy but his voice is massive here; integrating hard rock power with perfect poprock hooks. Highlights are aplenty, “We Run”, possesses so much infectious energy it would getHomer Simpson off the couch and into the Olympic squad. “Tonight” has glorious pomp keyboardswhile “This Broken Heart” is the type of ballad Joey Tempest once conquered America with. The titletrack is Rainbow’s “Death Alley Driver” with added vroom. It’s all wrapped up in Tommy Hansen’s pro-duction which is so in your face it gives the songs a real modern edge. This is easily one of the melod-ic rock highlights of the year so far. Bruce E.J. Atkinson (95/100)

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Question: Hi guys! How are you?First of all, my biggest congratu-lations for your amazing debut-album!!!! I rated it as “the”debut-album of the year!!!! Howdo you feel to get great feed-backs and good reviews? Proudof your work, right?Chandler: Thank you! That’s verykind of you! We are very proud of it,pumped actually! We have all beenworking non-stop day and night toget the word out about Outloud. Andall of the feedback that has comeback already has been amazing. Somany nice things from so many greatpeople!Q: So, let’s start with a short his-tory of the band. Who put togeth-er the band? Who is the “engine”behind Outloud?Tony: Everything started when I waslooking around for band members tocreate a hard rock band and that’swhen I met Bob. After writingtogether enough songs for an album,

we both agreed that it's time to forma real hard rock band. First a singerwas needed, and that’s when Bobremembered someone he had met inNew York City, singer ChandlerMogel. He seemed to be just theright guy. The three of us came alongjust fine together and finished thealbum and right after that Bob calledhis bandmate and friend Mark Crossto be the drummer of the band.Finally I gave the position of the bassplayer to my best friend JasonMercury. As for who is the engine ofOutloud, I'll say that every one hashis post and is doing something topush the band forward, but every-thing started from Bob and me. I'vebeen the core of the whole idea, andBob for giving to the songs flesh andbones and actually helping to put theband together.Q: Your album sounds energetic,powerful and melodic from thefirst note to the very last one.Which are your most important

influences, musically talking? Itlooks like you've been stronglyinfluenced by the '80s MelodicRock in general, am I right?T: I always dreamed to form a hardrock band on that exact thought:80's melodic hard rock which wouldsound energetic and as powerful aspossible. It’s been the core of themusic, with influences that come outstraight from the hard 80's rock areaand with combination of Bob's moremodern influences and playingcomes the result of the Outloudalbum’s music. A modern kind ofsound of 80's hard rock which by lis-tening to the album you can seeexactly what I mean.C: The bands which influenced meare quite varied. I am mostly influ-enced by 70s hard rock / heavymetal and believe it or not, funk andsoul! I love bands like Deep Purple,Black Sabbath and Judas Priest butalso love Tower of Power, StevieWonder and so on. As far as singers

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go, to be a little more specific, my main influence is TonyHarnell from TNT, as he was my teacher. I also love guyslike Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner. Freddie Mercuryand even Bobby Darin I love so much. I could never stoplearning from those guys.Q: The production job on the record is terrific -Tommy Hansen (Pretty Maids, TNT and Helloween)has done you proud. What do you think of the pro-duction?C: We couldn’t be happier. Bob has done most of the pro-ducing here, and Tommy mixed and mastered the record.He is totally responsible for bringing out the edge of therecord that we wanted and we feel very lucky to havecrossed paths with him.Q: Track number 3, “Tonight”, starts with a key-board-part that… hmmm… you’ve “taken” off BonJovi’s very first album… you are aware of it, right?:)C: Yeah, we’re aware of it…:)It didn’t really happen inten-tionally, just that Tony and Bob were like writingmachines during the first stages of Outloud and justchurning out one song after another, and Bon Jovi is oneof both of their favorites, so, c’est la vie! LOLQ: Where your monicker, Outloud, comes from? Anyparticular meaning behind it?T: I remember going to Bob's studio and just announcingto him the name Outloud! Bob thought that it was soinspired yet typical classic as the music that we weremaking, so that was it!Q: Which are the themes you're dealing with, lyri-cally talking, in your album?C: Well, most are just inspired by the essence of goodtimes rock and roll. :) But I will tell you that three of thesongs on the record I wrote about my ex-girlfriend. Wehad just broken up and I was feeling some pretty heavystuff, so I guess it was a blessing in disguise that thathappened in the first place.......!Q: Would you like to tell me something about thefront-cover artwork?C: Sure! The girl on the cover is a good friend of Jason’s,she is a model in Greece and also sings in a local bandthere. Bob did the artwork and design, and the photog-raphy was done by a wonderful and talented man namedStavros (see the CD sleeve for his last name) at his stu-dio in the south of Athens.Q: How did you get in touch with Frontiers Records?Have you received other record-deals offers apartof the Frontiers one (btw, you made a goodchoice!!!)?C: Thank you! We agree. Well, we were going to signwith Angelmilk, which is a label out of England. The dealwas all but inked, but at the last minute I decided to giveFrontiers an e-mail as they were the band’s first idea,since we knew the music was right up their alley.Serafino really dug it… and the rest is history! Q: How do you feel about the power of Internet,and the effect it is having on bands and the musicindustry in general?T: It helps bands to promote themselves. Each bandwants the maximum attention and respect that it can getand the internet is giving them that opportunity. Internetis giving a boost towards that especially with myspaceand you can see also the response that you have andhave a first taste of what people think about your songs.It gives you a boost for the outside but what’s reallyimportant is getting them to know you and win theirrespect the way that a band really needs. A band achievesthat with the image, the inspiration and most important-ly live shows and that‘s what we are intending to do!!!!Q: Any touring plans?T: Things are a bit tight at this time. We are working onthe release of the album that's coming out late this sum-mer. But when it's out we definitely are going to havesome shows and start planning a tour right after the endof this year while also finishing our second album.

Question I would like to start withthe obvious…why so long betweenthe first album and “Pulse For AGraveheart”? Emanuele: Ok, you’re right... now areprecisely 5 years from the first album.But it’s really important to rememberthat we made 2 European tours, record-ed a Live DVD ( “Habemus Poland”) inthe meantime. We have worked so muchon Live performances and arrangementsof all new songs as well. However, I thinkit was a great growing up moment for us.Each one of us (all together, fortunately)has developed an own musical way atthe same time: I like to say, “moremature point of view”. “P.F.A.G.” is analbum which shows a new sound, isn’t atypical metal progressive one, it has a lotof hard rock influencies more with somestronger metal moment as well. Everysongs are composed inspired by thestunning voice of Aurelio Fierro (our newsinger) that sings - as you can hear Isuppose – so close to Coverdale, Dio andLande... And obviously, the songs have areal more “hard taste” now :).Q: Realising the change in the mem-bers of the band, are things moresettled now?Dario: Eh eh eh... It’s a million dollarquestion, Bruce! Well, The only thing Ican say is that Aurelio was the only onemusical choice for Mind Key. It is not asecret that we have some problemsabout our line up in these years. Butsince when we met Aurelio for the firsttime, something was changed for us. We

immediately fell in love with his powerfulvoice and Aurelio immediately loved oursongs and musical ideas. And it has beennatural for him to come back at his “nat-ural” rock home :). We hope that MindKey follow their career with this line upthat We retain the ideal one...We haveonly to find the fifth element...but wecould announce his name really soon. Q: Again, something that is quiteobvious with MindKey… you love toperform live. What if any challengesare there that face you when per-forming your music?D: Absolutely! Playing live is a funda-mental part of our musical activity. Ithink it’s a right balancing between studioand live activities, but it’s impossible todeny what great sensations live perform-ances can give! Anyway, on the stageMind Key have to face first of all theirsongs. Notwithstanding our songs –especially the newer one – appears likesome simply tracks showing the typicalstructure (verse, bridge, refrain etc.),they have some really complex tissues,very difficult to execute. Naturally othergreat challenge is to face off thecrowd...But really exciting in the mean-while. Our fans can gift us the right“impetus” to make us be able to play atour best! Some moments on tour willalways be unforgettable!!Q: This new album sounds stronger,and displays more confidence…would you care to comment? E: P.F.A.G. is an album which shows thefans a new sound. As I told you before it

isn’t a typical metal progressive platter,but has some hard rock influencies morewith strong metal moment and AORones. I’m happy to know that you consid-er Mind Key more mature than beforeand I think that just the new song-writ-ing has helped these changes. For mypersonal performances I can’t forget tothank, Rash Guitars (Italian guitarlabel)!! I’ve used Rash Guitar model torecord this album and the stronger soundyou can hear has his source in this mark.Now I’m an official Rash Guitars endors-er with a signature model that will be onmarket on july in the meanwhile of therelease of “Pulse for a Graveheart”.Now that “Pulse….” Is out, what areyour plans? Where will you be tour-ing and who with? E: We are planning to do anotherEuropean tour... we are in contact with acouple of bands.. I’d like to reserve theirnames :) The only thing that I can tell youin advance is that could probably bebands of the Frontiers roster! Q: I know that it is not fair to askabout the third album, however thisrecord is very powerful… can weexpect more of the same in a short-er frame of time?E: NO, it’s impossible! We make analbum every 5 years cause in thatmoment there is a meeting betweenastral forces that give us the “composingillumination”!!:) I’m kidding obviously!!However we will make what we will feelin that moment (I hope that could bevery soon :) )

Band: Mind Key

Album: Pulse For A Graveheart

Interview with: D. De Cicco / E. Colella

Interviewed by: Bruce E.J. Atkinson

Focus on: MIND KEY - Pulse For A Graveheart (Front iers Records)It’s been almost five years since the debut of Mind Key. “Pulse For AGraveheart” is a suite of songs with intricate musical structures that blend andbend into a most powerful musical soundscape. Being that this is the group’ssecond effort… the music contained within shows a high degree of maturity. Fullof melody, and patterns that fit perfectly together, Mind Key continues toexpand the boundaries of Progressive Metal. A five piece, Mind Key creates astrong and prevailing wall of sound that flows evenly… highlighting the intrica-cies’ of each musical nuance. This is not the progressive music generally weface, this is a well balanc between melodic rock, heavy metal and catchy musicthat for sure will let you spend great time and will “force” you to have more andmore spins. “Pulse For A Graveheart” may have taken more than the usual timeto produce, but rejoice! ‘cause it is finally here!Bruce E.J. Atkinson (95/100)

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Question: I would like to beginby stating that I have personallybeen searching for new materialfrom you for a long time, and“Secret Weapon” has simplyblown me away! A fantasticwork of music!Howard, you must have hadsome of these songs with you fora long time. What urged you torelease them now?A: I'm so glad you like SecretWeapon. I wanted to documentwhere I was now as an artist, so allthe music was written specifically forthis project.Q: “Secret Weapon” is so strongand a muscular statement ofmusic… yet, especially, in yourinstrumentals… it seems thatyou are wearing your heart onyour sleeve, as musically somepassages are so fragile… A: The music ranges from heavypower trio rock to full orchestral sec-tions to "fragile" acoustic guitar pas-sages, and that's all in one song! Q: Let us in on what it was likeworking with such great talentas Joe Lynn Turner, Paul Rodgersand Deanna Johnston…Now, did the above, and Jimi andthe other Vocalists contribute inthe creative end as well? A: I worked with some of the bestrock singers alive, and I wanted

them to be singing their own words,so all the singers wrote their vocal.The one exception is "The Vine,"which was a poem by Jaime Kyle thatI set to music. Paul Rodgers, JoeLynn Turner and the other singers allworked to finished tracks. It sounds like you have a solidband surrounding you as well. …and knowing that you are amulti-instrumentalist, who allplayed on “Secret Weapon”?A: I play all the instruments exceptfor the drums, which are played bythe amazing Mark Shulman. KeithEmerson plays piano on FrenchQuarter, and Paul Reed Smith playsguiatr on 33 West St.Q: Let’s talk about Heart... Whatis some of your favorite musicthat you've written for Heart?And your favourite album?A: I like the string charts. I'd have tothink to name my favorite stingcharts. But pretty much I'm proud ofall that stuff. Really the main thingsthat I compose for the band are myguitar solos. Most of our arrangedand thought out original melodiesthat aren't the vocal melodies, I usu-ally come up with. Some of myfavorite solos are "Secret," "I Didn'tWant To Need You," "Alone," "WhatAbout Love." There's a lot of them.The ones that sing. The ones thathave melodies that you end up hum-

ming after you hear the song.My favorite Heart album is Brigade.Just because we did it with RichieZito and he's a guitar player. Heplayed with Elton John for awhile. Hegave me the most freedom guitarwise. I think it's one of our bestrecords. My favorite song... there aretwo of them, "Mistral Wind" and"Wait For An Answer" on BadAnimals, the Lisa Dal Bello song. Ithought we did a good job on thatand Ann just kills it. That one stillgives me chills when I listen to it."Wait For An Answer" was a lot of funto play live because it changed keys5 times. I like playing "Alone" livenow the way we do it with the classi-cal guitar.Q: Will you be taking this won-drous collection on the road? Ifso, where can we hope to seeyou perform?A: I start a BAD CO. Tour tomorrow,so I don't have plans to perform thismusic live right now. Q: As I stated in my first ques-tion… I’ve just been blown awayby your music… first cheers toyou, and please leave us withsome parting words!A: You can find Secret Weapon athowardleese.com on July 3rd, or youcan find info on advance orders atwww. myspace / howardleese.

Band: Howard Leese

Album: Secret Weapon

Interview with: Howard Leese

Interviewed by: Bruce E. J. Atkinson

Focus on: HOWARD LEESE - Secret Weapon (Front iers Records)Howard Leese, an original guitarist for Heart and more recently with The Paul RodgersBand…has released a scorcher of an album! Although clocking in at only forty some oddminutes, “Secret Weapon” is dripping with hot guitar licks, muscular rhythms and taste-ful teasers that display the wide and varied talents and musical stylings of this legendarymusician. Surrounding himself with equally top notch players and singers…this musicaljourney will leave you wanting more and more! Joe Lynn Turner, Paul Rodgers, DeannaJohnston and Jimi Jamison are just some of Howard’s friends that contribute their tal-ents and share their passion for great music. Coupled with Mr. Leese’s musical prowess,“Secret Weapon” will surprise and sensationalise you! The instrumental pieces are noth-ing but breathtaking. A musical statement that has been a long time coming… HowardLeese is set to turn on many ars and just as many heads with this summer’s “SecretWeapon”. Bruce E.J. Atkinson (90/100)

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Question: Firstly what a great albumin The Crowning?Answer: Thank you! We are really pleasedwith it. It sounds like we wanted it tosound and André Beckston did a fantasticjob with all the artwork.Q: When did you first come up withthe idea of Crash The System?SK: First we were supposed to do onlyone song, but after lots of positiveresponse from labels regarding the firstsong (All Because Of You) the next weekwe recorded three more songs and I gota record deal the following week.Q: When you were putting the albumtogether did you instantly think of thevocalists for the album or did theycome later?A: After submitting the next three songsand receiving positive respons, we askedthe record company what they thoughtabout having multiple vocalists on thealbum and they thought it was a goodidea. Thanks to Daniel Flores' extensivebackground and good reputation wemanaged to get four of the best hard rocksingers in Sweden to sing on the album,which is an honor especially interestingsince only two of them have been on thesame album before. We got the singerswe wanted for the album. Q: Did you ever consider using justone vocalist for the album?A: No, it was always an idea of using mul-tiple vocalists. We wanted the variety.Nowadays it seems like a slightly biggerfocus on songs and not as much as beforeon complete albums. Of course, manystill see albums as full albums, but with

mp3 players, downloads, etc the youngergeneration seem to listen more to individ-ual songs and to their own playlists thanto whole albums.Q: The album is a great mix of tradi-tional Melodic Rock/AOR with somefine Hard Rock moments and just atouch of Metal, was it your intentionfrom the beginning for the album tosuch a diverse mix of styles?A: I grew up as a teenager in the 80's andall the 80's era has influenced me greatly.I still listen to records from the 80's. Tome it is one of the finest moments inmusic with a lot of sound development,improved sound recording, big produc-tions, etc. Additionally I like more modernstuff as well, lkie Within Temptation,Nightwish and bands in that style.Therefore, we thought, why not do acombination of these? We decided to dosome 80's hard rock with a touch of mod-ern metal here and there...Q: As well as some outstanding vocaltalent you also enlisted some finemusicianship for the album, againhow did these guys get involved withthe project?A: Daniel Flores has worked with all of thepeople on the album before, either inother bands, projects, live or in writingsessions, etc. Daniel brought in all thepeople. He did a fantastic job with that.Q: The album is a refreshing changeto hear such varied style on onealbum is there another album in thepipeline?A: We could record album number twotomorrow if I had the money to do it. We

have 15-20 songs already, but I will writeabout 10 more and most likely a few morewith Daniel also. Then Daniel will pick outthe 12-13 he thinks can work together. Iwill of course suggest a few myself. Wehave also talked about different optionsfor vocalists and other guest musicians foralbum number two. I guess everythingwill be clearer in a couple of months.Q: Over the past couple of yearsthere has been an influx of albumwith made to measure bands do youthink this the way forward for musi-cians and vocalists?A: Not sure if I understood the questioncorrectly (to measure bands?), but I thinkit is always good to find new ways of pro-moting one's music, finding new ways ofreaching out to the people regardless if itis through projects, bands or whatever.Q: There are some really great trackson the album for instance ‘AllBecause Of You’, ‘I Still Believe InLove’ and ‘Without Chances’ just afew of my favourites, but is there onetrack that stands out to you as oneyour really proud of?A: "All Becuase Of You" will always have aspecial place in my heart since it was thesong that broke the ice for us. As manyother people have said, it is difficult to pickout A favorite songon this album. Thesongs are fairly close in quality I think.Either one likes most of them or one doesnot like any of them. I do like the guitarriff on "Without Chances", the song "FightFire With Fire", the verse of "Take AChance", many of the catchy choruses,etc.

Focus on: CRASH THE SYSTEM - The Crowning (Front iers Records)

Band: Crash The SystemAlbum: The CrowningInterview with: Sören KronqvistInterviewed by: Barry McMinn

When two song writing and musical giants like Daniel Flores and Soren Kronqvist come togeth-er the world of Melodic Rock better take notice, because there is going to be an almighty bang,or is this case a Crash. More precise Crash The System their new collaboration, but there’s notjust these two titans involved in one, if not the best Melodic/Hard Rock albums of the year,they have taken the cream of Swedish Melodic and Metal vocal world along for the ride. WithGoran Edman, John Norum, Mats Leven, Bjorn Vikstrom and Bjorn Jansson’s lead vocals andAngelica Rylin providing backing vocals on this tremendous album, along with the talents ofJohan Neimann, Daniel Palmqvist, Manuel Lewys and Andreas Lindahl lending the musical tal-ents to Flores and Kronqvist’s own, this is a mouth watering package indeed. The album mixesgreat melodies and harmonies with some stirring guitar riffs and mountainous rhythm sec-tions. All featured on an album that has more layers and styles than a Manhattan Winter, withsome great tracks like the hard rocking opener ‘Fight Fire With Fire’, the superb ‘All Becauseof You’, the excellent ballad ‘Love Is In Your Eyes’ and one of my personal favourite ‘WithoutChances’. This album will appeal to all lovers of great Melodic/Hard Rock and those who like alittle Prog in their lives, but most of all to lovers of great rock music because this one has itall. Barry Mc Minn (95/100)10 | MRF

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Mario de Riso: How doesit feel to be back withTed on vocals with newsongs after such a longtime?Bruno Ravel: It feels natu-ral, like when we recordedour first album. Ted and Ihave a great working rela-tionship in the studio, so itwas just a matter of get-ting to work and gettingthe best performances outof him. I think this is thebest he’s ever sounded… onany record.MdR: How would youdescribe the new songsand sound of the newrecord? BR: I think it’s the bestcollection of songs we’ve ever assembled. Thereare no “filler” tracks. Having said that, the soundis a bit updated, yet still retro and very “DangerDanger” sounding. Anytime you hear Ted sing,you immediately think... “Hey, that’s DangerDanger!” MdR: Are there any touring plans in Europethat you have in mind at the moment? BR: Yes, we plan to tour to support this record in

the coming months. MdR: Some words toexplain the delay in therecording would also bevery appreciated by thefans, I am sure, sincewe did receive a lot ofletters about it. I heardthat many fans werewriting to Frontiers andasking “Where is thenew Danger Danger CD?Why is it taking solong?”BR: Well, to be honestwith you all, there weremany attr ibuting factorsthat led to the long delay,many of them personaland I won’t discuss those.I can say that on my end,

I did become a father for the first time some 15months ago and it was a major life change and ahuge adjustment for me to concentrate on thisalbum and tend to my family’s needs at the sametime. I know that’s no excuse, because weshould have had the record finished before then,but that was my end of the hold up. I only hopethat after listening to the new album, you’ll allfeel it was worth the wait!

HEARTLYNE - No Retreat No Surrender (YesterRock)While I have never given anyimportance to David Reece’sbrief stint with Accept (herecorded with them a couple ofalbums after UDO left in the80’s), he left an impressivemark on me with the awesomeBangalore Choir debut, wherehe showcased a really ballsyand bluesy voice. He disap-peared in the dark years of the90’s before coming backfronting the Swedish hard rockcombo Gypsy Rose. Now he goes for the solo route with abunch of German musos, which include Stefan Schwarzmann(ex Accet as well) on drums. The result is a pleasant HardRock album with melodic hooks and some bluesy elementsthat goes down really well like a fresh glass of beer. Before IDie (a very cool opening track with a strong guitar riff and asuperb hook), Fantasy Man (an AOR number reminiscent ofDanny Vaughn/From the Inside sound) and Flesh and Blood(again not too far from Danny Vaughn recent solo effort“Traveller”, but with a more melodic hook) are the highlightsof the album, but all the 12 songs on offer here showcasemuscles, melodies and crisp clean production.

Vitale Nocerino (75/100)

REECE - Universal Language (Metal Heaven)

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RON BOLTON BAND - The Ron Bolton Band (Avenue Of Allies)

CHICKENFOOT - Chickenfoot (EarMusic)UFO - The Visitor (SPV)

Dating back to 1987, and original-ly unreleased, I was expecting acurio at best, an indication of thefledging talents of Tommy Heartand Chris Lyne who went onto big-ger things with Fair Warning andSoul Doctor. However this recordcomes fully formed; TommyHeart’s vocals are already com-manding, if a little higher in regis-ter. The songs especially“Starlight”, “All Over the World”,“Strike an Arrow” and the title

track contain great memorable hooks, with the then de rigourhuge keyboard sound and wailing guitar, similar in style to VitalSigns and Airrace. In a time when record companies were fight-ing to sign any band with big hair, Heartlyne can think themselvesunlucky to have missed the gravy train. It’s very much a productof its time, but that’s part of its charm. Perhaps the production,especially the drums which sound like Karsten Krause was hav-ing to play on biscuit tins rather than a proper drum kit, shows itsage but for lovers of pompy 80s AOR and fans of Tommy Heartthis is an unearthed treasure that you’ll want to add to your musiccollection. (Duncan Jamieson 85/100)

Everyone who’s into the wholeMelodic Rock scene has a deepfelt yearning for those heady 80’sdays, when the scene ruled theairwaves and we had a worldwidestage where the music we lovewas king. But these days havelong since gone by and will prob-ably never come back, but fromtime to time we are treat to somenostalgia trips when lost or for-gotten gems from that era are

unearthed and put on to CD for our enjoyment. This self-titleddebut from the Ron Bolton Band is one of those such gems. Thisthe bands one and only album, which was self-financed, with theband selling copies at their shows and their local Tower Recordsstore. The album is a true slice of the era with its gentle AORharmonies that were the mainstay of the time, together withsome quite special moments in the shape of ‘Maybe I’mDreaming’ and ‘Search Of The Kind’, being just two of them. Asa new album this won’t draw in much interest but as a slice ofnostalgia this is a must, but albums like these just make youwonder what if…! Barry McMinn (75/100)

MAGNUM - Into The Valley Of The Moonking (SPV)What can one say, or write, concern-ing this pedigree of UK musicians,without using such terms as:Majestic—Inspirational—Grand andExceptional? …well, nothing… as thisquintet, after thirty plus years, contin-ues to conjure up all of these descrip-tive words, and then some! “Into TheValley Of The Moonking” is Magnum’smajestic offering for 2009. It’s alsosurprising, as some passages show aside of Magnum seldom seen…aharder & edgier side. Like all Magnummaterial, “Into The Valley…” is a varied affair. A diverse creative workthat touches upon the epic. Tony’s lyrics tackle social conditions andhuman situations with the same sensitivity and insight we have comeaccustomed to. The music and arrangements are, indeed, grand inscale and Mr. Catley’s vocals take each composition aloft, creatinginspirational story-scapes and atmospheres that drip with emotion.Listening to “Into The Valley…” brings one into a magical and mysti-cal musical land that will continually excite the aural senses and stim-ulate the imagination. Magnum continues to create such rich musi-cal themes…they are simply awe inducing! Yes, “Into The Valley OfThe Moonking” is yet another epic musical statement from these fiveRoyals of contemporary musicians. Bruce E.J. Atkinson (90/100)

This is vintage UFO! “TheVisitor” is actually thegroup’s 20th studioalbum— and it shows in itsdepth and smoothness.Great hard rock/blues licksmarried to tasteful vocalsand rhythms. The Visitor isone that you will want tostay for a long-long time!The large & ballsy rockedout blues sound pushes

this record—pulsating through and through. A verytight performance, ‘The Visitor’ breathes… almost a‘live’ off the floor sound! This is no backgroundmusical collection!... once this album finds its wayonto your stereo system, it will make everyone takenotice! Straight from the opening guitar on the firstcut—UFO sets a driving, intense groove that doesnot let up. The group plans a large number of gigs this year,and the material on “The Visitor” promises to pro-pel those live performances to the upper strato-sphere!! Bruce E.J. Atkinson (85/100)

If I still had to explain whoChicketfoot are, then I wouldsuggest you were reading thewrong website! So I will passon the history lesson for hardrock's newest “supergroup”,but it is safe to say that theyare, by pedigree, truly deserv-ing of the term.To say the hypemachine was in overdrive forthe debut album from SammyHagar, Chad Smith, Joe Satrianiand Michael Anthony is an

understatement. The album doesn't have the hit song atti-tude of Balance or For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, but whatI love about this release the most is the sheer brilliance ofthe musicianship on each song. The interplay betweenAnthony and Smith and the flurry of riffs and soloing fromSatriani mixed with Hagar's undeniable energy make for anelectric record. If you're in the mood, this album's got thegroove. I will say though - the packaging although a novelty- is absolute shit. If you are going to do something special,make it look a little better than a piece of cardboard with aCD wedged in-between. Andrew McNeice (90/100)

Metal Gods are back? Yes, butnot on this release. Not at all,anyway. According to the pressrelease, “A Touch Of Evil:Live”was meant to include “fan-revered album cuts, all previ-ously unreleased in live formon CD”… but - at the end -where are they? Some of them(for example, “A Touch of Evil”,“Painkiller”, “Beyond theRealms of Death”, etc. havebeen included on previous livealbums) and two of them (“Death” and “Prophecy”) aretaken off the last controversial album “Nostradamus”, sothe offer is not “that” rich. Moreover, with the crowdeddiscography Priests have created in their successfulcareer, why have they opted for a 1CD format, instead ofa full double Cd release? Finally, I personally do not lovethis kind of live-albums with songs taken off different con-certs, fade-in and fade-outs between tracks, and differentlive-atmospheres. That said, Priest is still one of the bestHeavy Metal bands around and some of their songs arestill considered as real Metal-hymns… unfortunately, onlyof few of them can be found here! To say it all, a missedchance… Primo Bonali (75/100)

JUDAS PRIEST - A Touch Of Evil: Live (Sony) VOICES OF ROCK - High & Mighty (Metal Heaven)

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Here we are with the second chap-ter of the all star rock band VoicesOf Rock. The structure of thealbum is almost the same of theprevious debut cd; the music andthe production are all done byChris Lausmann (Bonfire, JadedHeart) and Michael Voss (MadMax, Michael Schenker).The new effort is called ´High &Mighty´ and combines catchymelodies with a raunchy driven

sound at the finest.The cast of singers features this time supremeartists like: Rob Rock (Driver, ARP, Impellitteri), Joe Lynn Turner(ex-Deep Purple, ex-Rainbow), Mitch Malloy, David Reece (ex-Accept/Bangalore Choir), Bert Heerink (ex-Vandenberg), TorbenSchmidt (Ex-Skagarack), Paul Sabu (Only Child), Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath), Paul Shortino (ex-Quiet Riot/Rough Cutt) andTony Mills (TNT, Shy). The Music is huge and traditional heavy hardrock and some moments remind me Raibow, Dio and Bonfire.Highlights of the album are the opener “Into The Light”, the sec-ond and very melodic song “Shame On You” and “Lay You DownThe Rest”. The limited first edition digi-pack will include the bonustrack “Maniac” sung by Michael Voss. Vitale Nocerino (90/100)

First with Accept then with U.D.OUdo Dirkschneider’s garglingrazor blades voice is one of themost distinctive in Metal. He’srecently declined to rejoin Acceptand on the strength of thisalbum, he doesn’t need them.With no discernable drop in qual-ity, he churns out traditionalmetal albums with commendableregularity. It’s manly metal andthe customary, monstrous riffed

anthems are here with “The Bogeyman”, “Dominator” and“Doom Rides” which are as catchy as they are heavy. Initialsingle “Infected” is, dare I say it, infectious. There’s the usualcrowd sing-along fare with the, quite frankly, camp “HeavyMetal Heaven” and a metal show tune in “Devil’sRendezvous”. The closer, “Whisper In The Dark”, is a dark bal-lad offering a respite from the riffage. No massive surprisesthen, but that’s not why you buy an UDO album. You buy itsafe in the knowledge that you’re getting top drawer Teutonicmetal from a man who helped invent the whole metal genre.Nice (or should that be nasty) one!

(Duncan Jamieson 88/100)

In the firmament aboveNaples shines Loadstar. Thisfive piece play thrash metalowing a debt to the tradi-tional metal scene of theearly 80s. This is their firstfull length record, havingreleased some demos in themid 80s before their starburned out. Their star shotback into the skies in 2002when they reformed,

recruiting Entropy singer Arnaldo Laghi. They shinebrightest when Riccardo Napoli and StefanoGuercia the twin guitarists are given free reign toriff hard and play their widdly spacey solos like“Shotgun Messiah”, “Voodoo Star” and “AlienWorld”. What works less well are Laghi’s vocals. It’salmost like he’s dueting with himself on some tracksdue to his change of tone between lines and I’m notsure if that is deliberate or not. BTW this is just apersonal note and I’m sure all metal fans will enjoythe album and will give a lot of spins to the cd.

Duncan Jamieson (60/100)

LOADSTAR - Calls From Outer Space (Code)

Frozen Rain is the project of KurtVereecke who wanted to make aMelodic Rock album worthy of hiscontemporary’s and inspirations.So if you’re going to do a greatMelodic Rock album then whynot enlist some of the biggestnames in the field, so take a bowTommy Denander, Daniel Flores,Steve Newman, Jim Santos andOllie Oldenburg. So what aboutthe album, does it live up thereputations of the players

involved? OH YES, this is pure-bred Melodic Rock. Greatmelodies, harmony after great harmony and superb vocals,all the right ingredients for a classic. With such superb offer-ings as ‘Wire Of Love’ and ‘Red Light Zone’ on which JohamWaen excels vocally, there are also other tracks of note haveto be ‘Music Keeps Me Alive’, with Maurice Saelmans takingup the mike for this one. But there is so much more to thisalbum than the above songs, take my word for it, there aretwelve tracks that will satisfy even the hardest critics in thescene, so if you like some great Melodic Rock then reach outand touch the Frozen Rain. Barry McMinn (80/100)

FROZEN RAIN - Frozen Rain (Avenue Of Allies)GEFF is a new all stargroup featuring some ofSweden’s finest and mosttalented heavy metal andhard rock musicians: GöranEdman (vocals), AndersJohansson (drums), MatsOlausson (keyboards) andPer Stadin (bass). Theyhave joined forces withguitarist and songwritertalent Ralf Jedestedt whomakes his record debut

with this album. Ralf is the actual brain behindGEFF. The final result is a great melodic rockalbum with incredible vocals and amazing varietyof melodies. Since I’m a great Goran Edman fan Iwas really curious to listen to this album and final-ly Goran has found the right place to give totalexpression to his colours and fades.All melodic lovers have to buy this album andspend some great moments with GEFF!

Vitale Nocerino (80/100)UDO - Dominator (AFM Records)

GEFF - Land Of The Free (Metal Heaven)

Question: How’s life?Answer: We just have returnedfrom a promotion tour in Japanand the reaction was amazing.The album entered the top tenof the national charts there,and that´s a nice reassuranceafter many month of record-ing...Q: Your comeback record“Brother’s Keeper” waswell received. With “Aura”your signature sound is stillthere but the overall soundcontinues to mature nicely.How do you feel “Aura” dif-fers from Fair Warning’sprevious outings?A: For me, ´Aura´ seems to bethe consquent next step after´Brothers Keeper´. Yes, Iagree, all the typical FW ele-ments are st i l l there, but´Aura´ is even more focusedand we´ve matured as writersand players.Beside that, everybody is play-ing much more free andthere´s a natural flow of inspi-ration.Q: What about the albumtitle?A: When we were talking aboutalbumtit les, Helge came upwith the idea of using ´Aura´

and we all l iked it. For me, the´aura´ is an emanation whichall l iving beings, l ike humans,animals, plants and even mat-ter l ike stones etc. have. Itrepresents and manifests cer-tain inner qualities and pow-ers, good or bad and is per-ceivable - you can feel it oreven see it, if you are sensitiveenough. Also each piece ofwork or art, that we create,has an ´aura´ which containsand ref lects the intent ions,emotions, the sincererity anddepth, as well as the inspira-tion, craftsmanship, love andwisdom, which we managed toput in there. All the ´magic´power of music, which is ableto overcome all language andculture barr iers, because i tspeaks directly from heart toheart, works through the´auric´ craftfield...Q: It ’s a real cohesivealbum that gets strongerwith each listen and it con-tains some of your bestmaterial to date. Whichtracks are you particularlypleased with?A: Thanks for the compliment!Maybe it´s sti l l a l i tt le tooearly to ask me about that, the

album is sti l l too close for meto be a good judge here. Ithink, overall the album offersa very good mixture of all ourqualities as a band as well asour individual strenghts.Q: Has your approach to thestudio changed over theyears or do you have a workpattern that you’ve stuckwith?A: Well, on the whole we´reapproaching the studioworkmuch more re laxed than inearlier times, experience is thekeyword. These days we seemto avoid work patterns moreand more and instead try toapproach each trackmore indi-vidually, letting the music takethe lead.Q: You’re all busy guys withDreamtide or Soul Doctor.What does Fair Warninghave that those other bandsdon’t?A: I think it´s chemistry and aunique mixture of talent, whichbecome effective as soon asthe four of us work together.Q: With Dreamtide and SoulDoctor do you f ind your-selves coming up withsongs and sometimes think-ing, “I l ike that, but i t

Focus on: FAIR WARNING - Aura (Metal Heaven)Their second album since they reformed in 2006, this sees the band continue to hone theirsong writing craft. This is genuine adult rock. Fair Warning are wise and confident enoughto know that they don’t have to bludgeon the listener over the head with metal to get theirmessage across. Instead, they coerce you into liking their songs through great musician-ship and canny arrangements. There isn’t a single poor track. “Here Comes The Heartache”is as good as anything Fair Warning have ever recorded. “Hey Girl” has a great guitar outro,after its slow building acoustic intro and “Don’t Count On Me” has an unusual guitar soundthat adds colour and would be a radio hit in a saner world. Tommy Heart’s in great voiceand Helge Engelke’s distinctive guitar sees him adding a tasty, lengthy solo on “Walking OnSmiles” and “Somehow” has him flirting successfully with a very Brian May solo. There aresome great melodic releases at the moment but if you looking for sophisticated adult rockthen “Aura” will fulfil your needs with some panache. Duncan Jamieson (90/100)

Band: Fair Warning

Album: Aura

Interview with: Ule Ritgen

Interviewed by: Duncan Jamieson

14 | MRF

would work better with Fair Warning” andput the song aside for later and vice versa?A: You would have to ask Helge or Tommy forthat, but to my recollection none of the two hasever mentioned anything in that vain. When wework on a new FW album, everybody seems tobe starting from scratch, taking it as a realchallenge to deliver only his best effort... Q: The Fair Warning CDs were re-releasednot so long ago and as we speak Tommy’sold band Heartlyne have a great CD of oldrecordings coming out. It ’s great thatthere’s renewed interest in this kind ofmusic. How does it feel to hear all your oldstuff?A: Most of the time I really enjoy listening toour earlier albums. It brings back fond memo-ries and a lot of the older FW material sti l lstands as strong as ever, yet on the other handyou notice as well, how much each of us hasgrown and matured.Q: How well do you think that materialstands up now and how differently are youmusically now?A: As I said, ´Fair Warning´, ´Rainmaker´,´Go!´ or ´Four´, for me, all are standing thetest of time, there are a lot of good songs there,that sti l l work fine. I think, one of our strong-holds is, that FW have always remained faithfulto our own style, we´ve never tried to reshapeour music according to fashion, but followed ourhearts instead.Having said that, I feel it´s important, not tolook back too much, because that wil l block yourinspiration sooner or later. I believe in evolu-tion, which means, building a bridge from thepast to the future by staying awake to the chal-lenges of the present and I hope, that reflectsin our music...Q: You have a reputation for recordingalbums in unusual places that create asuitable vibe (or should I say “Aura”?).The last record you recorded in a big man-sion of a record company CEO. Where didyou record this one?A:This time we found a 400 years old castle inthe countryside, where we recorded a lot of thealbum. It feels nice, to work in the tranquil ity ofsuch a place, there´s no disturbance and youcan really dig into the athmosphere of the musicsince time seems to stand sti l l around you...Q: Melody has always been the keyword inyour music. What's your secret in liaisingmelody with power?A: I ´ve always loved the dramatic and power-ful elements of rock, l ike thundering backbeatsand mighty guitar riffs - you can create hugeand impressive scenarios with them, if youthink of ´Kashmir´ of Led Zeppelin for example.But for me, only the focus of a strong melody orvocal l ine puts it all into perspective, because itrepresents the self , its pain or joy, its acting orcontemplating, its fail ing or succeeding. I guess that´s why, when I´m writing songs,the melody or melodic l ines always come first...Q: With the last album you toured Japanand Europe. Can the Fair Warning faithfulexpect to see you live soon to promote thisrecord?A: Our management is sorting out various offersfrom different countries at the moment. All Ican say right now is, chances are not bad to see´Fair Warning´ live this time... Q: Anything you want to say to your fansthrough Melodic Rock Fanzine?A: Check out `Aura´, it sure is worth a try... Wehope, you´ll l ike it as much as we do.

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Focus on: OPTIMYSTICAL - Distant Encounters (Avenue Of Al l ies)Optimystical is the brainchild of Robin Vagh, who has been working on thisalbum for some time, as was originally the third chapter in the Vagh saga, butthings change and in 2006 the band’s name was changed to Optimystical. Thealbum boasts two vocals on the album Ronnie Hagstedt who contribute to tenof the twelve songs with the other two being sung by Jonas Blum who is uncan-nily like Bonfire’s Klaus Lessmann. The album is straight up Melodic Rock, nofrills just fine musicianship and the two vocalists mix things up well. The tracksof note have to be both Blum tracks ‘Outcast’ and ‘Tonite’ which are superb,with the Hadstedt tracks I’d have to say ‘The Storm’, the excellent epic feel of‘Startide Rising’, which has that Joe Lynne Turner Rainbow days feel about it,and the seven minute opus ‘The Unexpected’ are just some of the tracks ofnote from what is a very good album. Barry McMinn (90/100)

Band: Optimystical

Album: Distant Encounters

Interview with: Robin Vagh

Interviewed by: Gregor Klee

16 | MRF

Question: Robin, the album“Distant Encounters“ of yournew project “Optimystical”continues your celebration of80s AOR and Melodic Rock, thatwas already heard on the two“Vagh” albums. Please tell us abit about your musical influ-ences. Answer: My first hard rock experi-ence took place in the mid 70´swith the likes of Deep Purple, BlackSabbath and Led Zeppelin. I soondiscovered AOR through Styx,Journey and Kansas. I really likethe melodic touch the AOR bandsadded to their songs, but I alsoloved the great riffs by the nowlegendary big three. Later on I dis-covered the New Wave of BritishHeavy Metal and the developmentof Scandi Hard Rock with Europeand Treat and such likes. I’ve alsobeen keen on following the conti-nental style with all the German,Dutch and Swiss bands. Scorpions,Accept, Vandenberg and Krokus forexample. Little by little everythinghas cooked down to a great mix ofAOR and metal that ended up inOptimystical.Q: How did it come about, thatyou went for the name changefrom “Vagh” to “Optimystical”and how did the recordingsdevelop ?A: From the start “DistantEncounters” was meant to be thethird “Vagh”-album. It’s pretty

much the same kind of music Ireleased twice with my formerproject. But since it took me morethan four years to complete therecordings and since there were abunch of new people involved Ithought I could turn it into some-thing new and fresh. So that wasthe birth of Optimystical. I record-ed most backtracks already back in2004, directly after the release of“Into the Future Zone” with “Vagh”,but afterwards I realized that Iwasn’t patient enough and I put theproject on hold for a while. But Inever killed the dream of releasingthese songs and that’s what keptme going all those years, so I start-ed to search for new musicians forsome of the recordings. That’s whythere are so many people involvedin the project.Q: Optimystical is a great namefor this project and the coverartwork fits perfectly and looksreally amazing ! How did youchose the name and can you letus know a bit more about theartwork ?A: I came up with the name since Ireally like to combine words. I havewritten songs called “Hyprophile”and “Famousphere” earlier, as anexample. Optimystical is a blend ofwords like Optimistic, Mystical andOptimized. I just love the artwork. The coversfor both Vagh albums featuredexcellent work by Mattias Norén

and they had a blue tone and fol-lowing that I really wanted somewarm colours this time and CarlAndré Beckston did a great job toput my thoughts on paper.Q: Singer Ronnie Hagstedt iscertainly a discovery on thisalbum. How did you meet himand how did he and the othermusicians contribute to thesongwriting and the musicalarrangements ?A: I discovered Ronnie at a com-munity for musicians on the inter-net and I immediately decided Iwanted to bring him into the proj-ect. I really love the sound of hisvoice. I think it perfectly suits themore AOR-orientated parts of thematerial. I’m also very much intoRonnie’s arrangements of the back-ground vocals. He’s a very intelli-gent singer, it’s especially obviousin the end of the verses of“Jennifer”. Fantastic!Q: Robin, what are yourthoughts and wishes for thenear future? A: I really wish that people wouldactually buy the CD. I’m very gladthat I have reached an agreementwith Avenue Of Allies, so I finallycan get some help promoting mymusic. But obviously I also wish anice and peaceful summer foreveryone. I think we need thatright in the middle of the economicrecession, to calm our minds andour worries.

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Question: Hello guys! First of all, con-gratulations for your 20 years of suc-cessful career. How do you feel aboutit? How do you feel when you lookback to all of these years?Answer: Well I m proud to play in such along existing band thas produced somany albums. Not so many Bands canlook back to such a long history. AXXIShas always put different style together.That s why I like this Band so much.We´ve never played it safe and we wannakeep it that way. That makes it more funand interesting.Q: You celebrate your 20 years ofcareer with a song, “20 YearsAnniversary Song” that containsmany special guests but it is featuredonly on the Limited DigiPack versionof your new Cd, as bonus-track. Whythat “strange” choice? Was it yourdecision or labels’ decision?A: The “20 years” Song is a “Best OfSong” and “UTOPIA” is a new Album withbrand new Songs. So we thought it wouldbe a better idea to split it and that s whythe Limited Edition makes much moresense because when you buy that oneyou ll get something really special andnot just 2 wallpapers for your computer orsomething…Q: Let’s talk about your new Cd,“Utopia”. In my review of it, I’ve writ-ten that this album does not changetoo much your successful offer, andfollows your traditional style. Still the result is fresh and dynamic…

do you agree with that?A: Well, our “traditional style” would bethe “Kingdom Of The Night” period and Ireally like that album and it holds animportant place in “AXXIS-History” but Ithink “Utopia” is going further. It s heav-ier, there are some progressive elements.But of course there still are the typicalAXXIS trademarks, like “My Father´sEyes” and “Heavy Rain”… but on the otherhand we were looking for new horizon insongs like “For You I will Die, “Fass MichAn” or “Sarah Wanna Die”… those areSongs that show a new face of AXXIS andwe´re all very proud of it!!Q: In my opinion Bernhard Weiss’vocals have already been Axxis’trademark, unique in their style,high-pitched but very melodic andwarm. Your thoughts about it?A: Bernhard is AXXIS. As long he issinging a song it s gonna sound likeAxxis. That s why we can write any songin any style. If he is singing it, it s allgonna be good. I love Berny´s voiceespecially in the ballads. He can sing verysoulfoul and diverse!!Q: According to Wikipedia, Axxis’debut-album became the best-sellingdebut-album by an Hard Rock band inGermany, during 1989. Is that true? If so, I guess enoughmoney for some years on… eh eh eh!A: Yes, that s true. “Kingdom of thenight” is indeed a very special Album andis loved and appreciated by so many peo-ple and it s always great to play these

songs live and yes, we´re very fortunatethat we can live from music.Q: I think you always had a great fol-lowing in Germany but you got a verysmall popularity outside. What doyou think it’s the reason behind that?A: Well, during the days of “Kingdom ofthe night” and Axxis II and so forth. Ourold Lable “EMI” did a great job promotingus in Germany but outside Germany peo-ple just couldn t get our albums which isreally a pitty. After the EMI years wesigned to smaller Labels but we could gainsome fans here and there… especially inSpain, France it s going really good. Last year we went on tour with Helloweenall over Europe and that s changed a lot.Now we can play much more outsideGermany and we love it. Many fans cometo our shows and they actually knowevery song… I think most of them knowem via “Youtube” and co. but that sanother topic.Q: Any plans for live-shows in andoutside Germany?A: We play a lot outside Germany thesedays. We play some huge festivals inEurope and later this year we gonna dosome more own shows everywhere sokeep visiting www.axxis.de and check thedates. By the way... we’ll organize a specialAnniversary show in Bochum / Germany,playing only old songs. On a video wall inthe background we’ll show the peopleunseen and very special movies from ourhistory.

Band: Axxis

Album: Utopia

Interview with: Marco Wriedt

Interviewed by: Primo Bonali

According to Wikipedia, the world-famous free encyclopedia on-line, Axxis’ debut-album became thebest-selling debut-album by an Hard Rock band in Germany, during 1989. Which leads to the factthat this band always had a great following in their home-country but they got a very small popu-larity outside Germany. And that’s a real shame, as some of their albums (their first twos, above all)are awesome examples of de-luxe Melodic Metal, in the vein of classic Scorpions, Helloween, PinkCream 69 and Edguy, just to name a few bands that Axxis’ style brings to my mind. This brand newalbum, “Utopia”, does not change their successful offer, and follows their traditional style, with greatguitar riffs, pompous keyboards and catchy vocal lines. Bernhard Weiss’ vocals are still Axxis’ trade-mark, unique in their style, high-pitched but very melodic and warm. The album is nice, but I can’tmention any single favorite track: they are all of good-quality, still I haven’t found here any specialhook… you know... that one that you keep on singing all day long… Primo Bonali (85/100)

Focus on: AXXIS - Utopia (AFM Records)

Focus on: CONSTANCIA - Lost And Gone (Front iers Records)Great melodic rock albums appearing on the Frontiers label shows no sign of abating.Debut effort from Constancia comes out of nowhere and delivers excellent pomp key-boards, AOR hooks and modern guitars. There’s great interplay between instrumentsand production is state of the art, with everything sounding huge and overblown (in thebest pomp tradition). Guitarist Janne Stark has coined the term melogressive metal todescribe the sound which is fairly apt. Mikael Rosengreen’s songs have had a long ges-tation and the wait is rewarded here with intricate songs fizzing with great ideas. DavidFremberg (Andromeda) has a powerful voice and lifts the songs up a notch. “Blind”, asymphonic pomp song, hints at Giant. “King Is Calling” is more progressive, like a heav-ier Unruly Child with a knockout chorus. “No One Like You” is radio friendly rock with oneof the year’s best hooks and “I Never Said Goodbye” is reminiscent of the recent OzKnozz record. They have an original sound, in a genre of imitators, that melds classicrock elements with modern crunch to winning effect. Duncan Jamieson (90/100)

Band: Constancia

Album: Lost And Gone

Interview with: M.Rosengren / J.Stark

Interviewed by: Duncan Jamieson

Question: What could you do with thisband that you couldn’t do with Scudieroor Token?Mikael: The benefits for me now are that I real-ly control the song writing. I don’t have toshare it with others. Not to be misunderstood– the guys and especially Janne is involved inthe writing parts and that means improve-ments! – but I can now chose exactly how Iwant it to be. In the other bands we where allinvolved more with many wills and it took toolong time to finish the songs.Q: What do you think is the best descrip-tion of the type of music you are creating?M:Melodic but still heavy hard rock, where themelodies are important and with a great pro-duction. J: We call it “Melogressive” metal, which Icame up with when trying to describe we weremelodic but still a bit aggressive and a tad pro-gressive.Q: Constancia’s an unusual name. Howdid you choose it and what does it mean?M:When I first saw the word and understoodthe meaning, I thought it was the perfectname for my band! Constancia is latin for con-stant, immortal, everlasting etc, just like ourmusic.Q: The keyboards are an integral part ofyour signature sound. Did you write thematerial on this instrument first and thenbring in guitar ideas etc.? How did you goabout song writing?M: Yeah, that’s correct. I use my Apple com-puter, Logic, my keyboard and a microphone.All the ideas come out that way. Often I writethe guitars also from the keyboard but some-times I leave it all for Janne to take care of.Actually – I always tell Janne to do his thing no

matter if I have composed the guitars or not.Q: How did you get the band together?What do you think each musician bringsto the band?M: It started with Janne whom I’ve known formany years. Since he actually found the con-tract for us, Scudiero 10 years ago, the circlewas closed getting him into the band. He’sinexhaustible – no one I’ve worked with cancome up with the same energy! He’s a mon-ster, ha ha! A great guitar player and persontoo! Maybe most important of all – he and Ireally share the passion for this and the mix-ture between finesse and heaviness. Michaeland I had contact since we both where at MTM(Jaded Heart and Token) and I thought he wasa perfect match both personally and musical-ly. J: I had previously played with Peter inOverheat, Locomotive Breath and Mountain ofPower so I knew he would deliver. I got toknow David through my fiancée and he sanga few tracks on my Mountain Of Power album.We tried out a few other singers, but Davidwas the obvious choice. He’s a pure natural.Q: The band is spread out all over Europe.How did you co-ordinate the recording?M: I love Internet ha ha! Well, my ideas andsongs can be sent to Germany as easy as 1km away. The different instruments arealways being recorded at different times, so itdoesn’t matter where, as long as someone inthe band (read Janne :)) takes control of all therecorded files. And of course – the importantpart where everything mixes together. J: I took on the role as project manager, send-ing out files to all musicians, collecting, check-ing, recording my own stuff etc. As things weregrowing we re-recorded some stuff. It was sort

of the same process you go through in arehearsal studio, but over a longer time frameand at a distance. The result I feel is the samethough. Q: My favourite tracks are “Blind”, “TheKing Is Calling” and “No One Like you”.Which tracks on the CD do you feel bestrepresent your sound and why?M: I would say all but some of my favouritesfor today that really presents Constancia is“Dying By Your Flames”, “King Is Calling”,“Fallen Hero” and “www.lostandgone.com”and “Little Big You”.J: I agree with Mikael on tracks like “King IsCalling” and “Fallen Hero”. The funny thing isthat “No One Like You” almost didn’t end up onthe album as it sticks out a bit into a moreAOR-oriented field. I’m glad we kept it.Q: There’s a real pomp sound to much ofthe material; bands like Trillion and Styx.Which old pomp records were an influ-ence do you think on your sound? Whatother bands do you think have helpedshape your music?M: I have listened to so many bands from the80:s till today so it’s really difficult to say. Butto mention some – Pretty Maids, Europe,Dream Theater, Talisman, Jaded Heart,Symphony X, King’s X, Kamelot, Strangways,Journey, Saxon, Elvis.J: I’m a huge fan of the late 70:s/early 80:spomp and bands like Trillion, City Boy, Styx,Boston, Journey, but I also love the modernheavier stuff, like Black Label Society,Sevendust, King’s X. My approach whenarranging and recording the guitars was that Iwanted to combine the melodic pompy stylewith the modern heaviness. I love guitaristslike Mike Slamer, Tom Scholz etc.

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Band: Ilium

Album: Ageless Decay

Interview with: Ilium

Interviewed by: Duncan Jamieson

Question: Hi there, How’s the mood inthe Ilium camp now your new CD“Ageless Decay” is being released?Answer: It’s still a stressful process, but withthe release date looming it’s also very excit-ing. As far as recording went, this somehowturned into the most stress-free experiencewe’ve had with any of our albums – therewas always some sort of drama happeningwith the others that was unexpected! By wethink we’ve really produced an album thatprobably even exceeded our expectations,so now we just have to wait and see if oth-ers feel the same way!Q: What was behind the decision to partways with your previous front man LordTim?A: Tim joined us just before we were due togo into the studio to record Permian Dusk.Mark left at the last minute, and as Tim wasproducing and we knew he was one of thebest metal vocalists in Australia we askedhim to fill in, and he did a great job. It wasnever meant to be a permanent arrange-ment though, and when we started organis-ing the fourth album, Tim found thatbetween committments with Lord and hisnew studio that is was too much of a burden.We still work with him to some extent, butwe also wanted to guide the band into somenew but still familiar territory.Q: What do you feel the band haschanged with Mike DiMeo’s introduc-tion?A: The songs were all written by the time Iasked Mike to join. He was actually friendswith a friend of mine, which made the intro-ductions easier. Adam and I had been talk-ing about working with him in some capaci-ty for some time, and we weren’t sure initial-ly how he’d fit into Ilium (we felt the sameway with Tim at the beginning), but then Iwent through the songs in my head anddecided he would suit it. Mike was very keenas well, so we went with it. The emotion thatMike delivers with his vocals is incredible.There are alot of singers who have goodpitch, good tones, a good range, but Mikehas that X-factor that gives him a certainclass that few can compare to. On top ofthat he has a really powerful voice whichbodes well with the heavier stuff. I’d reallylike to hear the first three albums with Mikesinging!Q: Were you a fan of his from his Riotdays?A: Riot have been one of my favourite bandsfor years. I remember seeing Nightbreaker

in Utopia in Sydney when it first came out. Ithought they’d broken up. Of course, Ibought it and was immediately blown awayas soon as ‘Soldier’ started playing. Heinstantly became one of my favourite vocal-ists.Q: Whose idea was it to get TommyHansen involved and how do you feelthis has affected the overall sound of therecord?A: There were a few producers we were con-sidering. The main things were wanted wassomeone who was able to work with theband, and not just be a carbon copy ofeverything else they’d ever produced. Iactually was talking to Uli Kusch about a cou-ple of other things and asked him who he’drecommend. He said without a doubtTommy Hansen. As he was already at thetop of my list and Helloween’s ‘Keeper of theSeven Keys..’ albums basically changed mylife, we decided to go with him. I asked forthe sound to be big on the melodies, heavy,bombastic, smooth and crisp. I think he hadthe same vision for it and in terms of the fin-ished product it’s given us a darker feel,more emotive and more modern withoutlosing those traditional elements. Mike’svoice of course had a huge bearing there aswell. We should get a few less Iron Maidencomparisons this time around!Q: It’s a long album, twelve tracksweighing in at nearly seventy minuteswith lots of different arrangementsfrom song to song. I imagine this musthave taken a while to write and record.Can you tell us little about that process?A: Adam and I write fairly continuously, sothey all come from different periods in time.We do tend to pull songs apart and put themback together again though. So each songhas a different process really. Tracks like TarPit, Nubia Awakes and Ageless Decay beganlife way back in the Oracle days, but thenAdam and I decided to re-write them so theyare now quite different! Xerophyte is practi-cally unrecognisable! Idolatry was anotherone from the time that we must have re-written four times over! I actually orginallyhad a dream about that one when I wasyounger and went to a hypnotherapist to tryand remember it! Needless to say it didn’twork! But I wrote it anyway. Hibernal Thawwas recorded for our Permian Dusk albumoriginally, but we hated it so much we decid-ed to get rid of it. The version on this albumis completely re-written, both the music andlyrics. Now it’s one of my favourites! With

others such as Mothcaste, Omnipaedia andThe Little Witch of Madagascar, I wrotesome musical ideas and Adam turned theminto songs based on my lyrics. With EoceneDawning I wrote the lyrics to Adam’s musicand I had nothing to do wth Fragment Gloryexcept for the title!Q: I like the fact songs last on averageabout six minutes giving you plenty oftime for meaty instrumental passages. Iparticularly like “Hibernal Thaw”,“Nubia Awakes” and “Idolatry”. Whichtracks do you think work best and why?A: Yeah, six minutes is us being ‘commer-cial’! Normally we have at least two over 8minutes and a few that make 10! The songsare all so different I can find something in allof them. Actually our last couple of albumswere like that too, but I think we’ve takenthis to the next level. Hibernal Thaw is defi-nitely a favourite of mine. It’s heavy, emo-tive, has light shade, Mike’s vocals reallyreach that emotional core. Nubia Awakes isone that I was most surprised about. Weknew going in that was going to be one ofthe best, if not the best song on the album.Mike’s vocals were so different to what we’devisaged though we had to take a step backwhen we first heard it! That song has beenthrough a real revolution. It started tobecome reminiscent of Rainbow’s ‘Stargazer’and that was fine with us! Mothcaste is astrong favourite of mine. Eocene Dawning isa great emotive song, and again, Mike’svoice is superb! And Xerophyte is a definitefavourite as well! I love all of them!Q: You write supernatural fiction andthat’s evident on the lyrics of this album.What lyrics are you most pleased withon “Ageless Decay” and why?A:Lyrically I guess it’s a little different to writ-ing a novel and the metre has to be moremusical, so sometimes the lyrics have to bechanged to fit the mood of the song. I usedto be a bit precious about that, but now I’veseen the light! I think the more grandioselyrics like Omnipaedia and Nubia Awakes areamong my favourite. Idolatry is greatbecause it’s a narrative, and quite an horrif-ic one! The Little Witch of Madagascar isn’tnecessarily my favourite set of lyrics (thoughmusically it’s up there) as we had to do themost ‘surgery’ on those to fit the song, butthematically it’s very important to me, as itdeals with the aye-aye, a critically endan-gered primate from Madagascar. I consid-er animals and the environment to be themost important things in the world.

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Focus on: CAIN’S OFFERING - Gather The Fai thful (Front iers Records)I thought that July’s releases from the label were excellent then they go and make August even bet-ter! One of those releases is the superb debut album from former Sonata Arctica guitarist JaniLiimatainen’s new band Cain’s Offering and the release ‘Gather The Faithful’. Liimatainen has takenthe best Finland has to offer with vocalist Timo Kotipelto, keyboardist Mikko Harkin, bassist JukkaKoskinen and drummer Jani "Hurtsi" Hurula for his band and this vast array of talent has come upwith goods big style with this Melodic Power Metal masterpiece. The album is a massive blood pump-ing Metal surge with Kotipelto’s vocals delivering the majestic force we are used to with Stratovarius,but this combined with the drive riffs of Liimatainen and the result is quite outstanding. From theopener ‘My Queen of Winter’, the power is thrust upon you and is just breathtaking. This carries onthroughout the album with ‘Thorn In My Side’, ‘Gather The Faithful’ and ‘Morpheus In A Masquerade’,being just a few of my favourites. Even the heavenly ‘Elegantly Broken’ with its more than hint ofTaylor Danes ‘Tell It To My Heart’ behind it does deter from what is a simply superb ballad. If I hadto choose between this album and the new Stratovarius album I would have to say this one just pipsit, but don’t take my word for it check it out for yourselves. Barry McMinn (97/100)

Band: Cain’s Offering

Album: Gather The Faithful

Interview with: Jani Limatainen

Interviewed by: Barry McMinn

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Question: When you leftSonata Arctica did you startCain’s Offering straight awayor did you have some ideasfor a side project before yourdeparture? Answer: Well, I had want towrite my own music for a longtime, and in Sonata there wasnot really a chance for it, sinceTony is such a profilic song-writer. And as Sonata took somuch time there was no chanceto make a side project of anyreal substance either. So I didhave some ideas and songs forthe album ready when I partedways with SA, but it still took mealmost 2 years to realise Cain'sOffering. Q: Did the prime of Finland’smusicians instantly answerthe call when you were put-ting the band together? A: Surprisingly enough, prettymuch yes. I did have several dis-cussions with Timo, since he is avery busy man and doesn't easi-ly involve himself with otherprojects than Stratovarius andhis solo carreer, but after hear-ing demos of some of the songshe was on board as well:)Q: Did you have a vision forCain’s Offering from thebeginning or was it an evolv-ing project?A: It was an evolving project. Iknew I wanted to do an albumfull of melodic metal songs, butthat was pretty much my wholeplan. I never had any precisescheme of things, I just wantedto write songs and see whatcomes out of it.Q: How important was it toget Timo Kotipelto as vocalistfor the band?A: He was the first guy I thoughtof when I started putting thisthing together. I've always likedhis singing and though of him asone of the best and most profilicfrontmen in the world of metal.It was never a matter of "life ordeath", but I was pretty set ingetting him on board. Luckily Iwas able to:)Q: The album itself will beone of my albums of 2009,what inspired you to producesuch a great album?A: Thank you:) There was nevera one grand inspiration actually,as I mentioned earlier, I justwanted to write and record ametal album full of great songs.I basicly wanted to show thataside from being a guitarist I canalso write songs, so I guesssome of the reasons were pretty

selfish:)Q: Did you write all the mate-rial for the album or did theother band members havesome input?A: I wrote all the music andlyrics. told the other guys that ifthey had any songs or ideasthey'd like to contribute to theproject I'd be more than happyto hear them, but no one did. SoI guess they were pretty happywith the material I was comingup with:)Q: I personally see thisalbum and band over takingwhat Sonata Arctica did forthe Finnish metal scene, howdo you see the future forCain’s Offering?A: Hopefully as a bright one. Inever saw this as a competitionbetween us and Sonata Arctica,there's plenty of room and audi-ence for both bands. Of course Iknew that people would be com-paring this to Sonata Arctica,there was no way around that,but I didn't let it bother me.Musically Cain's Offering is pret-ty much on the same field as SA,but I still see these two bandstotally different.Q: Will Cain’s Offering be atouring band, if yes when canwe see you on the road? A: We've discussed the possibili-ty of playing live, but of courseit will require a significant effortas most of the guys also havetheir other bands that need theirtime. But I think when the timeis right you will also see Cain'sOffering on stage, and when thathappens you can be ready for anass-kicking of a lifetime:)Q: Have you had anythoughts on the next albumor is it too soon at themoment?A: It is maybe a bit too soon tothink about that, but I do havesome songs ready, and I juststarted writing a new one fewdays ago:)Q: Have you had any feed-back from the media aboutthe album?A: I've seen some reviews, andthey've all been extremely posi-tive. As has been the feedbackfrom the public when they heardthe samples we posted on ourhomepage and MySpace. I'mvery happy that people seem toreally be enjoying the music I'vework so hard on for almost twoyears.Q: What's your opinion aboutthe internet and mp3 down-loading?

A: Of course it sucks that peoplecan download your art for free,but its a good promotion. Youcan find our new album on theinternet and that really sucks. Asi said it's a really good promo-tion so i have mixed feelings. Iam very pissed because youcan't help at all.Q: What do you think abouttoday's power metal bands?A: I don't really follow the powermetal scene, there are so manybands and most of them to mesound the same like it's beendone before and there's so muchcrap there. Not many of themhave their own personality any-more.Q: What have you been lis-tening to lately?A: Nothing actually. When youdo this job 24 hours, 7 days aweek and it's your life, when youhave some time off you don'tfeel like listening to any musicanymore. You better stay inside or go for awalk with the girlfriend or some-thing like that.Q: Which are your favouritebands?A: I love Metallica from Masterof Puppets up to the Black Albumand Dream Theater has been oneof my favourites. There is so much great musicand nowadays i don't really havefavourite bands. I just listen tolots of different kinds of music.Q: Which guitar players haveinfluenced you?A: When i was beginning andwhen i was 12 or so it was likeSlash from Guns n Roses andthen Kirk Hammet from Metallicabut then i grew older and when iwas 14 and found YngwieMalmsteen and Steve Vai and allthese technical players andstarted to go on to that direc-tion. Then i discovered Dream Theaterand John Petrucci and i reallylike his style of playing whichwas technical but a bit moremelodic and i sticked with that. Ireally like his playing especiallyon the older albums.Q: Finally what does thefuture hold for JaniLiimatainen?A: Tonight, drinking and party-ing:) I'm currently doing somewriting for other bands, and shitloads of promo for Cain'sOffering, and I do hope that atsome point we can realise thelive shows as well. Until that I keep on doing what Ido best, writing new music.

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