US label Kivel records still stands since many years for high quality melodic rock releases in the tradition of Firehouse, Adrian Gale, Hardline and cohorts. Their latest release STEEL CITY makes no exception of this rule. The key members behind STEEL CITY are guitarist Mike Floros and singer Bryan Cole, who made already some big waves with his solo debut "Sands Of Time". Backed by local guys Scott West (bass) and drummer Ron McCloskey the quartet delivers a first class melodic rock release. With the mighty Johnny Lima at the production helm you can be sure to get a cracking album right between Bryan' Cole "Sands Of Time" and  Johnny Lima's solo stuff - satisfaction guaranteed !

“Atomic Generation“ combines all qualities of the five-piece. No FM album since “Tough It Out“ (1989) has ever been so close to the original sound of the band (“Golden Days“). Not only the unique voice of Steve Overland but also superb songwriting and high musicianship are remarkable. There’s definitely a lot of blues (“Playing Tricks On Me“ or “Stronger“) in it, too, easily bridging the gap to their more recent outputs.

MARTIN STARK

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm0cQsj1_So

It took a while but here it finally is, the third album of AOR/melodic rock “supergroup“ W.E.T.. It’s still Jeff Scott Soto (voc., SONS OF APOLLO, TALISMAN), Erik Mårtensson (g, ECLIPSE) and Robert Såll (keys, WORK OF ART) delivering energy-driven and highly melodic stuff that will please fans easily. “Earthrage“ is slightly harder and more contemporary sounding than the first two albums but definitely a hundred percent W.E.T i- f not even more!

MARTIN STARK

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNmTMuQ1tYo

After long delays “No Hot Ashes“, the debut of the Northern Irish hard rock band founded in 1983 (!) is finally out. It’s a debut album with lots of great hooklines, interesting arrangements and a perfect, crystal-clear production. There are lots of songs with a hookline guarantee (“Boulders“ or “Running Red Lights“). It’s a cool hybrid of hard rock and AOR. To cut a long story short: A true highlight for every melodic rocker out here! Produced by Merv Goldsworthy and Pete Jupp (FM).

MARTIN STARK

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As-Y-mXn1u0

This boxset contains all four and by now hard to get solo albums of WINGER-frontman KIP WINGER (“This Conversation Seems Like A Dream“, “Down Incognito“, “Songs From The Ocean Floor“ and “From The Moon To The Sun“) plus a fifth disc with fourteen demos, live versions and - at least! - one new song. Limited worldwide to 1500. Mature rock and not only essential to WINGER-fans. Go and grab it!

MARTIN STARK

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPEscKq3Z5Y

Yes, apparently he’s doing the same thing over and over again but he’s doing it pretty well. And it looks like he’s gathering more and more fans with every album. In a very positive sense, AXEL RUDI PELL delivers like a clockwork. “Knight’s Call“ has the epic tracks like “Tower Of Babylon“ and the faster ones (e.g. “The Wild And The Young“ or “Slaves On The Run“), of course. Robby Rondinelli (ex RAINBOW) on drums is a great addition to the band, though.

MARTIN STARK

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb9NA6cRnkY

“Made In Milan“, recorded at the 2017 Frontiers Rock Festival, showcases the band around Tracii Guns (g) and Phil Lewis (v) in excellent condition. Harder than on record and with a rough attitude as well as with a little bit of sleaze, the Americans are rocking like hell on these fourteen tracks. Everything fully live without a net as shown by one or two little flaws in “Kiss My Love Goodbye“. Pretty cool and authentic recording, though!

MARTIN STARK

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo3is9PCMB4

The former glam rockers from Los Angeles sound slightly more contemporary these days. „D-Evil“ witnesses a guest appearance by EAGLES OF DEATH METAL-Fronter Jesse Hughes. Fans of the early records should nevertheless give it a spin and apart from that, “From Out Of The Skies“ provides some highlights like for instance the driving “Once Upon A Time“ but in general is all but foreseeable.

MARTIN STARK

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhhftCD2h8w

‘Real Life’ was originally released back in 2003 by Drive, She Said the band who featured vocalist / guitarist/bassist Al Fritsch and keyboards wizard Mark Mangold. If you are looking for pomp rock with some stunning vocals and keyboards ‘Real Life’ is an album you need in your collection, and if you already own a copy then this re-mix/re-master is well worth having as well. You get rock with ‘Overdrive’ where the vocals and guitars race along almost competing with each other, whilst ‘We Live For Love’ would have been all over MTV/radio has it been out in the mid-late ’80′s. The initial release suffered from a decent production, but this remixed and remastered version sounds like it used to be. Pure class !

“Lost Treasure“ is the second, previously unreleased album of L.A. rockers SALTY DOG. As one of the many victims to Grunge, they couldn’t fully sustain and meet the high expectations although their highly acclaimed debut “Every Dog Has Its Day“ (1990) took the Sunset Strip by storm back in the day. Nevertheless, it’s straight and rough hard rock in the vein of RATT or GREAT WHITE that will catch your attention for sure.

MARTIN STARK