After almost five years, Spanish melodic rockers THE VAL are back with new material, the brand new album titled “King Ocelot“. Taking a foundation 80s AOR and Melodic Rock, The Val adds to their musical palette several other influences into a unique mash-up where taste and elegance are the order of the day. “King Ocelot” is the third, and most complete musical opus from the band, strong in songwriting & arrangements – there’s some brilliant moments here, and while the AOR sound of all time is the core of The Val, everything is enriched with a multitude of nuances, details. THE VAL are all about classy AOR / Melodic Rock, however the band take these sub-genres as base and develops a unique style & sound.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GGdM-CWSuI

SIGN X is the successor of Hamburg-based band Châlice. New vocalist Sebastian Zierof does a really good job and adds lots of quality to the sound. The QUEEN-like “Rain“ as well as the epic “Crush“ is reminiscent of the mighty TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA. In addition to that, the EN VOGUE cover “Free Your Mind“ is brave but well done. Cool also to have Hammmond sounds by new keyboardist Michael Jotzer here and there. Cool band, cool record!

MARTIN STARK

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k332y6Ne0PY

German hard rock / melodic rock outfit AXXIS created history especially with their first two albums 1988 and 1990. But also “The Big Thrill“ (1993) contained some very good songs. All the material used here was carefully re-recorded and impressively proves the exceptional status of the band from Lünen/Germany. Essential to new fans as well as for longtime followers. Everything sounds fresh without giving away the magic of the originals!

MARTIN STARK

“Big Bang” , the third album from the Bristish melodic rockers, was released in 1989 and saw them changing their style from the Def Lep orientated hard rock of the first two releases into the hookladden 80s AOR style with plenty of keyboards and the highpiched vocals from singer Hamie, which sounded not that far away from SHY’s TONY MILLS. No surprise that they were called as the European answer to JOURNEY – check tracks like “Lonely People”, “Looking For Love” or “Madonna On The Radio !” and imagine that one of the mighty Steve’s (PERRY /AUGERI) handles the vocal duties. Digitally remastered re-issue incl. 2 bonus tracks and linernotes.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wbTJD2_hhw

This Scottish hard rock quintet was formed in July 1981 when vocalist Steve Hayman and guitarist Punky Mendoza joined with guitarist Gordon Bonnar, bassist Brian Waugh and drummer Gary Moat. Taking their name from a UFO album, they toured the UK heavily, and their impressive three-track demo led to a single, "Roll The Dice”, through Neat Records followed by a major contract with Polydor. “Lettin’ Loose”, produced by Brian May and Queen producer Mack, was a confident display of the band’s talents, with their catchy melodic hard rock being favourably compa-red to Def Leppard, but the follow up “Rock Ain’t Dead” (1985) was a much stronger affair along the lines of Def Lep’s mega seller “Pyromania”.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7lQZpUlH1o

Heavy Pettin’ followed "Lettin’ Loose" with "Rock Ain’t Dead" in 1985, and it stands as significantly stronger than their debut. The production is much better, the songwriting more is more thought-out and everything just seems more professional and complex. This is most likely because Heavy Pettin’ really began picking up on the Airplay-Oriented rock trend that groups like Journey and Foreigner had brought to massive acclaim. “Rock ain’t Dead” holds a fair amount of powerful melodic rockers in “Heart Attack”, “China Boy”, the power ballads “Lost in Love” and “Dream time” and the super dramatic “Sole Survivor”-an unforgettable chorus by any means. Digitally remastered incl. 1 bonus track and linernotes.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAIydnNizY4

This Is Hell‘ is the second album from hard-rocking British hard rock outfit Burnt Out Wreck. Following on from their deservedly praised debut, ‘Swallow’, this long playing offering opens up in typically bone-crunching style withrecent single “Dead Or Alive”;a rip-snorter with frontman Gary Moat opening up those vocals in prime Bon Scott style. Gary Moat was the drummer and songwriter for Scottish hard rockers Heavy Pettin and ‘This Is Hell‘ has been over 2 years in coming but it certainly has been worth every minute of the wait. This is an offering that will satiate the gods of rock, kind of a mixture between AC/DC (Bon Scott era) and Nazareth. Superb stuff for classic hard rock fans.

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptQ8WPYYc2c