SISTER SIN - TRUE SOUND OF THE UNDERGROUND (CD Review)

01.Sound Of The Underground

02.Outrage

03.Better Than Then

04.24/7

05.Heading For Hell

06.I Stand Alone

07.Built To Last

08.The Devil I Know

09.Time's Aren't A-Changing

10.Nailbiter

11.Beat 'Em Down

Liv (Vocals)

Jimmy (Guitar)

Dave (Drums)

Benton (Bass)

Rejecting the "Gothenburg Sound" that Swedish legends 'At The Gates' single handedly started, Sister Sin looked back to the early 80's euro metal scene for their inspiration, dispite coming from the same town.

So seven years later after numerous high profile tours with the likes of Arch Enemy and Motorhead, several self released recordings and one official release they arrive at album number two and hope to break out into metals mainstream market once again having built up a following in America last year when their song 'On Parole' appeared on the Rock Band playstation game.
If you love metal then you will love this album, essentially it ticks the boxes with fast paced drums, good guitar work and straight forward vocal delivery.

There are a few tracks to pick out like the anthemic almost Motley Crue sounding 'Outrage' which is due to be released as a single soon.

'Time's Aren't A-Changing' has that "fist in the air" quality that will no doubt make this a firm live favourite.

The final song 'Beat 'Em Down' is a heavy as fuck fast paced tribute to Swedish boxing legend Ingemar Johansson complete with some clever use of boxing ring/crowd sound effects.

STU

Rating 8/10

For fans of: Warlock, Acid, Girlschool, WASP, Motorhead, Scorpions

DIRTY AGNES - THE GRUDGE (Free Download Song Review)

01.The Grudge

Lakis K (Guitar/Vocals)

James McIlroy (Guitar)

Ravi Kesavaram (Drums)

Laura Claire (Bass)

A few months back band mastermind lakis said "It's hard to say what Dirty Agnes are about
- all we know is that it's a lot of fun in rehearsals, and that we did what we considered
to be a one off show. We are however, having a band meeting soon to discuss the possibility of turning it into a real band, so watch this space!".

The band, which is something of a supergroup, features Lakis from Nemhain/Love & Bullets
on guitar and vocals, he also produced and mixed the song.

Laura is ex Area 54, Ravi is from My Vitriol and James from Chaosanct/Cradle Of Filth.

Well this month the first song was released with a promise of more to come.

To get a free MP3 of the song contact the band at dirtyagnesband@googlemail.com

Coming in at just under 4 minutes this is a catchy high energy post grunge slice of
classic rock n roll that puts current darlings of the scene 'Reckless Love' to shame.
The song also has a good use of a movie sample half way through which throws in a nice
edge and reminds me of a Rob Zombie song.

What can you say solid drumming, pumping bass, great guitar sound and confident vocals, it delivers!

If this is to be the direction and sound of the band then Lakis really has no choice but
to go with it all guns a blazing!!!

STU

Rating 9/10

For fans of: Velvet Revolver, Alice In Chains, Buckcherry

THE ORDER OF APOLLYON - THE FLESH (CD Review)

01.God Speaks

02.Ich Bin Das Licht

03.Word

04.Never

05.Fifth

06.White Dust

07.Four Beasts

08.Flesh Of Yhvh

09.Ex-Voto

10.L'Orgueuil

James McIlroy (Guitar)

Dan Wilding (Drums)

BST (Guitar/Vocals)

Peter Benjamin (Bass)

Formed in summer 2008 by former Aborted members Daniel Wilding and BST, the band began work on the first offering following the induction of guitarist James McIlroy (Cradle Of Filth/Chaosanct) and bassist Peter Benjamin (Akercocke).

The opus, entitled “The Flesh”, concentrates on the passage from the spiritual to the material,

and unlike the clinical sounding productions that intoxicate the metal industry.

The Order’s first release aspires to praise the extreme metal scene of the late 80’s/early 90’s.

The cult of Apollyon is set on dessiminating the message of our God the Supreme Being. It will drive the masses to accept the indubitable domination of the Holy Spirit and to repent their sins before the impending Judgement.

The disloyal scum shall writhe in Eternal Suffering, while a chosen elite shall bathe in glory and rapture. Unconditional devotion is the key.The tag line is more a statement of intent than a mere slogan:

"For his Name. For his Glory. For his Victory. Judgement is upon us. Join The Order."

A nice intro leads us into an aural onslaught of powerhouse drumming, well executed riffs and screaming vocals that have much more in common with Black metal than the more obvious extreme metal that they wanted to emulate.

In fact the opening song 'Ich Bin Das Licht' would not be out of place on Dimmu Borgir's 'In Sorti Diabol' album.

'Word' also has a near symphonic quality to it, however the speed and power keep this firmly in the "extreme" but clearly outclassing the majority of genre exponents by a clear mile.

The powerchord driven and brooding 'Never' blends rhythm with short bursts of high velocity metal to perfection, superb lyrics and the overall production and structure make this for me the best song on the album.

Track 5 with its inspired title 'Fifth' creates that wall of energy that requires a seatbelt on the sofa to appreciate, especially when played at 100% volume.

Both 'White Dust' and 'Four Beasts' stick to traditional form with blast beats punctuating the mayhem, with added guitar solos to die for.

As promised the song 'Flesh Of Yhvh' delivers on all levels, near demonic vocals backed with punchy chord work truly harken back to the glory' days whilst retaining the modern edge and influence.

The horror movie score quality to 'Ex-Voto' creates a sense of impending doom and the haunted vocal effects makes for an ambience that will require a change of underwear for some.

Finally 'L'Orgueuil' deals with the subject of pride, musically its a real headbangers delight with a solid heavy rhythm and enough melodic breakdowns to recover.

STU

Rating 9/10

For fans of: Anaal Nathrakh, Axis Of Perdition, Akercocke, Dimmu Borgir

LAURA LONDON PRESENTS FANTASTIQUE!! (Magic & Music & Cabaret Night August 11th)

Laura London presents...FANTASTIQUE! A night of Magic, Music and Cabaret At Proud Cabaret, Modelled on a 1920s speakeasy.

Doors open 7.30pm
Show starts at 8.30pm -11pm, after which you are then invited to stay for drinks until late.
£10 on the door.

Proud cabaret are offering an amazing deal for their Wednesday supper club, where you will receive a delicious 3 course meal for £24.95 (Normally £49) this exclusive deal also includes free entry to our fabulous evening of entertainment.

Laura London.
The host of this fabulous night! She is an internationally acclaimed magician who's worked everywhere from Buckingham Palace to a theatre in NYC and has appeared on numerous television shows.
She has picked some of her favorite performers to bring you Fantastique!

Katherine Mills.
Her diverse and up to date style combined with her slight of hand dexterity is guaranteed to conjour up an air of elegance and wonder. Katherine has performed internationally and for the BBC as one of the few magicians of her genre.

Little Bo.
The head of Circa Cabaret, she will be delighting us with her saucy, comedy shows.
Little Bo is a woman of many talents including fire and stiltwalking but at Fantastique! she will be doing some cabaret... bumble bee style!

Alan Hudson.
This funny man has appeared at many prestigeous places including The Magic Castle in Hollywood, USA. He will perform his hillarious stand up comedy cabaret act with mind reading and magic. He remain a firm favourite throughout the comedy clubs in the UK and abroad.

Dani Glasson.
A beautiful lady who has recently come out of self imposed retirement to bring you the first in a series of fusion belly dance shows.

Claudia De La Creme.
A Swedish beauty who mixes burlesque and magic with absolute style and grace. Claudia is also the other half of London De La Creme, where she performs magical illusions with Laura London.

The Stillhouse Orchesra.
A superb duo musical act who perform country swing, bluegrass and other old time music. They will delight and make you laugh with covers of classic songs as well as their own original songs. Their combination of great voices and instrumental ability make them an absolute joy to watch.

Miss Rejoyce.
This professional dancer will show you burlesque the Aussie way. You may even see a touch of magic watching this high legged beau in action.

Mr Flay.
Escape Artist and Man of Action, The Irrepressible Mr Flay will add bravado and a touch of class to our cabaret. Full of dash and forged from raw daring-do, Flay has a variety of dramatic and death-defying stunts that will astound you!

Fay Presto.
Our headlining act is the fantastic Fay Presto, who is arguably Britain's premier close-up and cabaret magician. Having been previously nominated Tatler's 'Entertainer of the Year' and personally requested to entertain HM The Queen on no less than six occasions. Fay is the first choice entertainer to a host of celebrities and VIPs including Madonna, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Dustin Hoffman and Eric Clapton to name but a few.
Her television work has included 'Talking Telephone Numbers', Paul Daniels' Magic Show 'Secrets', Gay Byrne's 'The Late Late Show', John Lenahan's 'Stuff The White Rabbit', 'This Morning', 'James Whale', 'Trick on 2' and BBC's 'History of Magic' series (2004).

PROUD CABARET.
Corner of Dunster Court and Mark Lane, 1 Mark Lane, London EC3R 7AH.
Tel: 020 7283 1940
http://www.proudcabaret.com/

There is also a Facebook invite :

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138153619545784&index=1

To book your table please contact Laura London ASAP at :

lauralondonmagic@yahoo.co.uk

TOVELL PROMOTIONS IN BUSINESS

A new start.
Tovell Promotions are here to help your band with getting reviews, radio play and known to the general music loving hoards!!!!!

We are also happy to help promote your venue, club night and gigs.

www.facebook.com/chelle.stuart

www.myspace.com/Tovellpromotion

www.twitter.com/Tovellpromotion

EMAIL : Tovellpromo@yahoo.co.uk

Stu & Chelle

FROM GREAT HEIGHT - SPECTRES AT THE FEAST (Cd Review)

01.Spectres At The Feast

02.It Died A Quiet Death

03.Invited In By

Adam Ever (Vocals/Keyboards)

Michael Alp (Guitar)

Paul Buckingham (Bass)

Tim Storey (Drums)

These are the first recordings since Tim joined late last year and show a clear forward
progression for the Enfield based rock group who are now deservedley gaining major press
attention.

Many great bands start life with a lable that does not really represent their body of
work, think of bands like U2, Simple Minds, The Jam who were essentially classed as
Punk/New Wave, this is true of FGH who gained a "Progressive" tag, yet drew comparisons
to a variety of artists as diverse as Marillion, David Bowie and Roxy Music.

What the band have done even at this relativly early stage in their, what will become a long, career is create a unique brand of commercially viable rock music that trancends genres from Extreme metal to stadium rock and intelligent pop music.

The dual attack of haunting vocal and guitar open up this first track 'Spectres at the
feast' before the song literallly explodes into a crescendo of keyboards and drums mixed
with absolute perfection.A truly epic song that blends agression with melody with defining keyboards making for an instant and very catchy hit.

The live favourite 'It Died A Quiet Death' is next, a mid tempo rock number with a great
guitar riff punctuating the quality throughout.Its anthemic qualitys are simply awaiting the massive audience cheering and singing along that a main stage support at Glastonbury has been crying out for.

The slow ballad quality to one of the earliest songs ever written by Michael Alp,
'Invited In By' showcases Adam's awesome and mature vocal delivery, but also the early
Progressive influences of Michael.The various timing changes, use of synth and the superb phased guitaring create a song that has truly epic qualities and with a drum fade out that just leaves you wanting more.

All in all a single of such professional standards i can but hang my head with pure
disbelief that this band are not signed and arranging a major European tour.

But good things comes to those who wait and in years to come From Great Height will be a household name.

STU

Rating 10/10

For fans of : Marillion, U2, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds

UPCOMING GIG's

Welcome to the updated and improved layout for Stu's Reviews.

NEWS:
The UK's answer to Nightwish, ACHILLA have just put up new recordings on their myspace as a taster to the upcoming self produced debut album.

SOLSIKK have now completed their debut album as well and have new songs to hear on their Myspace as well as some new promo pictures.

GENERATION GRAVEYARD have some demos on Myspace, one of which features me on backing vocals!!!!

FROM GREAT HEIGHT have put up their first recordings with new drummer Tim on their myspace and website, review of this new ep will be coming soon.

NEMHAIN have announced another european tour where chaos will no doubt ensue and numerous personal injurys :) for this September.

CATFIGHT have now become two bands, Samara decided to rename the old band as KAIN and pursue the original intention to have Catfight as an all girl band.

This is a stunning line up for an all dayer :

CLOVEN HOOF - http://www.myspace.com/clovenhoofofficial

Virus - http://www.myspace.com/virusthrash

Generation Graveyard - http://www.myspace.com/generationgraveyard

Ghost Train - http://www.myspace.com/therealghosttrain

9 Blind - http://www.myspace.com/9blind

Kyrbgrinder - http://www.myspace.com/kyrbgrinder

To Kill A Rose - http://www.myspace.com/tokillarose

*BAND TBC*

Sarajevo - http://www.myspace.com/sarajevotheband

Black Water - http://www.myspace.com/blackwaterbandleeds

Tickets are £8 advance from the bands, or £10 on the door.

You can now buy tickets from the following link (registration required)http://www.whatnext.org.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=50&category_id=11&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

If you book 36 hours before the show tickets will be on the door for you.

Cradle of Filth (Yness) will be had when Nemhain join Sarah for a couple of gigs!!!!