CD REVIEWS (continued)

AMARAN-A World Depraved (Listenable Records)
AMARAN is Kari Kainulainen on guitar, Ronnie Backlund on guitar, Mikael Andersson on bass, Robin Bergh on drums and Johanna De Pierre on vocals. They hail from Denmark and their music is a mix of catchy metal songs and brutal guitar riffs. Although the band doesn’t exist that long yet, they sure know to impress the listener with their high quality compositions. Think about the old GATHERING stuff here spiced with a more catchy approach on the song structure and you’ll come close what this band is all about. The songs are easy to comprehend for the average metal fan. There are no difficult speed changes or anything like that. AMARAN keeps it plain and simple, and in this case it works perfectly. Here and there, your thoughts might go out to IRON MAIDEN guitar wise, but that’s not always the case. A good debut CD, containing ten songs and a total length of about forty minutes. I’m sure, we’re gonna hear more from this very talented band. Highlight for me was “Received A Kiss”, which has a great opening riff. For more information, go to their website at: www.amaran.net or send an email to: contact@amaran.net. You can even send all your (snail) mail to: AMARAN, Kari Kainulainen, Arstavägen 129, 120 58 Arsta, Sweden. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

ARABESQUE-The Union (Lion Music)
ARABESQUE is a prog-metal band from The Netherlands. This is their second CD (“Beyond The Veil” was released in ’94), but it’s their first album with the female singers Katja and Nicole. The album was released on the Swedish label Lion Music, known from artists such as LARS ERIC MATTSON, TONY MACALPINE, TAKARA, etc. The band line up is: Nicole de Seriere du Bizournet (vocals), Katja Salemi (vocals), Joop Wolters (guitar), Marc van Mierlo (drums), Frank de Groot (bass) and Rene Ubachs (keys). All words and music are written by ARABESQUE, while Rene Ubachs & ARABESQUE did the production of the eleven songs on the album, which consists of almost seventy-seven minutes of music. The name ARABESQUE sounds a bit Eastern and mystical according to the album cover, picturing a few Arabs. Most of the songs have a long instrumental intro, which is very typical for a prog-rock band. First song "Freakin' " has a lot of tempo breaks and it reminds me of PAIN OF SALVATION, musically. Of course the songs "Inner voice" and "Last Attempt" (known from their Cdemo) are also represented on this album. ARABESQUE is a modern prog band, as we can hear in "Haunted", where they even put some raps in the middle part of the song. "Captured" contains some RUSH influences, but to my surprise it ends more or less like some kind of prog-ballad. There is also an instrumental, called "Instant Daydream" on the album. It’s a very good melodic song with lots of guitar solos. In the title track of the album "The Union", I hear some influences of DREAM THEATER. There’s a Spanish touch in the song "Emotions" through the use of an acoustic (Spanish) guitar. While on the last song; "Afraid To Fly", we hear a very nice musical duel between the guitarist and keyboard player of the band. ARABESQUE is a band that’s still in progress and with their unique vocalists, it won’t be too difficult for them to earn a place between the other top prog-metal bands. [8 points] (Marcel van Santen)

ASTARTE-Quod Superius Sicut Inferius (Black Lotus Records)
ASTARTE is getting better each album. From the first notes on, you can tell that these ladies have made another great album. They have even crossed some borders with these new songs. They’re not spitting their venomous black metal songs at you anymore at one constant high speed. They now know how to slow down here and there, which sounds very refreshing indeed. Just listen to a great epic black metal song like “Inflamed Paradox”, after opener “Reign Unfold”. Kinthia’s dark (speaking) voice gives the music of ASTARTE some kind of a mysterious sound. The instrumental parts on this CD are also a lot more structured, which makes it easier to listen to for the average metal heads among us. “Deep Down The Cosmos” is one of the highlights here, with a great intro and the dark growls of Kinthia. Kinthia also plays guitar, together with Nemesis. Tristessa plays the bass and Ivar pounds the drums. The keyboard sound on “Quod Superius Sicut Inferius” is performed by Iraklis of SWAN CHRISTY. Spiros of SEPTIC FLESH does a guest vocal appearance too on this CD. “Astarte” is another highlight for me. It’s a long song, in which the band shows us their high qualities again. And I think it’s here, that Spiros shows us his vocal abilities. After this long track, they pull away in the fifth gear with a song called “Incarnate Legend Of A Mummy Queen”. “Sickness” is an instrumental track, which is followed by the title track “Quod Superius Sicut Inferius”. The CD ends with “Crossing The Wounded Mirror Of Dead”. The CD booklet is also very well taken care of. It contains all the lyrics and the front cover is a beautiful drawing of these three Greek goddesses of metal, rising out of a tree. Ten dark black metal songs with a total length of about sixty-five minutes from this very talented all- female band from Greece really took me by surprise. How about you?? Have a look at the bands website at: astarte-site.cjb.net/ or send an email to one of the goddesses at astarte_tristessa@ yahoo.com or Maria_tristessa@ hotmail.com. And believe me, their music is not only for dark black metal souls anymore. ASTARTE is planning to take the whole universe by surprise, and “Quod Superius Sicut Inferius” is their first step. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

AUTUMN-When Lust Evokes The Curse(Sony Music)
The next generation metal bands starts with AUTUMN. After THE GATHERING, ORPHANAGE, WITHIN TEMPTATION and AFTER FOREVER, we can add AUTUMN to this impressive list of Dutch metal talents. We already reviewed their three track advance CD “Spring Starts With Autumn” (MM#28), in which I vented my positive thoughts about this new band. When I wrote this review of their full length debut CD, they appeared at the Waldrock festival, Holland on the same day. This is a CD with many surprises. In “Mirrors Magic Sights” you can almost see the waving hair of the many fans, when the band plays this song live on stage. Title track “When Lust Evokes The Curse” is dark and slow. Listen to it very carefully, and you will hear the great clear voice of Nienke de Jong as biggest eye-catcher. It’s a delight to hear this lady sing. She’s a natural talent. Also the song structures are great, and it definately shows us the many different styles, that AUTUMN puts in their songs. Sometimes modest, and at other times exploding in very speedful riffs. But whatever they play, the songs are always characerised by the virtuosity of the musicians. AUTUMN consists of Nienke de Jong on vocals, Bert Ferwerda on guitar, Meindert Sterk on bass and vocals, Jeroen Bakker on rhythm guitar, Jan Grijpstra on drums and Menno Terpstra on keyboards. Eleven tracks, with a playing time of a full hour, are on this debut disc. An album, that proves us, we’re dealing with a real talented band here. The best songs are the last two tracks in my opinion. (“Quiet Friend” and “The Rest Of My Days”). Reason enough to listen to this album until the very end. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

BESEECH-Souls Highway (Napalm Records)
BESEECH celebrates their tenth anniversary with a new album called “Souls Highway”. This Swedish band consists of Erik Molarin on vocals, Jonas Strömberg on drums, Klas Bohlin on guitar and vocals, Robert Spanglund on guitar and programming, Daniel Elofsson on bass, Mikael Back on keyboard and Lotta Höglin on female vocals. I had a hard time sitting this one out. Their music is just too new fashioned to me. Computer programmed, gothic music. It’s too less metal and too far away from what this magazine is all about. The tour with LACUNA COIL and THEATRE OF TRAGEDY already proved in which direction the music of this band would be heading. Some people might find it easier to recognise the metal input in these bands. But I just can’t seem to get it. Don’t get me wrong. The music is not bad at all, and especially Lotta’s voice is beautiful (think about Anneke van Giersbergen - THE GATHERING, if you want to have a comparison), but let’s be honest to each other. People that listen to metal for over twenty-five years now, won’t call this heavy metal. Eleven varied songs (this is a positive note!), a touch of the dark sound of PINK FLOYD (just listen to “Sunset 28”), and fifty minutes of dark gothic music are on this new BESEECH album. An album, they close with a very dark, depressive version of the ABBA song “Gimme Gimme Gimme”. A surprise for everyone, I guess. And who said that we’re talking about heavy metal here. You must be joking! BESEECH gets a sufficient mark for their music, because it’s not bad. And you can find more information on the band, when you go to: www.beseech.net. [6 points](Toine van Poorten)

BLACKLACE-Unlaced/Get It While It's Hot(Mausoleum records)
Mausoleum celebrates its twentieth anniversary, and they start this party with the release of their back catalogue on CD. On this label we can find the early work of WARLOCK and BLACK LACE. The BLACK LACE CD contains both the albums “Unlaced” and “Get It While It’s Hot”, some nice pics and liner notes written by yours sincerely. Nothing special, you might say. But when you listen to the powerful music of BLACK LACE, then you can imagine why we give such a high rating to this compilation CD. In contrary to many of the bands you hear nowadays, BLACK LACE still plays the real thing here. This is, what I would call Heavy Metal. The high vocals of Maryann Scandiffio, the fast guitar breaks of Carlo Fragnito, the poundig drums of Steve Werner and the thundering bass of Anthony Fragnito, it’s all there. Add to this the catchy songs, with the great eighties feel, and the picture is complete. Once again you can relive these magic moments in nineteen great metal songs, worthy of about eighty (!!!!!) long minutes of great, pure heavy metal. We would like to thank Mausoleum boss Alfie Falkenbach, for making this review possible. And we also need to thank the members of BLACK LACE for their great music on this CD. In my opinion they were always underrated, but it’s nice to give them the recognition that they earned so well all these years. Full score!! GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT!! [10 points] (Toine van Poorten)

BLUE LILY-Deadpan Woe EP(My Blue Bag Records)
Everybody's heard the phrase black metal. This might strike some people as hard rock. There is a lot of pain and anger in these songs. The demons, the speaker is fighting, aren't the multiheaded sort of monsters that were used in metal. Those come from outside you. These demons are the personal sort. The kind acquired by experience. Simone Smith wrote these songs. She also sings them and plays guitar. First on BLUE LILY's six song CD is “Put It On”. Jeff's throbbing drums are emphasized. The chorus repeats the title over and over. “Motherly” might sound similar. It has lots of chords, too. The theme here is lives and relationships ruined by the actions of others. Her life is so bad that only new pain comes along to replace old pain. Don't let the soft intro to “Bad Mentality” fool you. Eric Knapp's guitar playing might seem restrained. Less instruments make it easier to hear Simons precisely pronounced words. You can hear Frank Keeley's bass clearly on “After The Party”. It takes place after an unhappy event. In the aftermath, someone tries to find sanity. The music is well done. Maybe with some more production, it could be made to sound heavier. But is that what BLUE LILY want? Are they trying for black hard rock? Contact: BLUE LILY, 51 MacDougal Street, New York, NY 11235, USA. Internet: http://listen.to/bluelily. Email: bluelily@onebox.com [10 points] (Jack Little)

THE BOBBYTEENS-We Like ‘Em....Young & Dumb (Just Add Water)
Fifteen songs, thirty minutes of rock and roll music, and three chicks out of four musicians. That’s what you get when you have a listen to this compilation CD of THE BOBBYTEENS. Of course your thoughts will immediately go out to THE RAMONES and THE DONNAS, when you hear the great songs on this album. But who gives a f*ck, anyway?? It’s party time and the joke is on you, if you don’t like the music of these ladies. We hear Tina Lucchesi on vocals, Danielle Pimm on bass and vocals, Lisa Schenberg on guitar and vocals and Russel Quan on drums and vocals. Karen Singletary plays drums on “Secret Date” and “You’re Too Young For Me” (we find it in two different versions on this CD). Like I mentioned earlier, we are dealing with a compilation CD here. It contains single tracks, unreleased versions and songs that landed on other compilation albums. So the sound quality may vary in some cases. What stays is the kick ass rock and roll of these ladies. The band has no pretentions at all. You get it, how they did it. Low budget, in their garage, but with the pureness of a twenty-four carat golden bar. They also covered “I Didn’t Know I love You Till I Saw You Rock And Roll” and “Do You Wanna Touch Me” of GARY GLITTER. Something ROCK GODDESS and JOAN JETT already did, before them. But hey, it sounds so nice on a school party. So get on the dancing floor and start to rock and roll, because THE BOBBYTEENS are in the house tonight. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

BRATMOBILE-Girls Get Busy (Lookout!Records)
Yes people, it’s here: the new album of BRATMOBILE. I think, this band is one of the best examples of the many well talented Riot Grrrls bands out there. They have gained popularity with every album they released so far. And their live shows are also a great succes. We sadly missed them during their European tour with THE DONNAS. But they definately convinced us, when we attended the Ladyfest festival in Glasgow, Scotland last year. “Girls Get Busy” proceeds where “Ladies, Women And Girls” left off. Catchy rock songs with influences of the sixties, invisibly hidden in the song structures. BRATMOBILE still exists of Allison Wolfe on vocals, Erin Smith on guitar and backing vocals and Molly Neuman on drums. On this album, they got the help of Audrey Marrs on keyboards, Marty Key on bass and Andy Peterson, Cundo Bermudez, Joey Karam and Shaan Obney on backing vocals. Although this album still sounds okay, I can’t help noticing the band is slowly taking distance from the rock and roll, that we know them for so well. For example, take a song like “Cryin’ Tryin’ Lyin’ ” and you’ll definately notice a certain experimental twist in their sound. But in “What’s Wrong With You?”, they definitely make up for this “side-step” again. The real fans won’t care too much about these remarks. They will probably enjoy all thirteen brand new songs, with a total length of about thirty minutes, on this new album. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

BRAVE-Searching For The Sun (Dark Symphonies)
BRAVE arises from the ashes of ARISE FROM THORNS. Their music is not the average melodic rock or progressive music. No, here and there they even waved some Latin American influences into their sound, such as in “Falling Into Bliss”. In “Trapped Inside” they give us a great example of their complex, yet varied music. Touches of PINK FLOYD and DREAM THEATRE were put into this great song. “Before Nightfall” opens with an acoustic guitar, and the beautiful clear voice of Michelle Loose, who also handles the piano and keyboards on this CD. Michelle’s voice is really one of the centre parts in the sound of BRAVE. Touches of Candice Night (BLACKMORE’S NIGHT) might be recognised in the crystal clearness of her vocal capabilities. Besides Michelle, we hear Chris Welborn (ex DIVISION) on bass, Trevor Schrotz on drums and Scott Loose on guitars and keyboards. The sound of the band might be a bit experimental sometimes, too. It’s just the experimental parts that turns an ordinary progressive rockband into a good progressive rockband. Listen to the short track “To Dream Again”, and you’ll get my point and the fact that not everything of BRAVE is easy to comprehend. We can also enjoy some real magic moments (there’s some great guitarsolos at the end of this song!!) in a great epic song like “New Beginning”, which is definately one of the highlights on this album for me. In the short “Out Of Focus”, we can hear the well known PINK FLOYD like guitar sound of Scott (Michelles brother, by the way), which turns this song into another highlight for me. Not only this particular guitar sound, but also the innovative drum parts of Trevor are of a very high quality. “Candle In The Dark” reduces the speed. Turn the lights down low during this ballad, and relax from a hard days work. It will definately take away your stress! Eleven great songs with a total time of about fifty minutes are on this great new album. BRAVE is “Searching For The Sun”, but I found back some sunshine through their beautiful music. Great stuff! Contact the band by writing to BRAVE, P.o. Box 1077, Dale City, Virginia 22195-1077, USA or email to: info@bravemusic.com. Their website can be found at: www.bravemusic.com. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

CALAMITY JANE-Too Late (indie)
CALAMITY JANE present us their second album, which is called “Too Late”. It contains ten new songs, and two songs that already appeared on a compilation CD, that was released in the year 2000. Total running time of this silver disc is about one full hour, so you surely get value for your your money! CALAMITY JANE started their musical career in 1993, playing covers of NIRVANA, U2 and THE GOLDEN EARRING. Right now they stick to their own penned material, which sounds poppy with a touch of grunge and guitar rock here and there. Sometimes happy, like in “Perfect Lovesong”. Sometimes slow and dark, like in “Sleeping”. The band still consists of the three Kroon sisters, Barbera Hof-Kroon on drums, keys and vocals, Ilona Kroon on bass, Renate Kroon on guitar and piano. Annalies Groen, on guitar and vocals, completes the line up of CALAMITY JANE. Their music can be compared to ALANIS MORISSETTE and PEARL JAM a bit. “Sleeping” shows some comparision with PEARL JAM's “Black” for instance. The comparision with ALANIS is mainly because of the sound of the voice, I guess. In “Dear Bastard”, they do a sort of RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS rap, but the rest of the song is a bit more modest than the PEPPERS stuff. Nonetheless, I think that you’ll get the point. CALAMITY JANE is a very well talented band, that has got their act together. The band already opened for local acts like NORMAAL, SKIK, TOTAL TOUCH, THE BRANDOS and DILANA SMITH. And it’s very nice to see these ladies have gained a lot of experience since their debut album. No ladies, it’s never “Too Late” for a new CALAMITY JANE album and you can be proud of this new release. People, who got interested after reading this review, can email the band at: calamity@xs4all.nl. Or have a look at their website at: www.xs4all/ ~calamity. The only thing, I didn’t get is, what they want to prove with a song like “ÖKO_LAVAMAT 6350”, which is not more than the sound of a washing machine, and that for about fourteen minutes. I hate things like that, but whatever. After this review, my dirty laundry was clean again. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

COAL CHAMBER-Dark Days (Roadrunner)
The fans have waited for this new CD of COAL CHAMBER for a good three years and finally their hunger will be satisfied with “Dark Days”. Bass player Rayna Foss (she still plays on this CD) has been replaced by Nadia Puelen (she has replaced her before), simply because Rayna wanted to spend more time with her family. Honestly speaking, COAL CHAMBER is not quite my musical taste and it never will be. Granting COAL CHAMBER has been significant for the nu-metal scene and they do the things they are good at.(Anyway, I couldn't care less for the whole nu-metal scene). On “Dark Days” we don’t hear many big surprises and the first single “Find” will obviously fancy the fans, but it does not work out for me. The songs have an average of three minutes (that’s long enough!!!) and COAL CHAMBER never heard of variation. I think songs such as “Rowboat” (some kind of love song) and “One Step” are merely miserable and one big cacophony of sounds. Singer Dez Fofara can’t sing at all and the rhythm section doesn’t exist of that great musicians. The production is quite reasonable (same as JEWEL) and it sounds like it should. Honestly speaking, there’s not even one strong song on “Dark Days”. Everything sounds the same: the horrible singing of Dez and the riffs without inspiration. Now and then everything sounds hysterical and that’s what makes it difficult to listen to the whole CD (it was a huge problem for me). Also the CD is bad-groomed. That is not very interesting for the persons, who do not know them yet. You probably know what I am trying to say here: I really think this CD sucks! [2 points] (Richard van Oudheusden)

CRUACHAN-Folk-lore (Hammerheart Records)
Take the first SKYCLAD album, put some extra Irish folk influences into the sound, and distract some of the ultra heavy parts from it. Add a female voice to it and I think you’ll get close to the joyfull sound of Irish folk metal band CRUACHAN. They present us their new album, and I must admit, that it sounds great. Where SKYCLAD created a great new sound, they missed the opportunity to maintain that sound and stick with it. No, they decided to get rid of most of the typical Irish folk influences, and they started to sound darker on every album. CRUACHAN delivers the original sound again. Music to jump on and dance to. The name of this new album already points out the direction that the band follows, so what could go wrong here? Add to this, an absolutely great CD cover and you’ll get a very good new Irish folk metal CD. Responsible for this are Joe Farrel on drums, John Clohessey on bass, John O’ Fathaigh on Irish flute, tin whistle and low whistle, Keith Fay on vocals, guitars, keyboards, bouzouki, mandolin, banjo and bodhran and the beautiful, blonde Irish elf Karen Gilligan on vocals. They called in the help of some guest musicians such as Louise Fay on vocals, Liz Keller on fiddle and violin, Diane O’Keefe on cello and last but not least the old POGUES frontman Shane MacGowan on vocals. Shane also produced this album, by the way. The CD booklet doesn’t only contain the lyrics, but it also gives the historic explanation of the lyrics. Which makes it easier to comprehend the beautiful Irish stories, this band is singing about. Highlight for me was the heaviest track on this album, called “Ossian’s Return” and also CD closer “Exiles”. I really hope that CRUACHAN will maintain the original Celtic rock influences in their sound. Ten songs with a total time of about forty-five minutes, fill this silver disc. The digipack release contains an extra song, which is called “To Invoke The Horned God”. You can contact CRUACHAN by writing a letter to: CRUACHAN, 283 Killinarden Estate, Tallaght, Dublin 24, Ireland. Or send your emails to: Cruachan@ireland.com. Their web-site is to be found at: www. cruachan.cjb.net. I think people who like (old) SKYCLAD and MAGÖ DE OZ will definately like this precious piece of art. [10 points] (Toine van Poorten)

DELIGHT-Last Temptation (Metal Mind Productions)
There’s a lot of talent coming from Poland lately. We already informed you about ARTROSIS and MOON-LIGHT in our previous issues. Now it’s time to introduce you to DELIGHT. We do this by reviewing their two CDs “Last Temptation” from 2000 and “The Fading Tale” from 2001. They are now available in a special 2 CD box set through Metal Mind Productions. DELIGHT’s debut CD is called “Last Temptation”. Here they still operate as a quartet, consisting of Piotr Szymanski on bass, Sebatian Wojtowicz on guitars, Jaroslaw Baran on guitar, keyboards and vocals and frontlady Paulina Maslanka on vocals. Additional musicians on this debut album are Tomasz Polczyk on keyboards and Daniel Kaczmarczyk on drums and vocals. Paulina’s vocals shows some resemblance to early Anneke van Giersbergen (THE GATHERING), Sharon Den Adel (WITHIN TEMPTATION) and Tanja Turunen (NIGHTWISH). The music can be described as melodic, gothic metal. I already hear you say, that you’ve heard this all before and want to move on to the next review. But I hope that I can keep your attention a little bit longer. Because if you listen to this CD very carefully, you must admit that this sounds much fresher than the average gothic metal band. Their music is a bit more adventurous and sometimes heavier like in “Plenitude Is A Perfect Vacancy” and “Time Of Revenge”. And if you’re still not that impressed, you must admit that Paulina’s vocals are a real treat for your ears. Her melodic, clear voice fits very well with the great sound that is produced by the musicians. There you have it, ten songs on a fantastic debut album, containing fifty minutes of great melodic gothic metal. The CD cover shows a beautiful blonde haired lady that is having sex with a creature that has got ramshorns on his head. I bet that he also has cloven hoofs. He even has wings. What a fine “Last Temptation” that must have been! Read on about the bands second album in the next review please.[8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

DELIGHT-The Fading Tale (Metal Mind Productions)
The second album of this talented metal band from Poland is maybe even better than their debut album. The band has expanded to six members now. They’ve added Tomasz Baran on drums now, and they’ve added a second female singer to their line up. Which makes it even more interesting for the readers of Metal Maidens to check this band out. The name of this blonde nymph is Barbara Lasek. The music is definately heavier and more complete now on “The Fading Tale”, which opens with the title track of the album. This song was voted by Metal Hammer Poland as one of the five best metal songs of 2001. And I can tell you, that this song is certainly one of the highlights of the album!! Their sound moves a bit towards NIGHTWISH here, but later on it becomes a little more modest again. If you like the sound of NIGHTWISH, then you can’t go wrong with DELIGHT. On the second album, we can enjoy nine tracks with a total playing time of about fifty minutes, and a video clip of “Carving The Way” was added as a sort of additional bonus track. The groovy riffs on “The Gates Of The Green” mixed with the heavenly vocals of Paulina will certainly give you the shivers. This band really sounds innovating. But then they go wrong. Whatever you may think of the way they do it, it’s not really apropiate to cover GEORGE MICHAEL’s “Careless Whisper” on a metal CD. I wonder, why they made this terrible mistake? Besides that, the band has definately made some progression in one year. I am already looking forward to their next album, where they will hopefully pursue this progression. The CD cover is also a continuation of the previous album, where we can see the blonde lady lay down, with a spoun of blood coming out of her mouth. The horny horned one is about to fly away into the night. Pretty scary, isn’t it? For more information about DELIGHT, you can go to their website at: www. delight.imagination.art.pl, or send an email to: delight33@interia.pl. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

DELTA DART-Lone Star (Paroxysm Records)
I suppose the expression Riot Grrrl is going to come up here. Except that DELTA DART’s music isn't the punk rock, that it might imply. Their music is between folk and soft rock. Erin McCarley (MAKESHIFT CONSPIRACY, SHOTGUN WON, STEAK-KNIFE) has become a better guitar player. Her playing is fast and sharp. The use of an electric guitar on eight of these makes them easier to listen to. The sound is fuller than a lot of singer songwriters. Erin also handles the vocals on “Goodbye, For Real”. The pace picks up a little here. Erin Putnam, alias Sissy Chrome (BLUE MONDAY, CROWN FOR ATHENA) does most of the vocals. She can communicate several emotions with her voice. It matches well with the songs. The remaining contributor is Amber Bayer. She's been in several other bands, like FIRESIGN, SHOTGUN WON and PETAL PUSHERS. Her father inspired the song “1959”. Two songs are acoustic. We hear some nice guitar picking. The song is about a relationship, that doesn't follow the hoped for course. “No Sparks” tells of a relationship, that's going nowhere in a hurry. Wails from the vocalist move the ideas along too. Rating this record is difficult. It should get at least four for talent and composition. It looses a point for lack of heavyness. So, I’m giving this three. Visit the band’s website on the internet at: http//hometown.aol.com/killcupid6/deltadart.htm or send an email to: KILLCUPID6@aol.com. You can (snail)mail the girls at: DELTA DART, P.O. Pox 7012, Olympia, WA 98507, USA. Or order the CD at: www.paroxysmrecords.com. [6 points] (Jack Little)
Note: DELTA DART's new album "Fight Or Flight" will be released in August 2002.

DORO-Fight (SPV)
With her new album, DORO couldn't have picked a more appropriate title than "Fight". Throughout the course of her amazing career, the German metal queen has had to fight through many obstacles that would have made most people quit. But with this latest release, the battle continues. The albums opening cut is the title track. It starts the record off in heavy fashion and will have the listener immediately snapping to attention. This is arguably the best track and should go down great live. It's one of those songs that is just loaded with a raw-energy that will please fans old and new. But she is just getting warmed up. Next, is another future crowd pleaser "Always Live To Win", this is DORO at her best. DORO shifts gears for the next number and is joined by TYPE O NEGATIVE front man, one mister Pete Steele on the track "Descent". It may seem like an odd pairing, but it works quite well. The song has an eerie goth-like feel to it. "Rock Before You Bleed" is another arena rock anthem that the fans will love. Among some of the many other highlights contained on "Fight": "Salvaje" (featuring a chorus sung in Spanish), "Undying" (a very moving ballad), "Legends Never Die", "Sister Darkness", "Wild Heart", "Fight By Your Side" (an anti war song), "Chained" and "Hoffnung". Aside from the aforementioned Mr. Steele, DORO is also joined by SAVATAGE guitarist Chris Caffery on the track “Salvaje". Her band: Nick Douglas (bass), Joe Taylor (guitar), Johnny Dee (drums) and Oliver Politai (guitars/keyboards) all turn in great performances. When all is said and done, "Fight" contains twelve tracks and fifty minutes worth of great metal music from one of rock's true survivors. [8 points] (Tony Cannella)

ECHO JANES-Out Of The Mouths Of Janes(indie)
You could say this is somewhere between HEART and early JOAN JETT. Just about any girl, who picks up a guitar gets compared to JOAN JETT. (The new JOAN JETT or she ain't nothing like JOAN JETT) ECHO JANES use a similar sound to make their own music. No doubt it’s rock and roll. Sometimes even hard rock. Marie, Colleen and Sara do some of the vocals. I’m never sure just who is playing guitar. They say P.J. is on lead guitar. That explains all those tasty solos. I hear more than one guitar. So it must be Marie or Sara. Seperately or together, the guitar part is very good. Colleen plays bass. This adds strength to the songs and keep hard rock fans listening. Janice plays the drums. She moves things along without dominating the action. The melodies have an edge to them, and the rhythms catchy. This six song CD gets heavier, as it goes on. I say six, because I’m including the bonus track. On one hand, it's a serious statement by a woman, whose relationship has gone out of control and becomes dangerous. On the other there's some wonderful guitar and a good heavy instrumental conclusion. Some say this is ECHO JANES demo. Don't believe them. It's as good as any six song CD. Contact: ECHO JANES, P.O. Box 2461, Milford, CT 06460, USA. Internet: www.echojanes.com. Email: janesdoe1@aol.com [8 points] (Jack Little)

ENTWINE-Time Of Despair (Century Media)
Let me see. Is it the new PEARL JAM album, or isn’t that Eddie Vedder singing? Is it the new CD of HIM? No, therefore it’s a bit too heavy, although they also use some computerised, electronic dance beeps here and there in their sound. But we’re getting closer, because these people also hail from the land of the thousand lakes: Finland. And they also dress up a bit like the members of HIM. They use the guitar riffs very much upfront in the mix, to make this album sound a little bit heavier than the commercial bands that could easily end up in the national charts with songs like these. But guess what, in Finland they even reached that status now, so who knows what might happen with this band with the release of “Time Of Despair”. This is already their third album, by the way, and it contains nine gothic rock tunes that have a total length of about forty-five minutes. ENTWINE consists of Aksu Hanttu on drums, Jaani on guitar, Mika Tauriainen on vocals, Joni Miettinen on bass, Tom Mikkola on guitar and Riitta Heikkkonen (no not Rita!) on keyboards. Jaani is the latest addition to this sextet that recently toured in Europe with RAM-ZET and THEATRE OF TRAGEDY. I can easily sit this new album out, because of good openers like “The Stream Of Life”, “The Pit” and “Nothing Left To Say” and highlight “Until The End”. But a song like “Falling Apart” is a bit too far away from what I am supposed to hear in a good metal sound. Gothic rock with a touch of metal. If this information doesn’t make you move to the local record store, then you’d better check out their website for all the possible extra information about the band. Just surf to: www.entwine.cjb.net. [6 points] (Toine van Poorten)

EVENFALL-Cumbersome (Century Media)
EVENFALL hails from Italy and they bring out their third album. An album, that is filled with some beautiful atmospheric doom, death metal and a touch of gothic. Ten songs with a total time of about fifty minutes, show us that we’re dealing with a very talented band here. The dark death growls are not that extreme, and the female vocals are very beautiful. The music is dark and slow, but contains some nice heavy guitar riffs as well. Yes, you may have heard it all before. But the quality of the songs that are performed on “Cumbersome” is quite high, so it’s easy to listen to the music of these five Italians. We hear Ivan D’ Alia on guitars, Jones Adang on guitars, Mark Stagni on bass, Vito Raia on drums and Roberta Staccuneddu on vocals. Biggest surprise on this album is the appearance of Devon Graves, who we also know as Buddy Lackey of PSYCHOTIK WALTZ, in the HEROES DEL SILENCIO cover “Entre Dos Tierras”. The samples on this song were done by DJ Caligari and Boban Milunovic, in case you were wondering! The song however, is not that special. To me, it sounded like just another EVENFALL song. No, then I liked “In Absentia Christi” better. One of the very few fast songs on this release, with some great guitarwork in it. Fans of TRISTANIA and THE SINS OF THY BELOVED might like this dark Italian metal sound. The hidden track is only forty-five seconds and contains a handful of messages that are probably recorded backwards. Try to figure out what they say here, with a CD player. You won’t succeed! For more info, you can go to: www.evenfallweb.com. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

FADING STARLIGHT-Lost(TTS Media Music)
Here it is! First we received this great album as a demo. Now we can write about it in its final form, the official CD. The great songstructures are the same, the fast guitarsolos are there too, together with the beautiful vocals of Inga Scharf. The only thing that is really different is the order in which the eight different songs are played, and the production of the CD is much better now. The melodic speed metal of this German metal really took me by surprise, when I first listened to their demo. Now they do it again on this debut album. If you like the neo classical guitar parts of bands like SYMPHONY X and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, then this is something for you to check out. The melodic touch in the music of FADING STARLIGHT comes from Inga’s vocals. HAMMERFALL addicts might like this sound, but I’m sure that the sound of FADING STARLIGHT goes beyond these Swedish metalheads. Just listen to a beautiful song like “Fading Starlight”. Blasting speed explosions are mixed with lyrics, that are sung with a lot of emotion and feeling. This makes this song to a real hymn. Highlight of this awesome album is still “Chained”, which comes right after the emotional ballad “Once A Time”. Do you want to hear a bigger contradiction in songs? I believe you’re asking the impossible here. That’s what I call variation. Something I miss so many times by a lot of other metal bands. This all explains the high rating for this great CD. You don’t have to be called HAMMERFALL, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN or SYMPHONY X to create a perfect album. FADING STARLIGHT from Germany can do it also, as you can see. Still not convinced? Get more information at: www.fadingstarlight.de, or send an email to: info@fadingstarlight.de. FADING STARLIGHT consists of Inga Scharf on vocals, Frank Ruhnke on rhythm guitar, Sebastian Scharf on guitars, Florian Schulz on bass and Pierre Leyendecker on drums. [10 points] (Toine van Poorten)

FIREBALL MINISTRY-Ou Est La Rock (Bong Load Records)
To say a band with a ministry in their name are religious in their approach to music would be an easy joke. On this debut album from 1999, they reminded me of BLACK SABBATH on “Death Dealer”, “Guts”, “Vim” and “Levites”. While two more songs reminded me of MONSTER MAGNET or SOUND-GARDEN. The first two songs are more hard rock with fuzzy guitars. True that only adds up to eight. However, these are long jams. Emily Burton plays lead guitar. The solos on these songs are uniformly excellent. There is fine note playing along with the chords. There's some string bending, too. Rev. James A. Rota II is vocalist and plays guitar. He uses different vocal tones for different songs. James’ overdriven, but not too frequent chords, set a steady pace. The low end metal sludge is played by Janis Tanaka. She was once in L7 and now plays with PINK. John Oreshnick (ex-MUZZA CHUNKA) is the hard hitting drummer. Some will call this desert rock or say FIREBALL MINISTRY is stoner rock. The world they discuss is not prosperous or forgiving. People in their songs endure life as much as they live it. Emily says their music has nothing to do with Jesus or satin. It just plods on. The band play well together. Perhaps that's what FIREBALL MINISTRY is really about. Their belief in their ability, to play the kind of music they want to play. Internet: www.fireballministry.com Email: thereverend@fireballministry.com [8 points] (Jack Little)

THE 440's-Hot To Go (Steel Cage Records)
Suppose you crossed THE ROYAL CROWN review with THE LOUDMOUTHS and added the kind of lyrics NASHVILLE PUSSY write. What would you get? You would get THE 440's. They play fast with a strong rhythm line. Downtown Dave Chamillard whales away at the drums. Hollywood Jay Skwarlo's bass is turned up good and loud. It may not be very technical. Their sound is exciting. The instrumental breaks between verses are as much fun as the songs themselves. Because of the speed. Wendy ‘Sparkle Plenty’ Gadzuk has to sing fast. Surprisingly, I could understand most of the words. Now I’d like to hear her say “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” that fast three times. The words are on the CD insert, if you do get lost. There are sixteen songs on the CD. The one cover is “Bad Reputation”. Its associated with JOAN JETT. The main character in most of THE 440's songs is a wild woman, who wants sex with men who excite her. No doubt the phrase bad reputation fits. On “Demolition Boy”, she views her boyfriend as a sex toy. “Awestruck” is about a man, who excites her. You could say the same of “Getting’ My Rocks Off”. On “Death Machine 2000”, she's attracted to his hot car and hot sex. “Bad Girl Do It” is more about keeping him. If this is what you want to hear, get “Hot To Go”. Contact: The 440's, P.O. Box 40965, Tucson, AZ 85717, USA. Internet: http://www.the440s.com or Steel Cage Records at: www.steelcage records.com. [8 points] (Jack Little)

GENITORTURERS-Flesh Is The Law (Dream Catcher)
THE GENITORTURERS are still exploring the area between dance and metal, if there was one. Electronic dance sounds, groovy rhythms, screaming vocals and lots of guitars. GARBAGE on acid, so to speak. This new MCD contains seven tracks with a total length of about thirty minutes. Four new studio tracks and three live songs are exposed on “Flesh Is The Law”. The live songs are a bit rawer than the studio tracks. But you definately miss the visual aspect of a band like THE GENITORTURERS here. A band that is mainly well known for their controversial and shocking leather, bondage and SM shows, complete with heavy, industrial dance metal music. The band consists of the beautiful blonde misstress of evil Gen, Chains on guitar, Evil D on bass and Angel on drums. If you are already used to the sound of this cult SM band, then you won’t be surprised at all. And I think that if your favorite music is catchy and groovy, then you might like the sound of this most evil band from Florida. A nice metal CD to dance on! Check out: www.genitorturers. com for more information. I hope they will tour Europe again soon, ‘cause they recently cancelled a show at a festival. They were replaced by HOLY MOSES. A big shame. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

THE GOGO'S-God Bless The GoGo's (Epic/Sony Music)
Sometimes an album is slipping through our fingers, that is still worth paying attention to. This is the comeback album of the all-female band from the eighties, the GOGO'S. They had a number one hit single in the USA with "We Got The Beat". Despite minor success with "Our Lips Are Sealed", their fame was restricted to the USA and after three albums the band decided to split up in 1984. Their split up was also the start of individual band members as a solo artist. BELINDA CARLISLE was the one with the most successful career and she had a few mega hitsingles such as "Heaven Is A Place On Earth". The GOGO'S are still Belinda Carlisle (lead vocals), Charlotte Caffey (guitar, piano, backing vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, backing vocals), Kathy Valentine (bass, backing vocals) and Gina Shock (drums, percussion). Nowadays, the GOGO'S sound very fresh and modern, although obviously there are some influences present of the solo albums of BELINDA CARLISLE. Just listen to "Insincere". In the eighties, the GOGO'S were more or less a pop/rock band, but on this album in 2001, the guitar sound is mixed quite upfront. That's why songs like as "La La Land" and "Unforgiven" are labelled as rock songs with a commercial touch. They have a nice chorus, you will remember after hearing it once. "Here You Are" and "Daisy Chain" are the two logical ballads on the album. "Automatic Rainy Day" has a real rock attitude and if you listen to the other songs, you can also hear some influences of JOAN JETT in the songs. "Talking In My Sleep" starts with a very strange piano intro, but turns then into a heavy rock song. There are also a few bubblegum/punkrock songs on the album. "Sonic Superslide" and "Throw Me A Curve" reminded me of bands such as THE OFFSPRING. To my surprise, there’s also a hidden track on the album, called "I Think I Need Sleep", which is a nice gift to the fans. My conclusion is that this is a very successful comeback album of the GOGO'S. Hopefully this time, it will mean their break through world wide! [8 points] (Marcel van Santen)

THE GORE GORE GIRLS-Strange Girls (Get Hip Records)
The GORE GORE GIRLS come from Detroit rock city. They were founded in 1996 by Amy Surdu on vocals and guitar. Besides her, the band consists of Deanne Iovan on bass, piano and vocals and Deb Agolli plays the drums and sings. The LP contains twelve rock songs, that have their roots in the sixties and seventies, and contain a very ‘gore’ groove. Twelve songs, which they shove in your throat in about twenty-five minutes. The band swings a lot, but the guitar also shreds here and there. They sound ‘mean’, so to speak. “Strange Girls” is from 2000 already. Their new album will be released any day now, and it’s called “Up All Night”. These girls are faster than the speed of light and they look very pretty in their panther print dresses. This doesn’t mean, that these cats are easy to handle. But I think, that you’ll definitely be convinced after listening to “Strange Girls”. Well, these girls are not ‘strange’ at all. They just want to ROCK! Wanna be rocked by them, too? Send your letters to: GORE GORE GIRLS, P.O. Box 44434, Detroit, MI 48244, USA. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

HOLY MOSES-Disorder Of The Order (Suburban)
Sometimes you’re really looking forward to hear a certain album. When I heard the mini album “Master Of Disaster”, I already knew their next full length album would become a true killer!! After a short intro, the band explodes in “We Are At War”. Killer riffs, brutal growls of Sabina, a gallopping beat and monstrous fast guitar solos. WHOAAARRRRRGGH!! Yes, this is how I like it. More, more, more of this, please!!! Title track “Disorder Of The Order” sounds like ACCEPT in their most glorious days with the insane growls of Sabina, instead of the high pinching vocals of Udo Dirkschneider of course. “Hell On Earth” is another sweet, soft lullaby...... No, just kidding, there’s no room for mellow stuff on this album. Everything is fast and furious, like it should be. The only odd song on this new ear attack is “Verfolgungswahn”, which is sung in the German language. When we take a look at the line up of the band, we see that Andreas Libera has replaced Jochen Funders on bass guitar. But besides that, we still hear Julien Schmidt on drums, Joern Schubert on lead guitar, Franky Brotz on rhythm guitar and Sabina Classen on vocals. Sabina’s second name is now “Princess Of Hell”, which is also a title of one of the twelve new songs on this album. An album, that proved there’s still room for a band like HOLY MOSES in the thrash scene of today. And if Sabina is ‘the princess of hell’, please let me go to hell, when I die!! Some interesting websites to check out are: www.holymoses.de and www.baba-yaga-agency.com. [9 points] (Toine van Poorten)

ANN KLEIN-Waiting For The Snow (ATS Records)
This is a high quality new release of ANN KLEIN. Okay, you’re absolutely right, when you say this can’t be categorised as (hard) rock and/or (heavy) metal. Let this be clear first. But once in a while, we also pay attention and reserve a bit of space to some nice easy listening music, if we may. Think about the well-talented MELISSA FERRICK or JOAN OSBORNE here, when describing her music style. Well, ANN KLEIN’s music is very nice to listen to. It does sound very laid back and relaxed. A piece of rest, after a long week of hard work. Once in a while you might need that. This music shows to full advantage, when the lights are dimmed and the evenings are cold. Song titles like “Waiting For The Snow” and “Happy New Year” confirm this feeling. Ann is helped out by Klaus Kircher on bass and Robert Kainar on drums. Markus Marageter on organ, Frank Stadler on violin, Stefan Susana on cello, Rob Arthur on keyboards and bass and the mysterious Mr. Scream Machine on vocals were the guest musicians on this new album, that sounds very solid. Thirteen songs, including the bonus track “Theater Of War” make you long to see the snow falling down again, and that in the middle of the summer! Music can be incredible sometimes. Fifty minutes of high quality, emotional, easy listening pop music. For a short moment of relaxing. Surf to: www.ann-klein.com for more information about this well talented singer and songwriter. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

LANA LANE-Curious Goods-Special Edition (Pseudonym Records)
This is another special edition in the huge LANA LANE catalogue. “Curious Goods” was originally released in 1996. The second disc in this two CD set contains this release. The first disc however has the 2002 version of this mighty fine album. I first listened to the original version again to hear the progression in technique and playing over the years. The song structure didn’t change that much of course. Why change a winning team and formula, in this case? “Curious Goods” contains two of my all time favorite LANA LANE tunes “Escher’s Staircase” and ‘Symphony Of Angels”. It also contains the STEELY DAN cover “Do It Again”. Which is replaced by the James Bond soundtrack “You Only Live Twice”, written during the “Project Shangri-La” sessions, on the 2002 version. Twenty-six beautiful, breathtaking symfo songs are on this double CD package. The ‘artisians’ that provide us with these heavenly sounds are Mark McCrite on guitar, Tommy Amato on drums, Tony Franklin on bass, Don Schiff on Chapman Stick, Neil Cintron on guitar, Vinny Appice on drums, Erik Norlander on keyboards and Lana Lane on vocals. I am already curious about the next goods, they will deliver us. Hopefully, we can also see them on the Dutch stages again soon, in the hope that we can finally see them there too this time. [9 points] (Toine van Poorten)

THE MARCY BAND-Itazura Tenshi (Wide Tread)
Sometimes it’s very difficult to read the Japanese signs on a CD cover. So that’s why I will only give you the information, I could read in the CD booklet, and reproduce on my computer here. This CD contains eleven heavy metal songs, with a total running time of about fifty minutes. Right from the start you’ll get flashbacks from great Japanese metal bands from the eighties like LOUDNESS, BOW WOW, EARTHSHAKER, SHOW YA and 44 MAGNUM, if you listen to the sound of this band. It might sound a little bit groovier, and a bit newer. But I can tell you, that these catchy songs really sounded very well. The band consists of Mad on drums, Fire on bass, Kanda on guitar, Gi-Na on vocals and Marcy on vocals. There are also a handful of guest vocalists on this album like Masaaki Endo of BLIND PIG, Jyosei Nagatomo of INFIX, Jüichi Morishige of SNAKE HIP SHAKES, Minoru Niihara of LOUDNESS/XYZ~A) and last but not least Keiko Terada of ZENNIHON JYOSHI PRO BAND and SHOW YA fame. There is one other guest member to be heard on this album, but my computer makes it impossible to give you more information about her. If we go back to the music, I can tell you that the songs are as solid as a rock. They’re swinging and have a good beat. And also the guitar playing is very much upfront, just listen to a track like ‘Stay On Top (Of The World)” for example. This is one of the heaviest songs on this album, which has probably to do with the vocal input of Minoru Niihara here. Not that the other songs aren’t good. No, that’s definately not the case. THE MARCY BAND rocks, with a capitol R. The song on which Keiko Terrada does the vocals is catchy, and suits very well with her voice. Although it’s not the heavy metal monster that you would expect from this ex SHOW YA frontlady. It might become very hard to find this CD, but it’s very much worth the try. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

MIKA BOMB-The Fake Fake Sound Of Mikabomb (Damaged Goods)
This LP contains sixteen tracks by Japanese garage punk rock outfit MIKABOMB. The band consists of Mika Handa on vocals, Mika Kanayama on bass, Agi on guitar and backing vocals and male member Ergi on drums. Their first single “Contact Tokyo” is also on this album, but the B-side of the single “Boomeranka” is left out of the selection of songs, that made it on this album. MIKA BOMB sounds a bit like THE DONNAS, but they’re a bit rawer. They’ve already toured excessively through Europe, and even supported SNUFF on their tour. Reason enough to believe that MIKA BOMB’s star is rising very fast. The catchy songs of this band will make this happen, because it’s always nice to sing the songs with the band right after you’ve heard them for the very first time. And that’s definitely the case with the song material on this forty minute album “The Fake Fake Sound Of Mikabomb”. Another fact is they’re signed by a major English punk rock label called Damaged Goods, based in London. If they sign you, you must be better than the average all girl, school rock band. People, who like THE DONNAS, must have a listen to this nice release of MIKA BOMB. For more information about these Japanese ladies you can go to their website at: www.mikabomb. com, or send an email to: mikabomb@mikabomb.com. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

MOSTLY AUTUMN-The Story So Far....(Classic Rock Legends)
We’re a bit late, reviewing this album. But isn’t there a saying that goes like ‘better late than never’! The new CD is already out, but this time we caught it when it came out already. That’s mainly because the music of MOSTLY AUTUMN is very impressive indeed. My thoughts go out to PINK FLOYD, when I listen to the experimental character of the band. But then with a female singer. Can you dig that? The CD was recorded live, and it captures some real magic moments. Let me first introduce the band members of MOSTLY AUTUMN a bit closer to you. We hear Bryan Josh on guitar and vocals, Heather Finlay on vocals, guitar, tambourine and bodhran, Iain Jennings on keyboards, Liam Davidson on guitar, Angela Goldthorpe on flute and vocals, Andy Smith on guitars and Jonathan Blackmore (no relative to...) on drums. The backing vocals were done by Rachel Jones, Mark Atkinson and Gina Dootson. Back to the music then. Another reason why I mentioned PINK FLOYD earlier is the voice of Bryan. Sometimes it comes close to the emotional, depressed vocals of Roger Waters, who has this significant and recognisable sound. Just listen to “Nowhere To Hide”, and you’ll recognise this sound here and there. The third reason would be the guitar sound of the band. Not in every song, but just listen to the solo part in “Evergreen”, and you’ll get the point. Or the great long epic “The Night Sky”, which could have been used on every PINK FLOYD album, without anyone noticing the difference. The female vocals are a cross between Candice Night (BLACKMORE’S NIGHT) and Lana Lane. “Mother Nature” will make you hold your breath for about thirteen long but exciting minutes, and it contains a short instrumental piece of “Love To Love” of UFO. The music of MOSTLY AUTUMN cannot be categorised as symphonic rock maybe. Purists may think that there is cross contamination with folk, AOR, heavy rock or progressive rock in their music, but I’m sure that the average sympho freaks will love this. Find all the other information that you need on the bands website at: www.mostly-autumn.com. The CD contains almost seventy-five minutes of great sympho music. Now that’s what I call value for money! Full score is the least I can give for this great CD. [10 points] (Toine van Poorten)

MYRIADS-Introspection (Napalm Records)
Thijs van Leer, the world famous flute and keyboards player and singer of FOCUS had four solo albums called “Introspection”(volume one till four). This information has got nothing at all to do with this new album of Norwegian metal act MYRIADS, by the way. But it was the first thing that entered my mind, when looking at this CD title. MYRIADS consists of Alexander Twiss (ex OVERFLOATER, ex TWIN OBSCENITY) on vocals and guitars, Mona Undheim Skottene (ex TWIN OBSCENITY) on vocals, piano and keyboard, J.P. on guitars, Rudi Jünger on drums and Mikael Stokdal on vocals, keyboard and piano. Dark atmospheric, doomy metal sounds fill my room, when I listen to “Introspection”. But wait, there are also some industrial sounds in the long opener “Enigmatic Colours Of The Night”. The song titles already make you aware of the fact, the music of MYRIADS is not so easy to comprehend for the average metal fan. What about titles like “Miserere Mei”, “The Sanctum Of My Soul”, “Falling In The Equinox”, “Encapsulated” and “The Ascent”? Add to this the fact that most of the songs are very long, and you will guess already that this is not a CD to put on and set your mind at ease after a long day of hard work. Nine songs are on “Introspection”, which have a total length of about seventy-five loooooong minutes. Don’t get me wrong here, the music is of a very high standard. And there’s a lot happening in all these different songs. And sometimes you’ll be in for a few surprises. Like in “Miserere Mei”, there’s a short piece of music, that seems to come from a total different song. The band toured with ATROX, but I think that their sound comes a bit closer to my own personal taste. The official website of MYRIADS can be found at: http://come.to/Myriads. You can also send the band an email at: atx_myriads_x@hotmail.com. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

NIGHTWISH-Century Child (Spinefarm)
NIGHTWISH has come a long way since their career began in 1997 with "Angels Fall First". Since that time the band - that hails from Finland - has shown progression with each release and have gotten better and better. That trend continues with the bands latest opus "Century Child". They have done the unthinkable: they have surpassed their latest release "Wishmaster" - both in terms of quality and sound. They have released a sonic, bombastic symphonic masterpiece, that rocks quite hard. If you had told me in 1997 that one day NIGHTWISH would become one of my favorite bands, I would have thought you were crazy. I mean, "Angels Fall First" was a competent enough release, but it didn't exactly blow my doors off. Now, with "Century Child", it is hard to believe that this is the same band. The fifty minutes of musical nirvana kicks off with the catchy "Bless The Child". Lead vocalist Tarja Turunen is in great voice as usual. Hitting notes, that some singers can only dream about. Next we have "End Of All Hope" which is followed by one of the many album highlights "Dead To The World". This song sees the return of the "male” vocals, which the band have not used consistently since the '97 debut. This time the vocals are supplied by bassist and newest member Marco Hietala. He's not Geoff Tate or Rob Halford by any means, but he does manage to bring a unique style to the songs that he sings on and the interplay between him and Tarja is an interesting change of pace for the band. "Slaying The Dreamer" has got to be the heaviest thing the band has ever recorded, displaying a different edge. It is followed by the moving ballad "Forever Yours". Other highlights include: "Ocean Soul", "Feel For You", their cover of the ANDREW LLOYD WEBER classic "Phantom Of The Opera", which is a nice surprise that sees Tarja and Marco once again covocalizing. The epic track (which clocks in at around ten minutes) "Beauty Of The Beast" is divided into three parts: "Long Lost Love", "One More Night To Live" & “Christabel" and brings this CD to a satisfying close and had me immediately reaching for the "play" button again. Great performances all around from Tarja, Marco, Jukka (drums), Emppu (guitars) and Tuomas (keys & piano). Tuomas continues to be the bands main songwriter and visionary. He has really out done himself on "Century Child", as have all the musicians. Since 1997, NIGHTWISH have influenced a genre of bands who look to them for influence and inspiration. Some are good, some not so good. But NIGHTWISH are the true originals and "Century Child" is a testament to five years of hard work and dedication. They are to be congratulated, they have just released a damn fine album! [10 points] (Tony Cannella)

OTEP-Sevas Tra (Capitol)
WHOEAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!! A new star is born, and she is mean, evil, wicked, beautiful and insane. Her name is OTEP (anagram for POET) and if you meet her you’d better be very friendly to this lady, otherwise she will chop you in half. Her first full length album is called “Sevas Tra” (spelled backwards: Art Saves), which is the follow up to “Jihad”, her first mini album. The impression this album will make on you is really overwhelming. Fast guitar riffs, and a woman with a throat that’s made of razorblades. They cut your flesh like a buzzsawer blade, leaving behind big bleeding wounds. I can’t think of any other band that even comes close to the sound of OTEP. It’s ominous, it’s evil, it’s weird, it’s cruel, but it’s also very intense. The distorted vocals of OTEP (Shamaya) seem to give the sound an extra dimension, which makes it even more groovy than the average scream metal bands like SYSTEM OF A DOWN or FEAR FACTORY. OTEP turns her violent screams into art, with the help of Evil J on bass, Rob on guitar and Moke on drums. On www.otep.com you can read more about this excentric lady that turns her voice into a war machine. And she’s doing it very well, as far as I am concerned. NINE INCH NAILS with female vocals or MARILYN MANSON quadruplicated. Call it, what you want to call it. They’re one of the most promising acts of the past few years. Thirteen songs with a total length of just over one hour is what you get with this “Sevas Tra”. The packaging of the CD is also very well taken care of, by the way!! Don’t miss the short nameless bonus track at the end of this CD, and don’t say that we didn’t warn you for this lady!!! [10 points] (Toine van Poorten)

PENUMBRA-The Last Bewitchment (Seasons Of Mist)
The opener of this second album of French gothic, classical metal outfit is impressive. It will open your eyes from the first seconds on. The band used a classical string quartet and a choir of eight people to reach this great bombastic sound. The band itself already consists of eight people, so you’ll know the power it reaches with that many musicians. I hear TRISTANIA, NIGHTWISH and THERION back in the sound of this band, that was founded back in 1996. The classical influences of the band are very important to them. But each and every song is based on a metal underground, including a screaming vocalist (a bit CRADLE OF FILTH like). PENUMBRA consists of Krysten on vocals, Ohra on vocals, Jarlaath on vocals and oboe, Néo on guitar, Dorian on guitar, Zoltan on keyboards, Agon on bass and Garlic on drums. Maybe you’ll have to listen to their music several times, before you will really enjoy it. Especially the moments, when they turn down the beat, impressed me the most. For example the beginning of “Testament”. Besides that, I also liked the sudden speed and mood changes in “Insurrection”. PENUMBRA did a short tour in Holland with DYING TEARS, and after that they invited WITHIN TEMPTATION to come over to France to tour with them there. I think, we will definately hear more from this French band that provides us with a cool mix of gothic metal and classical music. Nine songs with a total length of about forty-five minutes, will make you long for more. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

PERSEPHONE DESCENDING-Live (indie)
This mini CD of twenty minutes, was recorded live at the State Street Tavern in Erie, PA in December 2001. We hear dark black metal with a great guitar sound. The music is a bit different from the average black metal that we know, which makes it even more interesting to listen to. High D (Vokill Valkyrie) growls like an angry witch. Nikki is playing the drums for only one year, but she’s beating the skins like a mad woman. It’s a shame that she has left the band right now, and is replaced by a new drummer called Tom. Deanna (Blood Baroness) is keeping the rhythm together on the bulldozer bass. And Sonny (Guitar God) is the guitar hero of the band. We can definately say he is, because his unbelievable fast guitarwork makes these songs sound so refreshing. There you have it, three ladies and one man launching five dark black metal songs on a live mini CD. The band started their career in 1999 as SHUDDER, but this year they renamed the band to PERSEPHONE DESCENDING. DEATH fans may find this interresting. You can read more information about this young black metal band at: www. persephonedescending.com or you can send them an email at: pd@ persephonedescending.com. Their (snail) mail address is: PERSEPHONE DESCENDING, P.O. Box 11387, Erie, PA 16514, USA. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

THE PLASMATICS-Put Your Love In Me;Love Songs For The Apocalypse (Plasmatics Media)
The apocalypse of the world is getting closer, if we may believe the official PLASMATICS fanbase. That’s why they took the opportunity to release two albums with subtitles such as “Love Songs For The Apocalypse” and “Anthems For The Apocalypse” (reviewed next). This first compilation of a two CD ‘best of’ set contains eleven songs with a total time of about forty minutes. It contains songs from all over the impressive career of THE PLASMATICS. “Fast Food Service” was already done on stage in 1978 (almost twenty five (!!) years ago now). Can you believe that?? The title track was taken from the album “Coup De Grace”, which was originally recorded as a demo at the Electric Ladyland Studios of JIMI HENDRIX. “Bump And Grind” was produced by KISS boss Gene Simmons and I think that Mr. Simmons put a few ideas of his own in this song. Just listen to the choirs and the Eric Carr like drum sound here. While “Jailbait” is an excellent version of the well known MOTÖRHEAD song. In “Dream Lover” the music was turned on the headphones during the instrumental break. Just listen to the beautiful mess, they’ve created here. FRANK ZAPPA couldn’t have done it any better I think, and he was a f*cking genius. CD closer “The Humpty Song”, is definately the odd one out here. Check out: www.plasmatics. com for all the details how to get these great compilation CDs. [9 points](Toine van Poorten)

THE PLASMATICS-Final Days;Anthems For The Apocalypse (Plasmatics Media)
This second CD contains thirteen tracks with a total length of just over fifty minutes. It’s not clear to me, why they picked these album titles. For example, the first CD doesn’t have any ‘love songs’. In fact, THE PLASMATICS never wrote a love song in their whole life! Also, these are definately not the last songs this band wrote, in contrary to a title, like “Final Days”. In fact, the songs on this CD cover a career, that stretches out over ten years (1978-1988). But hey, instead of to philosophize, let’s just enjoy the great music of this band. Listen to great songs such as “Masterplan”, “Uniformed Guards” or “Brain Dead”. Maybe the songs are not perfect in the sense, they contain beautiful arrangements and difficult structures. The music of this band is so damn intense, that you must enjoy it, when you like heavy metal music. One small thing is definately worth mentioning here. I didn’t find this out by myself, but I got it from the poor CD booklet. The songs, taken from the previously unreleased “Coupe De Grace”, could be the ultimate tracks for a soundtrack about the things, that happened on September 11, in the US. And you don’t have to know the lyrics to see the connection. The titles like “Stop”, “Just Like On TV”, “Uniformed Guards” and “The Damned”, say it all. For more information, go to: www.plasmatics. com. [9 points] (Toine van Poorten)

PUSSYCATS-Rock On! (Munster Records)
Remember THE PUSSYCATS, the female version of THE STRAY CATS, so to speak? They’re back with a new album, that contains fourteen songs with a total length of about thirty-five minutes. THE PUSSYCATS consist of Israel on lead guitar and vocals. He’s the male member of the band, and he recently replaced the third female pussycat Anita. Besides him, we have two other cats, called Belen on drums and vocals and Milana on bass and vocals. The sound of THE PUSSYCATS is rock and roll from the fifties and sixties, with a touch of garage punk added to that. The LP is printed on coloured vinyl and it looks like the painter dropped his paint on the wax, while the LP was on the turntable. The CD will come out as an exclusive digipack. People who thought I was joking, while I made the comparision with THE STRAY CATS must have a closer listen to this album. They’ll be convinced, there’s some resemblance between the slow, sleazy rock sound of Brian Setzer’s band and these lovely Spanish ladies. Don’t let them get you into their claws, or they’ll rip you apart. GRRRROOOWL!! For more info, go directly to: www.munster-records.com. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

RAJAS-Complete Best! (TKCF)
One of the most underrated metal bands from Japan are RAJAS. With their great metal sound, they caught my attention with their EP and their appearance on compilation LP’s like “Grand Metal” and “Battle Of Metal”. Over here in Europe, they were never that big. I really wonder what their status was in their home country Japan. I think they were pretty popular, when I look at the release of a best of RAJAS album, which comes out years after the release of their EP. I know there are more albums existing of this band (f.e. “Turn It Up” and “Play The Game”), but over here it’s just impossible to find them. Well, if you like the music of this band, there is a lot to enjoy here for you. You can hear sixteen killer RAJAS songs, with a total length of about seventy-five (!!!) minutes. And from the opener on, my heart started to beat faster, when I heard the great beginning of “Shock!”. Which is followed by “Straight Fighter”. Great twin guitar work, fast riffs, a thundering beat and the mighty voice of Kuniko “Sen” Morikawa completing the great sound of heavy metal monster RAJAS. This is not the kind of metal, you might expect to hear in this new millenium. No, this compilation album stands with both feet in the early eighties, and that’s why I like it so much. Touches of SHOW YA might be recognised here and there. But they were also a band, recognised by a small group of finetasters only over here in Europe. Besides the beautiful frontlady Kuniko, we also hear Akihiro ‘Akkun’ Goto on guitars, Koichi Yamomoto on guitars, Noriko ‘Non’ Kawaiuchi on bass and Takashi ‘Baby-Chan’ Fukumara on drums. Sometimes we hear the bass sound of the other bass player, they had in their ranks, namely Tadashi ‘Crazy Cool Joe’ Masumoto. Highlights are the two openers, that I already mentioned in the beginning of this review, and the long ballad that closes this great compilation album, called “Your Song”. If you’ve always liked the Japanese metal scene, then this compilation is an absolute must for you, because this is very cool stuff!! On the same label, there’s also a MARINO compilation available. But this band doesn’t have any female members. [9 points] (Toine van Poorten)

SCANNER-Scantropolis (Massacre Records)
Well, if this album isn’t influenced by the terroristic attacks on the USA last year, then I’ll eat my hat. In the biography, they say that the new album is an hommage to Fritz Lang’s movie “Metropolis”. But when I look at the promo copy, I have here, I cannot think of anything else but the collapsing of those Twin Towers. Let’s have a closer look at the music of SCANNER now. They already exist for quite some time, but they’ve recently added a female singer to their line up. Her name is Lisa Croft, and she really knows how to impress me. She replaced long time SCANNER singer Michael Knoblich. The band started in 1980 already as LIONS BREED, but after one album they decided to change their name into SCANNER. Their first album with Lisa contains ten melodic hard rock tracks with a total length of almost fifty minutes. Besides Lisa, the band exists of Axel Julius on guitar, keyboards and vocals and Marc Simon on bass and keyboards. Lisa’s vocals are clear and they fit perfectly with the melodic music of the band. Sometimes the band plays with some computerised sounds like in opener “Till The Ferryman Dies”, which is a solid opener. These particular sounds come back in some of the other songs too, which implicates that the band is not afraid to use sounds that are more commonly used in the metal sound of this new millenium. “Engel Brechts” is a song that needs a little more extra attention. It’s the musical interpretation of a poem by Berthold Brecht called “Über Die Verführung Von Engeln”. Beware, this sounds different than the average metal songs that you’ve heard until now. The CD ends with a live version of the CD opener “Till The Ferryman Dies”, recorded in Stockholm, Sweden. Which is a nice bonus to this good melodic metal album. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

SIRENIA-At Sixes And Sevens (Napalm Records)
When Morten Veland left TRISTANIA, I thought this would be the end of the successful band from Norway. SIRENIA is the new band of this grunter, guitar player from TRISTANIA, that kept existing after the departure of Morten. SIRENIA can be seen as a continuation of TRISTANIA, but there are some things that have changed of course. The sound of Mortens vocals is still very much upfront in the mix. The riffs are still very heavy. But the sound of SIRENIA is a bit more bombastic, if you compare it to the sound of TRISTANIA. The French choir, that he used on this CD, takes care of that fact. I must confess, that I miss the beautiful voice of Vibeke Stene, who had such a recognisable sound. The female vocals on “At Sixes And Sevens” are done by Fabienne Gondamin, a French vocalist, who’s very talented indeed. However, the band is searching for a steady female band member. Besides Morten and Fabienne, SIRENIA consists of Kristian Gundersen on guitars and clean vocals, Hans Herik Varland on keyboards, Jan Kenneth Barkved on vocals and Pete Johansen on violins. TRISTANIA fans can buy this CD without listening to it first. It’s a very safe buy, I can promise you that much. If this CD is better than the new TRISTANIA CD remains to be seen, because I always thought that Vibeke was the main person in TRISTANIA. Nonetheless we’re dealing with an absolute great new CD here. The nine new songs have a total time of about fifty-five minutes and the CD cover could as well be the new CD cover of the upcoming TRISTANIA CD. A very safe way to release your new album maybe, but I think it will work. Only time can tell of course. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

SLUT 'EM GO!-The Disrespectful Beat (indie)
SLUT 'EM GO! are an odd band coming out of New York City. Odd because they are just so damn hard to figure out. Their music runs the gamut from the most mundane punk to all out jams - with long guitar solos that take on the shape of arena rock anthems. With their debut album "The Disrespectful Beat", the band hopes that this is their first step towards superstardom. Whether it is or isn't, this band is irrelevant. What we have here is a hard working band, who craft interesting songs with a professional presentation. They are to be commended. Featuring seven tracks and thirty-three minutes worth of raw music, the first track "Tesla" caught me a bit off guard with its acoustic intro. It quickly builds to a bottom heavy, bombastic tune. Next up, we have the cleverly titled, "6 Absolutely Stunning Minutes of S'EG!" which is reminiscent of an arena rock tune - complete with a long jam near the end. "3047" is next and keeps things going strong. Next up is "Punk Chunk", which is the band showing off their punk roots. "Things" has a dreamy yet heavy vibe. The track "6 Glorious Spine Tingling Minutes of S'EG!" (I'm not kiddin') is next and probably stands out as the bands finest moment, going from full on punk rockiness to a calm middle section and back to punk fury - very catchy. "Luv Dat Bitch" keeps the surprises coming. Part acoustic, blues-tinged ballad and party heavy free-for-all, it brings "The Disrespectful Beat" to a close. The band is made up of two girls: Stasha Claire (guitar & vocals) and Sarah Micheals (guitar & vocals) and two guys: Michael Stone (bass - he has since been replaced by Matt Kaukeinen) and Michael Warren (drums). To say I was a little surprised, would be an understatement. I really wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. SLUT 'EM GO! musically and lyrically are a bit left-of-center. But it's obvious, that they are out to have a good time - and it definitely comes across on this disc. Whether or not this is your cup-of-tea, S'EG! are a band that you can't help but root for. You can order the CD or contact the band directly through their web site: http://www.slutemgo.com [6 points] (Tony Cannella)

STAR ONE-Space Metal (Inside Out Records)
Another new project of one of the most successful Dutch metal musicians of today, Arjen Lucassen. He already surprised us with great projects such as AMBEON and AYREON, in which he used a lot of female vocals. This new project has the female vocals of Floor Jansen of AFTER FOREVER. The songs on “Space Metal” are inspired from ten different space movies. Don’t try to do this at home, because this is only reserved for musical geniusses. Help comes from another handful of great musicians this time. We will enjoy the voices of Sir Allen Russel, Floor Jansen, Damian Wilson and Dan Swäno. Ed Warby plays the drums and Erik Norlander and Jens Johansson did the keyboard and synthesizer parts on the CD. Gary Wehrkamp of SHADOW GALLERY played some guitar solo parts and Robert Soeterbroek did backing vocals. On the additional bonus CD, that contains forty more minutes of heavenly music, we’ll enjoy the vocal abilities of Dave Brock (HAWKWIND) on the HAWKWIND medley. As you can see, we have another all-star line up on this album. Everything sounds so perfect again, that it’s almost impossibe to do it better on one of the forthcoming albums. The CD booklet looks great with all the lyrics and the beautiful coloured drawings in it. The music must be categorised as ‘Space Metal’, which means that it is a bit experimantal maybe. Besides that, it’s definately one of the heaviest CDs of Arjen until now. Highlights on this great new CD are “Set Your Controls” and “Master Of Darkness”, that includes a great interaction of Jens and Gary. The bonus CD contains a long HAWKWIND medley, the DAVID BOWIE cover “Space Oddity”, which fits just perfectly with the concept and some alternative take outs of songs, that are on the regular album also. I can only give the full score to this product. And I hope that we will hear more from Arjen in the future soon, under whatever name he might use. Don’t miss the band on tour by the way, because STAR ONE is Arjen’s only project until now, that will do a short tour through Holland and Belgium. For Floor this will be another step forward on the ladder of success, something she really deserves. [10 points] (Toine van Poorten)

THE SUFFRAJETS-Hold These Eyes (Rooster Mgmt)
THE SUFFRAJETS are three ladies from London that play punk rock. This EP contains fifteen minutes of wild, melodic punkrock music, divided over five songs. Three studio tracks and two live tracks, recorded at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles. The band consists of Alex on vocals and guitar, Gemma on drums and Charlie on bass. Just like SUGAR COMA, we hear the British rock sound of this new millenium. A mix of sweetness and a lot of power. Sometimes they use distorted vocals, while at other times the vocals sound very sweet and the lyrics even invite you to sing along with them. Variation all over, so to speak. I must admit, that I like the unpolished sound of SUGAR COMA more, over the much sweeter aproach of THE SUFFRAJETS. But I’m sure that a lot of our readers might wanna have a listen to this band. Right now, they’re preparing to release their debut CD on Sony records (Well done!). If you’re into some melodic, mainstream punk rock, then THE SUFFRAJETS are the band for you. Check out the bands website at: www.thesuffrajets.freeservers.com. [6 points] (Toine van Poorten)

SUGAR COMA-Never Born (Velocity Recordings)
SUGAR COMA released this album right after their tour with MY RUIN. And I must say, these two bands fitted very well together. SUGAR COMA’s music is loud, wild, brutal, heavy and shows some similarity with the excentric sound of MY RUIN / TAIRRIE B. This band also fools around with samples and structures, used in the industrial metal scene, like for example in “Half Sick”. You must be open- minded to dig it sometimes, but when you are, there’s enough to enjoy here. There are thirteen songs on this fourty-five minutes long explosion of violence, samples and riffs. The tenth song is a remix of the opening track “Blisters” (I hate remixes!). And the last three tracks are live recordings from the MY RUIN tour. Don’t be afraid to listen to this CD, because when you play it real loud you will definately enjoy all these wild explosions inbetween the sweeter parts. Let SUGAR COMA surprise you with their unpolished sound. If you like bands like MANNHOLE, MY RUIN, KITTIE or L7 (later version), then it’s time to check out SUGAR COMA, too. They’re preparing a new album as we speak, which will be called “Becoming Something Else”. But you can read this and all the other news on their website, that can be found by surfing to www.sugarcomaonline.com. The line up of the band is the same as on the four track EP, that was reviewed in issue #28 of Metal Maidens. [7 points] (Toine van Poorten)

SUSAN AND THE SURFTONES-The Originals (Acme Brothers Records)
The other day someone asked "What did we listen to before THE BEATLES?" I'll tell you, what we listened to was surf music. This is not lost on Susan L. Yasinski. She is a very good guitar picker. Not only does she have the technique down, she also expands on it. She captures the ambience of early 1960's music in her arranging and composing. Then she executes it flawlessly. “The Originals” contains fourteen songs. All are instrumentals. No words are used at all. Each melody is unique. Susan puts the twang of the guitar to good use. She uses some reverberation but, no effects that were not available at the time. Most of the songs aren't long. They establish a grove and then vary it. Susan's not afraid to change tempos. She just don't over do it. “Tiki Kiki” has a Polynesian sounding name. It has more bass and more rhythm section than some of these songs. There are some catchy organ riffs too. “Spaghetti Beach” has a tougher more aggressive sound. More drum rolls, too. “Clam Digger” has a lot of fluid guitar on it, punctuated with duets with drums or organ, Two songs include a saxophone. “Deep Blue Goodbye” could be jazz, rock or fusion. I don't care, if the surf is up. I want to hear Susan Yasinski play guitar. Contact address: SUSAN AND THE SURFTONES, 1239 Nw Brnes Rd #294, Portland, OR 97229, USA. Website: http://anglefire.com/ or3/surftones. You can also email Susan at: surftones@hotmail.com. [quality: 10 points / metal: 6 points] (Jack Little)

TERRA ROSA-Live....Final Class Day (Nexus)
Japanese bands are always very well talented. We already wrote about new or compiled material from THE MARCY BAND and RAJAS in this review section. And now it’s time for another band from the land of the rising sun, called TERRA ROSA. This band may not be that well known, but their music is great. This album was recorded live at Meguro Rock May-Kan on December 12, 1991 and at the Umeda Banana Hall on January 17, 1992. TERRA ROSA consists of Jun Itakura on drums, Masashi Okagaki on keyboards, Kohji Yamaguchi on bass, Yoshitsugu Imai on guitar and Kazue Akao on vocals. The ten live tracks have a total length of a full hour. The music of TERRA ROSA can best be described as solid hard rock, dominated by the fascinating keyboard and guitar solos of these great musicians. Touches of DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN could be recognised in their sound. But you can’t blame this band for shamelessly copying these two bands. Therefore, they put too much own interpretation in their sound. Fact is we’re dealing with some fine musicians around the great, powerful vocals of Kazue, the female member of the band. Just listen to one of the highlights on this CD, the long epic “Why Don’t You Leave Me”. It has some mindblowing guitar work of Mr. Imai. Or the song that’s on next, which is impossible for me to name because I can’t read or print those Japanese signs. ”Craggy Rhymster” opens with some great guitar work. I think I could go on for hours here, describing the phenomenal sound of TERRA ROSA. But I suggest, that you just search for this rough little diamond yourself. It will be worth it!! [10 points] (Toine van Poorten)

TO ELYSIUM-Dearest Vile (Cold Blood Industries/Suburban)
The first impression of this album is very intense. The mad vocals of Rein Doze catch your attention almost right away. Esther De Vos is the female, angel like voice of the band. The rest of TO ELYSIUM consists of Manny Van Oosten and Ray Van Lente on guitars, Andries Van Der Worp on bass, Sjoerd Visch on drums and Eline Ottens on keyboards. Old school metal fans may recognise the name of Manny Van Oosten as one of the ex members of Dutch metal band BLACK OUT. Eleven tracks with a total length of about forty minutes are on their debut album. An album that is full of good gothic death metal. But the music of TO ELYSIUM goes beyond the average gothic death metal band in this scene. Just listen to the subtile speed and mood changes at the end of songs like“The Devil Herself” and “Chaossun”, and you’ll know what I mean. TO ELYSIUM deserves a place next to successful acts like AFTER FOREVER, ORPHANAGE and WITHIN TEMPTATION. But I think, they will always remain the odd one out in this list of names. TO ELYSIUM has still got a long way to go and this CD will be a huge step forward on the ladder to success. Check them out at: www.toelysium. com to find more information about these fast rising newcomers. [8 points] (Toine van Poorten)

VENUS BLEEDING-Fakelore (Sweet Revenge Records)
If you take straight rock, hard rock and some goth sensibilities and thought them in a blender, what would you get? The answer is VENUS BLEEDING. This engaging mixture can be quite tasty. “Theme” is the first song. We hear solos from Sonya Westcott on bass and short but, attention grabbing bits from Denise Archibeque on guitar. The song is pro women rockers. It says to those who doubt female bands. "So, quit your bitchen’, look what you’re missing'." Two songs have two part vocals. For “Ambiguity”, both vocalists Angelique X and Jen Stalte sing some of the vocals in sequence. There are some easy to listen to chords, too. The lyrics are about physical appearance and cross dressing. “So You Think” features drummer Corey Moore. His intro gets your attention. The drumming moves the song along. There is thought behind these lyrics. A woman knows that there's more to her than he thinks. A note also should be made of “E” Jen plays just enough violin to make this interesting. It's about a woman, who wants attention and acceptance. The melody gets a little harder as it goes on. Contact address: VENUS BLEEDING, PMB # 584, 6114 La Salle Ave., Oakland, CA 94611-2821, USA. Internet: www.venus bleeding.com. Email: sw@venus bleeding.com [10 points] (Jack Little)

WACKCAT-That's What My Girlfriend Says (Paroxysm Records)
WACKCAT play straight foreward music with nice steady rhythms. The music is hard rock, but not heavy metal. Their music writing is good enough that all the songs sound different. Kate Galactic provides some ear catching guitar intros. A few of these are improved by keyboard fills. New wave could be an influence, along with punk and rock and roll in general. Stella Corona does the vocals along with keys. She uses her voice differently on different songs. It goes beyond punk shouting. There are some efforts at singing and even a relaxed song or two. Side 2 (according to Paroxysm Records, it's side 2) starts with three songs about the band process. “All Grrrl Band” is about preconceived ideas people have about girl bands. Next is one about the making of WACKCAT's demo tape. The band lack money and wish they could do more. It's called “Cast Of Monkeys”. Then comes “How Bands Form”. After some nice guitar licks, it refers to the ideas they had when the band started. It sound similar to my friends. I wish some of the other songs went into more detail with their subjects. A good first effort. Internet: www.paroxysm records.com. Email: simone_hormon @rocketmail.com. Contact address: Paroxysm Records, P.O. Box 58133, Washington D.C. 20037, USA. [7 points] (Jack Little)

THE WAGE OF SIN-The Product of Deceit and Loneliness(Immigrant Sun Records)
THE WAGE OF SIN can be listened to on two levels. One is the sound. The other is the ideas the band is trying to express. Death metal lovers will like both. To say the band comes on strong is an understatement. It's heavy, faster than most and conveys the intensity of the songs. When they asked drummer Vanessa Newsted why they formed the band, she said "Why not? All the other all-girl bands out there suck." Her thunderous drumming insures that THE WAGE OF SIN won't suck. Rachel and Barbwire Convertino get the heavy metal sound right on guitar. Jenn Christensen provides all the necessary low end on bass (who apparantly is no longer in the band and got replaced by Laura of the band ALL FOR NOTHING). The other thing that jumps out at you is Melissa Farnabaio's death grunt. The anguished vocals add to the experience. I could understand most of what Melissa sang. Happily Immigrant Sun Records took the precaution of including the words. “Open Doors” demands that people take control of there own lives and make them what they want them to be. The music is urgent. The drum fills get your attention. There's more smashing metal on “Self-Infliction”. It claims that a lot of our problems result from how we let other people treat us. It calls on us to be strong. The other six songs are similar. THE WAGE OF SIN is death metal. Contact: Immigrant Sun Records, P.O. Box 150711, Brooklyn, NY 11215, USA. Internet: www.immigrantsun.com or www.thewageof sin.com. Email: info@thewageofsin.com [10 points] (Jack Little)