One of the joys in music is to see an artist grow and the development of The Raven Age has certainly been a hard won and intensely pleasurable one for those who first caught the fledgling band as the opened for British Lion some few years ago.

One of the best things about reviewing music for Metal Planet is that, every so often, the boss drops a curveball and hands me something to review that throws me out of my comfort zone and introduces me to a band or artist or even a sub-genre of Rock that I’ve never given the time of day to and that subsequently blows my mind and that has happened again with the superb new album Strength by Unto Others.

Legendary British guitarist and songwriter, Joanne Shaw Taylor, one of the UK’s premiere blues rock players, has released an eleven-track album covering some rare blues classics originally recorded by the likes of BB King, Little Richard and Aretha Franklin. `

Wallflowers' is the recent album released from four-piece progressive groove metallers Jinjer.Ukrainian based, the band have experimented throughout the years and have proven they are very versatile in all aspects of the music they create.

This album has been a while in it's coming to realisation but it's most certainly been worth the wait! Six years, three Eps and countless gigs up and down the byways Florence Black definitely haven't arrived at this juncture the easy way.

Following up from the critically acclaimed ‘N1FG’ album earlier this year, the Australian force of nature known as Hellz has turned downtime when a world tour should have been happening into a dazzling firework of creativity.

For some people, being part of one of the most seminal bands in rock history would be enough to sit back and bask in the resultant adulation.

Releasing a cover of a global hit is brave. For these five guys however, bravery is off the charts because this whole album is a tribute to international female artists that have influenced them in some way, which is extra cool considering none of the guys were born when some of these songs were released!

My jaw has hit the floor; I’m grinning like an idiot and I cannot believe I have the pleasure, nay, the absolute honour, of reviewing Iron Maidens new album, ‘Senjutsu’ (which loosely translates from Japanese as ‘tactics and strategy’).

Imagine my excitement having been given the opportunity to review the new WILDHEARTS album an album that was going to either follow the successful formula of their previous release,,THE RENAISSANCE MEN or release something totally different, well in typical WILDHEARTS fashion they opted for the latter and released something equalling 95% brutality 5% beauty and 100% compelling.

Scandinavian electro-rocker band Smash Into Pieces formed over a decade ago and came to prominence with their well-received third album ‘Rise And Shine’ in 2017.

There’s always been a special link between Deep Purple and Montreux that goes way beyond the creation of arguably their best-known track.

The rock legends and the Swiss resort town may be always linked in the public perception by the fire over Lake Geneva four decades ago but it seemingly has become a second home to the band and when they closed the Montreux Festival on the 30^th anniversary of their historic stay there it couldn’t have been a more fitting date to record for posterity.

American melodic hard rockers Hardline have a long and fitful history, with a couple of breakups and a roster of over twenty band members (lead vocalist Johnny Gioeli has been the only constant member) over their three-decade career.

I don’t know what it is about Sweden and AOR/Melodic Rock. Maybe there’s something in the water, but it seems that wherever you look there is another Swedish band belting out highly infectious AOR/Melodic Rock and most of them appear to be on Frontiers’ Records roster!

British AOR/Melodic Rockers Blood Red Saints return to the Frontiers Records roster with this, their fourth studio album, Undisputed.

It’s a perhaps sad but unavoidable fact that any British AOR/Melodic Rock band will always find themselves compared to genre greats like FM and Strangeways and that’s kinda where I started when this album kicked in.

Robert Jon & The Wreck have been writing songs and releasing albums since the band’s formation in 2011, and have received numerous accolades and rave reviews from nominations of “Best Rock” and “Best Blues” and winning the title of “Best Live Band” at the Orange County Music Awards in 2013, to being hailed as “keeping the history of classic 60’s and 70’s rock alive for newer generations” by blues guitar legend Joe Bonamassa.