Sad news: The music world mourns the loss of Ray Manzarek (74), founding Member and keyboarder of The Doors, White Zombie drummer Phil Buerstatte (44) and Uriah Heep bassist Trevor Bolder (63). R.I.P.!
German Hardrockers BERSERKER will donate 18.000€ to the Berlin cancer charity for children on May 25. November 2011 BERSERKER front man Schröder was diagnosed with cancer, now he is cancer-free. In 2012 the band collected money for this charity at their concerts and will also continue to do so in the future. Slayer´s Jeff Hanneman is dead: he passed away at about 11AM on May 2nd near his Southern California home because of liver failure due to an infection after a spider bite. R.I.P. Jeff!
The Siberian Jay music video "I´m Holding" featuring Mikko Sirén from Apocalyptica on drums - we reported about the videoshoot in our "1h with" Special - can be watched here: http://youtu.be/C-hSNurZVcs
First of all ‘Facing Your Enemy’ made me listen to the fascinating voice of Rick Altzi – a mixture between Jorn Lande and Johnny Gioeli. Meanwhile I have listened to the album for about 10 times and there are always other parts which I like particularly.
Guitarist and songwriter Olaf Lenk has really done a great job and delivered 12 tracks, which are never boring. This guy really has a feeling for melodies that dig firmly into the ear canals! Variety is also provided as track 1 starts with drum rolls and generally it is quite fast, track 2 is a bit slower and the chorus remains in your head. The next song starts with a strong guitar riff, another one with a choir, then again drums and guitar only. ‘Live & Learn’ for example is carried by the excellent voice plus the guitar work constantly increases. The two ballads are also well done, one is purely acoustic. One coverversion creeped in – it is ‘Tokyo’ from a band with the same name from the eighties. That does not really matter because the version from At Vance somehow sounds more powerful and really alive.
All in all, it is a wonderful Melodic Metal/Hardrock album with a rich sound and I cannot help it – I think 8,5 moose are certainly not too many.
