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
The current Glam/Hair Rock/Sleaze wave in Europe is mainly ruled by bands from Scandinavia, especially from Sweden and Finland. But also from Germany and the UK, more and more bands are rising, who commit the good old ´organised Hair Crime´. Now, there is a country, which one might not necessarily have on the radar, when it comes to the mentioned wave, active bands in that genre included: Bella Italia. Ok, many of them are after a fashion: Animal print clothes, which are too tight, especially for the thighs and the belly, a volume of chest hair that would even eat KISS` Paul Stanley`s heart out, and instead of a feminine touch, rather the stereotype of the Italian macho is represented. Not to mention the musical aspect. With all these deterrent examples, the Italian trio Ratzmataz has fortunately nothing in common and so, "Global Revolution", the opener of their homonymous debut album, starts to rock straight away and doesn`t need to fear any competition. A picture-perfect 80s smasher!
The same applies to the following "It`s Alright": With 2 minutes and 17 seconds, the shortest song on the record, but "straight forward". Track 3, "Take Me Home", is characterised by a very anthemic chorus and quite soon it becomes clear that anthemic choruses are the speciality of Loris Marchiori (Vocals & Guitar), Alberto Bianchi (Bass) and Martino Pighi (Drums). Same with "Angel" where Ratzmataz experiment with some oriental sounds in the beginning while "Burn" reveals the huge influence Guns`n`Roses have on the Italians. The dark touch of the song is a little bit reminiscent of "It`s So Easy", and at the end of the track, there is a guitar solo that sounds very interesting, especially due to the fact that it comes unexpected.
Altogether, Ratzmataz don`t reinvent the wheel of 80s Rock/Metal, so talking about a "Global Revolution" would be an exaggeration, especially regarding tracks like "Sweet Lady" which not only sound uninspired but also like a copy of the album`s opener. Nevertheless, we are talking about a genre whose trademark it is to be pompous. And that`s not the only reason why Ratzmataz can afford the pomp: "Global Revolution" is a surprisingly good, almost impressive debut - and it`s, by the way, the proof that Italy has much more to offer than pizza, pasta and "La Dolce Vita"...
