Kassu Kortelainen
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NIGHTWISH – DARK PASSION PLAY (SPINEFARM 2007)
There has been a huge fuss around Nightwish during the last couple of years. Beginning from the newsbreaking sacking of lead singer Tarja Turunen, more or less fiery exchange of comments between various persons more or less involved with the situation, and onto the cloak and dagger secrecy of searching and finding the new vocalist…
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URIAH HEEP – THE MAGICIAN’S BIRTHDAY (MERCURY / BRONZE 1972)
For another Steel Mill KlassiK album feature, let us turn the clock back 36 years and take a look at british rockers Uriah Heep. Already having three, gradually stronger, albums in their catalogue, Heep hit a total motherload of creativity in 1972 resulting in two of the bands most celebrated albums, Demons And Wizards (May…
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DIE SO FLUID – NOT EVERYBODY GETS A HAPPY ENDING (PAROLE 2008)
The first time I heard of Die So Fluid was back in 2006. I got a call from one of my friends who asked me to accompany him to go and see this really good british band that was about to throw a gig in the local pub later that week. I had my doubts…
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ZAR – LIVE YOUR LIFE FOREVER (1990)
As the Steel Mill had the chance to chat with John Lawton this month, it’s a good time to share some thoughts on some of his work. Digging deeper past his most well known and most reviewed material with Uriah Heep, Lucifer’s Friend and the numerous solo releases, our point of focus turns upon a…
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ALESTORM – CAPTAIN MORGAN’S REVENGE (NAPALM RECORDS 2008)
Okay, first of all let’s have a go to unravel the genre this scottish band has labeled themselves with. ‘Scottish Pirate Metal’ sounds twisted enough and though it does give initial ideas of how the band might sound, dismantling the term into a more user friendly form is probably a good place to start a…
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GRAND MAGUS – IRON WILL (RISE ABOVE 2008)
Sweden’s Grand Magus relies on the past. The thematics of their music draw influence from the days of ages past when the northern winters were long and cold and the folk resilient and stubborn. And not talking about your standard, corny tales of Vikings charging gloriously to fights with shining axes, in the world of…
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MILLION DOLLAR BEGGARS – MILLION DOLLAR BEGGARS (SHADOW WORLD RECORDS 2008)
Million Dollar Beggars feeds off the glory days of 80’s hard rock and heavy metal – sleazy lyrics, cocky rock attitude, corny artist names and kerosene-dipped songwriting – the newcomer band has all the elements one could expect from a proper hair metal band a couple and a half decades ago. The band acknowledges this,…
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HEAVEN & HELL – THE DEVIL YOU KNOW (ROADRUNNER RECORDS 2009)
So, here it is – the new Black Sabbath studio album since 1995’s “Forbidden” and the fourth one to feature the classic line-up of Iommi-Dio-Butler-Appice. The band surely bided their time before releasing the long-awaited new record, but since the mentioned foursome succesfully reformed for touring a couple of years back, the metal fans knew…
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SKYCLAD – IN THE… ALL TOGETHER (SCARLET RECORDS 2009)
The quintessential folk metal band Skyclad haven’t gotten their engines rolling on full throttle since the departure of vocalist/lyricist Martin Walkyier after 2000’s ‘Folkémon’ album. The remake album ‘No Daylights… Nor Heeltaps’ (2002) offered interestingly arranged, but lame remakes of the band’s old tunes and first proper studio album with new singer Kevin Ridley, ‘A…
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NAZARETH – THE NEWZ (EDEL 2008)
With a forty year career under their belt, Nazareth can be deservedly labeled under the classic hard rock folder. And based on the huge discography of albums containing loads of good material, expecting solid quality from the scots’ new releases is just as deserved. After ten years since the band’s previous release (Boogaloo 1998), Nazareth…