Chris Forbes

Oh, I loved reading this bio, part of it reading “Thor’s classic 80’s sound combined with modern influences”. Oh, when I saw “modern influences,” I was like, “oh lovely groove metal or some crap like that.” Thankfully, there isn’t much of that on this. The single “The Party Never Ends” is a classic metal anthem,” […]

This band is a rock n roll band with a touch of metal to them. When they play rock n roll like opener “Dirty,” I get the AC/DC vibe, and the riffs are big-time catchy, and I was nodding to it. “Stay With Me” is another strong tune with lots of strong vocals from the […]

First off, this is very, very mellow music. With that said, I enjoyed it. The songs suck you in as the music played, and the songs are just catchy for what they are, but the main thing for me was the singer Randy Pratt. What a voice he has, and he melts you with his […]

Great White was one of those bands during the whole “hair metal” era with a couple of hits (Once Bitten Twice Shy), but never really broke it big like Motley Crue or Ratt or Poison. Along with such bands as Slaughter, Trixter, Firehouse, and others, they just never had that big breakthrough. Now, why on […]

This band is a groovy style death metal band that has a sort a melodic death metal sound. Not bad music-wise, but I was not digging the groovy thrash sound in the mix at times. It came across as if Pantera went melodic death metal. The production is solid, and the band doesn’t sound like […]

Yes, this is the same Don Dokken from the band Dokken, who was semi-big in the ’80s. Don’t expect metal or rock music on this as this is an all-acoustic solo album from him. His voice sounds fantastic on this as he sings the songs with a ton of feeling and passion. The music I […]

This band features Sammy Hagar on vocals, Michael Anthony on bass, Joe Satriani on guitar, and Chad Smith on Drums. Here’s is a 13 song DVD of the band live. First off, great sound and filming. One kickass DVD. The group is up on stage, having a blast, and the songs are played tight as […]

Amazing. I was a big fan of this band all through their six albums (one a double live album) with their well-crafted pop tunes and Punky Meadows godly vocals. This band should have been huge back then, but I think the record label (Casablanca) never gave them the proper push. Well, Punky is back along […]

Good ole southern rock with some blues attached to it. Well crafted tunes and riffs with some great vocals to boot. The songs built around simple but more than competent riffing, and with the singer’s blues southern rock vocals, you have a 1, 2 punch. The production on this is also excellent, and if you […]

  This is straight forward heavy metal, 80’s like old school heavy metal with a raw sound to it, which I don’t mind at all. The songs are well-crafted metal numbers with bits of power metal added to them as well. The vocals are excellent and solid, and the singer has an aggressive voice that […]

This column this time around is about shows and how expensive they are getting. When you go see these “classic” rock bands, most play these casinos, at least they do near me, which in this case is Atlantic City, and the cost of going is over $100 per ticket. That, to me, is crazy. Most […]

Here’s a book review I did of Megaforce Records co-founder Jon Zazula called “Heavy Tales: The Metal. Music. The Madness. As Lived by Jon Zazula“. First off, I read the book in less than one day as I couldn’t put it down! It is simply amazing and is easily one of the best books I […]

A power-pop band with a bit of punkish style to them like The Clash or older Green Day. The songs on this are quite catchy, and the lead vocals of Nigel Mogg are excellent. They have that punkish vibe of the bands that were coming out of England in the ’80s as well. The production […]

  This is a 3-man jam band with lots of guitar shredding and solos and no vocals. Having the no vocals didn’t sit well with me as I don’t mind a song without them, but a whole 40-minute album of guitar mindless guitar solos and shredding didn’t make me stand up and take notice. I […]

A fascinating DVD this is. I agree with all the opinions on this. With downloads and music sales slumping, it’s more important for a band to build its brand, whether it be live shows, a super catchy logo, a VIP meet and greet, having as many social media sites/pages as possible, then going in the […]

Joe Black is a guitar player, and he kicks some ass on this release. He has a bunch of guest musicians helping out on this. The first Tune I wasn’t too keen on as it didn’t have that killer hook I was looking for, however from track # 2 onward I got what I was […]

This is another cool rock n roll band, though they are more on the melodic side and that worked fine by me. Singer Felipe Saether has an incredible voice on this, and he sings the songs with such passion and emotion it wasn’t funny. I was hanging on his every word. The music is melodic […]

Manchester, NH….founded in 2011 by Melissa Wolfe & William Savant. Combining traditional heavy metal with modern rhythms, light synths, & a blend of urban hardcore. Melissa sings clean vocals while William adds harsher vocal pieces. Then you have heavy percussion alongside William’s synths, composition, and multi-genre experience, delivering a wide variety of down-tuned grueling bass, […]

Not sure of the exact title of this release because the band stamped “advanced copy” in big capital letters across the album title, which wasn’t the brightest idea guys. Anyway, all you care about is the music, and this does sound like something that would come out in 1972. It is down, and dirty garage […]

This is a recent release that was shelved by the band’s label back in 1974 and has recently seen the light of day thanks to this label, Cleopatra Records. Now I have not heard all of this band’s releases and I remember they had a hit in 1979 with “A Fool For A Pretty Face” […]

KILLSMITH/Halloween (Kachina Records) by Chris Forbes Simple, but effective riffing sort of like AC/DC at times, but more of a boogie to it and different style vocals too. The songs are simple but effective and significant time catchy as well. The production is also old school, which was fine by me. The 10th anniversary of […]

With all the social media their fingertips, It’s harder for bands than ever to get noticed. I have touched on this before, and it bears worth repeating. There are just way too many bad bands out there these days in underground metal. More labels are ever releasing below average or in some cases poor product […]

Tartarus is a Black/Death Metal band from Pittsburgh, PA with Influences from “Mythology,” Ancient History, Destruction, War, Paganism, Thelema, Misanthropy. Members include Clarissa- Vocals, Ben- Guitar, Devon- Bass & Mike on Drums. Here’s a little chat I had with vocalist Clarissa Badini CF: So how long have you lived in Pittsburgh, PA?CB: My whole life. […]

I love this band and what they are doing. They are blending a mix of 80’s metal without the hair metal crap and throwing in some good ole rock n roll and damned if it doesn’t kick ass. Vocals with a TON of feeling and emotion and great playing by the musicians on this. Oh, […]

Here is another blues-rock release. The only thing I wish for was some more vocals as I like vocals in my songs. Other than that, Steve can play and play fantastic and write some killer tunes that are both catchy and gritty. I love the guitar sound he gets. He plays from the heart with […]

Some excellent blues-based rock with a beautiful sounding guitar. Besides Thorn Germain, who plays all the guitar and bass on this, there is six other session musicians and all sound quite right to these ears. There are several different singers among the tunes and not a bad one in the bunch. The songs are all […]

Lead singer of Iron Maiden Bruce Dickinson recently said in an interview ‘Illegal downloading destroyed the concept of music having any value.’ I couldn’t agree with him more. Nobody wants to buy music anymore, especially when they can get it for free. Me myself, I have never illegally downloaded anything. If a new artist or […]

PODD/Cosmic Forces (Self Released) This was some very mellow almost progressive rock at times with no vocals. I have been a fan of smooth jazz for years. This stuff isn’t catchy at all. It seems to me to be blindly played with not a lot of thought into the writing of a catchy riff or […]

CARPTREE/Emerger (Self Released) This is progressive rock that for the most part was pretty good. At times some of the vocal patterns and lines I didn’t like, but for the most of it, they were cool to my ears. The music is very spacey and different and for that I applaud them. Think of the […]

TARA LYNCH/Evil Enough (Self Released) Some solid rock/metal from this band with some great lead vocals by Tara Lynch and impressive lead guitar work by her as well. Strong and catchy tunes make this a winner in my book. The songs have a ton of feeling to them and it is like Tara is making […]