Legends

Remastered edition with two bonus tracks."Searching for a way to retool their sound, Judas Priest attempted to accentuate their melodic side on Turbo by incorporating synthesizers and '80s pop-metal stylings ("Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days" sounds more like Poison, albeit with synths). The restrained songcraft sometimes pays dividends, especially on the synth-driven leadoff track, "Turbo Lover," easily the best song on the record and a successful reimagining of the Priest formula. But often, the band simply sounds directionless, unsure of exactly which path to accessibility it should follow; moreover, the synth-guitar backing and overly polished production give the album an oddly mechanized, processed feel. It certainly doesn't help most of the material, which is often at least competent but rarely inspired enough to make much of an impression. That's unfortunate because Turbo's best moments indicate that with a clearer focus, the album could have been a creative success; however, it's overall Judas Priest's weakest release since Rocka Rolla." - All Music Guide

Sweden’s PAIN OF SALVATION continue their ever-progressing, highly sophisticated musical journey with a double album project, “Road Salt”, which showcases this outstanding band at its most emotionally intense, but also leaning towards a more classic, yet extremely colourful 70’s Rock style. In a world governed by increasingly rigid rules and conformist conceptions of art, PAIN OF SALVATION have created their own niche on the international music scene. Their intelligently composed and cleverly arranged songs have mixed metal, pop, funk, disco, blues, goth and folk with Arabian and Oriental influences plus other more or less extreme musical styles into a homogenous whole. PAIN OF SALVATION consciously do without any kind of artistic compromise, the only criterion for their compositions being top quality and profound contents. “Skills and complexity should be part of the machinery, not the functionality or design,” says the band’s frontman Daniel Gildenlöw, “so I try to hide it away where the engine is supposed to be – under the hood of a machine built mainly to process ideas and emotions.” This is precisely why their albums go down so well with fans and media from a variety of camps, from the progressive metal scene through nu metal to prog rock and even world music.Since the foundation of his first significant band, Reality, in 1984, mastermind and bandleader Daniel Gildenlöw has consistently followed his own concept of diverse, technically accomplished and border- transcending progressive rock. He renamed the band to PAIN OF SALVATION in 1991 and has ever since released six studio albums and one unplugged recording, among them classics such as “Scarsick” (2007), “BE” (2004) and “Remedy Lane” (2002). Each of these releases has impressed as a multi-layered concept album, dealing with tough socio-political themes, while manifesting very intimate, individualist views at the same time.PAIN OF SALVATION’s latest release in November of 2009, the “Linoleum” EP, marked the advance introduction of the “Road Salt” double album project and served as small forecast of greater things to come. The band backed up the launch of the EP with a string of headlining tourdates throughout Europe and Russia, a run of support shows for Dream Theater in Australia as well as with the participation in the Swedish Melodifestivalen, the national competition for the Eurovision song contest, an event followed by Millions of viewers in national TV. PAIN OF SALVATION appeared in the contest with the new album’s atmospheric title track ‘Road Salt’ and the quality of the song as well as its performance not only left an impressing note with the audience despite the band’s rather untypical character for such event, but also catapulted the band into mainstream media attention. The band successfully moved into a “second chance” next round of the event but in the end didn’t manage to qualify for the finals. Nevertheless, the song ‘Road Salt’ acquired massive praise from all corners within Sweden, climbed the national single charts up to # 12 (as digital only release!) and consequently sets a great pace to kick off the new album’s release.“Road Salt One” (previously also referred to as “Road Salt Ivory”) includes not only the album’s magnetic title track alongside the previously mentioned ‘Linoleum’ EP track (for which the band shot an energetic performance video clip), but also features other instant highlights like the captivating opening song ‘No Way’, the awe-inspiring ‘Sisters’ (which will serve as second single release) or the acute ‘Where It Hurts’ (which will be the second video clip), making “Road Salt One” a creative rollercoaster of the highest quality and strongest impact, sure to once more please the band’s committed followers but also likely to reach new listeners due to the music’s versatility and its richness of texture as well as lyrical depth.Gildenlöw further comments: “Road Salt One is twelve tracks of sweaty gravel, asphalt butterflies, untrodden paths and brave decisions. It will not beg for your liking, it will not make excuses, it will not carry you safely across the dangerous waters. If you don't pick up its pace it will leave you stranded at the curb of the road. Yes, Road Salt One might indeed be a harsh lover, but if you have the guts to follow it whole-heartedly and dare to surrender to its voice, it will take you places you need to visit.” 

Remastered edition with 3 bonus tracks."Child Is Father to the Man is keyboard player/singer/arranger Al Kooper's finest work, an album on which he moves the folk-blues-rock amalgamation of the Blues Project into even wider pastures, taking in classical and jazz elements (including strings and horns), all without losing the pop essence that makes the hybrid work. This is one of the great albums of the eclectic post-Sgt. Pepper era of the late '60s, a time when you could borrow styles from Greenwich Village contemporary folk to San Francisco acid rock and mix them into what seemed to have the potential to become a new American musical form. It's Kooper's bluesy songs, such as "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" and "I Can't Quit Her," and his singing that are the primary focus, but the album is an aural delight; listen to the way the bass guitar interacts with the horns on "My Days Are Numbered" or the charming arrangement and Steve Katz's vocal on Tim Buckley's "Morning Glory." Then Kooper sings Harry Nilsson's "Without Her" over a delicate, jazzy backing with flügelhorn/alto saxophone interplay by Randy Brecker and Fred Lipsius. This is the sound of a group of virtuosos enjoying itself in the newly open possibilities of pop music. Maybe it couldn't have lasted; anyway, it didn't." - Allmusic

"Formed in Athens, the band PSYCRENCE saw the light of day in 2009, in December 2010 they released a self-produced demo EP entitled “Distance” which has received an excellent and very encouraging acclaim by the press and the fans alike, a fact that’s leads PSYCRENCE to play many stages in their native country, it includes an highly rewarded spot at the famous festival's "Tunes In Progress" bill.Now it’s time for the release of their debut album, “A Frail Deception” and it’s time for a deep analysis of this burning platter, full of progressive elements, both inherited from the new and old tradition, melted and boosted carefully, with the additions of some down tuning heaviness and many intriguing atmospheric sounds. Their music style and its definition is hard to explain but it also contains a tons of familiar elements subtly borrowed to many legendary heroes… You’ll name it, isn't it?! As an example, the first tune “A Losing Game” starts with a melodic pattern of piano enhanced with layers of synthesizers overdubbed by an asymmetric guitar riffage, very classic in its construction and perfectly measured and dosed, with an impressive Lead vocals performance in order to complete this archetypal picture of the Progressive Metal of the 90’s… Nothing really new but the tradition is respected and honored by such a smart and fine introductive track.The sonic production work gets a result near to perfection, scoring the privilege of being clear and strong in the exact doses, the best way to give justice at their amazing playing talents and developing an enjoyable path of sounds for songs like “Convergence” as it belongs to a more difficult breed of composition that really need some more time to penetrate your psyche… See you at the Coda. With the continuity of those four cuts that follow now “Forced Evolution” / ”Moral Decay” / ”Subconscious Eyes” / ”Incised Path” it reveals to us another side of their specifies, it holds a new density but also a real melodic richness, the opulent and refined Keyboards / Guitar harmonized canvas, built under a perfect construction of a complex duo is jaw dropping, the rhythmic section is tight as any Modern Power Metal but with a more elaborated harmonic maze on the top of it. The sharp riffing duet of guitars can be at the same time sophisticated and chaotic, bold and delicate, insidious or vicious but also elusive, their manic riffage is on the insistent mood, hypnotic or fierce and their solos spots are technically improved yet particularly demented in “Moral Decay”… ”Incised Path” contains also a bunch of NWOBHM flavors compensated by a still very relaxed kind of proggy crooning courtesy of singer Takis Nikolakakis.“Distance” is indeed another superbly crafted song, it's a Darker number hiding into a real progressive outfit, because of the arrangements as it builds itself layer after layer, until surprisingly providing a new found intensity and a new edge in the chorus section, starting with an incessant creeping riff that leads to another damn fine solo interaction. The track n°8 “Reflection” is another guitar driven, a fast paced and heavy thing, drums part are more direct, less audacious than the early titles but with a fury of melody improved by this always fantastic voice somewhere between Andy Kravljaca (ELSESPHERE / SEVENTH WONDER / SILENT CALL / AEON ZEN) and Nils K. Rue (PAGAN’S MIND / ex-X-WORLD 5 / ex-EIDOLON) with some hints of Tobias Sammett’s vibrato“Hold Close The Flame” is the closing number and surely the most addictive of all, a slower pace, an ethereal clean guitar motif and an emotive vocals performance in the early QUEENSRYCHE‘s musical inspiration, in spite of the title being close to a famous track of the mythical “Warning”, the signature style is palpable and concrete, it's crystal clear to me that it belongs to an idolatry homage to the Tate / DeGarmo / Wilton legacies.After the glorious releases by compatriots WARDRUM or UNTIL RAIN, I will believe that something musically exceptional is happening in this Mediterranean Hellenic territory, much alike the Italian phenomenon and its legions of talented group appearing like a spontaneous generation of talented spirits in the vein of FATES WARNING / QUEENSRYCHE / CIRCUS MAXIMUS / REDEMPTION / AEON ZEN or EUMERIA. A very classy collection of songs in the key of smartness and elegance, exquisitely set in an evaluative mood in order to conquer the hearts but mostly the mind of those Progressive Metal lovers." - Metal Temple