escape music

Talon | III

by Mark Allen Staff Writer — Talon want to sink their claws into your cochlea with their crunchy, chock-full-o’-hooks brand of melodic hard rock and this latest album is probably good enough to satisfy the easy-to-please segment of the genre demographic. But fussier fans who foist the [...]

Ilium | Genetic Memory

by Justin Gaines Staff Writer Genetic Memory is the fifth full-length album from (mostly) Australian power metal band Ilium, and is the second Ilium release to feature former Riot and Masterplan (and current Creation’s End) vocalist Mike DiMeo. The band started with a more straightforward power [...]

ColdSpell Out from the Cold

by Alex Barbieri Staff Writer ColdSpell’s 2009 debut, Infinite Stargaze, was one of the instantly impressive hard rock releases of that year, lauded for its tight songwriting and masterful performances. The Swedish band rightfully earned thousands of international fans and topped many “Best of [...]

Appearance of Nothing All Gods are Gone

by Joe Mis Staff Writer Appearance Of Nothing, and elements of everything … All Gods Are Gone is the title of the upcoming release by Swiss progressive metallers Appearance Of Nothing. Although AoN bills themselves as progressive metal, they throw everything but the kitchen sink into this [...]

Stratosphere Fire Flight

by Joe Mis Staff Writer There is definitely something in the water over in Gothenburg, Sweden that encourages the creation of superb music. Stratosphere is one of the latest in a long line of powerful Scandinavian bands, and will be releasing their debut CD entitled Fire Flight on Escape Music. [...]

Salute Heart of the Machine

by Mark Allen Staff Writer Let’s cut right to the heart of the matter like a hunter field-dressing a downed deer: Salute’s sophomore CD is good, but falls considerably short of being great. The band falls victim to too many average choruses and an over-reliance on standard issue hooks that have [...]

Marco Ferreira

by Derric Miller Staff Writer Guitarist/singer/songwriter Marco Ferreira checked in with Hardrock Haven to discuss his band Ferreira’s brand new album, Better Run; his DVD/CD package in Goodbye Thrill called Keepsakes; the new Goodbye Thrill album Outrageous; the possibility of touring with [...]

Louis D’Augusta of Mass

by Derric Miller Staff Writer Singer Louis D’Augusta of the band Mass checked in with Hardrock Haven to discuss their upcoming new studio release Sea of Black; how the new music compares to their previous critically acclaimed album Crack of Dawn; how he manages to keep his vocal prowess in [...]

Mass Sea of Black

by Franco Wissa Staff Writer There are a handful of bands whose body of work really demands that the next release will be just as good, if not better, as the ones previous to it. Because of their reputation for having such a great body of work, when their next CD fails to achieve the level expected [...]