Original Dream Theater vocalist Charlie Dominici returns with the third installment of his epic, conceptual trilogy. I must confess to ignoring the first two chapters strictly based on Charlie Dominici’s presence. I never liked his vocal style in Dream Theater, so I surmised that I would not like it in his own band either. I [...]

King’s X is a band that has lived a tumultuous life. They’ve found themselves on the edge of mass success, all the while watching other bands of arguably lesser talent cross that edge into worldwide stardom. They’ve had people on both sides of the Christian rock debate give them hell over their lyrics (ie too [...]

Let’s establish something at the outset. Arjen Lucassen is an absolute musical genius & visionary. His Ayreon discography alone is enough to solidify this fact. Not to mention his side project forays; Ambeon & Star One among them. His penchant for combining what sounds like every Rock & Metal sub-genre under the sun into double [...]

Sometimes you just want to like a band. I felt that way when I pulled this CD out of the envelope. I liked the name. I liked the logo. I had high hopes for this record after seeing the lineup: former Fates Warning drummer Mark Zonder, MSG guitarist/keyboard player Wayne Findlay, Steve Vai bassist Philip [...]

Supergroups, fortunately or unfortunately, always seem to retain the sum of their parts. Given the talent usually assembled in these supergroup functions, you’d hope (nay, expect!) new, fresh, vibrant ideas to be created. But, I guess it’s inevitable: if one-third of King’s X (Ty Tabor), one-fifth of Dream Theater (John Myung), and Rod Morgenstein (I [...]

Vanden Plas is a band I latched onto back when their second full-length The God Thing came out. At first listen, I thought it was pretty similar to Dream Theater, but different and good enough to warrant plopping down my hard earned cash. Further listens revealed a band with their own sound, their own style, [...]

For true proggers, this album is best purchased in its Limited Edition version, which contains a bonus disc of covers, demo snippets, and an interactive CD-ROM section, all housed in a hard cover with a beautiful full-color booklet and copious studio notes. The regular release of Bridge Across Forever is legend enough, as it’s easily [...]

How in the world have I never heard of Threshold? According to their website, Hypothetical is their seventh album! Kudos to Inside Out for snatching these guys up because they are very good! I say this without the benefit of hearing the band’s past albums (obviously), but this CD definitely makes me want to hear [...]

I suppose you could call Ark a supergroup. The band’s pedigree is more than impressive. Guitarist Tore Ostby (Conception, DC Cooper), drummer John Macaluso (TNT, Yngwie) and vocalist Jorn Lande (Beyond Twilight, Millenium) got together a couple of years ago with the collective hope of making music with no boundaries. Their resulting self-titled effort was nothing [...]

Captured at the famed Elysee Montmarte in Paris during a sold-out performance in February of 2000, Vanden Plas’ Spirit of Live is a powerful, energetic live album!
Live albums, for me, are usually hit and miss. Either the mix is bad, I don’t like the song choices, the vocals are way below par or, sometimes, all [...]