Skid Row make the smartest decision they have in decades, by adding the world’s best frontman/rock vocalist in Erik Gronwall, who’s natural energy channels the best of the band’s early years. It seems to have worked, with the band more discussed in recent months than I have seen since the 90s.

‘The Gang’s All Here’ is the band’s most natural sounding record and most energetic since the masterpiece that was ‘Slave To The Grind’, recapturing the vibe of their debut along the way.

And it seems the decision to return to their roots was an organic one, as the album was written before Erik’s arrival, but as if fortune was told, it is the perfect beast for Erik to do his thing with and sounds like a completely natural partnership.

The album rocks from start to finish, without repeating itself, with only the excellent 7-minute epic October’s Song slowing the mood down.

The production is sharp and chunky, everything I love about a great hard rock record and Erik just nails the vocals and the whole continuation of the Skid Row legacy.

Fan reaction has already been overwhelmingly positive so if you’re still on the fence, get off it!

I can already imagine how great the next album will sound with Erik’s full involvement. This album has breathed new life into a classic hard rock band.

British AOR legends Dare return after their customary long break between records, with an album that I can guarantee will please fans of all eras of the band.

Recording again with original guitarist Vinny Burns, who has now been back in the band nearly a decade now, but not fully utilised until now. This is the first time I’ve really felt his musical muscle used in the same way as the debut album.

Continuing with the band’s reputation for creating lush and expansive soundscapes, the ultra-moody AOR stylings of Darren Wharton are matched with Vinny’s intuitive guitar work, which weaves in and around the vocals and keyboards of Wharton in a way not hear since Calm Before The Storm and the all-time OAR classic Out Of The Silence.

So you get the best of both worlds here – the moody classic Dare mixed with a generally more uptempo vision, with guitars taking a more prominent role and really driving home these songs.

Songwriting is as usual, quite exquisite, capturing a mood unlike any other. Production is mostly superb, the only thing I would add is a more impactful drum sound to match Vinny’s piercing guitars.

Nothing but compliments and praise for this record, which I expect will be the consensus from all. Don’t keep us waiting so long until next time guys, killer work!

This is just the kind of record the rock world needs right now. Fresh, original, engaging, head-spinning and pushing the definitions of the genre.

Of course, it’s not Ghost pushing the boundaries of melodic hard rock, but rather Ghost pushing their own style boundaries, which on this occasion, happen to fit into the realm of the melodic rock world.

On the surface, this looks like another gothic, alt-metal, fringe dwelling record from one of Sweden’s more menacing outfits. At its heart though, it is in fact a stadium rock album with a huge dose of 80s anthemic thinking, mixed with a modern moody and at times gothic vibe, with some prog-metal influences.

It is a masterpiece, no question about it. The originality of Ghost’s past sound mixing with a more commercial template is an absolute winner for fans craving something that actually sounds different – that stands out from the pack.

There’s a touch of everything here – 9 tracks and 3 short instrumental passages of anthems, moods and grooves – nothing repeating itself and like all great works of art, just a little nuts at times.

It’s one of the most played records of the year for me already and easily the standout record for originality, captivating lyrics, dark themes and rich harmonies and a production quality to rival the biggest sounding records of the 80s and 90s.

Only gripes - the fadeout for Watcher In The Sky runs over a minute when half that would have been plenty and a 23 second segue is a little pointless. But how about that hook in the bridge to Hunter's Moon? Wow.

Part Def Leppard, part Motley Crue, part Sisters Of Mercy, part Threshold and part Jim Steinman, this is how rock n roll needs to grow and build an audience in 2022.

If Spillways isn’t my song of the year, it will take a monster track to displace it.

Amazing!

Heartland’s latest incarnation is the first since 1995 to be without frontman Chris Ousey’s musical partner Steve Morris. While Steve continues a break, the album has been co-written and performed by Chris with Barish Kepic (ex Jaded Heart) and the most legendary Mike Slamer. The album also features Ged Rylands, Wayne Banks and David Anthony, who round out the recording lineup.

While Ousey is obviously the main man behind Heartland’s sound, he isn’t the only ingredient that made so many wonderful albums over the years. Thankfully everyone else involved have slipped into place nicely and the sound of Into The Future isn’t a great departure from previous records.

Mike Slamer can be heard adding his touches all over the record – his style fitting this record perfectly. At the same time, he hasn’t transformed the band into a Slamer project. This is not as typical as he has sounded on his records over the years. All in all, it is a nice amalgamation of personalities.

At the heart of the matter is we have a great new 12 track Heartland album here, that sounds like Heartland. As is always the case with any Heartland record, the melodies and hooks take several listens to evolve and develop into the ear worms they end up being.

At times the band stretch the tempo into a heavier realm, Slamer making his mark such as on Caught Up. The pure AOR of A Living Thing is about as instant as any Heartland hook gets and is an immediate stand out.

Plenty of highlights throughout – Not Guilty, A Foreign Land, Climbing Your Wall and When The Band Plays to name a few.

Another great Heartland record. This time featuring two of my favourite people in the melodic world – vocalist Chris Ousey and the versatile Mike Slamer. It’s a no brainer!

Sammy Hagar is always going to be one of my favourites. I just love his approach, his attitude and for the most part, his songs. His 80s output was untouchable and even his post Van Halen 90s material was pretty consistent for a period.

In recent years the output has continued, but with varied results. Different band names, different styled solo albums – its all been a little hold and cold. A little frustrating when coming from a place of love and respect for an artist.

Now its time for the most used lineup of recent years to come into the studio for an all-new album. Michael Anthony, Vic Johnson and Jason Bonham pound out 37 minutes of mostly hard driving rock n roll, with that bluesy classic rock edge. Its great to hear Sammy fully plugged in and rocking it pretty hard on this record, which also features a great, raw, live sound.

While it does rock and it’s a fun record to crank in the car, I still miss Sammy Hagar the singer/songwriter – the guy responsible for Standing Hampton, Three Lock Box, Danger Zone, Marching To Mars and I Never Said Goodbye. Not being heavy for the sake of it or anything for that matter – just delivering great songs.

Now Sammy and band sound great here – but it’s a mood album – and therefore for me won’t get nearly as much as some of the albums in his vast catalogue.

Disliking Elvis Costello with a passion doesn’t help – the cover of Pump It Up is pretty forgettable, plus there’s a 2-minute acoustic intro song to the album – that leaves just half an hour of songs, which leaves no room for the occasional filler, which this album still has.

Album highlight is a classic old-school Sammy track Father Time. Love that!

Great to hear Sammy still rocking and recording, but this is an album I’ll pick tracks from rather than repeat start to finish.

I doubt you’ll hear a finer female fronted AOR album this year. The beautifully recorded and performed album was recorded over the last 12 months with the help of Steve Price of ARfm fame, plus musical muscle from Steve Newman (co-writes, production, instrumentation), Rob McEwan (drums), Stephen Chesney (guitar) and Soren Kronqvist (additional keyboards).

Essentially it sounds like a lost classic from 1988, polished up for a fresh release, but it is entirely new, although the heart of the album is definitely from the 80s.

Jane Gould (ex-Iconic Eye) has a fabulous voice in the best tradition of Robin Beck, Carol Decker and Fiona and musically reminds me of the writings of Robin & Judithe Randall. The flurry of uptempo, smooth AOR reminds of the Marcie Free classic Long Way From Love.

There is a nice mix of rockers and mid-tempo AOR here, with a couple of pretty special emotional ballads, for a perfectly balanced album. Some every tasty guitar solos to check out, adding that bit of muscle to the album.

Released now on AOR Blvd Records, it comes with a high recommendation from me and recommended for all fans of pure 80s AOR and female fronted rock – with a strong British AOR vibe going through the songs.

A major step down from the debut in both production and songwriting. Frontiers have again used their ‘artistic license’ to swap out key personnel which made the original project appealing, only to replace them with someone that changes the sound. In this case it is in-house go-to-guy Alessandro Del Vecchio, who wrote, produced, mixed and mastered this as well as playing keyboards.

The masterful ingredient of Work Of Art’s Robert Sall is gone and his unique writing and production techniques have gone, leaving this as another relatively generic AOR project.

The only redeeming feature is the wonderful Steve Overland on vocals, but he has appeared elsewhere enough now that not every project is an essential purchase.

Too many keyboards and not enough great songs.

The fifth Lionville album in 9 years sees a drop in quality in both songwriting and production values from their quite marvellous 4th album and indeed, the 3 that preceded that.

The usually divine vocals of Lars Safsund (Work Of Art) seem a little lost in the keyboard heavy mix here and are certainly not as sharp and decisive as we’re used to.

Songwriting seems to be stuck in auto-pilot here – there’s nothing that differs in any way from the material already delivered – and as pointed out, in better quality.

The opening track features the vocal talents of Robbie LaBlanc in a duet performance that overshadows Lars’ own vocal.

It’s still one of the better pure-Euro AOR albums and bands around, with Stefano Lionetti, and Lars doing their best to deliver on what was probably a reduced recording budget.

Aussie melodic rock legends Noiseworks are back with a reunion tour and a ‘new’ album that was recorded several years back but shelved for various reasons. Most notably the cancer battle of guitarist Stuart Fraser, which would eventually claim his life.

So this album and tour is a tribute to him – with Southern Sons’ Jack Jones filling in for the live dates.

The official fourth and likely final Noiseworks album is a mix of classic and modern, with the band reliving its trademark sound from the first two albums in places, but then also delving into the heavier, groovier feel of the lesser liked third album.

The mix works pretty well here, but the standout songs are clearly the ones that lean towards the classic/melodic side. The opener Heart & Soul is among the band’s best tracks – a great feel good anthem.

Amerika is another highlight – a song which is quite literally half classic (the chorus) and half modern and heavier (the verses).

Elsewhere the ballad Long Way delivers a nice sentiment, the decade old Sunshine sounds better today than it did when originally released as a single and Low is a modern moody rocker with a killer vocal from the always amazing Jon Stevens. One In A Million picks up the pace with another good hook before delving back into the album’s familiar mid-tempo groove on Let It Go.

Unfortunately the album is over too soon, and closes on a low note, as the acoustic ballad Ocean Girl isn’t as strong as the rest of the material and the 50 second Touch (Epitaph) isn’t long enough to go anywhere.

All in all, take 34 minutes minus the last two tracks, you get 28 minutes of high quality modern melodic rock, excellently produced and performed by some of Australia’s best musicians.

A great long EP, or a little short for an album.

To add to the conversation, the physical CD packaging is a disgrace – a thin cardboard gatefold with no booklet, no lyrics, little info and bad album cover art. Not much effort has been put into this aspect.

The ever reliable and painfully consistent Jeff Scott Soto delivers another classic slice of classy melodic hard rock that will keep his legion of hungry fans well fed, and even perhaps bring in a few more fringe dwellers that by now must accept JSS’ indelible role in the hard rock scene over the past 30 years.

Jeff tends to work best when partnered with some one and on this and the last studio album, it has been the Frontiers’ workhorse Alessandro Del Vecchio given the task of extending Jeff’s winning streak.

Alessandro gets a lot of flack – from me included – for stretching himself too thin, but he too works best when in true collaboration and like his partnership with Jorn, this one with JSS pay dividends.

The pair have written some compelling songs again here, Jeff in top voice as always.

There’s only the one ballad here – but ‘Until I See You Again’ is a monster. The rest of the tracks shuffle between melodic rock anthems and hard rock belters, with Jeff’s long-time drummer Edu Cominato really smacking the skins and lead guitarist Fabrizio Sgattoni shredding away throughout.

Complicated is the title, but not the verdict. Another very accessible commercial hard rock album by one of the scene’s most loved and respected vocalists.

Legacy Swedish AOR act Alien deliver their seventh studio album here, the first to see them turn their traditional style on its head in an attempt to reach a new crowd.

So Alien have ‘gone metal’ here, albeit metal with a strong melodic edge and the unmistakable voice of Jim Jidhed reminding us of their true AOR origins.

I’ve seen some very mixed fan responses to this and my initial reaction was very negative. However, despite an absolutely horrendous production (yes, that issue again and a pretty consistent theme of the last 3 Alien albums), there are some great songs on here to enjoy.

I do think the guys are having a bet both ways, with the album split between the new hard rock sound and several lighter AOR songs that could have come from any previous album.

It’s a hard call – do you fully embrace a new sound with all the risks that entails, or do you try and do something different and mix in the old sound to try and keep old fans happy.

Hard to make a cohesive album with two different styles and I think that’s what holds this album back. Not to mention that Jim really struggles vocally on some of the heavier numbers, especially the painful to listen to What Are We Fighting For and Into The Future.

Of the ‘metal’ songs I really like the opening salvo of You Still Burn and Night Of Fire, the band don’t sound any better than they do on these two tracks.

On the other hand, ‘classic’ Alien can be heard with the more keyboard friendly Time Is Right, Freedom Wind and Fallin Way Down.

It’s a mixed album with mixed results and yes, mixed feelings. I think I’ll probably pick a few tunes here and there for separate playlists, but as a start to finish album, there’s something not quite right about ‘metal’ Alien and the production/mix is very muddy to say the least.