Opener The Priest sets the tone with its frantic riffing that is prime Judas Priest meeting Iron Maiden head on with the guitar work of Yngwie Malmsteen  The production is excellent with superb power and depth allowing all the instruments to shine through without overpowering another.  Ten Digits To The Future has a Peace Sells Megadeth aura about it initially before moving into black metal intensity before changing again into a barnstorming verse and chorus.  The quirky riff of Judgement Day brings the opening 3 tracks to a soaring climax before the acoustic subtlety of A Vision Of The Wolf would be sure to please Ritchie Blackmore with its medieval charm.    Ragnavrok is a great intricate track with numerous parts whilst Each Night We Die sees even more vigour added to the mix with its almost thrash metal overtones.  Bloodshred sees Thorbjorn Englund take the spotlight for 3 minutes with this instrumental full of fretboard fire - heavily neo-classical and extremely well executed.  Demise offers some mild relief from the previous energetic tracks allowing Mikael Holm to show another side to his exceptional vocals which work well over the delicate piano led power ballad.  Oblivion is as the name suggests not exactly subtle in its delivery but offers up a thoroughly enjoyable 6 minutes of metal abandon.  Closing instrumental The End Of The Longest Winter is a short almost movie score-esque piece of work which allows you to calm down after the onslaught before.

This third album sees the band hone their original sound losing a little of the Viking metal mentality of the last album.  Leader Thorbjorn Englund has hinted that he will be taking a break from Winterlong for a while - a decision I only hope he rethinks as the band really do posses an awful lot of potential and have breezed through the difficult third album with aplomb. 

Any fan of metal should check out Winterlong as soon as possible.

Rating -  90%

Lana Lane return with another concept album this time based on the story of Lady Mcbeth. Now this is a band I have tried time and time again to get into, but to my ears they seem to lack that something that takes them above a plethora of progressive tinted rock bands. In Erik Norlander they have a more than capable keyboardist and composer, the guitar skills of Neil Citron, Peer Verschuren and Mark McCrite are also solid enough, but the tracks themselves never seem to build any excitement. The vocals of Lana Lane have never particularly done much to me, yes she can hold a note but lacks delivery in the way that Ann and Nancy Wilson or Stevie Nicks can belt out a tune.

Many of the track fall into the unforgettable category such as No Tomorrow or We Had The World. There are moments that do raise the excitement, Someone To Believe has a good mid tempo groove with some nice solos whilst Keeper Of The Flame has a good early Dio quality to it, but generally there is nothing here that really grabs you and says play me again.

I am sure that the legion of Lana Lane fans will enjoy every minute of the 10 tracks on offer but to these ears its nothing more than mediocre.

Rating: 50%

Surprisingly the number of musicians on the project does not hinder it from becoming a collection of varying pieces.  Instead the whole package works well as a collective cohesive unit with many of the songs sounds great with a modern production.  Lakeside Park is superb, with vocals from Sebastian Bach and a scorching guitar solo from Daniel J who is a new name on me.  Kip Winger sounds vibrant on Limelight where the commercial qualities of the track have lost nothing over 20 years.  Bastille Day is another highlight which still kicks serious ass and the new reworking works well, vocals from Jani Lane took me by suprise and Alex Skolnick contributes some good lead lines. 2112 Overture / Temples Of Syrinx benefits also from modern production techniques but again highlights just what quality material Rush have written over the years.

Any Rush fan should check this tribute out, although many of the tracks are very true to the originals there is enough originality to sustain interest and make this is a worthwhile tribute.

Rating - 85%

The album is home 11 solid hard rocking tracks that in many ways are not a million miles away from the material he has collaborated on in the past.  Opener Rising Of The Snake is an up-tempo rocker that seems to fuse early Deep Purple with more modern tones.  Parasite has a low down and dirty blues vibe which leads into a strong chorus.  Broken has a great atmospheric opening which leads into Stormbringer era Purple funkiness the Hammond organ work here is superb.  Perfect Day is not the Lou Reed classic but rather a slice of classic song writing with its mid tempo ballad feel.  Kelly delivers a very tasty guitar solo here. Ground Zero is very emotional with excellent orchestration whilst Nothing sees John Norum deliver some smokin' lead lines on this rocking track that has great harmonised vocals from Kelly.  Believe is a great AOR feeling track co written with Don Dokken and Michelle Meldrum (wife of John Norum and guitarist in Phantom Blue) and is not a million miles away from the excellent material found on the Heaven & Earth - Windows To The World release.  Sunlight Needs The Day has a lazy weekend feel about it and being acoustic led is a moment of mellowness.  Hell Is On The Way seems to fuse classic hard rock with the vibe of The Beatles and Queens Of The Stone Age!  Peace With The World is another orchestrated number which showcases Keeling's writing abilities whilst album closer Jesse sees vocal legend Roger Daltery (The Who) delivery this Cream-ish sounding track.

Giving Sight To The Eye is a very solid album which showcases Keeling's song writing abilities more than using  musical virtuosity to get the message across.  I was surprised just how good a musician Kelly was (I always presumed he just sang) but as he plays a lot of instruments here to excellent effect you can now see what he has had so many high profile gigs over the years.  Simply if you enjoyed any of Kelly's previous musical offerings then you will enjoy this.

Rating - 82%

After a brief short opener of circus music we kick into high gear with the superb track This Time which reminded me a lot of Neal Schon of Journey, great soaring guitar lines ,great vibrato and note choice which really commanded my attention.  All My Life continues down a similiar path making good use of synth orchestration and is more Satriani in nature.  All My Life sees the tempo drop for some emotional play from Neil before picking up in tempo for more soaring lead work with great tone, whilst the emotion in As I Go Before You will really hit you.  The abum continues in a similar path and quality throughout and as a nice touch Zaza he quotes a melody from UFO's Love To Love in Rena.

Fans of instrumental guitar music with a commercial widespread appeal should make Melodica a top of the list priority to check out and this has given me the appetite to check out Neil's back catalogue.

Rating - 88%