Rawk reviews – Outloud vs. Nightmare vs. Mother Road

Rawk reviews – Outloud vs. Nightmare vs. Mother Road

OUTLOUD
Let’s Get Serious
AOR Heaven

We’re kicking things off in Greece, with a project that began 10 years ago this year.  Since then, there’s been the usual plethora of line up changes, although Firewind man Bob Katsionis and American vocalist Chandler Mogel have been there since the beginning.

Their debut album didn’t arrive until 2009, but for once, it was actually worth the wait.  yes, “We’ll Rock You To Hell And Back Again” was an absolute gem.  In their home country, songs like ‘We Run’ and ‘Tonite’ were hits, and the “Love Catastrophe” follow up in 2011 was also well received.

Fast forward three years, and with Katsionis having fulfilled some Firewind duties, they’re back for another crack.  Well, the two of them are, with studio drums being taken care of by George Kollias from Nile.

They’re still performing top quality melodic hard rock, and if they’d been able to get out and about over the last few years, then they’d be a lot better known.  Songs like ‘I Was So Blind’, ‘One More Time’, and ‘All In Vain’ are just great, so by the time you get to the closing cover of ‘Enola Gay’ by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, you can forgive them just about anything.

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MOTHER ROAD
Drive
AOR Heaven

Well, I never expected a record from former Soul Doctor man, Chris Lyne, to be this good.  Because they were a bit shite.  However, here he’s linked up with former MSG / Steelhouse Lane singer Keith Slack to put out a rather splendid seventies styled hard rock album.  Well done!

It’s dripping with seventies blues rock grooves and riffs, and helped along by an excellent band (keyboard player Alessandro Del Vecchio (Hardline, Voodoo Circle, ex – Eden’s Curse), drummer Zacky Tsoukas and bassist Frank Binke), it’s a real treat.

Think Bad Company with bigger amps, and you’ll soon find yourself rocking out to tunes like ‘Drive Me Crazy’, ‘Out Of My Mind’ and ‘Dangerous Highway’, all the while wishing you’d held on to that pair of loon pants.

A big surprise, but a very welcome one.

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NIGHTMARE
The Aftermath
AFM

Finally, for today, we’re off to French France, that well known hard rock country, to catch up with Nightmare.  Now I vaguely remember them as a fairly rubbish AOR band from the eighties, but turns out they packed it in before the eighties were out, despite the presence of former Praying Mantis / S.O.S / full blown Scotchman Tom Jackson on vocals (He’s on the Praying Mantis demos collection “Demorabilia” and did the first S.O.S tour in Bernie Marsdens band).

Jump forward a decade, and a new Nightmare is put together, and they’ve been at it ever since, having reappeared as a power metal band, something a lot more popular over there in Europe land. And this is more of the same.

It’s definitely one for those who enjoy a blast of Dio influenced heavy rock, with songs like ‘Neuromancer’, ‘Invoking Demons’ and ‘Mission For God’ getting the dandruff flung about with reckless abandon.

If it’s not quite top of the Premier League of power metal, it’s certainly aiming for a Europa League slot, and comes highly recommended.

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