Hi All,
This website was been moved, click here to get to the current web address. If you should stumble upon this site (as a lot of my posts are still linked up to this site) please be aware that very few new posts will be posted on this site and more will be posted at the new web address.
Your interest is greatly appreciated, thank you
Rock Review Phil
My name is Phil, I'll be reviewing some of the newest Rock/Metal albums...and maybe some Punk too
Thursday, 8 May 2014
Saturday, 3 May 2014
Steel Panther "All You Can Eat"
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Good Knives "A Place Called Doubt"
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Divot "To Shape The Mold"
Do you remember around the early 2000’s or so how many alternative
bands seemed to come out, not all exactly sounding the same but having similarities
such as their slow and heavy tunes, not so happy lyrics and kind of a
neo-grunge attitude? Bands that come to mind are Three Days Grace, Deftones,
Shinedown, Breaking Benjamin, etc. This is the kind of alternative rock sound
I think anyone would use to describe Divot’s
sound.
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Steel Threads "For Those Who Are Left"
Saturday, 19 April 2014
The Colourist "The Colourist"
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
The Lad Classic "Thunder"
The first time I’d heard of Toronto hard rock band The Lad Classic was probably close to a
year ago when they followed me on Twitter. I always listen to the independent
bands that follow me before following back. At the time they just had an all
acoustic EP called Lightning,
something I normally don’t find to be a good idea in terms of sampling music if
a band is also an electric band, but I really heard something in that acoustic
EP that I thought it would be a good idea to follow them. Then every now and
then I’d see their name pop up playing live shows around Toronto, more so than
practically any other independent band I’ve come across, which made me realize
that The Lad Classic are a bigger deal than I estimated.
Saturday, 12 April 2014
Mark Stone and the Dirty Country Band "The Sequel"
Saturday, 5 April 2014
Ume "Monuments"
It was in a recent Guitar World issue - the one that counted
the top 50 Eric Clapton moments - that featured a small article on Texas rock
band Ume. It was then that I was
first gained knowledge that such a band existed, and to top it all off they
were mere weeks away from releasing their album Monuments. I checked them out right away; their song Black Stone was not hard to find on
YouTube, and I knew immediately that this was going to be big.
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Rynheart "Rynheart"
Saturday, 29 March 2014
Albatross "Happenstance"
I do love a good blues rock tune. It’s something I’ve made
quite clear in previous articles. Both as a listener and as a guitar player it
is one of my go-to types of music to go to. It is a type of music that I find
really shows the true emotion behind the instruments played, and as per usual,
the more genuine emotion put in to a song (by the guitarist, the singer,
whomever) the better. I was happy when Albatross
gave me their EP Happenstance for
review, as I feel they have a good grasp on the blues rock genre.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Step Echo "Songs for the Broken"
In the year and a bit that I’ve been reviewing albums, I’ve
got my hands on quite a few independent albums by bands from all over the
world. Hell, since mid January, all but one album I’ve reviewed have been
recorded by independent bands. It’s refreshing to have finally been given the
follow up album to one of these bands for review. Last May I write about St.
Catherine’s Step Echo and their
album Jagged, an album that I was
impressed with as well as a few other people that I’ve played the album for.
Now I feel privileged that their independent record label Red Dragon Records felt comfortable sending me Songs for the Broken.
Saturday, 15 March 2014
Social Strife "Social Strife"
I’ve done over a hundred of these now so it’s getting hard to
find clever ways to introduce my articles. It’s frustrating really, I enjoy my
rants, sometimes relevant, sometimes not so much, but after thinking about it
for days, I just can’t find one this time. It’s unfortunate because Toronto
hard rock band Social Strife really
do deserve a good introduction to their featured article on my site for their
five-track self titled EP which is nothing short of a classic hard rock sound
that can stand pretty tall in today’s rock music.
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
The Mouth of Ghosts "You Will Go Again From Me"
I always love getting albums/EPs by unique bands. Some bands
are unique because they are hard to categorize, others are unique because they
aren’t in the realm of bands I’d usually review: not out of disinterest but
merely because I’m typically sent hard rock/metal albums, while my taste in
rock music does go far beyond that limit. London’s The Mouth of Ghosts doesn’t really fit under one specific
categorization. If anything, they’d be classified as one of the many
alternative bands out there, but there is no rock genre more diverse than
alternative. There are also surprising progressive elements to their music, as
well as the odd pop moment. They call themselves “trip-hop,” I never knew what
that was until reading that, but upon looking the genre up, their new EP You Will Go Again From Me is NOT
remotely anything close to “trip-hop.”
Saturday, 8 March 2014
Our Last Enemy "Pariah"
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
Turk Tresize "Soul Casino"
Saturday, 1 March 2014
Greg McEvoy "Sea Of Yards"
About a month ago, my cousin asked me if I was interested in
catching a band that she enjoys at a bar in downtown Toronto close to where she
lives. The band was recently Juno nominated folk group Strumbellas, whom I had never heard of before that point, but the ticket
was cost me nothing and I trust this cousin’s taste in music, plus she needed
someone to go with so I figured I’d come to the rescue, and I ended up having a
hell of a night at this sold out show in a small bar on a snowy night. Not only
did I discover the uniqueness that is Strumbellas music/live performance, but I
also had the pleasure of discovering two other local artists who opened for
them that night; one of them being the country rock infused Sarah Cripps and the other being soft indie rocker Greg McEvoy. I thoroughly enjoyed all three artists and was pleased
to have left with albums by all three.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Wildheart "Gypsy Soul"
Saturday, 22 February 2014
Anyone's Guess "March in the Dark - Chapter 1"
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
A Breach of Silence "Dead or Alive"
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Red Dragon Cartel "Red Dragon Cartel"
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Blowsight "Life & Death"
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Skrou "Skrou"
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
decoded "Topanga"
Saturday, 1 February 2014
Fake Figures "They Must Be Destroyed"
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Il Rumore Bianco "Mediocrazia"
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
The Bloody Nerve "Blue"
You may recall a couple of months ago, almost to the day, I
wrote an article on a blues rock outfit by the name of The Bloody Nerve. They had released their three-track debut EP Red then and I had nothing but good
things to say about it, only to find out soon afterwards that they were
immediately working on a follow-up three-track EP called Blue. Of course, I had to get this EP to write up on again. Luckily
for readers, I don’t have to go through the long introductory paragraph(s) this
time around.
Saturday, 18 January 2014
Ladies of the Canyon "Diamond Heart"
Saturday, 11 January 2014
Boston "Life, Love & Hope"
Saturday, 4 January 2014
A Day To Remember "Common Courtesy"
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