Sonic Perspectives

In his in spare time between work with Yes and Asia, Geoff Downes began a new project with noted singer songwriter Chris Braide. Ten years later, the fourth release from the Downes Braide Association (DBA), “Halcyon Hymns”, is a beautifully textured album, as colorful as the Roger Dean cover art which adorns it. You can [...]

Over the course of five decades Steve Lukather has placed an indelible stamp on pop culture. Alongside his tenure as the only member of Toto to never take a hiatus from the band, he has performed on thousands of albums as a session musician. Amongst these musical contributions are some of the most successful, influential [...]

Earlier in the month, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced their 2021 list of nominees. Among the illustrious group of artists was heavy metal favorite; Iron Maiden! It was a long-overdue recognition for the band as they are arguably one of the world’s biggest metal bands, selling over 100 million albums worldwide during [...]

Bayley Alexander Cooke, (widely known as Blaze Bayley), is a survivor. From his early days with WOLFSBANE, through his tenure with IRON MAIDEN and his prolific solo career, he has faced more than the usual share of hardships. A motorbike accident, the loss of loved ones, and criticism from the IRON MAIDEN fanbase who never [...]

Drummer Jason Rullo, from the internationally acclaimed prog metal band Symphony X, is venturing into new territories. His new band 3 Rules, with Ron Sanborn on guitar and Artha Meadors on bass, is focused on instrumental music with no boundaries. The end result can sometimes be heavy, melodic or jazzy, depending on what goes through [...]

Owner of one of the most distinctive voices in rock, Eric Martin has had an unstoppable career. Best known as the longtime vocalist for the Los Angeles-based hard rock group Mr. Big, he found chart-topping success with the band in the early ‘90s with the ballad “To Be With You.” Since his early efforts with [...]

Even earlier than many people thought, the British hard rock band Inglorious is back in the game with a new album under their sleeves. “We Will Ride” sees Inglorious riding to lands farther from those previously ridden, and they do it commanded by the prodigious voice of Nathan James, as well as killer riffs, prominent musicianship, and high concentrations of energetic hard [...]

Steven Wilson may have originally made a name for himself through his band Porcupine Tree but his subsequent solo career has seen his influence and impact grow exponentially. Having made music with a variety of projects and bands over the past three decades, Wilson has long pushed his edge of being a big fish in [...]

Todd La Torre, vocalist for Queensrÿche, will be releasing his debut solo record, “Rejoice in the Suffering”, this Friday February 5th via Rat Pak Records. As global touring came to a sudden and unexpected halt earlier this year, Todd used the pandemic downtime to put the finishing touches on his debut solo record. He and Craig [...]

Not many can say they had a stellar 50 year career in any line of work, let alone one in a competitive market such as the music business. Michael Schenker is a survivor, who went through every trend, fad and style through the years, and remained a respectable force in the guitar realm. From his [...]

Joel Hoekstra does know how to keep himself busy. Aside from being one of David Coverdale’s gunslingers in Whitesnake, he has done tours with Cher and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. In 2015 he created a solo project entitled Joel Hoekstra’s 13, and released the debut album “Dying to Live”. February 12th sees the release of the band’s [...]

Accept are back with another killer record, the aptly titled “Too Mean to Die”. Since their reformation in 2010, now with Mark Tornillo on vocals, they have experienced quite a resurgence, with a string of very successful albums, beginning with 2010’s “Blood of the Nations”. “Too Mean to Die” follows the same tradition of their [...]

Throughout its almost forty years of existence, change has been the only constant in VOIVOD’s trajectory. From their punk beginnings, evolving into thrash, incorporating prog influences, odd time signatures and melodic sensibilities, they seem to be always on the move. The release of 2018’s “The Wake” finally brought them much deserved recognition, with the band [...]

Much has been written about the impact 2020 will have in both the near and distant future, and live music fans have certainly felt its sting since March at least. We’ll leave more cerebral analysis to the experts and instead cap off a grueling year with an hour of thoughts and observations from Sonic Perspectives [...]

The casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that multi-instrumentalist virtuoso Vikram Shankar‘s recent rise to prominence in the prog-metal scene happened overnight. He did, after all, recently appear on Redemption‘s long-awaited live album, which documents his live debut with the band. And very soon after that, he’s also released the debut from the absolutely [...]

IRON MAIDEN… Arguably the most seminal heavy metal band in the annals of music history. The solely mention of its name strikes joy in the hearts of millions of metal fans, and immediately your mind takes you back to one of their gigs, with of giants columns of pyro, Spitfire planes flying overhead the frenzy [...]

Whenever a metal band chooses to go off the beaten path, it always causes polarizing views: old school fans refuse to embrace it, while a younger generation is quicker to give it a chance. From a combination of the powers of Frédéric Leclercq (Kreator, Sinsaenum, ex-Dragonforce) and Saki (Mary’s Blood) comes Amahiru, a band that [...]

Guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer Jakko Jaksyzk has experienced an amazing career which has culminated this past decade in his joining King Crimson. Filling the shoes of such legends as Greg Lake, John Wetton and Adrian Belew is not for the faint of heart but Jaksyzk has the talent and experience to be able to [...]

Throughout his lengthy career as a multi-platinum mixer, sound engineer and producer, Richard Chycki has helped to materialize the sonic visions of artists such as Rush, Dream Theater, Mick Jagger, Aerosmith, Jeff Healey and many more. Known for his pioneering mix work in multichannel audio, prog legends Rush entrusted Chycki to remix the multi-million selling [...]

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons are back with another killer release, the boldly titled “We’re the Bastards”. What started as an excuse for Phil to play with his sons soon evolved into its own entity, and the band has moved from playing a set of covers in the afternoon slots at European summers to [...]