Good to see another rare 80s AOR outfit making a comeback big time. This time it’s the Pennsylvania/USA based band HYBRID ICE, whom released 2 albums in the 1980s, of which ‘No rules’ from 1987 is still an undiscovered pomp AOR classic. Now in 2009 the band releases a real new comeback album in the shape of ‘Mind’s Eye’. At first sight musically some slight changes to be heard, especially during the first 2 tracks, which are a bit “proggy” and the second track has a slightly Southern Rock vibe, but starting with track # 3 they do return to their roots which means classy pomp AOR of the highest order. Just listen to the killer track “Only The Lonely” and you know what I mean – pure pomp AOR bliss like AGENT, LE ROUX, 101 SOUTH and GIUFFRIA. Don’t quote this album after the first two tracks – it has much more great stuff on offer!

Hailing from Bayonne, NJ, Robert Tepper began his career as a staff writer in New York City, eventually uniting with singer Benny Mardones, writing, and playing bass. Along with Mardones, he co-wrote the classic 'Into The Night,' which became a big hit and earned a Grammy nomination on its initial release in 1980. After parting company with Mardones, Tepper relocated to Los Angeles in the pursuit of his musical career eventually inking a deal with Scotti Brothers, this album followed being produced by award winning Joe Chicarelli (Beck, Elton John, Hanson, U2 etc). Songs like the title track (which Sylvester Stallone choosed for “Rocky IV”) or “Angel Of The City”, which appeared on the “Cobra” soundtrack are classic AOR tunes of the highest order and the album has more songs of this calibre to offer. A bonafide classic !

Not a lot is known of his history prior to and after his two-album deal with Epic, which kicked off with this release (1984), and ended with 1987's 'Captured' album. Of note, was DeLuca's assistance to Molly Hatchet on their 1984 album 'The Deed Is Done'. He must have impressed someone at MH's label Epic, because they signed him, and sent him over to England to record his debut album 'Down To The Wire' with noted British producer James Guthrie (Judas Priest, Ambrosia) at the helm. Musically, it's a bit of everything. A melting pot of Bruce Springsteen, Jude Cole, Jimmy Davis. It's a bit rough-house in places - with an edge that keeps it out of commercial reach. On other parts it's very melodic. Beyond 1987, the man has disappeared off the map. Not even a google search can help the situation. Digitally remastered re-issue through Yesterrock.

Back in the 80's CHINA were one of the most popular Hard Rock-Bands coming from Switzerland. Their album “Sign In The Sky” even entered the German album charts. Due to countless line-up changes the band couldn't keep that high level and called it a day a few years later. After the comeback last year, the guys now deliver a new best of-CD. The compilation contains 13 classic tracks plus the 3 brand new songs “Girl On My Screen”, “Stay” and “Trapped In The City”. The new songs sound very strong and judged by them the band's new studio album seems to become a great comeback record. Let's hope the guys can keep the fire burning, then they could really compete again with GOTTHARD and KROKUS.

Acacia Avenue is a new band led by Danish guitarist and songwriter Torben Enevoldsen (Section A, Fatal Force) in the melodic hard rock mold and features vocals from Tony Mills (TNT, Shy), Geir Rönning (Radioactive, Prisoner), Lars Säfsund (Work Of Art) and Torben Lysholm (Pangea, Mysterell) with drums by Thomas Heintzelmann (Section A, Decoy) and bass from Carsten Neumann (Savage Affair). Home to a clean punchy production, the album is rich in catchy vocal melodies and strong songs. The style of the album is a blend of melodic hard rock and AOR. Torben spent most of 2008 writing new music with different people and some of the songs went in this direction. He then decided to pursue this particular style and ended up with around 20 songs and ultimately chose the best ones for what has become the debut Acacia Avenue album.

The Finnish melodic rock outfit HUMAN TEMPLE created quite a buzz with their debut “Insomnia” (MTM) way back in 2004, but afterwards not much happened due to some line-up changes until 2009, when they started recording the follow up. With the help of some friends like Jani Liimatainen (ex- SONATA ARCTICA, CAIN’S OFFERING), Erkka Korhonen (ex- URBAN TALE) and Vesa Virtanen (TWILIGHT GUARDIANS) “Murder Of Crows” got recorded last year and pretty much follows the paths of the debut – keyboard driven Scandi AOR in the vein of EUROPE / BAD HABIT with catchy hooks,  but even if this is a really good album it lacks in terms of real killer tunes.

4 years has passed since the release of "Hordes of the Brave" and now Iron Mask is back with their third album "Shadow of the Red Baron". From start their style is still very recognizable. Main man in the band is still Dushan Petrossi - this guitar virtuoso is responsible for the song writing and production as well. Still Valhalla Jr's (Goetz Mohre) vocals appear on most of the tracks, he sounds like a combination of David Coverdale and Graham Bonnet. Like At Vance, Iron Mask delivers melodic neo-classical power metal with symphonic influences and traditional metal touches. In fact you could say that if you like At Vance, you will love Iron Mask too. New drummer Erik Stout (Reign of Terror) is of course a good match. The bass is still done by Vassili Moltchanov and new keyboardist Andreas Lindahl (Narnia/The Murder of My Sweet) completes the line-up.

Sweden’s Dream Evil are finally back with their new studio album “In the Night”. The band demonstrates again how exciting melodic metal can still be. The opener “Immortal” starts with the epics of Running Wild and then steps into the atmosphere of Primal Fear. The voice of Nick Night strongly reminds of Ralf Scheepers. And in this well-known field goes the second song “In the Night”. In the third track we see through the principle of above mentioned influences – Judas Priest. In the fourth song things become softer – something like Edguy, Sinner. If Accept decide to make rock ‘n’ roll album it will sound like this fifth track “Electric” in the current album of Dream Evil. Awesome vocals and excellent guitar work! The guitar work is magnificent. The riffs are colossal. If you need a dose of melodic hard rock with metal touches, then this one is for you!

Despite Angel's critical acclaim, album sales were not forthcoming and the band called it a day in 1981, leaving keyboardist Gregg Giuffria to seek his musical fortunes elsewhere. He found them in 1984 after forming his own band and releasing a self titles album 'Giuffria' which reached no 26 on Billboard. It was helped in part by the single 'Call To The Heart' which reached no 15 in its own right. The album was one of the best AOR albums of 1984 and remains a favorite of the genre mainly because of Giuffria's keyboard dexterity and amazing melodic content. Album # 2 “Silk + Steel” (1986) saw the band heading to a more commercial and radio friendly AOR sound, but they still managed to write great tunes like “No Escape” or “I Must Be Dreaming”. This box set (limited to 1000 copies) contains both classics in remastered format incl. poster.