Category Archives: Peter Coates

Album Review : Hunted By Elephants – Carry On

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

HUNTED BY ELEPHANTS
Carry On
Released – Jan 15th 2021 

Hunted By Elephants were formed in the UK in mid-2018 by Apostolos Liapis (vocals), Roman Flourendzou (guitar) and Raymond Phelan (bass), and are now joined by Alex Butticè (drums). The London-based rock ’n’ rollers ignite favourable comparisons ranging from rock heavyweights to modern classic rock acts, and their debut album Rise of The Elephant put them on the underground rock radar in 2019. 

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Album Review : W.E.T. – Retransmission

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

W.E.T.   Retransmission
Released – 22 Jan 2021
Frontiers Records

W.E.T. truly epitomizes what melodic rock has become in the present. The key element at the foundation of W.E.T has always been to create a modern melodic hard rock sound that combines powerhouse rhythms and top-notch production, with the music being equally classic and contemporary.

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Album Review : Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar – The Reckless One

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

SAM MARTIN & DELTA SUGAR
THE RECKLESS ONE
Gypsy Soul Records – Nov 2020

With the worldwide pandemic wrecking utter havoc upon the careers of many musicians, Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar elected to use their time off the road to record, mix and master their latest tour-de-force, the astonishingly powerful, funky and deeply soulful The Reckless One

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Album Review : Hearts & Hand Grenades – Turning To Ashes

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

HEARTS & HAND GRENADES
TURNING TO ASHES
Release Date – 08/01/2021

An edgy hard rock band from Buffalo, NY, and with the terrific name Hearts & Hand Grenades was initially a cover band, until spotted by Goo Goo Dolls vocalist Robby Takac who invited them for a session at his studios – which pushed the band into writing some original material, which they did then record and released as the Wait EP in July 2019.

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Album Review : Unknown Refuge – From the Darkness

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

UNKNOWN REFUGE
Release – 29 Jan 2021
Unknown Refuge formed early in 2016 with Alex Mancini, then aged 15 as lead singer, and four friends from the Music and Performing Arts Service in Salford, in the UK. Within 6 months of forming, they entered the Salford Battle of the Bands which required one song to be original.  This started Alex on his song writing journey. Despite their relatively short time as a band, they were crowned winners, gaining a headline slot at Manchester’s Band on the Wall, plus a recording session at SSR Manchester.  

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Album Review : The Dirty Knobs – Wreckless Abandon

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

MIKE CAMPBELL & THE DIRTY KNOBS
WRECKLESS ABANDON
Released Nov 2020

Something of an unsung legend of the contemporary rock’n’roll scene, Mike Campbell has been the guitarist with the likes of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (co-writing Refugee and Runnin’ Down A Dream among many others), and Fleetwood Mac in the recent incarnation, as well as being a songwriter with credits for such monster hits as Don Henley’s Boys of Summer, and songs with Neil Diamond, Bob Seger, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan and too many other musical giants to mention.

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Album Review : Ashen Reach – Homecoming

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

ASHEN REACH – HOMECOMING
Released 16/11/20

A debut album to be proud of!

After a tumultuous 2019 that included support slots in Russia with Bullet For My Valentine, and some unexpected personnel changes with the loss of guitarist and vocalist, many bands would have given up the ghost and called it a day.

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Album Review : Cats In Space – Atlantis

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

CATS IN SPACE – ATLANTIS
Released – 27th November 2020

The brainchild of one Greg Hart and Steevi Bacon who formed the band in 2015, Cats In Space have just released their fifth album on the Harmony Factory label, through Cargo Records, titled Atlantis.

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Album Review : Granger Smith – Country Things, Vol. 1 & 2

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

GRANGER SMITH – COUNTRY THINGS
Volumes 1 & 2
BBR Music Group

Granger Smith must be one of the nicest guys I have ever met in the industry, when we met him a couple of years ago on his trip Down Under – and is clearly much more than just another country singer.

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Album Review : Travis Tidwell – Catch Me If You Can

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

TRAVIS TIDWELL – CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

Go Time Records

When I first saw the album cover and a few photos of Travis Tidwell, I was keen to get to hear some hard-driving rock’n’roll songs with a big gravelly voice and some loud guitars.

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Album Review : Diamond Head – Lightning To The Nations 2020

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

DIAMOND HEAD

LIGHTNING TO THE NATIONS 2020 

Release Date : Nov 20th 2020

I will never forget the day that an LP envelope arrived at the house sometime in 1980 – and in that was a plain white album cover, with a signature in the top corner, and a vinyl LP with a blank white label inside!  This was one of the first run of 1,000 albums sold at gigs or mail order from the band, and it remains a prize possession today.  

Diamond Head were one of foremost bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, and were lauded at the time by the likes of Metallica, who covered some of these tracks in their early sets, and released Am I Evil as a cover in 1984, and Megadeth as being important influences of their sound.

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Album Review : King King – Maverick

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

Channel 9 Music
Release – 6th November 2020

UK Blues-Rock band King King are pleased to announce the release of their fifth studio album Maverick on Friday 6th November 2020 via Channel 9 Music – King King’s new independent label.   The follow-up to 2017’s Exile & Grace, this is the first album featuring the current live band, and with the new keyboard player having no little skill in arrangements, there is a clear lift in quality across the whole record.

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Album Review : The Casanovas – Reptilian Overlord

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

THE CASANOVAS
Reptilian Overlord

The new album from The Casanovas was released in late August – their first release since the 2015 Terra Casanova – and 20 years after their debut single 10 Outta 10 was released to the world.

As stalwarts of the thriving Melbourne rock’n’roll scene, with influences coming equally from punk and blues as well as the more straight up classic rock bands, The Casanovas are not obviously an “Aussie-rock” band, as they have been able to meld some British and US rock influences into the mix which makes them more accessible internationally, and provides a sound that both retains the energy and rawness of the earlier records, but adds a little bit more spit and polish.

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Album Review : VAMBO – VAMBO DeLuxe

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

VAMBO – VAMBO DeLuxe
Released 06/11/20
GOLIATH Records

The debut album from London-based classic rock band Vambo was first released in October 2019, and has been treated to a re-release with some extra tracks, including an acoustic version of one song, and a live version of one of hard rock’s classics, and is a perfect introduction to yet another exciting new band from the UK, whose material is very much grounded in the great British classic rock sounds of the 1970s and early 1980s, with their own individual take on the genre.

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Album Review : Brothers Osborne – Skeletons

Review by Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography

BROTHERS OSBORNE – Skeletons
Released Oct 9th 2020
Spinefarm Records

Better known for smooth and elegant country rock, and the warm, mellow tones of TJ Osborne’s baritone voice, the new album sees the band in the studio with their full stage band for the first time, and the result is a more honest representation of the band seen live, and much more of a rock’n’roll record, full of grit and swagger.

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