Herman Frank

Herman Frank – Fight the Fear Review

Herman Frank – Fight the Fear Review

Herman Frank made his metal bones by playing guitar alongside Wolf Hoffman on Accept’s early and influential albums like Restless and Wild and Balls to the Wall. He then took a decades-long hiatus, returning for the band’s first few post-Udo albums before decamping once again to helm his eponymous project. His solo output hasn’t fallen far from the Accept tree, but always steered closer to classic hard rock ideas and formulas. This rock influence became more prominent on 2016s The Devil Rides Out, and the trend continues on fourth outing, Fight the Fear.” Fear is the mindkiller.

Herman Frank – The Devil Rides Out Review

Herman Frank – The Devil Rides Out Review

“Following Accept’s 2014 Blind Rage release, on and off guitarist Herman Frank once again cut ties with the long-running and influential Germanic metallers to pursue other musical endeavors, most notably his eponymous solo project. The Devil Rides Out is the third outing from Frank, and like its predecessors, it’s a burly hybrid of vintage Accept and rocking 80s hair metal acts like Dokken and Krokus.” The Devil rocks out.

Sinbreed – Master Creator Review

Sinbreed – Master Creator Review

“Germanic power metal has really become its own little thing over the years, making it a reliably punchy alternative to the overly pompous, fancy-pantsy, chaos wizardy sounds of traditional Euro-power. One of the better purveyors of this muscular brand of Teutonic terror is Sinbreed.” Manly power metal for manly men (and women).

Sinbreed – Shadows Review

Sinbreed – Shadows Review

“What do you get when you take a rough and ready Germanic power metal band and add two members of Blind Guardian? You get a better rough and ready Germanic power metal band. Sinbreed is that band and features the talents of Blind Guardian guitarist Marcus Siepen and drummer Frederik Ehmke, which gives them some instant musical credibility and clout. Their 2009 debut When World’s Collide was a rock solid slab of slick, but angry metal in the vein of modern Accept, Herman Frank and Paragon and Shadows improves on that template with even more raspy, Udo-like vocals and thrashy guitar lines.” More power metal at AMG? What is this, a pirate-shirted coup?

Masterplan – Novum Initium Review

Masterplan – Novum Initium Review

“Originally conceived as a super group-ish side project for Helloween’s Uli Kusch and Roland Grapow, Masterplan soon became the duo’s main gig after their ignominious firing by those silly Germanic Pumpkin rockers. Although they planned to have the Lordly Russel Allen as the singer, they instead released two solid albums of melodic power metal helmed by the mighty Jorn Lande (yes AMG, we know you don’t think he’s that mighty). While Jorn left, then rejoined to record the less than stirring Time to Be King opus, it appears he left yet again, as Novum Initium features the talents of the well-travelled Rick Altzi (ex-At Vance, ex-Thunderstone, Herman Frank).” Are you sick of hearing about how awesome Jorn is? Apparently Masterplan is too, since they seem determined to beat him at his own hard rocking game. But can they bring as much heavy rock to the land as Jorn can?

Magnus Karlsson – Free Fall Review

Magnus Karlsson – Free Fall Review

“Hot on the heels of Jorn’s Traveller, Free Fall is living, breathing, tangible proof that Frontiers Records know their 70’s flavored hard rock! Picking up Free Fall is a little like solving a riddle… getting thrown head first into a melting pot and it’s quite literally a who’s who of hard rock or heavy metal. At the forefront of Free Fall you have the man of the hour, Swedish, heavy metal multi-instrumentalist, classically trained wizard and songwriter Magnus Karlsson axeman to the likes of Primal Fear, Allen/Lande, Last Tribe and a host of others. Do you like the slick hard rock style of metal that Jorn and Allen/Lande traffic in? Does the idea of an album with 9 vocalists work for you? This thing is directly in Madam X’s wheelhouse, so she will help you answer the above questions.