On their studio first outing in three years, Germany's seemingly eternal Scorpions keep the sound a perfect balance between nu metal guitar crunch and '80s heavy metal melodies. Humanity Hour, Vol. 1 is a worthy if not utterly successful musical follow-up to 2004's Unbreakable – a record that saw the band coming back to its strengths after a long bout of wandering about in the creative desert. Humanity Hour, Vol. 1 is a collaboration between the band and co-producers James Michael and Desmond Child…

With video sharing giving fans in the Internet age the ability to access most any live show they might care to see, Between the Buried and Me decided that they wanted to do something different than the usual concert DVD. With Future Sequence: Live at the Fidelitorium, the band gives fans a more intimate performance, inviting them into the studio to watch the group play its daring sixth album, The Parallax II: Future Sequence, live in its entirety…

There is now more Gentle Giant material in print than at any time since the group's heyday in the mid-'70s, and whether this is a good thing or not depends upon one's outlook regarding art rock in general and Gentle Giant's particular brand of it. Topping off the anniversary editions of the portion of the catalog actually controlled by the ex-group members is this DVD/CD combination, which assembles in one place the surviving television appearances of the group from German, American, Italian, and other sources and which includes some interview material in addition to the live performances…

Box set from WARLORD includes reissues of their three original albums, each featuring the latest remastering, SHM-CD format, and cardboard sleeves. Also comes with a DVD with entire footage of a gig held in 1984.

Kai Hansen formed Helloween in 1984, playing guitar and singing on the speed metal band's first four albums. He left in early 1989, however, and founded Gamma Ray with vocalist Ralf Scheepers (formerly with Tyran Pace). The duo intended to record a one-off project that Hansen originated while in Helloween, so they recruited bassist Uwe Wessel, drummer Matthias Burchardt, and several other musicians…

Returning to Gentle Giant's fourth album after any kind of lengthy absence, it's astonishing just how little Octopus has dated. Often written off at the time as a pale reflection of the truly gargantuan steps being taken by the likes of Jethro Tull and Barclay James Harvest, the band's closest relatives in the tangled skein of period prog, Gentle Giant often seemed more notable for its album art than its music. Octopus, however, marries the two seamlessly, with the cover speaking for itself, of course…

Lee Aaron, formerly known as Karen Greening, was Canada's self-proclaimed 'Metal Queen'. She was one of the first women to have a successful solo career in heavy metal music. In the late 1980's, her sound became less heavy and more commercial. In 1996, she formed the alternative rock band 2preciious, changing her name back to Karen…

The Diablo Swing Orchestra dates back to 1501 in Sweden, where history tells the tale of an orchestra that played like no other. With music so seductive and divine that the ensemble overwhelmed audiences all over the country, and people from all social classes took them to their hearts. Their performances rapidly earned a reputation of being feral and vigorous and gained the orchestra a devoted crowd that followed them around…

Free Hand is perhaps Gentle Giant's most realized effort. After the excellent In a Glass House, the group further developed its Renaissance-medieval approach, producing one of the most creative and complex recordings in progressive rock history…

During the first half of the 1970s, several West German musicians escaped the traditional rock influences of British and American bands and created a new way of making rock music. This movement—which involved psychedelic, electronic, jazz, folk, and noise music—came to be known as Krautrock…

Generally considered to be the last must-have recording from these progressive rock giants. Recorded at a frenetic pace, the band had the impossible task of topping their classic, Free Hand. While they didn't surpass the success of previous efforts, they did continue to propel their unique brand of complex music into surprising new directions. Interview is actually a concept album centering on a fictitious interview based upon the music business…

ATB is the alias of progressive house/trance DJ and producer André Tanneberger, a native of Freiberg, Germany, born in 1973. ATB's catchy, vocal-driven singles crossed over from clubs to mainstream pop radio, making him one of the most recognizable artists of trance's late-'90s/early-2000s commercial peak…

The group's first U.S. release in two years featured ornate playing from Kerry Minnear on keyboards and Gary Green's loudest guitar work up to that time. The Power and the Glory is also a fairly dissonant album, yet it made the charts, albeit pretty low…