LET'S face it, right up front, no waffling, no bullshit - power metal can disappear up it's own ass; filled with pomposity, pretentiousness and prat-ishness. Thankfully, on 'Beyond the Red Mirror; a bombastic Blind Guardian avoid the traps of the cliché and complacency.

Of course, that doesn't mean that they are

_{I have to admit that I don’t know much about The Cyon Project and hadn’t heard of them until the album “Tales of Pain” was offered to us by our friends at Stampede Press. I wasn’t sure what to expect, having seen the words “death/thrash” appear in the press release. It turns out that the key phrase was probably the one stating that the band had “evolved its style once again”. When I first skimmed through the album online I thought there were a few tracks with potential and downloaded it. Having listened to it several times now in full I’d have to say there are several tracks I really like and that the remainder are all fairly decent too. The first single to be taken from the album was “Mr Creosote” and this has already featured on the Friday NI Rocks Show. The album “Tales of Pain” was released on 27th January through Pavement Entertainment.}

NORTHERN IRISH math rockers And So I Watch You From Afar (ASIWYFA) have announced their return with their new forthcoming album ‘Heirs’. This will be the eclectic quartet’s fourth full length album following on from their critically acclaimed album ‘All Hail Bright Futures’.


The PR blurb