SHORT CUTS 4 March 2018
GLASYA are an exciting new female-fronted band from Lisbon. As keyboard player Davon Van Dave – formerly of Urban Tales and Shadowsphere – explains, “We are a symphonic metal band consisting of several members of the Portuguese metal scene with Eduarda Soeiro (also in Nightdream) on vocals, Bruno Prates (ex-Enchantya) on lead guitar, Manuel Pinto (ex-Enchantya) on bass, Bruno Ramos (ex-My Deception) on drums and founder member and guitarist Hugo Esteves, and we released our first single and video clip, ‘Heaven’s Demise’, on 10 January.” The song is a fabulous piece of work, a five-and-a-half minute delight with soaring vocals from Ms Soeiro and beautiful orchestration throughout. Check the band out on Facebook and YouTube, and to go straight to ‘Heaven’s Demise’ visit
On the subject of videos, IAN TOOMEY has unveiled the first video from his second solo album ‘Masters Of Light’. The chosen track is ‘The Priest’, a no-nonsense, classic rock neckbreaker with a beautifully understated solo, and was produced by the late, great Chris Tsangarides. Check the track out at
The guys at Nineteen73 PR are currently highlighting a couple of new releases from the bands on their roster, both of which are signed to Gentle Art Of Music / Soulfood. Fronted by the elegiac Maartje Meessen, Dutch band LESOIR’s fourth album ‘IV Latitude’ is a beautifully presented hour of progressive rock. Meanwhile, on the other side of the street, Austria’s PHI are more progressive metal, and their album ‘Cycles’ is a heavy but harmonic body of work with time changes a-plenty and an upfront metal attitude.
Finally, not content with just releasing a new album ‘Footprints In the Rock’, Trespass’s Mark Sutcliffe also has a side-project with Dave Gilbert called MINOR PLANET. The duo have recently released a two-track single Featuring ‘We Are The Night’ and the instrumental ‘Tectonic Scar’. Well worth checking out. And, by the way, don’t be misled by the paltry 4/10 review in Classic Rock awarded to ‘Footprints…’ – it’s a worthy addition to any collection.
© John Tucker March 2018