Back catalogue: Rock

Review: Thin Lizzy's double album 'Life,' recorded during their farewell tour in 1983, offers a boisterous yet intriguing glimpse into the band's final days. It boasts guest appearances by guitar legends Gary Moore, Eric Bell and Brian Robertson and boasts a tracklist that spans their discography, featuring selections from their last four albums. Highlights include fiery renditions of tracks like 'The Sun Goes Down,' 'Renegade,' and 'The Boys Are Back in Town.' Notable moments include a mind-blowing guitar solo by John Sykes on 'Got to Give It Up' and a chaotic jam session on 'The Rocker' featuring all five guitarists. While Life captures Thin Lizzy's energy and spirit os fully captured it remains a solid representation of the band's live performance abilities and serves as a fitting farewell to their legendary career. This reissue comes in limited gatefold translucent on blue vinyl which makes it extra special.

Review: Following on from 1989's majorly successful and admittedly more commercial sounding fourth full-length Intuition, Trondheim glam metal-tinged hard rock heroes TNT would find themselves on the radar and eventual roster of Atlantic Records, who in 1992, would distribute the band's fifth album and first on the major label, Realized Fantasies. Praised by fans for its exceptional production with ludicrously bombastic percussion the whole way through, the project saw a sonic retracing of their more hardened edges, so as not to lose sight of their creative prowess. That being said, cuts such as the cheerful 'Easy Street' and epic ballad 'Lionheart' seem like they were purposefully designed to keep snooting record label execs off their proverbial backs. Never mind what glassy eyed nostalgia-baters say, Realized Fantasies goes hard as hell while delivering barrages of riffage, melody and playfully epic grandeur.