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Welcome to Rock Solid – rushonrock‘s new review section where we pick our fave releases of the week. Leave a comment on our top tips and alert us to the big noises we might have missed!

Motorhead – Motorizer (SPV)

One behind the great Alice Cooper, fellow hellraiser Lemmy unleashes Motorhead’s 24th album on a fearful public and this is as heavy as Vince Neil before Motley Crue’s revival.

Opener Runaround Man is as good as anything this band has produced during a prolific career and the anthemic Rock Out deserves cult status.

After three decades at metal’s summit there were suggestions Motorhead couldn’t make a decent album anymore – Motorizer sticks two fingers up to the doubters.

rushonrock rated: 7/10 Head’s Up.

Regurgitator – Love And Paranoia (Valve Records)

If you like Pendulum – and even after their electrifying Leeds show we’re not convinced – then give these Aussie electro punks a twirl.

As big as the Sydney Harbour Bridge back home, Regurgitator formed in 1994 and a string of hit albums have peppered the charts Down Under.

Finally making a push for Euro glory, Love And Paranoia gets our vote simply for including the track Drinking Beer Is Awesome. It is. And although this record isn’t it certainly deserves a chance. Check out Michelle for a true flavour of what this band can offer.

rushonrock rated: 5/10 Cough Up For Something Different.

TK Webb And The Visions – Ancestor (Kemado Records)

Rock Solid’s album of the week sees blues-soaked New Yorker TK Webb come of age with a rock record straight out of 1970s Birmingham (that’s UK, not Alabama).

Sounding like the bastard son of Robert Plant and Mick Jagger, the tuneful TK likes his chords heavy, fuzzy and delivered with meaning. After listening to album opener Teen Is Still Shaking we were all a quiver – and it’s a good 16 years since we could call ourselves teens.

It’s impossible to pigeon-hole The Visions but that’s no bad thing. This is one of the freshest and coolest sounds we’ve heard all summer and regular rotation at rushonrock will follow.

rushonrock rated: 9/10 TK Max

All the above are released on Monday September 1.

With just 24 hours to go before world football’s transfer deadline expires a delighted rushonrock can reveal our biggest signing yet!

Metallica fan Emanuel ‘Mad Dog’ Pogatetz is our new guest reviewer after proving his credentials during a brief interview this weekend.

And Middlesbrough hard man Pog will be penning his first words of wisdom once he returns from international duty with his native Austria next week.

The tough tackling centre half likes his music loud and heavy and when he mentioned Black Stone Cherry in conversation with our very own Self Made Man – check out his new blog now – the deal was done.

Pog told rushonrock: “I love my rock music but I don’t get the time to listen to enough or always see the bands I like. This gives me a chance to do that!”

Pog Rock will appear here soon and don’t be surprised if Death Magnetic gets a mention….

It’s only three weeks until Duff McKagan’s Loaded stun The Sage Gateshead into submission with the loudest set the venue has ever witnessed.

And rushonrock is the proud recipient of the band’s new five-track EP Wasted Heart which gives fans a true flavour of just what this serious side project has to offer.

With Duff slap bang in the middle of the mystery surrounding Velvet Revolver’s new frontman it’s the perfect time to kick back and kick on with his Seattle college band. And the quite wonderful Wasted Heart is no waste of time as a taster for 2009′s full length album.

The limited edition disc will be available at the band’s UK shows – including Gateshead on Sunday September 21 – and EP opener Sleaze Factory gets Duff die-hards into the groove right away.

By the time the title track wraps things up with a warm glow it has become apparant that this is an essential band for 2008 and a genuine rival to VR in the affections of McKagan.  

After signing a deal with Century Media the former Gunner told rushonrock: “We are truly looking forward to this partnership. I am encouraged that Century Media understand the spirit and integrity of Duff McKagan’s Loaded. This first EP, Wasted Heart, should shed some light on who we are, what we do, and how the fuck we do it!”
 
Indeed.

Ex-citing news has reached rushonrock in the shape of a flyer bigging up what should be one of the gigs of the year next month!

Yes those Tyneside guitar heroes The Sound Ex are throwing an album launch party at trendy Toon watering hole End Bar. And if that wasn’t enough to whip the soul rock community into a frenzy then support will come in the shape of Small Town Dogs and DJ ME.

The chord crunching action gets underway from 7.30pm and the die hards can party thru to 1am – by which time the rushonrock team will be safely tucked up in bed under their Def Leppard duvets and Meshuggah sheets.

Entry on Friday September 19 is a frankly giveaway £4 and it goes without saying the frantic four piece will be playing songs from forthcoming long player Palomino. Cool.

Have you heard it yet? Today was the day AC/DC – fronted by Geordie boy Brian Johnson – released their new single to radio stations.

And Rock ‘N’ Roll Train, from new album Black Ice, is a slice of pure genius reminding us that eight years is a painfully long time in rock.

Yes that’s how long we’ve been hoping for some fresh material from one of the most influential guitar bands in history. Stiff Upper Lip seems a lifetime away but it seems all good things really do come to those who wait.

With 15 new songs to tackle those lucky enough to have heard the new record in its entireity promise a feast of Young-fuelled fret burning and Johnson growls. Rock ‘N’ Roll Train is the opening track and if it’s a taste of things to come then start salivating.

Back-to-back plays on Nicky Horne’s Planet Rock show tonight proved the importance of anything written by the Aussie gods. And fans can hear the spine tingling new tune on www.acdc.com now.

Now there’s nothing like a loyal rock fan.

We buy the album (and the next one and the next one), we buy tickets for the live shows and, yes, we even buy the T-shirt.

This week I bought two classic Metallica albums on vinyl for just short of forty quid because I love the band and they respect their fans.

And that’s what loyalty is about isn’t it? The give and take, the highs and lows.

But through it all there’s a certain bond that we have with the bands which provide the soundtrack to our lives.

And that’s why I’m still coming to terms with one of the most shameless pieces of marketing – even by music industry standards – I’ve ever witnessed.

Those of you who skimmed rushonrock’s Friday @ Leeds review will have noticed the reference to an advertising gimmick guaranteed to stick in the throats of every good rock fan.

Yes I’m talking about the little plane trailing a big banner – urging festival fans to fork out for Slipknot’s December tour tix.

Nothing wrong with that I suppose. I’ve seen it before. But never, ever on the same day that the aforementioned ‘Knot were due to play a set cancelled at 48 hours’ notice.

Picture the scene. Avenged Sevenfold have just been forced to cut a potentially blinding set by half due to flu flooring half the band.

The dreadful Dropkick Murphys are next up and of course there’s no Slipknot cos Joey’s bust his ankle.

So what is the last thing we want to see high in the Yorkshire sky? That bloody banner.

Now I’ll give the band the benefit of the doubt and assume they knew absolutely nothing about the massively insulting message writ large in our faces.

And I’d like to think the rock fan’s favourite label – Roadrunner – were not behind this brazen attempt at bleeding credit crunched music fans dry.

But somebody is responsible for rubbing the noses of loyal metallers in the fact that one of their favourite bands was missing from one of UK rock’s biggest days.

And somebody thought it would be a great idea to capitalise on a crowd craving Corey and the boys by plugging an arena tour months down the line.

Frankly it stinks. It shits on loyalty and shames the music I love.

When you see something like that you really believe All Hope Is Gone. By the way, who said that?

Here We Go Again as rushonrock goes back to the future to find out what our fave artists of the 80s are up to in the noughties.

Now: 2008 Homewreckers and Heartbreakers (Jerkin Crocus) is, according to Classic Rock, Rock Sound et al, a true return to form from Spike and the boys.

But don’t just take their word for it. Here at rushonrock we’ve been spinning the disc for weeks and wondering just how far this band can go.

The evocative Mona Lisa Smiled is pure magic and Blackwater is the best thing we’ve heard this side of Memphis. Lead singer Spike stretches his vocals to the limit and fellow Geordie Paul Guerin once again proves himself a master of the honky tonk guitar.

But like so much of the Quireboys’ material duirng the past five years the mix of Keith Weir’s keys is perfect on Homewreckers and Heartbreakers. Live the lad is a revelation but even here you get a flavour of what a piece of quality piano can do to an already classy track.

And for all you lovers of the Toon check out the brazen opener I Love This Dirty Town. If there could ever be a sequel to Mayfair then this might well be it.

rushonrock rated: 8/10 Quireboys grow up.

…And Then: 1990 A Bit Of What You Fancy (EMI) saw the major label arrival of a bunch of scruffy glamsters who loved to party and loved to pout.

In Spike the band boasted a singer who oozed appeal as a charismatic frontman but his raspy tones matched Mick (Jagger) and Rod (Stewart) for raw emotion. So he might have preferred a drink to a practice session but it was all part of the appeal.

Looking back and the hits – 7 0′Clock, Hey You, Sex Party and I Don’t Love You Anymore – could have made an even bigger impression on the charts. Instead The Quireboys were uneasy performers on Top Of The Pops and never truly embraced by the metal press.

Yet for those of us who appreciate a good night in and an even better night out there is no band quite like The Quireboys. A Bit Of What You Fancy proved this five piece had potential – and 18 years on it’s been realised. 

rushonrock rated: 10/10 A Bit Of What We Fancy

Perhaps inspired by Team GB’s record Olympic gold medal haul, the gods of ‘Athletic Rock’ are ready to reclaim their title in 2008.

Newcastle’s Raven belong on rushonrock as a North East institution that plays power chords for fun. And 33 years after the boys burst onto the scene a sell-out Trillians gig is on the cards.

Originally signed to Neat Records (who else!), the NWOBHM pioneers clinched a global deal with Atlantic in the mid ’80s and hit song On And On kept the momentum going. Fronted by the Gallagher brothers – John and Mark – the current line-up reformed in 2006 after a five-year absence.

Now tickets are already selling fast for their October 8 date at Trillians and with new album Walk Through Fire slated for a late autumn release it looks like Raven are ready to swoop. 

And if you like your local rock but don’t live local anymore then check out the band in Kettering, Blackburn, Nuneaton, London, Birmingham and Ilfracombe.

Ok, so if you’re expecting news on our favourite show featuring sporting has-beens and a host of never-will-bes then this isn’t the post for you.

But if you want the heads up on Motley Crue’s main opposition for the next five years then read on. Dear Superstar are destined to become Demolition Records’ most successful import yet if the promo of their new record Heartless is anything to go by.

And the glam metal five-piece offer further evidence that our very own rock label was right to cast its net wide enough to capture the best emerging talent as well as the heritage bands we know and love.

Rushonrock lost count of the number of times it urged big bosses Eric and Ged to snap up the hottest new acts at the same time they were resurrecting the careers of a clutch or rock dinosaurs. And like an old record – although not quite as old as a Twisted Sister record – we kept banging on and on about the need to invest in the next generation.

Dear Superstar are exactly that and if it’s desperately disappointing that the boys aren’t playing Newcastle on next month’s Firewind tour then we can’t believe the Demolition team won’t bring them up here for a North East showcase sometime soon.

Heartless hits stores on October 20 and rest assured this won’t be the last time you read about this essential new band before then.

It was the night Metallica reclaimed their crown as the kings of metal. And for all the problems with Friday’s bill there could be no better band to bring the house down on day one of the Leeds Festival.

No Slipknot? Just about no Avenged Sevenfold. No problem. James, Lars and the boys had something very special up their jet black sleeves to reward a rock crowd beginning to believe their heroes had all gone soft.

From the opening chords of Creeping Death to the glorious encore closer Seek And Destroy this was post-St Anger Metallica in ear-bleeding form. Putting the troubles of their last – and possibly worst – album to bed it seems the glory days of fist-pumping thrash are back.

New tune Cyanide gave curious fans a taste of what’s to come when Death Magnetic hits stores on September 12 and if this bass-heavy belter is typical of the new record then die-hards are in for a treat.

Just as they were for two mesmerising hours under the cloudy skies of West Yorkshire. Sanitarium, Harvester Of Sorrow and the emotive One – replete with pyrotechnics – were all delivered with demonic verve and the rest of a Best Of set was equally flawless.

When Lars revealed the band would be back for a UK arena tour in February it was as if all our Christmases had come at once. With a big bang and with bells on.

So what about earlier? Very little rain but there was a Tide. Black Tide. And if you missed the old skool metallers who brought Leeds 08 alive then shame on you.

The Miami four-piece brought the house down on the Republic Stage on a day when the coolest kids were still mourning the non-appearance of Slipknot.

And when Avenged Sevenfold cut short their set by 25 minutes - due to flu affecting half the band – those of us who did witness Black Tide were truly thankful.

Because what had started out as a rock fan’s dream was rapidly turning into a nightmare as Avenged delivered a fraction of the hot cuts the band has become famed for.

And all of this on the back of Joey Jordison breaking his ankle and forcing the masked posse to pull out. Imagine the scenes of joy, therefore, when a plane trailing a banner promoting Slipknot’s arena tour circled Bramham at precisely the time the absent Des Moines gang were due to appear.

Talk about kicking your fans when they’re down.

Tenacious D was never going to make up for Avenged Twofold and Slip-not but Jack Black did a bloody good job trying. Keeping a straight face throughout a set rich in silliness the star of Rock School gave the Leeds crowd a lesson in wry humour.

And then there was Metallica. Saving the day in customary fashion they set the tone for the rest of the weekend and will surely have RATM and Killers quaking in their boots. Roll on Death Magnetic and the return of the real thrash gods.