"Welcome back my friends to the blog that never ends....." Well I signed off my last entry on here suggesting 2020 would be rather good, so psychic is coming off my CV

With no live music and the amount of new releases getting less, I thought I would revive my reviews for a while to keep my interest in music going.

Since the lockdown started, Bandcamp having been running a Friday each month where they wave their fees so a lot of my purchases have come from that site - As such I thought it would be a good idea to review some of those

However I will restrict review to only releases since March this year (would be here for ages else!)

First batch of musical musing will be here soon....

Part 3 and the final blog of the year is the big one and the top albums. As ever an eclectic mix

As in previous years, I will go in alphabetical order but the list is now reduced to six of the best

Alcest - Spiritual Instinct

Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear

Eivor - Live In Torshavn

New Model Army - From Here

Tusks - Avalanche

Yola - Walk Through Fire

And so that is it - I may return to this blog sometime but for now I hope 2019 was good for you and 2020 will be even better

The 2019 review part 2

There were a log of great songs released as either singles or on EP's rather than on full length albums so I felt it necessary to list some of those... In alphabetical order:

Bryde - On The Subject Of Breathing

Greta Thunberg - How Dare You (Death Metal Mix)

Hannah Ruby - Jungle Red

Magpie Blue - Just In Time

Midas Fall - Blink

Peter Yates & Jo Beth Young - Where Are We Now?

Unintentional but this is a very female led list this year which is no bad thing

….. And so they say you should never go back but here we are once more - For three nights only, I'll give you my favourites gigs, songs and albums of 2019

So first up I thought I'd go with my top 5 gigs of the year

February - The Ruts DC at the Exeter Phoenix. Still a great live band and celebrating their debut album, The Crack

February - Drift Chamber at St Stephens Church, Exeter. My favourite venue of the year lit up with the fairy lights and candles. Could still be better if it had a toilet!

May - T'Pau at the Exmouth Festival. I don't do many 'big' gigs in terms of size but the band were great and the whole day was a lot of fun

August - Inkubus Sukkubus at the Exeter Cavern. Waited ages to see this band again (19 years!) but they didn't disappoint, a proper goth night out

November - Big Country at the Exeter Phoenix. The best gig of the year, sung myself hoarse to Chance, Lost Patrol, Steeltown and many others...

"This is the end...."

After 7 years this is post 137 and the last. With the imminent demise of Google+ I have no idea what happens with these blogs - Do they survive as archives, fade from view, I don't know....

To be honest I never thought I would publish 2 end of year best of list but to reach 7 was a definite surprise!

It's been fun and it's always great to look back at early reviews and wonder how wrong I got some

But it seems appropriate at the end of the year to bring Steve H Reviews to a close... Thanks to anyone who ever read one of these pages and I will bid you farewell

Drum roll and welcome to my seventh (and probably final) end of year list....

In alphabetical order, the top ten are:

• Author & Punisher - Beastland
• Bryde - Like an Island
• Crippled Black Phoenix - Great Escape
• Fish - A Parley with Angels (EP)
• Gwenno - Le Kov
• Happy Axe - Dream Punching
• Midas Fall - Evaporate
• A Perfect Circle - Eat the Elephant
• Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody Soundtrack
• Ann Wilson - Immortal

Also there were a few great stand alone singles including Marilyn Manson's take on the Lost Boys classic, Cry Little Sister, Juniper by Myrkur and finally On the Subject of Breathing by the brilliant Bryde.

There is a new Doro album out - It's a double album.

There are tracks called All for Metal, Metal is my Alcohol and Soldier of Metal.

There is a track dedicated to Lemmy.

There is a Whitesnake cover and a Motorhead cover.

You don't need any more information than this to tell you how fantastic it is...… Except perhaps this image: