Virtual XI is the eleventh studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 23 March 1998. This would be the second and final studio album to feature Blaze Bayley, as he was dismissed from Iron Maiden following a February 1999 announcement that Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, who left in 1993 and 1990 respectively, would be returning to the line-up. Virtual XI's title is tied in with two extra-musical events: the release of the band's computer game, Ed Hunter, and the fact that the 1998 FIFA World Cup would be taking place in June of that year. Harris explains, "We figure our fans are pretty much the same as we are, with pretty much the same interests, so we thought, 'It's World Cup year in '98.

2003's Dance of Death marked the triumphant return of old-school Iron Maiden. Gone were the murky, over-produced set pieces that clogged 2000's Brave New World and in their place fell blistering slabs of Piece of Mind-era metal. That trend continues with their 14th full-length album, Matter of Life and Death, a more elaborate and meandering experience than Dance of Death, but a rewarding one for fans willing to indulge the group's occasional excess. At over 70 minutes, Matter of Life and Death is closer to 1988's woefully underrated Seventh Son of a Seventh Son than it is to Piece of Mind, but with far less keyboard tickling. Recorded live in the studio, epics like "Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg," "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns," and the brutal "Longest Day" – the whole record is a loosely-knit song cycle with war at its core – exhume prog rock complexity and discipline yet manage to bristle with the kind of small-club intensity usually reserved for acts half their age.

A new IO Earth album is always a matter for rejoicing. Not only have they produced symphonic prog of the highest order for the best part of 10 years, but they’ve built a fan base that’s more like a family than a conventional audience. Solitude, however, is particularly welcome as it’s new vocalist Rosanna Lefevre’s debut on an IO Earth record.
Lefevre has an immediate impact. Where previous vocalist Linda Odinsen brought clean Scandinavian precision to recordings, Lefevre brings darker rock and blues sensibilities to bear. On the serious and heavy Breakdown, Lefevre demonstrates that she has technique to spare - few could so easily reach a note so high it might shatter glass, but it’s her lower register and mid-range that give IO Earth a new emotional centre…

William Kearney aka Guitar Shorty keeps it lean, mean and direct on this outing. Recorded in New Orleans, this session features his regular road band, abetted by Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff and some top N.O. players like Buckwheat Zydeco bassist Lee Allen Zeno. Shorty penned seven of the 12 tunes aboard, and the mix on this album runs from Texas shuffles ("Sugar Wugar," "I'm Going Back to Houston"), low down blues ("I Wonder Who's Sleeping in My Bed," "You're a Troublemaker," "Me and You Last Night") to New Orleans rock & roll ("I Want to Report a Crime," "Hard Time Woman," "The Porkchop Song" and the title track) and funk ("Don't Mess with My Woman," "Let's Get Close"), plus a heartfelt tribute to Hendrix on an extended workout on "Hey Joe." A wide and varied session that showcases the guitarist's wide-ranging chops and skills.

“Bad Times at the El Royale” is a 2018 American neo-noir thriller film written, produced and directed by Drew Goddard. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Nick Offerman and Chris Hemsworth. Set in 1969, Bad Times at the El Royale follows seven strangers who find themselves at the El Royale, a novelty hotel at the border of California and Nevada. But as the strangers — including a priest (Bridges), a vacuum cleaner salesman (Hamm), a Southern gangster (Johnson), and a former singer (Erivo) — settle into their rooms, they discover that something strange is afoot inside and outside the hotel. Michael Giacchino wrote the score…

There hasn't exactly been a flood of recordings marking the centenary of Debussy's death in 1918, but here's a fitting observance from Pablo Heras-Casado, featuring a Philharmonia Orchestra that's absolutely at the top of its game and able to follow the Spanish conductor through his low-volume but intense Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.

The name of the Spirit of Gambo viol consort comes from an old manuscript referring to the viola da gamba as a "Gambo Violl." It is interesting that absolutely nothing in the packaging of this release, at least in its U.S. version, identifies the ensemble as being from Chicago, or America at all. Be that as it may, the group delivers strong performances of some pieces that have been somewhat neglected within the viol consort repertoire.