Ten (GBR)

[Horex]

Ten - Babylon (2000) (Japan SHM-CD Edition 2016)













Year : 2000 (Japan SHM-CD Edition 2016)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 165 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

Fronted by the unique Gary Hughes, Britain ’90s leading melodic hard rock / AOR band TEN celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015. As the first press of their albums was difficult to obtain due to the long-term discontinuation, Japanese label Avalon / Victor Entertainment created this ‘TEN Essential Remaster Series‘, a SHM-CD cardboard sleeve reissue of TEN’s best albums.And to make the band’s 20th anniversary reissues more special, Hughes provided material from his archives and one unreleased song is added to each album. These unreleased songs are exclusive to this ‘TEN Essential Remaster Series’ not to be found into any other release.“Babylon” marked TEN entering into the new Millennium; it’s an album with futuristic concept in the lyrics but musically faithful to the band’s melodic hard rock / AOR sound. It’s one of their best without a doubt.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – vocals
Vinny Burns – lead guitars
John Halliwell – rhythm guitars
Steve McKenna – bass guitar
Greg Morgan – drums
Don Airey – keyboards
Gavin Fernie – the voice of Meridian
Georgina Rudden – the voice at Cryotech and Lex’s computer

Tracklist:

01. The Stranger
02. Barricade
03. Give In This Time
04. Dawn Star (Japan Bonus Track)
05. Love Became The Law
06. The Heat
07. Silent Rain
08. Timeless
09. Black Hearted Woman
10. Thunder In Heaven
11. Valentine



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Ten - Far Beyond The World (2001) (Japan SHM-CD Edition 2016)













Year : 2001 (Japan SHM-CD Edition 2016)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 165 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

Fronted by the unique Gary Hughes, Britain ’90s leading melodic hard rock / AOR band TEN celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015. As the first press of their albums was difficult to obtain due to the long-term discontinuation, Japanese label Avalon / Victor Entertainment created this ‘TEN Essential Remaster Series‘, a SHM-CD carboard sleeve reissue of TEN’s best albums.And to make the band’s 20th anniversary reissues more special, Hughes provided material from his archives and one unreleased song is added to each album. These unreleased songs are exclusive to this ‘TEN Essential Remaster Series’ not to be found into any other release.While some TEN albums are criticized by its production – in fact, for their too many layers of sound – with 2001’s “Far Beyond The World” Gary Hughes & Co. opted for a more ‘straight’ AOR / Melodic Rock recording, and the result is one of the best CD’s of the decade for the genre.It’s that good.Speaking of classic AOR / Melodic hard rock classic sound, “Far Beyond The World” is just brilliant. Clear, melodic arrangements, sweet guitars & keys combination, and Gary’s pristine, sublime vocals.The sonic approach for this album is different than before, more to the point, not so flamboyant.In short; this is classic AOR awesomeness.“Far Beyond The World” is an often overlooked TEN album, and if you never properly heard it, it’s time to solve that. It’s one of their best, believe me.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – vocals
Vinny Burns – guitars
John Halliwell – guitars
Steve McKenna – bass guitar
Paul Hodson – keyboards
Greg Morgan – drums

Tracklist:

01. Scarlet And The Grey
02. Strange Land
03. What About Me?
04. Glimmer Of Evil
05. Last Of The Lovers
06. Heart Like A Lion
07. Black Shadows
08. High Tide
09. Far Beyond The World
10. Who Do You Want To Love?
11. Outlawed And Notorious
12. The Soldier (Bonus Track)
13. In Love And War (SHM-CD Bonus Track)



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Ten - Albion (Japan Edition) (2014)













Year : 2014
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 165 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – lead and backing vocals, programming
Dann Rosingana – guitars
Steve Grocott – guitars
John Halliwell – guitars
Steve Mckenna – bass
Darrel Treece-Birch – keyboards
Max Yates – drums and percussion

Tracklist:

01. Alone In The Dark Tonight
02. Battlefield
03. It's Alive
04. Albion Born
05. Sometimes Love Takes The Long Way Ho
06. A Smuggler's Tale
07. Die For Me
08. It Ends This Day
09. Gioco D'Amore
10. Wild Horses
11. Good God In Heaven What Hell Is This (Japan Bonus Track)



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Ten - Isla De Muerta (Japan Edition) (2015)













Year : 2015 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Video
Size : 165 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

Isla De Muerta is the twelfth studio album by the melodic hard rock band Ten, which was released on the 20th of May via Rocktopia Records. The album is named after the mythical "Island Of The Dead" from Pirate Legend and will open with the tracks "Buccaneers" and "Dead Men Tell No Tales". The album's cover was illustrated by Gaetano Di Falco.Ten’s newie touches on just about everything that the band is known for - Gary Hughes’ simple, but warm vocals; pomp flavoured hard rock tunes that run the gamut from simple to epic; totally bonkers lyrics about spectral astrology, mandrake twilight, dragons, distressed wenches and stuff like that; and a comforting knowledge that band ringleader Hughes knows where his strengths are and plays to them.The best thing about this recent revival in Ten’s fortunes is Gary’s refined production skills. This album features a massive sound, mixing a triple powerhouse guitar attack with a rich deep organ and keyboard presence, all mixed into a clean wall of sound by Dennis Ward.The album picks up where Albion left off. Where Albion’s style and sound could arguably be placed against the band’s classic debut, so to can this sequel be placed alongside the band’s original Name Of The Rose opus, which followed the self-titled debut.I’m impressed with the lineup now in play. I hope they can maintain some stability there now.Opening with the epic Dead Men Tell No Tales, the band’s boisterous sound is in full flight, with guitars dueling like clashing swords upon the good ship Ten.Tell Me What To Do is a keyboard filled pomp rocker with some curious lyrics, but a commercial, poppy chorus.Acquiesce is darker and a little more intense and is classic Ten all the way.This Love is a terrific classic Gary Hughes ballad with soaring vocals and guitars all the way. You’ve heard it before from Gary, but I’m happy to keep hearing quality ballads like this.The Dragon And Saint George features swirling keyboards, fast twisting vocals and keeps up a decent pace throughout.Intensify is another fast moving melodic rocker, but this one stands out for a brilliant vocal melody in the chorus and a classic Ten sound. Love this one and it runs over 7 minutes.The even more epic 8 minute The Valley Of The Kings is reminiscent of the Name Of The Rose album again, taking a long way around approach, with soloing guitars all over this one.Revolution clocks in at over 6 minutes, giving the middle part of the album a really epic feel. The track itself is a punchy fast moving hard rocker with some impressive metal guitar soloing.The moody and heavy Angel Of Darkness moves even faster, with drummer Max Yates earning his keep.The Last Pretender is a 7 minute melodic rocker with a big groove and another appealing chorus structure.It wouldn’t be a Ten album unless we closed with a simple, piano ruled sentimental ballad. This time it’s We Can Be As One doing the job. The song builds to a big finish in pretty quick time.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – vocals, guitars, backing vocals
Dann Rosingana – Lead guitars
Steve Grocott - Lead guitars
John Halliwell – Rhythm Guitars
Darrel Treece-Birch – keyboards, Programming
Steve Mckenna – Bass guitar
Max Yates – drums and percussion

Production:

Written and produced by Gary Hughes
Mixing and Mastering by Dennis Ward

Tracklist:

01. Buccaneers (Instrumental) / Dead Men Tell No Tales (6:20)
02. Revolution (5:56)
03. Acquiesce (4:45)
04. The Dragon And Saint George (5:16)
05. Intensify (6:40)
06. This Love (4:43)
07. Karnak (Instrumental) / The Valley Of The Kings (8:11)
08. Tell Me What To Do (4:16)
09. Angel Of Darkness (3:57)
10. The Last Pretender (6:40)
11. Assault And Battery (Japan Bonus Track) (4:53)

+ Video "Tell Me What To Do" (Official Lyric Video)



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Ten - The Dragon And Saint George (EP) (2015)













Year : 2015
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Video
Size : 165 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

On the back of such well received albums 'Abion' and 'Isla De Muerta', released a mere 6 months apart like their debut and follow up back in 1996, the UK's highly-rated melodic hard rock band Ten release their first EP for many years.Featuring exclusive artwork from Gaetano Di Falco, the EP also boast three previously unreleased tracks. These are no mere cast-off, but potential bone-fide classic, with 'Muskateers: Soldiers of the King' being right up their with the best historical Ten epics, while 'The Prodigal Saviour' and 'Is There Anyone With Sense' returns to the more melodic AOR of the debut. The EP also includes the European bonus track 'We Can Be As One', so for Japan and the Far East, there are 4 unreleased tracks.The booklet also contains written note by Gary Hughes on every song on 'Isla De Muerta' as well as the unreleased tracks found here, making for a totally indispensable package for all fans of wonderful melodic hard rock.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – vocals, guitars, backing vocals
Dann Rosingana – Lead guitars
Steve Grocott - Lead guitars
John Halliwell – Rhythm Guitars
Darrel Treece-Birch – keyboards, Programming
Steve Mckenna – Bass guitar
Max Yates – drums and percussion

Tracklist:

01. The Dragon And Saint George
02. Musketeers: Soldiers Of The King (Non-Album Track)
03. Is There Anyone With Sense (Non-Album Track)
04. The Prodigal Saviour (Non-Album Track)
05. Albion Born
06. We Can Be As One (Non-Album Track)

+ Video "The Dragon And Saint George" (Lyric Video)



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/



h

[Horex]

Ten - Gothica (Japan Edition) (2017)













Year : 2017 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Video
Size : 165 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

TEN is without any doubt one of the most respectful melodic hard rock bands out there. Having released some amazing records in their caree,r TEN strike back with their brand new opus, entitled "Gothica", and promise to be one of their strongest collections of songs to date.This time TEN are walking into some new music territories (modern/darker/heavier), without loosing their trademark which is the melody, and at the end achieve to create a great album all the way. Hughes is joined once again by Guitar players Dann Rosingana, Steve Grocott and John Halliwell. Along with Bass player Steve McKenna, Keyboard Maestro Darrel Treece-Birch and Drummer Max Yates.The opening tune of "The Grail" is really impressive and extremely interesting. Heavier with a 'darker' vibe but with a strong hook and chorus "The Grail" put us immediately into the new album mood. The straight forward rocker of "Jekyll And Hyde" takes command while "Travellers" is just awesome!! The classic TEN sound was transformed to fit perfectly in 2017 with a stunning guitar solo and with Hughes passionate vocals this one is pure gold. The 7-minute long tune of "A Man For All Seasons" is yet another highlight out of the new album. An epic song that features some really magical keys by Birch. Excellent, just excellent!! The up-tempo "In My Dreams" rocks in a very positive way, it's super catchy and commercial and I simply love it!!! I like a lot the bluesy "Paragon" and the punchy modern rocker of "Welcome To The Freak Show".TEN with their brand new album continue to deliver high quality and heartful melodic hard rock music with passion, great arrangements and an excellent musicianship. Ten in "Gothica" sounds a bit different from their previous works but for sure this new opus is one of the best records that this great band has ever released.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – vocals, guitars, backing vocals
Dann Rosingana – Lead guitars
Steve Grocott - Lead guitars
John Halliwell – Rhythm Guitars
Darrel Treece-Birch – keyboards, Programming
Steve Mckenna – Bass guitar
Max Yates – drums and percussion

Tracklist:

01. The Grail (8:06)
02. Jekyll And Hyde (4:41)
03. Travellers (5:11)
04. Man For All Seasons (7:00)
05. In My Dreams (5:08)
06. The Wild King Of Winter (6:13)
07. Paragon (4:50)
08. Welcome To The Freak Show (5:35)
09. La Luna Dra-cu-la (5:31)
10. Into Darkness (5:44)
11. Paragon (Bonus Mix) (Bonus Track) (3:37)

+ Video "La Luna Dra-cu-la" (Official Video)



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Ten - Illuminati (Japan Edition) (2018)













Year : 2018 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans + Video
Size : 165 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

UK hard rockers TEN is one of the most respectful bands out there. With several great albums on their 20-plus career, TEN strikes back with yet another solid record which is entitled "Illuminati". The new opus is going to be released through Frontiers Music s.r.l. this November.“Illuminati” is said to be an elite, secret organization of world leaders, business authorities, innovators, artists, and other influential members of the global society. A coalition that unites influencers of all political, religious, and geographical backgrounds to further the prosperity of the human species as a whole.The band's latest effort, "Gothica", was an excellent release by TEN and one of the band's finest records to-date. As in "Gothica" the same here, TEN continue to deliver epic, heart-full and powerful hard rock stuff at its best. Gary Hughes, the lead singer, is joined once again by guitarists Dann Rosingana, Steve Grocott and John Halliwell along with bass player Steve McKenna, Darrel Treece-Birch on keys, and drummer Max Yates."Illuminati" sounds like the best sequel to the albums such as "Gothica", "Isla De Muerta" and "Albion" but, also, refers to the band's earlier releases like "Spellbound", "Far Beyond The World" and "Babylon". Songs like "Shield Wall", "Jericho" and "The Esoteric Ocean" shows that TEN still got it to deliver melodic, edgy and heavy rockers while in tracks such as the beautiful mid-tempo "Of Battles Lost And Won", the amazing "Rosetta Stone" (which is among my favorites here) or the epic, and in some parts progressive, "Illuminati", TEN delivers some more technical and emotional songs. At this point, I have to add that one thing that impressed me the most here (except the magical vocals by Hughes) is the guitar work. I think that the guitar trio (Rosingana, Grocott and Halliwell) offers some incredible riffs and solos that makes "Illuminati" more attractive to some guitar freaks as well.Bottom line is that TEN never disappointing me. With each release, this band stays focused to its goal to create solid, melodic and epic hard rock music. "Illuminati" is nothing more, nothing less than the usual solid and beautiful TEN's music.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – vocals, guitars, backing vocals
Dann Rosingana – Lead guitars
Steve Grocott - Lead guitars
John Halliwell – Rhythm Guitars
Darrel Treece-Birch – keyboards, Programming
Steve Mckenna – Bass guitar
Max Yates – drums and percussion

Tracklist:

01. Be As You Are Forever
02. Shield Wall
03. The Esoteric Ocean
04. Jericho
05. Rosetta Stone
06. Illuminati
07. Heaven And The Holier-Than-Thou
08. Exile
09. Mephistopheles
10. Of Battles Lost And Won
11. Rosetta Stone (Remix) (Japan Bonus Track)

+ Video "The Esoteric Ocean" (Official Video)



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Ten - Here Be Monsters (2022)













Year : 2022
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 165 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

UK hard rock stalwarts Ten used the downtime during the worldwide pandemic to work on not one, but two new albums. The first album to be released is "Here Be Monsters". Following the success of the recent string of albums, from "Albion" to "Illuminati", Hughes is joined once again by guitarists Dann Rosingana, Steve Grocott and John Halliwell along with bass player Steve McKenna and keyboard maestro Darrel Treece-Birch. Drums on the album have been handled by Markus Kullman (Sinner, Glenn Hughes, Voodoo Circle). Ten continues to raise the musical bar higher, a goal the guys push on every release. Stunning guitar work, rich keyboards, excellent bass and drum interplay along with Hughes' rich vocals are the order of the day here. "Here Be Monsters" was produced by Gary Hughes and mixed and mastered by Dennis Ward. Ten's longstanding professional association with Dennis has been ongoing since he mixed their 2011 album "Stormwarning" and has always guaranteed albums with stunning sound and production. Fans should note that there are no ties between this and the next album, i.e. "Here Be Monsters" is not a 'part one' or anything of this nature. The band has simply crafted two high quality releases and decided to put them out separately, in a fashion not too dissimilar to what happened to the amazing first two records which were recorded one after the other in a very short period of time.British hard rockers Ten have an outstanding history of releases in their storied and revered catalog. Starting out as a sort of solo project built around singer and songwriter Gary Hughes, Ten found the audience playing a hard rock sound influenced by such giants as UFO, Thin Lizzy, Magnum, Giant and Whitesnake in a time when playing this particular sound was considered ommericial suicide. The band's early records such as "The Name Of The Rose", "The Robe", "Spellbound" and "Babylon" established the band as mainstays in the melodic hard rock genre, which has continued throughout their now 26 year career over the course of 14 studio albums.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – vocals
Dann Rosingana - guitar
Steve Grocott - guitar
John Halliwell - guitar
Darrel Treece-Birch - keyboards
Steve McKenna - bass
+
Markus Kullman - drums

Tracklist:

01. Fearless
02. Chapter And Psalm
03. Hurricane
04. Strangers On A Distant Shore
05. The Dream That Fell To Earth
06. The Miracle Of Life
07. Immaculate Friends
08. Anything You Want
09. Follow Me Into The Fire
10. The Longest Time



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Ten - Here Be Monsters (Japan Edition) (2022)













Year : 2022 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 165 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

UK hard rock stalwarts Ten used the downtime during the worldwide pandemic to work on not one, but two new albums. The first album to be released is "Here Be Monsters". Following the success of the recent string of albums, from "Albion" to "Illuminati", Hughes is joined once again by guitarists Dann Rosingana, Steve Grocott and John Halliwell along with bass player Steve McKenna and keyboard maestro Darrel Treece-Birch. Drums on the album have been handled by Markus Kullman (Sinner, Glenn Hughes, Voodoo Circle). Ten continues to raise the musical bar higher, a goal the guys push on every release. Stunning guitar work, rich keyboards, excellent bass and drum interplay along with Hughes' rich vocals are the order of the day here. "Here Be Monsters" was produced by Gary Hughes and mixed and mastered by Dennis Ward. Ten's longstanding professional association with Dennis has been ongoing since he mixed their 2011 album "Stormwarning" and has always guaranteed albums with stunning sound and production. Fans should note that there are no ties between this and the next album, i.e. "Here Be Monsters" is not a 'part one' or anything of this nature. The band has simply crafted two high quality releases and decided to put them out separately, in a fashion not too dissimilar to what happened to the amazing first two records which were recorded one after the other in a very short period of time.British hard rockers Ten have an outstanding history of releases in their storied and revered catalog. Starting out as a sort of solo project built around singer and songwriter Gary Hughes, Ten found the audience playing a hard rock sound influenced by such giants as UFO, Thin Lizzy, Magnum, Giant and Whitesnake in a time when playing this particular sound was considered ommericial suicide. The band's early records such as "The Name Of The Rose", "The Robe", "Spellbound" and "Babylon" established the band as mainstays in the melodic hard rock genre, which has continued throughout their now 26 year career over the course of 14 studio albums.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – vocals
Dann Rosingana - guitar
Steve Grocott - guitar
John Halliwell - guitar
Darrel Treece-Birch - keyboards
Steve McKenna - bass
+
Markus Kullman - drums

Tracklist:

01. Fearless
02. Chapter And Psalm
03. Hurricane
04. Strangers On A Distant Shore
05. The Dream That Fell To Earth
06. The Miracle Of Life
07. Immaculate Friends
08. Anything You Want
09. Follow Me Into The Fire
10. The Longest Time
11. Hurricane [Different Mix] (Japan Bonus Track)



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Ten - Battlefield (2CD) (Rocktopia Records Limited Edition) (2016)













Year : 2014 / 2015 (Rocktopia Records Limited Edition 2016)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 167 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

Rocktopia Records Collection includes all songs from the albums Ten - Albion and Ten - Isla De Muerta with all Japanese Bonus Tracks + exclusive songs previously only available on the Ten - The Dragon And Saint George EP.Signed to Rocktopia Records back in 2014, in a similar fashion to their one-two release of their much lauded debut and follow-up ‘Name of the Rose‘ in a 6 month period back in 1996, ‘Albion‘ and ‘Isla De Muerta‘ were released in November 2014 and May 2015 respectively.Both albums gained highly positive reviews with Gaetano Di Falco‘s wonderful art making striking covers. 2015 also saw the release of the ‘Dragon And Saint George‘ EP which contained 3 exclusive bonus tracks. ‘Albion‘ now completely sold out.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – lead and backing vocals, programming
Dann Rosingana – guitars
Steve Grocott – guitars
John Halliwell – guitars
Steve Mckenna – bass
Darrel Treece-Birch – keyboards
Max Yates – drums and percussion

+ Backing Vocals – Karen Fell

Production:

Design [Booklet] – James Gaden
Illustration [Cover] – Gaetano Di Falco
Mixed By, Mastered By – Dennis Ward
Photography By [Assisted by] – Chris Phillips
Photography By [Ten Official Photographer] – Adrian Ashworth
Producer – Gary Hughes
Written By, Arranged By – Gary Hughes

Tracklist:

CD1: “Albion” (2014)

01. Alone In The Dark Tonight
02. Battlefield
03. It’s Alive
04. Albion Born
05. Sometimes Love Takes The Long Way Home
06. A Smuggler’s Tale
07. It Ends This Day
08. Die For Me
09. Gioco D’Amore
10. Wild Horses
11. Good God In Heaven What Hell Is This (Japan Bonus Track)
12. The Prodigal Saviour (Exclusive EP Track)
13. Is There Anyone With Sense (Exclusive EP Track)

CD2: “Isla De Muerta” (2015)

01. Buccaneers (Instrumental)/Dead Men Tell No Tales
02. Tell Me What To Do
03. Acquiesce
04. This Love
05. The Dragon And Saint George
06. Intensify
07. Karnak (Instrumental)/Valley Of The Kings
08. Revolution
09. Musketeers – Soldiers Of The King (Exclusive EP Track)
10. Angel Of Darkness
11. The Last Pretender
12. We Can Be As One
13. Assault And Battery (Japan Bonus Track)



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Ten - Something Wicked This Way Comes (Japan Edition) (2023)













Year : 2023 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 144 mb

Bio:

Following the release of his first two successful solo albums, British vocalist-songwriter Gary Hughes was making the preparations to begin recording what was to be his third solo album. It was not long before the idea of an one disc album was dropped since Hughes ended up having written 28 songs, so it was decided to divide them into two albums – one containing the heavier material, and one that would contain the ballads. Additionally, the initial idea was to mix the album in the USA, so many renowned guitarists were considered for the guitarist position, including Doug Aldrich, Lanny Cordola and Ralph Santolla. However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns (Dare, Ultravox) was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the Hughes/Burns project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of TEN. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.The band's first album (named X) was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 50,000 records only during the first week of release. In order to support the album for the upcoming tour, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton (ex-Dare), keyboard player Ged Rylands (ex-KAGE) and guitarist John Halliwell (ex-KAGE). With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. The Name of the Rose was released in September of the same year (1996) and was equally successful to X, gaining some enthusiastic reviews from the critics. The title track was also voted “Song Of The Year” by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan.With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, TEN (without bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and The Robe was released in September 1997. The Robe marked a change in the overall sound of TEN, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences. With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named Never Say Goodbye.TEN's popularity in Europe increased when the band signed to major label Mercury Records for the release of their fourth studio album, Spellbound. The album was released in April 1999, was produced by Rafe Mckenna and was one of the most successful TEN albums in Europe. Spellbound was also the first TEN album for which famous fantasy artist Luis Royo designed the cover.In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of their next album. Babylon, which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for TEN and Gary Hughes even entering the German Rock Album Charts.Soon after, the band returned to the studio to record the follow-up album to Babylon, named Far Beyond the World. The recordings took place in Hannover, Germany, with Tommy Newton behind the mixing desk and ex-Hard Rain keyboard player Paul Hodson taking the place of Don Airey. In December 2001, TEN released Far Beyond the World; but just before the promotion of the new album had begun, guitarist Vinny Burns announced his departure from the band, citing creative differences.On July 2010, it was announced that Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on a new TEN album named Stormwarning, due to be released in early 2011 marking the band's return after 4 years of silence. The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson, Neil Fraser and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be the eleventh song on the Babylon album, but was removed from it three weeks prior to its final release.On 21 January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. Stormwarning on the other hand, was released in January and once again, proved to be a successful comeback for the band and its frontman Hughes after four years of absence from the music scene.On September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a TEN group on Facebook. Soon after, guitarist Neil Fraser and bassist Mark Sumner followed. On the 5th of November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's return, the band featured for the first time on a live setting, new lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did their first UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow, for the first time after their re-emergence. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.The band's latest studio album, entitled Heresy and Creed, was released on the 26th of September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd in North America. The leading single off the album was the song "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012.In March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.The band is currently working on their 11th studio album entitled Albion, which will be released worlwide on the 21st of November through Rocktopia Records.

Album:

UK hard rock stalwarts Ten used the downtime during the worldwide pandemic to work on not one, but two new albums. The first album to be released, "Here Be Monsters", landed on February 18, 2022 via Frontiers Music Srl. And now, the label is pleased to announce the second album of the two, "Something Wicked This Way Comes". Following the success of the recent string of albums, from "Albion" to "Illuminati", Hughes was joined once again by guitarists Dann Rosingana, Steve Grocott and John Halliwell along with bass player Steve McKenna, keyboard maestro Darrel Treece-Birch and drummer Markus Kullman (Sinner, Glenn Hughes, Voodoo Circle) for the recording of "Something Wicked This Way Comes". Ten continues to raise the musical bar higher, a goal pushed on every release. Stunning guitar work, rich keyboards, excellent bass and drum interplay along with Hughes' rich vocals are the order of the day here, as they were on this album's immediate predecessor, "Here Be Monsters". "Something Wicked This Way Comes" was produced by Gary Hughes and mixed and mastered by Dennis Ward. Ten's longstanding professional association with Dennis has been ongoing since he mixed their 2011 album "Stormwarning" and has always guaranteed albums with stunning sound and production. Fans should note that there are no ties between "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and "Here Be Monsters" or anything of this nature. The band simply crafted two high quality releases and decided to put them out separately, in a fashion not too dissimilar to what happened with the amazing first two records which were recorded one after the other in a very short period of time.British hard rockers Ten have an outstanding history of releases in their storied and revered catalog. Starting out as a sort of solo project built around singer and songwriter Gary Hughes, Ten found the audience playing a hard rock sound influenced by such giants as UFO, Thin Lizzy, Magnum, Giant and Whitesnake in a time when playing this particular sound was considered commericial suicide. The band's early records such as "The Name Of The Rose", "The Robe", "Spellbound" and "Babylon" established the band as mainstays in the melodic rock genre, which has continued throughout the now 26 year career over the course of 15 studio albums.

Line Up:

Gary Hughes – vocals
Dann Rosingana - guitar
Steve Grocott - guitar
John Halliwell - guitar
Darrel Treece-Birch - keyboards
Steve McKenna - bass
Markus Kullman - drums

+ guests:

Scott Hughes - backing vocals
Karen Fell - backing vocals

Tracklist:

01. Look For The Rose
02. Brave New Lie
03. The Tidal Wave
04. Parabellum
05. Something Wicked This Way Comes
06. The Fire And The Rain
07. New Found Hope
08. The Only Way Out
09. When The Darkness Comes
10. The Greatest Show On Earth
11. New Found Hope (Acoustic) (Japan Bonus Track)




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/