ALBUM REVIEWS

RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS

  • BLIND GUARDIAN – Beyond the Red Mirror

    The almighty Blind Guardian – leaders in not only the German metal scene for their brand of power metal with progressive/symphonic touches, but also fueling the international market place. Fans await each studio record in anticipation of what will take place next, given the fact that the band takes 4-5 years often between new releases.…

  • WHITE ARMS OF ATHENA – White Arms of Athena

    A five-piece act from Texas, White Arms of Athena on their self-titled sophomore album fuse a brand of progressive, dissident shred heavy rock platform that floors you. Expect atmospheric, alternative and almost morose melodies in the vocal department, which added to the thunderous, progressive drumming, solid bass parts, and clean to electric guitar action gives…

  • CRUIZZEN – Free Ride

    Bavaria, Germany’s Cruizzen live for that older hard rock ideal on this 13 song effort "Free Ride". A lot of the live free, pedal to the metal ethic shines on "Straight down Dirt", while "Soundmaker" and "Sparkplugs Blowing" combine a lot of early Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Rose Tattoo charm. Alexander Mayer could be Brian Johnson’s…

  • NOCTURNUS – The Science of Horror

    All hail Nocturnus! I´am sure you know about Mike Brownings experimental outfit that lasted sadly to short.This cult act released a couple of uber classics back in the early 90´s and finally their two demos from late 80´s are now being proper re-released in its original dirty form. No remixing or anything, just raw, unpolished…

  • ONE-WAY MIRROR – Capture

    Take one part Mnemic vocalist in Guillaume Bideau, add in the rest of Lyzanxia in guitar brothers David and Franck Potvin, bassist Perdi and drummer Clément Rouxel and you would think we would develop quite an intriguing heavy product. Dead wrong – the 11 originals plus intriguing ‘pop’ turned heavy cover choice slot horizontally in…

  • DIARY OF SECRETS – Back from the Start

    A Greek heavy metal band that seem to straddle the fence between conventional power riffs and a touch of modern spirit for this 4 song EP "Back from the Start". A versatile teaser, as "Paris (instrumental)" has a lot of the Trivium/ Megadeth stomp factor against some Gamma Ray/ Firewind like guitar harmonies and flash,…

  • NIGHTINGALE – Retribution

    Sweden’s Dan Swanö is a musical savant – able to perform in a wide multitude of styles convincingly and spread his talent out over the course of decades. Nightingale would be his progressive light rock meets AOR band, and "Retribution" is the eighth studio album in their discography. Dan and his brother Dag intuitively know…

  • INEDIA – Human Meridians and Cohabitant Cores

    The second album from Italian progressive/ alternative metal act Inedia would be my first exposure to the group, and these 8 songs send you on an aural odyssey to outer world regions. Be it morose, tribal, and culturally connective for the acoustic-oriented "Heat the Universe" or snake charming in bass parts while the arrangement builds…

  • THE ORDER OF APOLLYON – The Sword and the Dagger

    Frankrike har mye godt å by på. Ikke bare snegler, froskelår, pariserloff og mye annen god mat, men også innen musikk har de veldig mye bra å by på. Jeg erindrer at jeg gjorde et lite dypdykk i den franske undergrunnscenen for noen år siden og jeg ble overrasket over hvor stor metalscenen var og…

  • ISSA – Crossfire

    Another studio album from Issa, the Norwegian melodic rock singer who seems to put her abilities in the best light possible. Be it through strong ballad duets with FM singer Steve Overland on "Raintown", musicians such as guitarist Steve Newman, keyboardist Alessandro Del Vecchio, Work of Art’s Robert Sall, Degreed’s Daniel Johansson, and supplementary vocal…

  • GAMMA RAY – The Best (of)

    "Gamma Ray to release their first ever Best of album" heter det i presseskrivet fra earMusic. Noen har ikke fulgt med i timen, for «Blast from the Past» er da vitterlig en best of skive det også. Hvis de tenker på tittelen, så er det bandets første «Best of» skive, men hallo!! Det skal gå…

  • CRIMSON BLUE – The Angelic Performance

    A keytar-equipped female soprano voice fronts this Russian gothic metal quintet. Actually their sound blends together symphonic-oriented acts with nu-art attack, very forceful and addictive in terms of exotic melodies and hooks. Everything from A Perfect Circle and Nightwish to Devin Townsend and Pain of Salvation come up on the ethereal opener "Locust" all the…

  • ARCHGOAT – The Apocalyptic Triumphator’

    Finland’s Archgoat have always been a band who followed their own darkened path and their sound has therefore developed into one that is extremely developed and individualistic. Its roots lie in bestial death/black metal of the primitive school, but often played at doomy lower speeds. The overall effect is hypnotic and ritualistic, creating a heady…

  • DREADFUL MINDS – Love, Hate, Lies

    A German sextet performing in a style very familiar to those who love melodic metal release a 14 song album with "Love, Hate, Lies". I’d say their sound has a lot of 80’s characteristics – powerful riffing, strong metal grooves, and keyboards adding airy ambiance to the proceedings. Those who remember the early "Colour Temple"…

  • CRETIN – Stranger

    ‘Stranger’ is the second full-length from California four-piece Cretin. It featured on quite a few ‘Best of 2014′ lists, especially among the grind cohort. Having said that, the Cretin sound also contains a heavy dose of Death Metal, with Marissa’s vocals sometimes reminding me of early Chuck Schuldiner and the breakdown beats recall Autopsy at…

  • INQUISITION – Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult (re-release)

    Up next is the re-release of the debut album from Colombian kings of Black Metal Inquisition. There is no difference to tracklisting or mastering and no bonus tracks but the cover has been considerably upgraded and the theme and artwork is planned to be continued on future re-releases this year. Inquisition are one of few…

  • SYLOSIS – Dormant Heart

    The fourth studio album for UK melodic death/thrash act Sylosis comes with a new drummer in Ali Richardson, and a lot of American attack nuances to keep the younger generation very happy. Josh Middleton’s caustic, Robb Flynn like roar cuts like a knife on tight picking numbers like "Victims and Pawns" and "Overthrown", while the…

  • HEYWIRE – Heywire

    This Danish quartet play a musical cocktail of symphonic rock with metal and hard rock textures on this self-titled album. Nothing overly adventurous, but definitely rooted in the 1970’s/ 80’s scene – aspects of Deep Purple, Royal Hunt, Saga, and Styx come up most when taking in songs such as "Under the Sun" and the…

  • DEVIL’S TRAIN – II

    The debut, self-titled album from melodic, bluesy hard rock act Devil’s Train back in 2012 made quite an impression on the scene, smartly putting together familiar players in the scene like Mystic Prophecy’s R.D. Liapikis on vocals and Lakis Ragazas on guitar, ex-Stratovarius drummer Jörg Michael on drums, and current Masterplan bassist Jari Kainulainen. Given…

  • SARPEDON – Anomic Nation

    Straight from their official Facebook page, Norway’s Sarpedon is ‘declaring war on progressive metal as we know it’. My first exposure to this act, they’ve been active since 2005 and put out two demos before releasing this debut album "Anomic Nation". We have here an 8 song album that is as heavy as it is…

  • ANCIENT RITES – INGESTED – The Architect of Extinction

    Belgisk black metal i Dimmu Borgir gata. Ancient Rites er et band jeg har hørt om i snart en mannsalder, men har aldri sjekket dem ut noe særlig. Det jeg har hørt av dem har ikke tent noen form for gnist i meg slik at jeg har hatt lyst til å sjekke dem ut grundigere.…

  • CODE – Mut

    Code has been an interesting band to follow ever since it was first conceived back in the early 2000s, not only due to the quality of its full-length albums, but also the unpredictable and exciting twists and turns that the music and the band as a whole seem to have embraced wholeheartedly ever since the…

  • INGESTED – The Architect of Extinction

    Manchester er velkjent for sine to fotballag, men de har også mer å by på. Her i form av Ingested. Ingested er et death metal band av den brutale sorten. De har enkelte metalcore innslag i musikken sin. Alle som kjenner meg, vet at jeg absolutt ikke er en fan av akkurat metalcore, men brukt…

  • HAKEN – Restoration (EP)

    Normal bands would consider a 3 song effort an EP, and although UK progressive metal act Haken look at their latest release "Restoration" in the same regard, understand that you’ll get close to 34 minutes of songwriting for your time. Through three previous studio albums the sextet have asserted themselves with a melodic yet intricate…

  • MARDUK – Frontschwein

    "Frontschwein" er den trettende fullengderen til den svenske krigsmaskinen Marduk. Det er bandets første på tre år så fansen har nok ventet på denne godbiten. Og en godbit er det. I mine ører er dette ett av bandets desidert beste album, om ikke det aller beste. 11 godt varierte gode låter der Marduk virkelig får…

  • VENOM – From the Very Depths

    Venom er en institusjon i seg selv. Uten Venom hadde kanskje ikke black metal sjangeren det navnet de har i dag. Eller kanskje noen andre hadde gitt ut ei plate kalt Black Metal og sjangeren hadde blitt helt annerledes. Hvem vet? En ting er i alle fall sikkert, Venom i 2015 er noe helt annet…

  • RESISTANCE – The Seeds Within

    Belgian deathcore… two words I never thought would go next to each other in my reviewing queue, but here we have album number five from the quintet in "The Seeds Within". The 10 songs fluctuate between intense riff swarms and speedy tempos while savage screams compete for air time such as "Cross the River" or…

  • KEEP OF KALESSIN – Epistemology

    To most people in Norway, Keep of Kalessin is probably known for being "that metal band who entered Melodi Grand Prix (Norwegian edition of ESC)", but to actual fans of the band, they’re much more than that. Keep of Kalessin has always been one of the Norwegian metal bands that has focused on making music…

  • LOREWEAVER – Italic

    An Italian progressive metal band with odd symphonic, power, and modern tendencies, LoreWeaver release a debut album in "Italic" that may take numerous spins to full engage the brain and stick. Especially with 7 songs spanning the course of 62 minutes, there’s a lot of information to consume – including two sprawling epics in the…

  • NEXUS OPERA – Tales from WWII

    A keyboard heavy power metal sextet, Nexus Opera hail from Italy and although starting their band in 2002, we finally get a debut album in "Tales from WWII" 12 years later. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been worth the wait, as in my opinion the drumming, overall hooks and arrangements never elevate themselves above the pack in…