RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
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X-DRIVE – Get Your Rock On
A hard rock project developed by guitarist Jeremy Brunner, X-Drive includes Burning Rain vocalist Keith St. John, ex-White Lion bassist James LoMenzo, and drummer Fred Fischer – and on their debut album "Get Your Rock On" has a lot of that arena anthem 80’s spunk and spirit full force within its 12 songs. Keith’s voice…
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BLOODEVIL – Infection
Italian thrash with groove/metalcore overtones here on "Infection", the debut album from Bloodevil. You can tell right away in "The Soul Destroyer" the band has a scattershot approach: intertwining occasional blast beats over up tempo drum parts heavy on the double bass, quick guitar picking, the right hook/groove combinations, and vocally very much like James…
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THE DAGGER – The Dagger
There’s something to be said for an established history in the scene. The current ‘throwback’ aspect of 70’s hard rock and early 80’s heavy metal is gathering a boatload of momentum across mainland Europe in terms of newer acts – and I worry about consumer burnout as product floods the current marketplace. Containing 3 ex-members…
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ORIGIN – Omnipresent
Origin, the technical death metal outfit from Kansas is known for delivering some of the most complex extreme metal around and their 2008 release "Antithesis" stands today as a landmark in this exhausting genre. Personally I´ve given the mentioned album and "Echoes of Decimation" (2005) quite some running time during the years but I always…
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ALGEBRA – Feed The Ego
The second album from Swiss thrash band Algebra brings me back to my teenage years discovering the plethora of original acts performing in this style from North America and Europe. "Feed the Ego" is a street level affair, 9 songs that represent an accurate assessment of what you would expect from the quartet in a…
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ACE FREHLEY – Space Invader
Original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley fires out another studio record, his first since 2009’s "Anomaly" which went over very well with his legion of fans. Containing 11 new songs and a Steve Miller cover "The Joker", the man knows his way around the hard rock community, delivering potent riffs, easy on the ears hooks, catchy…
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EMIL BULLS – Sacrifice to Venus
Diversifying from their conventional power metal platform, the alternative/modern metal act Emil Bulls hail from Germany, and certainly perform a testosterone fueled form of music on this 13 song record "Sacrifice to Venus". Between Christoph v. Freydorf’s duality in terms of tender clean melodies on "Gone Baby Gone" and "I Wanna Feel You" and the…
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HEIDRA – Awaiting Dawn
Inspiration began in 2006 for this Danish unit, as Heidra desire to create music that floats along melodic, epic, and power/symphonic meets folk/black metal lines. Working their way through a series of lineup changes, two demo recordings, and their "Sworn to Vengeance" EP – the sextet finally secured a reliable drummer in 2012 with Mikkel…
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BLUES PILLS – Blues Pills
The vintage hard rock phenomenon known as Blues Pills is about to unleash its first and proper debut album, and what a grand fucking joy that is to witness and immerse oneself in. The self-titled debut album contains 10 brilliantly crafted and catchy songs that are truly captivating in every sense of the word, one…
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CLOVEN HOOF – Resist or Serve
Back for a second go around in 2001 following their 1980’s presence among the NWOBHM scene, Wolverhampton, England’s Cloven Hoof are on their sixth studio album with "Resist or Serve". Bassist Lee Payne is the sole survivor so to speak from the old lineup to the new, but he’s surrounded himself in a quartet of…
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BELPHEGOR – Conjuring the Dead
Austria’s blackened death metal pioneers Belphegor are back with their 10th studio album, ‘Conjuring the Dead’, a 10 track dose of brutality, death and destruction that extends the wobbly career of this darkened quartet into its third decade. The tracks provide a decent mixture of the different styles seen in black metal and death metal,…
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NECROS CHRISTOS – Nine Graves
Necros Christos is among the "new" corps of formidable and geniually good death metal bands that roam the pages of various metal magazines. Forming back in 2001 by mainman Mors Dalos Ra they have so far released a bunch of splits/EP´s and two outstanding full-lengths I have given both of the full-lengths massive play time…
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POWERLORD – The Awakening
It´s allways amusing when "unknown" gems gets the re-release treatment and this time it´s US thrash outfit Powerlord who get´s a second 15 minutes of fame.Shadow Kingdom Records remasters thier sole album "The Awakening" and for those who did not catch Powerlord back in1986, this is your chance of getting your hands on some decent…
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ICHABOD KRANE – Day of Reckoning
Four musicians coming from various parts of the United States decide to record some classic old school heavy metal on this debut album "Day of Reckoning". Ichabod Krane consists of two musicians from Detroit’s Halloween in guitarist Rick Craig and bassist George Neal, ex-Sleepy Hollow drummer Tom Wassman of New Jersey, and current Wulfhook vocalist…
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TACIT FURY – A Social Berserker
Russia and death metal are hardly two things that are often found in the same sentence. In fact, there’s remarkably few metal bands that seem to make an impact on the world stage coming out of that region in general. At this stage it would be easy to launch into a ten page essay as…
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REAPER – An Atheist Monument
The fifth studio album from veteran German traditional metal quartet Reaper is an interesting 12 song, 64 minute foray back in time. Remember the days of guitar riffs sending chills down your spine because of the right evil chord combinations? Or a steady back beat rhythmically that wasn’t fancy, adding the appropriate rolls and fills…
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OCEAN CHIEF – Universums Härd
The Swedish doom/sludge/stoner metal entity named Ocean Chief has vomited forth its fourth album in the shape of "Universums Härd", which contains 7 rather raw and heavy songs filled with nihilistic riffs and unpleasant chords. "Universums Härd" is a grim and nasty record in some ways, partly due to the unpleasant vocals. I quite like…
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SECTU – Nefarious
The third album "Nefarious" from Swedish death metal artists Sectu comes with yet another rhythm section change to the lineup. Bassist Johan Niemann and drummer Richard Evensand are the new musicians, expanding the band to a quartet. Never fear though- the ripping, aggressive riffs and technically savvy lead breaks along with pummeling tempos still make…
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UNAUSSPRECLICHEN KULTEN – Baphomet, Pan, Shub-Niggurath
Some Chilean death metal up next with the third full-length from Unausspreclichen Kulten. Rather than the raw and bestial sound you might expect, these guys come up with something a bit more sophisticated and surprising, even if it does have both feet firmly planted in the early 90’s. For a start, the band gets bonus…
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ZAUM – Oracles
The Canadian duo named Zaum performs atmospheric and at times meditative and hypnotic doom metal/stoner rock influenced by antiquity and the battles of the ancient Middle East. The riffs are somewhat simple, catchy and drone-like while the vocals are somewhat chanted and otherworldly. There are ambient-like passages and percussion parts that enhance and underline the…
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KHTONIIK CERVIIKS cassette – Heptaedrome
‘Heptaedrome’ is the first album-length release from German trio Khtoniik Cerviiks, published only on cassette (Why? What if I don’t have electricity in my cave? What if I sold my cassette machine 27 years ago to buy a betamax video player?) and limited to 300 copies (Why not just issue a one-off wax phonograph for…
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TOMBS – Savage Gold
‘Savage Gold’ is the third full-length album from Brooklyn four-piece Tombs. It was the first I had ever heard of this band, but I am certain after 20 spins that it won’t be the last I hear of them. I suppose the hardest part of this review is going to be describing Tomb’s music. It…
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NASTY WHORES – Nasty Whores
This Italian quartet certainly throw their feet into the fire as far as a name that will provoke controversy – as four male musicians playing in the hard rock genre calling themselves Nasty Whores will get a lot of press coverage. Starting in 2008 as teenagers, they spent a lot of years finalizing the best…
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EMBRACE OF DISHARMONY – Humananke
In existence since 2006, this Italian progressive metal quartet has been honing in their sound for quite a few years. Probably a smart ideal if you want to make an impression on a cynical scene, especially in a realm that has very few leaders/ originators and a lot of copycats. "Humananke" is their debut album,…