RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
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VAN CANTO – Dawn of the Brave
Continually stretching the conventional tools used for metal, Van Canto use their voices to create a majority of the sounds in play as Power A Cappella is their style on this fifth full length "Dawn of the Brave". Only drummer Bastian Emig uses real instrumentation (and kudos for this, as a drum machine rarely works…
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THYRIEN – Hymns of the Mortals
They say you have a lifetime to create a debut album. In the case of Finland’s Thyrien, that statement could be ironic. Originally starting on "Hymns of the Mortals" in 2008, it took until 2014 for this release to finally hit the marketplace due to lineup changes, paperwork issues, and lack of time to devote…
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MUSTASCH – Thank You For The Demon
Hard rock, heavy metal, stoner rock- whatever way you chose to slice it, Sweden’s Mustasch continue to excel at the art of wrenching all the right emotion out of every song they write and play. "Thank You For the Demon" builds upon their last release 2012’s "Sounds Like Hell, Looks Like Heaven"- 9 songs that…
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PERSUADER – The Friction Maze
Eight years seems like an eternity to wait for a follow up album, but it’s not as if the members of power metal band Persuader were idling their time away. Guitarists Jens Carlsson and Emil Norberg worked with Savage Circus on a couple of albums, drummer Efraim Juntunen and guitarist Daniel Sundbom played with the…
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PROFANATICA – Thy Kingdom Cum
Paul Ledny (ex Incantation) and his unholy alliance Profanatica is back with their third opus of necro ridden black metal done the American way. Being an active band since 1990 the productivity of Profanatica has been mainly in the EP/Split department but 2013 saw the band release a full-length aptly titled "Thy Kingdom Cum". The…
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MYSTIFIER – Wicca – rerelease
Mystifier (Brazil) have delivered unholy black metal since 1989 and their debut "Wicca" from 1992 is getting the re-release treatment. The production is much clearer than the original and to some this is great, to others this is usually not acceptable because it alters the allover feeling of the album. Personally I don´t like it…
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ALFAHANNE – Alfapokalyps
Alfahanne are probably best described as a rock and roll band with elements of punk, black and classic metal combined. Look at a picture of the band and you’ll probably get the idea before you’ve even heard the music. At times it has a beautiful melodic, early 80’s gothic feel and at other times it…
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DEMILICH – 20th Adversary of Emptiness
Finnish death metal cult act Demilich get´s another re-release treatment of their brilliant (but sadly only) opus "Nesphite" in conjunction of the 20 years anniversary of it´s release back in 1993. The aptly titled "20th Adversary of Emptiness" is a box set containing the genial album "Nesphite" (of course) and everything else Demilich have ever…
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LEATHERWOLF – Unchained Live
One of my favourite releases from the mid 80’s was Leatherwolf’s self titled full-length debut. It is one of the only records from that era that I still return to regularly. When the follow up ‘Leatherwolf II’ can along, I felt it was a little soft for my tastes. It lacked the attack and NWOBHM…
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OMNIVORE – Omnivore
There’s nothing wrong with hearing a death/thrash act from Italy who live for speed and well played transitions- and that’s what you’ll get from Italy’s Omnivore on their self-titled debut album. Remember the days of late 80’s/ early 90’s Sadus, Massacra, and Merciless- along with the Bay Area gang chorus vocals? That’s what you’ll get…
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TORTORUM – Katabasis
I was pretty excited about checking out this latest offering by the black metal squadron named Tortorum in that I thought that their debut album was quite nicely done and well arranged. Luckily, this new assault of theirs, which is entitled Katabasis, is even better than the aforementioned debut. The album contains 9 songs that…
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CULLOODEN – Silent Scream
To be progressive, heavy and modern without alienating the listeners of different styles is a tough combination to tackle. If your music and songwriting is too complex, you may only gain musician-like appeal. And yet with the success of Periphery (and a lesser extent Fair to Midland), people are clamoring for artists to explore new…
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DENDERA – The Killing Floor
At times the sheer multitude of bands and music at our disposal in 2014 can leave you shell shocked. Streaming avenues, subscription models, ubiquitous social media sites that add new material 24/7/365 – it can be difficult to take everything in and still make sense of it all. Thus when I had the chance to…
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DIO – Finding the Sacred Heart – Live in Philly 1986
Being a big fan of nearly everything related to the late, great Ronnie James Dio, which is to say Black Sabbath, Elf, Rainbow, and DIO, I was quite pleased when «Finding the Sacred Heart – Live in Philly 1986» saw the light of day some months ago. This 2-disc release contains an entire show from…
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RAIN OF ACID – Ghost Town
Scandinavian melodic death metal has a distinct charm- probably due to the dark winter nights and melancholic atmosphere that seems to fuel a desire to play in this style. Channeling the emotions into a musical direction that benefits both band and consumer, we’ve heard some incredible works in the past few years from Finnish bands…
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NO DAWN – Dark Aura
No Dawn gikk fra å være et melodiøst Gøteborgsk coverband til og plutselig bli et brutalt death metal band. Dette var en utvikling jeg likte godt og nå er bandet klare med sitt debutalbum kalt «Dark Aura». Skiva er innspilt i Italia, utgitt på italienske Wormholedeath og skal være å se i butikkene rundt disse…
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NIGROMANTE – Black Magic Night
I admire persistence in the metal scene, and this Spanish heavy metal act Nigromante has a ton of it. To finally see the release of a debut album "Black Magic Night" 11 years after forming could be considered a true sign of commitment (or insanity), depending on the final product. For this duo of musicians…
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MACABRE – Dahmer
Macabre (US) have coined the label "Murder Metal" on their music, mostly because of their lyrical content that (almost) evolves around various mass murderes. Macabre started out back in 1984 but have only released five full-lengths since their debut "Gloom". Their music can be described as a hybrid between grindcore, thrash and death metal ->…
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DISTANT PAST – Utopian Void
Traditional metal with flashes of thrash and power metal from the Swiss band Distant Past, "Utopian Void" appears to be a mixed bag affair to these ears. Megadeth comes to mind with the lead break choices and attacking riff motions for "On the Edge", while Iron Maiden and other NWOBHM acts come to mind with…
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MORGUE ORGY – The Last Man on Earth
Britisk melodiøs death metal med to varianter av vokal; en Dani Filth lignende og en mørkere growl. Litt black metal-ish innimellom, noe symfoniske greier her og der, kanskje litt for mye synth for mine ører men ellers mye bra. Sinnsykt mye bra faktisk. Åpningslåta minner mye om Cradle of Filth og første gang jeg hørte…
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THRASH BOMBZ – Mission Of Blood
Active since 2007, Italian quintet Thrash Bombz doesn’t really leave much to the imagination regarding what style of metal they play, now do they? Their debut album "Mission of Blood" has a lot of that stair step, heads down riffing and chant vocals that could crossover a lot of Testament and Anthrax with a touch…
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TORCHURE – Beyond the Veil
Another re-relaese of an relativly unknown death metal gem. This time it´s the German outfit Torchure and their debut from 1992 "Beyond the Veil" that is getting its fair treatment of showcasing the youth of today what they had to offer some 20 years ago. Torchure called it a day after their second release "The…
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SATANIC MALFUNCTIONS – Them
After an absence of about 22 years Yorkshire 3 piece Satanic Malfunctions have returned with a full length album that takes the listener straight back to late 80’s/early 90’s hardcore. By that I mean real ‘hardcore’. Fast, angry, crusty and with a political and social conscience – quite dissimilar and infinitely better than the kind…
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C.O.A.G. – Sociopath
C.O.A.G. is a one man grind attack from Déhà of We All Die (laughing). Although there are 15 tracks here, don’t be fooled – this is old school grind, so the track lengths are such that the whole thing is over in 13 minutes. The song names are all just Roman numerals except for track…
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NEBELUNG – Palingenesis
Nebelung performs haunting and melancholic music revolving around acoustic and steel-stringed guitars, cellos, percussion, accordion, etc. One could argue that the music of Nebelung falls into the neo-folk category, but personally I think it goes a little beyond that, but that is a matter of perspective I suppose. Dark folk is more like it if…
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TREBLINKA – Shrine of the Pentagram
Before Tiamat understood how bad their first band name was, they called themself Treblinka. I will not comment the extremely bad name choice anymore but only the music on Century Media´s re-release of their first demos and live recordings before the swedes changed their name to Tiamat and released some really groundbreaking doom/death metal releases…
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BEASTMILK – Climax
WTF? After listening thru Beastmilk´s debut album "Climax" , all I can studder is "what just hit me"? This is some of the weiredest (in a positive and creative meaning) and most interessting thing I have heard in a long while. Giving notice to everything from punk, pop to extreme thrash riffing "Climax" lands on…