RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
-
77 – Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll
Heard this story before: brother guitar duo fires up their amplifiers in the desire to rock? Living at full volume, vocalist / guitarist Armand Valeta and his guitarist brother LG, along with drummer Dolphin and bassist Raw comprise Spain’s ’77 – already making a splash on the retro hard rock scene with their previous two…
-
FATES WARNING – Darkness In A Different Light
9 years is a long time to wait for a studio album in the metal industry. Be aware though that for many members of progressive metal veterans Fates Warning- it’s not like they were sitting away comfortably leading a normal day to day existence off the road. Ray Alder has been singing with Redemption since…
-
TONY CAREY’S PLANET P PROJECT – Steeltown
Most in the rock community know Tony Carey best either for his keyboard work in Rainbow from 1975-1977 as well as a couple of solo hits he had in the 1980’s with "First Day of Summer" and "Fine, Fine Day". Here he is with Planet P Project on their sixth album "Steeltown". To those not…
-
MASTER – The Witchhunt
Paul Speckmann is a true pioneer in the field of death metal. From Abomination and Death Strike to Master, Speckmann´s been part of history in the making and his contributions to the genre cannot be praised enough. His longest running constillation is Master who with "The Witchhunt" now have twelve full-lengths under their belt since…
-
COFFINS – The Fleshland
Japanese doom/death outfit Coffins did everything right on their debut "Mortuary in Darkness"(2005) and on follow-up "The Other Side of Blasphemy" (2006). Their mix of necro laden doom combined with ultra vilolent death metal packed in an ugly sound of distortion did work out splendidly and both albums have been on heavy rotation since their…
-
HAWKWIND – Spacehawks
‘Spacehawks’ contains 16 tracks – a mixture of new songs, remixes and re-recordings of classics and a few oddities (live & Dave Brock solo) thrown in. I am a fan of the band, but as with many Hawkind releases, I find myself asking – is this any good and how much do I need it?…
-
CONVULSE – Evil Prevails
Another day, another cult band comeback. In the last couple of years we have seen a lot of successfull and some not so successfull comebacks from bands that had something to say in the heydays of extreme metal (that is late 80´s/early 90´s). This time it´s death metal powerhouse Convulse that have risen from the…
-
ALTARS – Paramnesia
Altars hails from down under (that´s Australia) so they have no problem keeping their death metal warm, cozy and a little necrotic. The trio manage on their debut "Paramnesia" to deliver a mighty strong effort when dealing with dark and necro (oops, I said it again) death metal in the veins of Incantation (with a…
-
MYSTIC PROPHECY – Killhammer
Success has a way of influencing veteran acts in mysterious ways. Sometimes inspiration fuels subsequent releases in a new direction, often hoping for wider audience appeal. Most ardent metal musicians though carry a lifetime membership to the cause, so I wasn’t worried that following Mystic Prophecy’s touring escapades for 2011’s "Ravenlord" (which included their first…
-
DEMONICAL – Darkness Unbound
Expanding permanently to a five piece following guitarist Daniel Gustavsson’s rise from touring member to full time status, Sweden’s Demonical assault our ear drums once again with their extreme death metal sounds on their fourth full length "Darkness Unbound". Those who fear stylistic change or commercial aspects entering the fold can rest easy- the tones…
-
IZEGRIM – Congress of the Insane
Feel the stench of guitar strings flopping due to their low tuning as the rhythm section rises and falls with thrash, death, and doom mystique- and then the maniacal growls and bark of bassist Marloes Voskuil cut through the sonic landscape to give Dutch band Izegrim a chilling edge to the proceedings. The quartet returns…
-
BEATEN TO DEATH – Dødsfest!
Norwegian grindcore is not something we are spoiled with so it´s always interesting when something new comes out. We have a few established grind names in this scene and Beaten to Death is one of the newcomers that are starting to make an impact. Their debut from 2011 "Xes and Strokes" did get an fairly…
-
KREATOR – Dying Alive 2CD
Kreator er et av de virkelig store tyske thrash metal bandene i verden. Få band har hatt en såpass aktiv karriere som det Kreator har hatt. Bandet ble dannet i 1982 under navnet Tyrant. De skiftet raskt til Tormentor og videre til Kreator i 1984. Noen nedturer har det vært, men 13 studioalbum og to…
-
TOMBSTONES – Red Skies And Dead Eyes
Four full lengths in five years- you’ve got to hand it to Norwegian stoner/ doom trio Tombstones, they let their creative muscles fly quickly. "Red Skies and Dead Eyes" is a 6 song album, clocking in at a reasonable 44 minutes given their propensity for locking onto a groove/ riff and driving it home into…
-
DEVILDRIVER – Winter Kills
Devildriver with mainman Dez Fafara in front have a difficult history as a metal band. Starting out as a nu-metal band back in 2003 (and Fafara´s time in Coal Chamber) ,they have gotten quite a bit of negative feedback during the years. They have slowly developed into a bona fide groove/thrash outfit (ala Machine Head)…
-
SECRETS OF THE SKY – To Sail Black Waters
Expanding the horizons of a number of genres, Secrets Of The Sky is an Oakland, California sextet with at times three guitarists and three keyboardists creating an experimental progressive/black/doom sound on their debut album "To Sail Black Waters". Normally four songs would place this effort into the EP column- but when 2 of the tracks…
-
BLOODY HAMMERS – Spiritual Relics
Back for a second studio album, North Carolina’s Bloody Hammers decides to cover classic horror-themed stories on "Spiritual Relics". The quartet throws down a unique mixture of southern flavored heavy psychedelic music with occasional nods to the gothic and doom genres. A love of the 70’s scene is obvious with cuts like "At the Well…
-
WITHEM – The Point Of You
The Scandinavian progressive metal scene is hotter than molten lava these days. Spearheaded with Pagan’s Mind, Leprous, and Circus Maximus, Norway may finally shed its tag as being known for a black metal juggernaut and actually have outsiders realize there is a wealthy of talent in an array of other metal sub-genres. Withem is the…
-
ASKA – Fire Eater
Active in the scene for 23 years, gaining the chance to tour all areas of the globe performing to military base audiences in addition to regular club and theatre gigs, Texas’ Aska fight the good fight for traditional metal. To say people have been clamoring for a new studio album from the band is an…
-
INFECTED – Infected Generation
«Infected Generation» ble spilt inn på midten av nittitallet og bærer tydelig preg av det lydmessig. Lyden er så kompakt som du omtrent kan få det. Musikken er old school death metal og det høres ut om en blanding av Cannibal Corpse og Death. Mest Cannibal Corpse. Med en bitteliten touch av grind. Tøft å…
-
JESSE DAMON – Temptation In The Garden Of Eve
When you hear certain vocal lines mirroring a classic video track from Dio, you pay attention- good, bad, or indifferent. The song in question is "Black Widow"- the artist is Silent Rage guitarist/ vocalist Jesse Damon- and the comparison in terms of verses and overall feel to the arrangement is "Rock ‘N Roll Children" from…
-
WATAIN – The Wild Hunt
It does not go unnoticed when Watain releases their fifth album, namely The Wild Hunt. Especially when most of the comments that have flourished online has created such strong reactions among a large fan base. If one were to interpret what is being said, you’d think that Watain has chosen a new direction – perhaps the…
-
HOUSE OF SHAKIRA – Pay To Play
Signing to the Australian record label Melodic Rock Records, House Of Shakira is a Swedish group releasing their seventh studio album in "Pay To Play" – hot on the heels of last year’s "HoS" record. Heeding my plea for a quicker follow up (as 5 years between "Retoxed" and "HoS" was far too long of…
-
SINHERESY – Paint The World
If you start off developing your skills as a Nightwish cover band, do not be surprised if some of the influence of that premier Finnish act rubs off on your sound as you write original material. Italy sextet Sinheresy releases a debut album in "Paint The World" with 10 songs of symphonic oriented heavy metal.…
-
IMPIETY – The Impious Crusade MCD
Impiety fra Singapore er et band jeg har fulgt siden debuten "Asateerul Awaleen" ble sluppet i 1996. Her snakker vi om et extreme metal band som har et ekstremt høyt antall utskiftninger av medlemmer, en lang backkatalog de fleste band blir misunnelige på og de (eller han, Shyaithan) varierer det musikalske lydbildet til Impiety mye…
-
CARCASS – Surgical Steel
Finally, after a much to long wait Carcass is finally back with some METAL.The name Carcass should not need any introduction to anyone frequently checking out Eternal-Terrror. They are (where) the true grind gods and a personal favorite of mine from way back whom still get plenty of running time on my sterio. "Surgical Steel"…