ALBUM REVIEWS

RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS

  • MASSIVE ASSAULT – Death Strike

    The Dutch brutality continues with “Death Strike”, the second album from Massive Assault. Part crust and mostly old school raw death done the Swedish way, songs like “Driven Towards Death”, the bass heavy “Operation Anthropoid” and punk swinging meets Grave-ish “Aggressive Depression” will rattle limbs and cause quakes and shivers. The primitive production philosophy only…

  • VENDETTA – World Under Fire

    The UK traditional metal act Vendetta returns for their third full length “World Under Fire”- setting aside various members personal setbacks to deliver possibly their most potent and direct effort to date. Guitarist/ vocalist Edward Box has gone for a grittier vocal approach, hitting some impressive high notes on the early Fifth Angel-like “Veil Of…

  • ZARPA – Las Puertas Del Tiempo

    The Spanish traditional heavy metal band Zarpa have been plugging away off and on in the scene since 1977- releasing seven studio albums in the process. Their latest “Las Puertas Del Tiempo” is a 14 song, 65 minute plus excursion into the lands of late 70’s to mid 80’s heavy metal, with stirring riffs and…

  • FROZEN RAIN – Ahead of Time

    The return of an AOR/melodic rock band consisting of musicians from Belgium plus a German vocalist renowned for his work in Domain and Evidence One (Carsten Schulz), this second album “Ahead Of Time” features a balance between classic, stirring guitar lines, thicker keyboard parts and an amazing, world class vocal performance. Songs like “Breakin’ Out”,…

  • SAVAGE MESSIAH – Plague of Conscience

    While there’s been an obvious second generation thrash explosion in North America, we must not forget other international countries leading their own charge. Savage Messiah hail from the United Kingdom- an area where newer bands like Evile and Gama Bomb sit side by side along with the old guard like Onslaught to keep the scene…

  • SLEEPY HOLLOW – Skull 13

    The New Jersey power/doom metal band Sleepy Hollow returns with their latest studio album “Skull 13”. Vocalist Bob Mitchell has been involved in the metal scene for over 30 years, and he’s joined by new bassist Alan D’Angelo (former bassist Steve Brink plays on the record), and longtime members Tom Wassman on drums and Steve…

  • GOROD – A Perfect Absolution

    Something in the French waters seems to allow heavier, technical-oriented death and progressive metal bands to be sprouting their wares across the global scene. Forming in 1997 under the moniker Gorgasm, the French five-piece modified their name in 2005 to Gorod following the release of their debut album “Neurotripsicks”. “A Perfect Absolution” as their fourth…

  • BLACK MESSIAH – The Final Journey

    Pagan/ Viking metal would not be one of my favorite genres in the world, but one can’t deny its impact on the underground over the past few years. German sextet Black Messiah have quite a divergent sound on their fifth album “The Final Journey”- incorporating German language tracks at times into this musical stew of…

  • SHINING – Live Blackjazz

    ‘Live Blackjazz’ does almost exactly what it says on the label: it is just about the entire 2010 album ‘Blackjazz’ played live. For those who, like me, haven’t met Shining before, expect a frenetic mix of experimental jazz with a heavy dose of industrial and extreme metal influences. Musically, I have found this a difficult…

  • RORCAL – Heliogabalus

    Rorcal, my hat goes off to you. Heliogabalus is one of the heaviest, trance-inducing and depraved albums I have ever come across. The five-piece from Switzerland have carefully crafted an aural monolith of doom that will stand tall for a long time to come. At first there is nothing but silence and a lonely hi-hat…

  • LAY DOWN ROTTEN – Mask of Malice

    My first exposure to this German death metal quintet, the sixth studio album “Mask Of Malice” has much in common with the classic 90’s era of Swedish template Edge Of Sanity- an act who ran the flagpole for melody, punk and alternative outlooks to the conventional speed, blast and growl framework. Vocalist Jose Kleinert has…

  • VOZ – Shadows of Death

    Central Florida’s Voz are a power metal quartet in the vein of Iced Earth, Cage, and others of that double bass, soaring mid-range and higher vocal troop- releasing a 10 song debut album in “Shadows Of Death” that may appeal to the older generation. Guitarist Shane French previously played in Jon Oliva’s Pain and Circle…

  • LANE LANE – El Dorado Hotel

    Man, using one of those computer like vocal pop effects that is reserved for T-Pain on certain verses of “Believe” and “Moon God” made me almost delete “El Dorado Hotel” from my computer on first exposure. Teaming again with her husband/ keyboardist Erik Norlander, this symphonic rock lady comes out with another 10 song effort…

  • M-PIRE OF EVIL – Hell to the Holy

    Three former members of Venom in tow (the most famous being guitarist Jeff Dunn… aka Mantas) for this outfit M-pire Of Evil. Tony Dolan (The Demolition Man) is on bass/vocals, while Antton handles the drums for this three piece on their debut album “Hell To The Holy”. This is pedestrian traditional metal at best, very…

  • SEMARGL – Satanic Pop Metal

    ‘Satanic Pop Metal’ is the fifth album from Ukrainian four-piece Semargl. The title of the album gives it all away, really. Back at their inception 7 or 8 years ago Semargl played fairly straight-up BM with a strong Dimmu influence, but since then, they have incorporated industrial and black n’ roll into their music and…

  • SPIRES – Spiral of Ascension

    ‘Spiral of Ascension’ is the debut full-length from Manchester act Spires. The music on offer is progressive death metal played with a mix of clean and death vocals so that it runs the gauntlet from Dream Theatre to Death in terms of heaviness. With an average track length of 8 minutes it is fairly obvious…

  • HUMAN TEMPLE – Halfway to Heartache

    Bombastic intro plus an air raid defense siren signals the beginning strains of album number three for Finnish melodic metal/ hard rock act Human Temple. The opener “I Will Follow” contains a spirited guitar harmony reminiscent of early Elegy as well as some flowery keyboards and an epic instrumental break that would be the perfect…

  • PSYCROPTIC – The Inherited Repression

    Australia’s Psycroptic have been creating technical death metal since their 1999 inception, releasing four albums over their career and gaining the chance to tour the globe- with 250 shows alone in support of 2008’s “(OB)SERVANT” taking them into China, Inner Mongolia, Indonesia, and New Zealand beyond the conventional North America, European, and Australian markets. “The…

  • PILGRIM – Misery Wizard

    What a pleasure it was early in 2011 to witness this three piece from Rhode Island in a live setting on a doom filled metal night at Ralph’s Diner in Worcester, MA. For the first time hearing this young outfit, Pilgrim blew my mind with their classic sensibilities and haunting melodies. Here we have their…

  • BLESSED BY A BROKEN HEART – Feel the Power

    Originating as a metal-core band with their first album, Canada’s Blessed By A Broken Heart have morphed into more of an 80’s larger than life traditional metal meets arena hard rock act with this third album “Feel The Power”. Which brings up huge warning signals in my brain regarding the true intent of the material…

  • NITROGODS – Nitrogods

    The hard rock/ metal Mecca within Europe remains Germany. So many stories to tell from their international output (Scorpions, Accept, Helloween, and Kreator to name four of thousands) to their long standing summer festival traditions (who hasn’t heard of Wacken these days?), it’s little wonder that as bands retire and wither away, newer domestic ones…

  • BONFIRE – Fireworks… Still Alive!

    Brought to life once again, the bulk of this live album from Germany’s Bonfire focuses on their second studio effort, 1987’s “Fireworks”. Out of the 16 songs, 10 of them are from this gold selling record, along with “You Make Me Feel” from their debut “Don’t Touch The Light”, “Sword And Stone” from the Wes…

  • MORDBRAND – Necropsychotic

    Ah sweet Swedish old school death metal from Mordbrand. Featuring God Macabre vocalist P. Boder, this six song EP brings me back to the early Sunlight days, where the evil, down tuned guitars and thunderous bass just scared anyone unassuming or unaware of this style. “Eaters Of The Void” crawls out of the sewage with…

  • THIN LIZZY – Live in London (Hammersmith Apollo)

    I don’t mind people keeping the spirit of this Irish band’s music alive- but I question the validity of calling this Thin Lizzy without Phil Lynott fronting the band. The Almighty’s Ricky Warwick handles the vocals admirably, and mainstays Scott Gorham on guitar and Brian Downey on drums plus keyboardist Darren Wharton give this incarnation…

  • ZOROASTER – Matador

    Atlanta, Georgia’s psychedelic stoner doom trio Zoroaster assault the senses with their second album “Matador”. For guitarist/vocalist Will Fiore, bassist/vocalist Brent Anderson, and drummer Dan Scanlan, it’s all about pummeling bottom end grooves and this foreboding conviction through their crushing sound. Songs like “D.N.R.”, “Trident”, and trance-like “Old World” take what bands like Kyuss, Down,…

  • SKIRMISH – Through the Abacinated Eyes

    Born in 2005, the self-proclaimed bulldozer of heavy metal known as Skirmish hit the Finnish scene with their furious brand of thrash with death leanings and after three demo and EP releases release their debut album. This four piece have a love for the fast and furious, leveling the listener with guitar, bass and drum…

  • CAGE – Supremacy of Steel

    Sixth album from the traditional metal force out of San Diego, California Cage- “Supremacy Of Steel” isn’t an effort for non-believers. This 12 song recording comes out swinging from the high pitched Sean Peck screams and blast beats within opener “Bloodsteel” on through to the 2:57 closer “Skinned Alive” with sinister chants and pulsating dual…

  • RIOTGOD – Invisible Empire

    The rhythm section of Monster Magnet Bob Pantella on drums and Jim Baglino on bass formed this group in 2007, filling out the lineup with Garrett Sweeny and local New Jersey connection Mark Sunshine on vocals. “Invisible Empire” is their second studio album, a 12 song excursion into the lands of stoner hard rock and…

  • STEELWING – Zone of Alienation

    The traditional metal movement consistently needs a healthy infusion of younger acts willing to set the bar in terms of songwriting, performance and attitude to ensure its future vitality. During the late 70’s and early 80’s the bulk of acts resonating with fans resided in the UK. During the mid to late 80’s, America and…

  • 77 – High Decibels

    A duo of guitar playing brothers, Gibson SG’s firing off hard bluesy rock and roll, with one of the brothers conjuring up the spirits of Bon Scott with a twinge of early Joe Elliot. With a name like 77, it’s easy to tell we aren’t dealing with a four piece who live for the modern…