RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALPHA TIGER – Man Or Machine
German traditional/speed metal band who roar straight out of the 80’s songwriting bag of tricks on this “Man Or Machine” album. These 9 songs have so much in common with the mid to late 80’s power sound, especially American acts like early Heir Apparent, Riot circa Thundersteel and Deadly Blessing, plus a heavy dose of…
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G.U.S – Save Yourself
With a catchy blend of rock, folk rock and what might best be described as a sophisticated attempt at country G.U.S’ “Save Yourself” captures the listener right off. With lyrics containing clear cut and obvious political statements about a passive aggressive society the title track “Save Yourself” imprints itself as a highlight. The highlight marker…
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IZEGRIM – Code Of Consequences
Decades ago, metal seemed an impervious club for females to move into as musicians. Especially in the thrash, death and black genres, where extremes are more prevalent. I would think based on musicians like Angela Gassow of Arch Enemy or in earlier days Leather Leone or Doro Pesch the world has come to realize that…
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IN THIS MOMENT – A Star-Crossed Wasteland
Expectations is a major part of the music industry. Looking at a album cover, reading the title and artist/band name will in most cases give you some indication to what you might expect from the album. “A Star-Crossed Wasteland” by In This Moment would lead most people to expect some form of progressive metal, perhaps…
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NOCICEPTOR – Among Insects EP
Dallas, Texas’ Nociceptor give us an 8 track poly-rhythmic metal lesson with “Among Insects”. Consisting of 6 actual songs, an intro and “Emergence” which is a 50 second math groove instrumental breather, the four piece reside in the lower Nevermore power sound when they choose to riff conventionally – but prefer to showcase their Meshuggah…
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KAMPFAR – Mare
"Mare" is the fifth full-length from pagan black-metallers Kampfar. The first thing that strikes you about this CD is the cover – three people covered with red sheets and the logo written in a little circle that looks like a sticker. Very unusual for the genre, and I don’t think it works on any level.…
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FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE – Agony
When reviewing Fleshgod Apocalypse’s "Mafia" EP earlier this year I found their orchestrated elements to disturb their excellent death metal. I even went as far as suggesting them dropping their orchestral dwellings altogether and focus solely on their strength, being hard hitting old school death metal. Well…, now their new album has arrived and I…
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THE INTERBEING – Edge Of The Obscure
The state of metal in Denmark appears to be alive and well – given the success of Artillery and Mercenary in the current scene, I’m not surprised to see the new breed pushing parameters. Take The Interbeing – an unusual moniker for a tech metal meets melodic death group, but with their debut album “Edge…
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ANAAL NATHRAKH – Passion
"Passion" is the sixth full length album from Anaal Nathrakh. V.I.T.R.I.O.L. and Mick Kenney has since the inception of the band in 1999, been in their own division when it comes to extreme metal. Some bands have tried to approach them, but this is and will be Anaal Nathrakh’s territory. They are famous for making…
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BLOODWRITTEN – Thrashin’ Fury
Polish thrashers Bloodwritten started out a little over a decade ago as a black metal act, but quickly moved on to more of a thrash metal sound, with "Thrashin’ Fury" standing strongly in the modern thrash camp. I find most modern thrash acts disappointing for two reasons. Firstly, some of them come across as mere…
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HAVOK – Time is Up
Thrash metal is just as hot as the 80’s and there’s a whole bunch of bands out there in the big world trying to break out. So-called modern thrash has gained a foothold in central Europe, while in Scandinavia and the U.S. the bands are mainly inspired by the Bay Area scene. Some crossover band…
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DEMIURG – Slakthus Gamleby
Demiurg (Swedish version) are something of a Death Metal superband with Rogga Johansson of Paganizer and Ribspreader on vocals and guitar, the legendary Dan Swanö on keyboards and lead guitar, Ed Warby of Gorefest and Hail of Bullets on drums, Johan Berglund (Ribspreader, The Grotesquery) on bass and clean vocals by Pär Johansson of Satariel…
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SHADOWSIDE – Inner Monster Out
This Brazilian female fronted melodic metal act pulled out all the stops on their third album “Inner Monster Out”. Realizing how important of a record this is in their career aspiration, vocalist Dani Nolden, guitarist Raphael Mattos, bassist Ricardo Piccoli and drummer Fabio Buitvidas who form Shadowside took their talent into Studio Fredman in Sweden…
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VESPER – Possession of Evil Will
My knowledge of the Italian thrash metal scene was limited to Bulldozer and Death Mechanism before I discovered this treat of an album released by Witching Metal Records at the end of 2010. We’re talking about a band that was formed in 2008, they named it Vesper and this is their debut album. From before…
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DEATH – Human (Reissue)
When "Human" was released I personally got my preceptor antennas up as something unique undoubtedly was a brewing. What I later realized was that this album marked the moment in time when Chuck Schuldiner transcended from being a mere musical mastermind to become a metal god. Everything released from here on by the late Mr.…
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EDGUY – Age Of The Joker
Germany’s Edguy have transformed themselves from a potent Helloween-styled power metal band that struck a chord worldwide as early teenagers into a veteran band able to sustain chart entries, sold out tours across the globe and debate about their stylistic shifts in the course of the last three studio albums. It’s an age old bull…