ALBUM REVIEWS

RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS

  • SUN CAGED – The Lotus Effect

    Consistently on a four year release course, Dutch progressive metal act Sun Caged aren’t going to short change the listener with this third album “The Lotus Effect”. Guitarist Marcel Coenen (Lemur Voice) and vocalist Paul Adrian Villarreal make quite a combination for the foundation of the band – directing the sound into a variety of…

  • MALHKEBRE – Prostration (EP)

    Although they’ve been going almost 10 years, Malkhebre have so far only released this EP and one track on a split (aside from one demo containing two tracks, both of which can be found here), so they aren’t the most prolific of bands. The four tracks contained on this disc are brutal black metal in…

  • VOIVOD – Warriors Of Ice

    Pioneers never get their just rewards while living and breathing – especially in the metal business. Canada’s alternative, progressive/ thrash institution Voivod release a 15 song live album, recorded on their “Infini” tour during December 2009. Featuring 3 of the original lineup and latest guitarist Dan “Chewy” Mongrain in place of the sadly departed Piggy,…

  • BLODHEMN – Brenn Alle Bruer

    Another Black Metal demo from Norway. How many that now exists is impossible to say, but there’s plentiful, that’s for sure. This is Blodhemn’s second demo, fronted by Invisius who recorded this demo in Conclave & Earshot studio. Five songs of cold and wellplayed music of the dark. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before, there…

  • IN SOLITUDE – The World. The Flesh. The Devil

    Be frightened. Be aware. Sweden’s In Solitude come from a place of occult heavy metal, the twin guitars burning the airwaves and a vocalist in Pelle “Hornper” Ahman that summons the classic Mercyful Fate years, yet with more sustain and less operatic shrieking. The Maidenisms come bursting through on a track like “We Were Never…

  • ARTILLERY – My Blood

    A certain tier of thrash acts put more emphasis on musicality than sheer punishment in the early stages of the movement. Denmark’s Artillery would be one of those bands known for their special brand of catchy, energetic riffing – in a manner much like Heathen or Znowhite/Cyclone Temple for comparison’s sake. After a break up,…

  • BURIED IN BLACK – Black Death

    Forming in 2008, Hamburg, Germany’s Buried In Black received demo of the month accolades in 2010 from Metal Hammer – leading to this record deal and their debut album “Black Death”. Deep guttural death in the Bolt Thrower mold appears on tracks like “Parasite’s Paradise” and “Lest We Forget”. If you miss the old school…

  • PROSANCTUS INFERI – Pandemic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation

    This first full-length from Ohio maniacs Prosanctus Inferi is a festering pile of shit. But don’t worry, they intended it to sound that way! What we have on offer here is 13 tracks of black-edged death metal that bludgeon the senses and batter the emotions over 24 minutes. The sound has that kind of nausea-inducing…

  • PESTILENCE – Doctrine

    Pestilence: Dutch death/thrash with a technical slant. “Doctrine”: their latest full length foray. Patrick Mameli: lead guitarist, vocalist and leader of the quartet. Songwriting: compelling on tracks like the doomier “Dissolve” or the rhythmically palpitating “Malignant”, yawn-inducing on others like “Amgod” or Pro Pain-ish “Divinity”. Influences: Poor man’s Chuck Schuldiner vocally, Death, older Cynic and…

  • GUARDIANS OF TIME – A Beautiful Atrocity

    Years ago in one of those metal mail order clearance sales, I took a blind purchase chance and bought the two previous studio albums from Norway’s Guardians Of Time. 2001’s “Edge Of Tomorrow” and 2004’s “Machines Of Mental Design” are both adequate heavy metal albums with power elements, but for some reason didn’t exactly stay…

  • BIG LIFE – Big Life

    A new project featuring guitarist/ keyboardist Steve Newman, ex-Praying Mantic front man Mark Thompson-Smith and drummer Rob McEwen, Big Life resides in the melodic rock comfort zone with this debut. Outside of the slight Middle Eastern guitar nuances within “Calling”, I felt there were too many ballads and just lukewarm songwriting overall for this 12…

  • DJERV – Djerv

    Norwegian rockers playing metal with attitude. And no, I’m not thinking "Pantera-angriness" here, but rather rockish songs with attitude and a vocalist that stands out. "Djerv" is proof that you don’t need to complicate things to make things roll. The album is varied enough, yet the beat is somewhat the same throughout the whole album.…

  • M.ILL.ION – Sane & Insanity

    Seventh studio album from one of Scandinavia’s top hard rock bands. Traditional in their stance, expect 12 songs with 70’s blues-based roots, majestic organ/keyboard parts, and a vocal/guitar tandem requisite for the style at hand. New guitarist Andreas Grovle and keyboardist Angelo Modafferi appear to gel well with the long standing M.ILL.ION. members on winning…

  • ORIGIN – Entity

    Topeka Kansas will never be recognized as a metal hotbed – but savage death metal group Origin calls this area home, and they’ve been maiming listeners since 1998 with their relentless arpeggios, squeals, blast beats and subterranean word bellows. For fifth album “Entity”, you get 7 tracks that don’t even hit the requisite pop music…

  • CATALEPSY – Bleed

    Okay, time to put away the asshole stick. This is great shit in the vein of All Shall Perish, which I love. But these guys are pretty original. I do hear plenty of Meshuggah and maybe some Acacia Strain, but the latter could be an aftershock from overexposure to Hate Eternal’s “Thorns Of Acacia” and…

  • ANOTHER MOON & SICK SAD WORLD – Ruins of Forgotten World (split)

    Sebastian Lombard of Another Moon describes his music as ‘progressive post-hardcore’. The sound is something like Isis or Neurosis, but with a softer, more ambient approach. Guitar glides over heavily layered passages of keyboard in what could as just as readily be called ‘movements’ as songs. Percussion comes and goes too as the tracks move…

  • THEATRE OF TRAGEDY – Last Curtain Call

    Sadness enters the minds of consumers who lose their favorite bands. The years you spend with albums, memories surrounding concert experiences, chatting with your friends about these musicians- it tends to feel like another live being in your everyday world. So I’m sure many people across the globe mourned the decision in October of 2010…

  • ELECTRIC BOYS – And Them Boys Done Swang

    Many may remember this Swedish psychedelic hard rock group with a strong blues-based groove from their debut album and hit single “All Lips ‘N Hips” that in 1989 received heavy American MTV video rotation. Three albums and numerous tours occurred in five years, but sadly the members went their separate ways during the alternative music…

  • MARIENBAD – Werk I: Nachtfall (German version)

    The first thing I thought after having listened to this album is that, apparently there are German poets still – but they are all in the east! The Thuringian band Marienbad is a side-project of several Eisregen members who play what their label calls Doom/Epic metal, but is best described as somewhat similar to the…

  • MARIENBAD – Werk 1: Nachtfall (English version)

    18 months of work result in 2 albums from German doom/death act Marienbad. Looking at the English version of “Werk 1: Nachtfall”, you’ll get 8 songs with a morose, sullen outlook, despair filled vocals and music with Solitude Aeturnus, Candlemass and possibly The Ocean in mind. The work of two Eisregen masterminds, vocalist M.Roth and…

  • CITY WEEZLE – Taboo

    Sometimes you just have to escape from reality… Sometimes you want music to mellow you out, make you rage, produce tears of happiness and sorrow, take every fiber of your being and rearrange all the parts. I can only imagine where the men who created “Taboo” came from in their childhood to make such a…

  • ZEROZONIC – God Damn, Better, Best

    BloodRedThrone guitarist Daniel Olaisen felt the need to form his own groove metal band Zerozonic in 2004 – and the four piece arrive with album number two. “God Damn, Better, Best” contains 9 songs that embody the American modern metal blueprint first brought about with Pantera, and now continuing with Chimaira. Large staccato oriented grooves,…

  • MANIGANCE – Recidive

    Difficult review here. French power metal, fifth studio album, and certainly upon early playbacks you can tell these musicians understand how to write captivating and versatile material. The vocalist has a lot of Hammerfall meets Edguy overtones in his inflections and melodies – and musically Manigance play from a standpoint of mostly dual guitar driven…

  • BENIGHTED – Asylum Cave

    I guess it was just a matter of time before some shock rockers incorporated the Josef Fritzl incident into their repertoire. Still, the shock value could scarcely have found a better connoisseur to be expressed through than Benighted. The music is as frantic as the story itself and the political incorrectness exude in the musical…

  • THE BATALLION – Head Up High

    With individual members whose band history includes Old Funeral, Taake and Borknagar, The Batallion should, on paper, have the pedigree to guarantee a top quality release. Unfortunately that isn’t exactly the case with this one. While "Head Up High" is played with plenty of enthusiasm, has a killer production and everyone involved knows their thrash…

  • SEPTICFLESH – The Great Mass

    The marriage of classical themes and heavy metal is not new. Through the years, many guitarists and keyboard players have taken inspiration from the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Wagner and interpreted these compositional skills into a powerful, electric context. Usually the most notable for exploring these dimensions have been neo-classical guitarists like Yngwie J.…

  • SCARRED BY BEAUTY – Sutra

    This five piece leave nothing on the table with their debut album “Sutra”. Denmark’s Scarred By Beauty intertwine melodic death metal, hardcore breakdowns, twisted Meshuggah-like riffs and vocals that come from a noise rock/ metal core framework. Songs like “We Swim”, the pulsating guitar echo enhanced “Embers” and punishing “Top Of The Morning” tingle the…

  • GARAGEDAYS – Dark And Cold

    Love Metallica, much? Yep. They sound like Metallica folks, big shocker, I know. Not with that name, though, right. This is thrash metal. Enjoyable and forgettable at the same time. Funny thing, not only is “Last Breath” main riff directly “borrowed” from “Battery”, but the style is actually more in the vein of…”Death Magnetic”, which…

  • BLINDEAD – Affliction XXIX II MXMVI

    Progressive metal these days encompasses a wide range of sonic styles. If you ever get the chance to read Jeff Wagner’s recent book Mean Deviation you’ll understand that everything from Watchtower to VoiVod to Devin Townsend gives the listener a broad base to look at the genre with more depth than merely Dream Theater, Queensryche…

  • VICTORY – Victory (re-issue)

    Coming out originally in 1985, the debut album from German melodic hard rock band Victory set the stage for a long, prosperous career for these gentlemen. Many today would know guitarist Tommy Newton from his production work and vocalist Charlie Huhn from his stints in Ted Nugent, Gary Moore and currently Foghat. Songs like the…