RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
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BULLET – Highway Pirates
The return of Sweden’s Bullet for their third album of down and dirty heavy metal – "Highway Pirates". This quintet aren’t recreating the wheel – you can expect 10 more tracks relating to drinking, wild driving, women and reveling in heavy metal appreciation. The guitarists love Accept, AC/DC and Judas Priest the most in their…
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STRATOVARIUS – Elysium
In today’s rapid fire culture, you may only be as good as your last product. If you wait too long, your chance may be lost in gaining the most eyes and ears to latch onto. Finland’s Stratovarius are overcoming a huge loss with founder Timo Tolkki by releasing their second album since his defection. 2009’s…
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TNT – A Farewell To Arms / Engine
When taking a wide angle lens look at the three decade plus career of Norway’s TNT, one thing is clear: they haven’t been a group content to stay stylistically in one place. My favorite time lies with the early Tony Harnell years, namely 1984’s "Knights Of The New Thunder" and the American beloved follow up,…
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ZENO MORF – Wings Of Madness
You have to love bands who’ve been given a second chance to make an impression on the metal scene. This Norwegian traditional band for instance began in 1987 – and only released their self-titled debut in 2009! Not wanting to waste any time, the follow up Wings of Madness comes out a quick year later…
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HATE – Erebos
The Polish death metal machine Hate is in these days out with their seventh album. More progressive than ever and yet so Hate you want it. ATF Sinner and his comrades once again convince us that Hate is a band you have to expect being a part of the metal elite in Europe. I doubted…
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DESULTORY – Counting Our Scars
14 years away from the scene, the reactivated Swedish death troop Desultory come back firing on high with their fourth album "Counting Our Scars". Once hearing about their signing to Singapore label Pulverised Records, I knew we weren’t going to hear this quartet make a sequel to "Swallow The Snake" in a similar vein –…
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SVARTKRAFT – IV Ruin
Talk about getting an early x-mas surprise. I must admit that I am not the biggest old school black metal fan, and diehard fans of the genre might not even consider this within the genre, but this one really caught me off guard. I would argue that Svartkraft’s basic element is old school black metal,…
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APPEARANCE OF NOTHING – All Gods Are Gone
If there’s one country in the world that produces high quality original metal acts through the years, Switzerland seems to come to the forefront of my mind. Celtic Frost. Coroner. Even Gotthard who flew the flag for conventional hard rock when it didn’t seem as cool in the 1990’s. So taking in this Swiss progressive…
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REMEMBRANCE – Fall, Obsidian Night
Third album from this French doom/death outfit. These 7 songs have a funeral aspect, expect chords that ring out for days, keyboards that merge deep within the dark despair and vocals that switch off between death growls and softer, tranquil melodic female parts. “Stone Mirrors” rarely picks up beyond a low paced gallop but wins…
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SINISTER – Legacy of Ashes
Dutch death act Sinister have been through numerous lineup changes through the years. At the forefront of the movement with their "Cross The Styx" debut, original drummer Adrie Kloosterwaard moved into the vocal slot when the band re-formed in 2005 and "Legacy Of Ashes" is their ninth studio album in their 22 year history. As…
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BRUTUS – Brutus
After countless evenings and nights in front of, and around, their local bar, and after heaps of louddiscussions and intense arguments on how everything sounded so much better before, theseguys felt the time was right to take matter into their own hands. These Scandinavians, part Swede, part Norwegian, subscribe to the Witchcraft school of throwback hard…
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DARK ORDER – Cold War Of The Condor
Australian thrash of the furious, old school variety here as Dark Order throw down the challenge to those who think they know what the genre is all about on their third album "Cold War Of The Condor". 8 years between albums, this concept record about the violent and bloody history of the Pinochet Regime during…
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SORROWS PATH – The Rough Path Of Nihilism
Greece for decades has been a country with a deep, rich tradition for epic, power and doom metal bands. Where they struggled in the past to gain recognition to bring their domestic output to a bigger stage would be in the less than ideal production values. This Athens-Greece quintet started back in 1993, and if…
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DELIRIUM BOUND – Delirium, Dissonance and Death
On first listen, “Delirium, Dissonance and Death” reminded me of Satyricon’s more recent output, although played with a looser, more discordant, punkier approach. The overall sound is still metal, but played with an edgy, innovative style. For those tired of acts who prefer following to leading, Delerium Bound should prove to be a breath of…
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SEVENTH WONDER – The Great Escape
Following 2008’s fine concept record "Mercy Falls" and a series of tour dates that took them even to America for the premiere progressive/power metal festival in Atlanta ProgPower USA, Sweden’s Seventh Wonder enter the market with their fourth album "The Great Escape". A seven song, 67 minute progressive journey, these musicians are not here to…
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BEHEMOTH – Evangelia Heretika
One may ask how necessary a DVD of this kind is. I am somewhat uncertain, since I have most of the Behemoth releases and among them there already are 2 DVD’s. I would think this was released now as a substitute for the planned releases around "At the Arena ov Aion" that never happened and…
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STAMINA – Two Of A Kind
Italian melodic metal with subtle neo-classical and power influences, Stamina release their second album "Two Of A Kind" on Germany’s Ice Warrior Records, a sub-division for Rock It Up. Starting in 2001 and recording a series of demos during 2003-04, their debut album Permanent Damage came out in late 2007 – so they’ve had years…