ALBUM REVIEWS

RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS

  • MANIC SINNERS – King of the Badlands

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/manicsinners/ Energetic hard rock from the country of Romania is what we have here and the 12-track effort that is “King of the Badlands” contains a pretty decent number of hooks and powerful riffs. The sound is crunchy and packs punch while the interplay between the three members of the ensemble…

  • MARA – Loka Mær

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: MARA – LOKA MÆR (smarturl.it)   The Swedish quartet known as Mara is one of the more intriguing and noteworthy acts to be found in today’s black metal scene, and these purveyors of blistering darkness are about to unleash a 6-track album that blends precision, atmosphere, and majestic melodies to…

  • VOIVOD – Synchro Anarchy

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.voivod.com/ Voivod is considered one of the most influential bands in extreme metal, inspirational to countless thrash, death and even black metal bands. Their highly technical dissonant riffing, patented on 13 full lengths throughout over 40 years of existence, can be heard in the works of bands as diverse as…

  • ALAN PARSONS – One Note Symphony: Live in Tel Aviv

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://alanparsons.com/ The inimitable Alan Parsons released a marvelous live album via Frontiers Records late last year that impressed me greatly, more specifically the one titled “The Neverending Show – Live in the Netherlands”, and so I was rather curious as to how this sparkling new document named “One Note Symphony” would…

  • MARILLION – An Hour Before It’s Dark

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.marillion.com/ The British prog rock legends Marillion surely need no introduction, and after forty years they still manage to bring something that sounds fresh, daring, and vital to the table. This powerful new musical tour de force of theirs is a case in point, and as much as I love and…

  • SPIRITS OF FIRE – Embrace the Unknown

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/SpiritsOfFireBand/ The project named Spirits of Fire is a rather overlooked one from my perspective but hopefully this superbly crafted heavy metal juggernaut of theirs titled “Embrace the Unknown” will reach a wider audience and receive more praise than their otherwise solid debut offering from 2019 did. While Tim “Ripper” Owens…

  • ANNIHILATOR – Metal II

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://www.annihilatormetal.com/ The renowned Canadian thrash/speed/groove metal mongers Annihilator, which is masterminded by the hugely skilled Jeff Waters, were one of the groups that I grew up listening to, but I must admit that I have found quite a few of their later albums to be patchy affairs. “Metal II” is essentially…

  • LIONVILLE – So Close to Heaven

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://nb-no.facebook.com/LIONVILLEofficial I am quite fond of the previous offering by the Italian outfit named Lionville, more specifically the album titled “Magic is Alive” from 2020, and so naturally, I was looking forward to the follow-up. Thankfully, “So Close to Heaven” is just as good if not slightly better than its predecessor,…

  • LICHTBLICK – Abkehr

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: LICHTBLICK – ABKEHR (smarturl.it) I have never previously encountered this Austrian quartet but what I can tell you is that their brand of bleak and melancholic black metal with an emphasis on trance-inducing riffs and tortured vocals that reek of despair and existential angst is a noteworthy one.  There is a subtle sense of beauty…

  • LORDS OF FORM – Flying Chromium Society

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://lordsofform.bandcamp.com/album/flying-chromium-society What we have here is an incredibly diverse and musically eclectic space rock opus that conjures up a uniquely surreal atmosphere. Masterminded by the talented Niall Hone (ex-Hawkwind) and backed by a stellar cast of musicians, the song arrangements are never anything but inspired, and just the sheer quality of…

  • LAUGHING STOCK – Zero, Acts 3 & 4

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://laughingstock1.bandcamp.com/album/zero-acts-3-4-2 The Norwegian prog rock/art rock outfit Laughing Stock is an interesting one and these skilled musicians have released some deeply atmospheric and intriguing records in the past, so naturally, I was looking forward to this one, which is a continuation of the “Zero, Acts 1 & 2” LP from last…

  • PROFESSOR TIP TOP – Lanes of Time

    RELEASE YEAR: 2021  BAND URL: https://professortiptop.bandcamp.com/album/lanes-of-time The amazing Norwegian prog rockers Professor Tip Top are one of the greatest outfits this country has ever produced, and their latest album entitled “Lanes of Time”, which was released in late 2021, most definitely deserves a brief mention on these hallowed pages of ours. Eclectic and atmospheric prog rock…

  • AMORPHIS – Halo

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://amorphis.net/ The two previous Amorphis albums: “Queen Of Time”²⁰¹⁸ and “Under The Red Cloud”²⁰¹⁵ were both very good to match the craft of the past from “Skyforger”²⁰⁰⁹, “Silent Waters”²⁰⁰⁷, “Tuonela”¹⁹⁹⁹, “Elegy”¹⁹⁹⁶, and, by many regarded as their magnum opus, “Tales From The Thousand Lakes”¹⁹⁹⁴ (to name but a few positions…

  • LALU – Paint the Sky

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/laluprog/ An incredibly diverse and intriguing mixture of prog rock and prog metal that somehow manages to pay homage to some of the legendary outfits from the 70s and simultaneously sound current and have a modern sheen to their eclectic style is what we have here, and “Paint the Sky” by…

  • SKEPTICISM – Companion

    RELEASE YEAR: 2021 BAND URL: http://www.skepticism.fi/ Although Skepticism is somewhat of an ancient funeral doom metal authority, one of the pioneers of the genre, I, for one, found the seemingly universally regarded as a masterpiece debut “Stormcrowfleet”¹⁹⁹⁵ (very reminiscent of the first two My Dying Bride albums) a boring literally sleep-inducing experience and the latter…

  • WESERBERGLAND – Sacrae Symphoniae Nr. 1

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/weserberglandband/ The experimental Norwegian outfit Weserbergland released their third album today (February 11), and as with their previous offerings, this new LP falls somewhere between art rock, avantgarde music, and 70s experimental prog rock, which is to say that this is something different and totally out of the ordinary. Consisting of…

  • DIRTY LACES – L’Esprit Du Temps

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: DiRTY LACES (@dirtylacesband) • Instagram-billeder og -videoer The Mancunian punk-inspired hard rockers Dirty Laces were an unknown outfit to yours truly until I received a promo copy of this spirited four-track EP of theirs titled “L’Esprit Du Temps” a few weeks ago, and what we have here is a fabulous cocktail…

  • KANDIA – Quaternary

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/KandiaOfficial The Portuguese act named Kandia dabbles in something akin to alternative metal with subtle goth rock undertones to it and even a few metalcore elements. The emphasis is clearly on atmosphere, and they do manage to infuse their compositions with both a somber hue and a good amount of aggression,…

  • UNCTORIS – Shout Demise

    RELEASE YEAR: 2001 BAND URL: https://unctoris.bandcamp.com/ Now, I’m a survivor of Hate Eternal’s “Fury & Flames” and Krisiun as well as early Origin albums but “Shout Demise” is an insanely, unforgivably and seemingly unreasonably extreme release, with the title a loughingly inadequate understatement. Perhaps the impression was somewhat influenced by the reviewer’s transition from the…

  • BLACK LAKES – For All We’ve Left Behind

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://www.blacklakes.com/ Thanks to the good people over at Stampede Press, I got my filthy paws on a promo version of the upcoming debut offering by the alternative metal/hard rock outfit known as Black Lakes. With such an evocative title as “For All We’ve Left Behind” as well as some interesting song…

  • LANA LANE – Neptune Blue

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/lana.lane.official.artist.page/ It has been a few years since Lana Lane’s last solo offering if I remember correctly, and seeing her latest album entitled “Neptune Blue” in the mailbox recently made me quite happy and also a tad surprised as I had no idea that she had been recording new material during…

  • ACT OF DENIAL – Negative

    RELEASE YEAR: 2021 BAND URL: https://actofdenial.bandcamp.com/ With files sent by dropbox or google drive one usually doesn’t get to see the lineup, the bio and the like so when I first heard the debut album from the melodic death groove metal part Croatian ensemble Act Of Denial I thought “man, that dude sounds like Björn…

  • NASSON – Scars

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/nassonchile Checking out new bands and debut albums is always something that I am looking forward to, and this one by the Chilean melodic heavy metal trio known as Nasson was no different. Actually, Nasson himself is the main man behind this project as well as the primary songwriter here, and…

  • SAGA – Marathon (Remastered 2021)

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://sagagen.com/ “Marathon” by the musically gifted Canadians known as Saga was released nearly twenty years ago and it is therefore quite brilliant that the band have had a large bulk of their old releases remastered and reissued via earMUSIC lately, including this one that originally saw the light of day in…

  • SAGA – Detours (Remastered 2021)

    RELEASE YEAR: 2021  BAND URL: https://sagagen.com/ Here is another reissue by the well-known Saga that deserves mention on our hallowed webpage and this time around it is all about the live album “Detours”, which came out twenty-three years ago, but which was recently remastered and given a visual and sonic facelift. Apart from the setlist being…

  • NEVER END – The Cold And The Craving

    RELEASE YEAR: 2021 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/neverendpt/ Who says hardcore metal, alternative rock and grunge don’t belong together? The Portugese trio, Never End, certainly doesn’t as they build solid catchy melodic grunge of Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Creed, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots on hardcore groove of early Machine Head and Pissing Razors for a surprisingly…

  • SAGA – House of Cards (Remastered 2021)

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022  BAND URL: https://sagagen.com/   This newly remastered version of “House of Cards” by Canadian prog rockers Saga is a real treat in that it sounds more vibrant and warmer than its original counterpart from 2001. While its predecessor, “Full Circle” (1999), was a strong album in many ways, “House of Cards” was a…

  • SAGA – Full Circle (Remastered 2021)

    RELEASE YEAR: 2021  BAND URL: https://sagagen.com/ A series of remastered albums by Canadian pomp rockers Saga saw the light of day last year, one of which is “Full Circle” (1999). Many fans and critics consider this a return to form and to some extent they are absolutely right. Now, the original version of “Full Circle” always…

  • SNAKEBLADE – The Curse

    RELEASE YEAR: 2021 BAND URL: https://snakeblade.bandcamp.com/ In my 2020 review of the one-man deathened black metal project Snakeblade’s independent debut album, “The Kingdom” (4/6) I pointed out that the Canadian multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Michael Redston had a great potential but that the songwriting was still choppy and fragmentary. I’m glad I didn’t give up on…

  • GIANT – Shifting Time

    RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/Giant.The.Band/ What a pleasure it is to see and witness the return of Giant. I was quite smitten with the US rockers’ earlier albums back in the day and I was actually rather surprised when this sparkling new disc of theirs named “Shifting Time” showed up in my mailbox, but that…