RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
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TUSMØRKE – Nordisk Krim
Norwegian prog rockers Tusmørke never disappoint and this latest offering of theirs is nothing less than an eclectic and musically extraordinary double album – two discs filled to the brim with quirky ideas, superb musicianship, expertly crafted melodies that will haunt you in your sleep, and glorious tunes that lack neither substance nor dynamics. As…
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HOVERT – OMYT
The Russian entity named Hovert performs slow-to-mid-paced melancholic black metal with a harsh edge to it and is relatively straightforward and easy to absorb. A lot of it is based around simple and morose melodies that are neatly woven together, but although this is a bleak little opus, it is sadly not the most exciting…
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PANTOKRATOR – Marching Out Of Babylon
Pantokrator (in old Greek: Lord Almighty) is a Christian Swedish melodic death metal band which today appears to be an one man project of Rickard Gustafsson who joined the band as a drummer back in 1997, just a year after the inception by Karl "Boaz" Johan Varg Walfridsson (vocals) and Mattias Johansson (guitars) and just…
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IRON FLESH – Summoning the Putrid
French war mongers Iron Flesh have spat forth a vile and vicious slab of rumbling and pulverizing death metal that harkens back to the days of old and this raw and dark opus ought to blow you away if you are a fan of some of the ancient releases by Autopsy, Grave, and Obituary just…
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TORMENT – Occult
Torment is a French combo that dabbles in old-school death metal with a few black- and thrash influences to it, and "Occult" boasts plenty of grinding parts, crushing breakdowns, groovy riffs, and foul vocals. From a purely musical perspective, these guys offer something that is quite familiar and pretty damn easy to digest in the…
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LACRIMA MORTIS – Posthumous
Although this nine-track effort by the Brazilian horde known as Lacrima Mortis showed up in my mailbox last week, the album was released back in late May 2020, so given that it is not exactly newsworthy as such we shall keep things short here. These guys deliver potent and well-composed doom metal with muscular riffs,…
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ASPHYX – Necroceros
Asphyx is a band which needs no introduction. Known for classic death/doom classics such as "The Rack" (1991), "Last One On Earth" (1992-featuring a burnt corpse of a Roman Catholic priest on the cover) and the eponymous (1994), the Dutch juggernaut always churns out at least decent doomy metal of death and this year’s "Necroceros"…
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WAR AGENDA – Propaganda
War Agenda’s sharp and vicious thrash metal assault in the shape of ”Propaganda” came out a few months ago and I am going to keep this review real short and simply urge you to check the eleven-track effort out if you are in the mood for a solid headbanging delight. Musically and stylistically, these guys…
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NIHILRAGE – Eternal
This brutal Spanish horde offers malevolent and wildly aggressive death metal with a lot of wicked details and subtle nuances to it. To cut a long story short, "Eternal is a rumbling and energetic onslaught that is reminiscent of Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, and Obituary, and these guys keep it varied and interesting throughout. A few…
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WINTARNAHT – Hriuwa
The German entity that is Wintarnaht, which is essentially a one-man project by founding member Grimwald, performs relatively fast-paced black metal with a cold vibe and a harsh feel to it. The record’s wintry atmosphere is appealing and there are quite a few solid riffs and melodies present on the disc, but the whole thing…
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NORTHORN – The Art of Destruction
The Indonesian act named Northorn dabbles in mostly slow-to-mid-paced black metal with shades and touches of doom metal to it, and this lo-fi EP if theirs was released late last year via Talheim Record. ”The Art of Destruction” is slightly one-dimensional and somewhat simple but certainly not without a gloomy charm of sorts, and many…
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WOMBBATH – Tales Of Madness
As I have repeatedly mentioned I am not a big fan of Swedeath, that is Swedish death metal as popularized by ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER and GRAVE. First of all – the sound, to these ears, all the power and strength is taken away by the mix which sounds as though amplifiers and speakers have been covered…
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BLAZE BAYLEY – War Within Me
The exceptionally cool vocalist Blaze Bayley (ex-Iron Maiden, Wolfsbane) always delivers the goods and this upcoming ten-track effort of his entitled ”War Within Me” is a real treat and a thrilling listening experience. As is usually the case, you can just tell that Bayley has poured his heart and soul into this hard-hitting and beautiful…
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MORTIIS – Throe
This short and concise 10-minute EP by the renowned Mortiis came out in December last year and might well have passed some of you out there by, so I figured that I would write a few words on the cursed piece and simply point out that this is quite the interesting (and vile) little gem.…
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ENGULFED – Vengeance Of The Fallen
Why I have never heard about this Turkish death metal trio before this excellent EP I’ll never know. Serkan Niron (vocals, bass), Mustafa Gürcalioğlu (guitars, songwriting) and Engin "Aberrant" Güngör (drums) pummel you with a brutal yet nuanced and catchy barrage of sophisticated craft for 4 tracks in under 25 minutes, combining classic stylings of…
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ATRA VETOSUS – Even the Dawn No Longer Brings Hope
The Tasmanian melodic black metal force Atra Vetosus will unleash this 3-track EP in late January and this is a bleak delight to yours truly as it transcends the conventions and barriers of the aforementioned genre and by incorporating some subtle progressive influences and post-metal tendencies into the fiery mix. Words such as epic and…
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NEAL MORSE – Jesus Christ the Exorcist – Live at Morsefest 2018
The highly skilled Neal Morse staged his "Jesus Christ the Exorcist" prog rock concept album at Morsefest back in 2018, and this deluxe package consisting of two CDs and a DVD captures the whole performance and nicely illustrates just how huge in scope and elaborate the whole thing is. From a purely musical perspective, this…
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DISPYT – Under Tiden Jag Sälde Min Själ Till Satan
This relentlessly bleak fucker came out in mid-December 2020 and is not merely a fiery mesh of face-melting black metal and ugly crust punk but also a rather fitting way to cap off last year from a musical and lyrical perspective. "Under Tiden Jag Sälde Min Själ Till Satan" is a wild and ferocious trip…
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JERRY BLOOM – In the Shadow of the Wizard: Rainbow 1975-1976
I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a copy of noted Deep Purple expert Jerry Bloom’s latest literary endeavor entitled "In the Shadow of the Wizard: Rainbow 1975-1976", which is a huge, beautiful, and above all outstanding piece that focuses solely on what is arguably the best and most important era(s) of Rainbow.…
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ECLIPSE – Viva La VicTOURia: Live in Gothenburg
This one nearly slipped away from my pile of stuff to review, but I am glad that I found this cool-looking digipak again due to the fact that the Swedish outfit Eclipse are totally at the top of their game here and deliver a blistering blast of massive-sounding hard rock capable of lifting your spirits…
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BLUE ÖYSTER CULT – A Long Day’s Night (Deluxe Edition CD/DVD)
This recent reissue of “A Long Day’s Night” by the legendary American hard rockers Blue Öyster Cult is a most welcome addition to this writer’s catalogue as I missed out on the atmospheric live offering when it was originally issued in 2002. This 2020 edition has been completely restored and remastered, and it looks and…
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ELLEFSON – No Cover
Skilled Megadeth bass wizard David Ellefson recently released this highly entertaining 2CD slab of exciting, fist-pumping cover renditions via earMUSIC and the various line-ups that appear on the discs are jaw dropping and include past and present members of Anthrax, Ministry, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Last in Line, Slayer, Cheap Trick, Megadeth, and Twisted Sister just…
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U.D.O./Das Musikkorps Der Bundeswehr – We Are One
This huge-sounding opus entitled ”We Are One” is rather interesting in that it sees the renowned heavy metal outfit U.D.O. teaming up with the 60-piece brass orchestra known as Das Musikkorps Der Bundeswehr (i.e. the Concert Band of the German Armed Forces no less), and the whole thing is a concept album comprised of original…
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FOREIGNER – Can’t Slow Down – Deluxe Edition
Legendary rockers Foreigner hardly need any introduction and they are still a formidable and utterly fabulous live act today, but this studio album of theirs, which was recently reissued by earMUSIC in a nice-looking digipak containing an extra disc filled with bonus material, may be one of the more overlooked entries in their discography. Originally…
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HJELVIK – Welcome to Hel
HJELVIK (spelled with all capitals) is a new project of ex-KVELERTAK/DJEVEL vocalist Erlend Hjelvik (vocals) but, despite the name suggesting a solo project, it is not one and Rob Steinway (guitars), INCULTER guitarist Remi Andrè Nygård, Alexis Lieu (bass) and former BENIGHTED drummer Kevin Foley are all participants of a band effort with Hjelvik the…
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HEAVY PETTIN – Best of Heavy Pettin
What we have here is a rather interesting disc by Scottish NWOBHM/hard rock outfit Heavy Pettin and many of the tracks present here are not altogether that different to some of the early Def Leppard classics from the late 70s and early 80s. While the raw and blistering "Hell is Beautiful" displays several trademarks associated…
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STEVE HACKETT – A Genesis in My Bed
I had the great pleasure of receiving a review copy of legendary Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett’s incredibly enjoyable autobiography amusingly entitled ”A Genesis in My Bed”, and I might as well start out by telling you that I had a fabulous and fun time reading this one. From his upbringing in the bleak surroundings of…
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VANDEN PLAS – The Ghost Xperiment – Illumination
The renowned German progressive metal act Vanden Plas recently released this follow-up to 2019’s "The Ghost Xperiment – Awakening" and this latest offering of theirs appropriately named "The Ghost Xperiment – Illumination" might just be one of the most accessible outputs of theirs yet. "The Ghost Xperiment – Illumination" is a dense record with tons…
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MAGIC DANCE – Remnants
The New York act named Magic Dance recently released this eleven-track offering via Frontiers Records and as with previous releases by the skilled multi-instrumentalist that is Jon Siejka, we are treated to synth-heavy melodic rock inspired by the 80s electronic and synthwave scenes. The whole effort is well-produced and sounds crisp and pristine while still…