ALBUM REVIEWS

RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS

  • ROBEC – The Forest Is Too Loud

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://robec.bandcamp.com/album/the-forest-is-too-loud This one did not entirely come out of the blue as I was fortunate enough to get to listen to a few snippets and extracts from it when stopping by for coffee and a chat at Gymnocal Industries’ headquarters on two or three occasions, and I was immediately hooked and started…

  • GOATMILKER – Goatmilker

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://goatmilker.bandcamp.com/album/goatmilker From the wonderful albeit rain-soaked city of Bergen comes a strangely invigorating and energetic outfit named Goatmilker, and if for some reason their charming moniker is not enough to convince you that these chaps are fucking cool then their songs undoubtedly will. Somewhere between raw and catchy stoner rock and progressive…

  • SUM OF R – Spectral

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.sumofrofficial.com/ Formed by Swiss sound-shaper Reto Mäder and completed by Finnish visionaries Marko Neuman and Jukka Rämänen, Sum Of R channel cosmic vibrations more than genre – summoning music that feels unearthed rather than written. Spectral is the sound of a séance captured on tape: raw yet spacious, disciplined yet dreamlike – is what the promo for this interesting…

  • GLUTTON – Skiva Heter Vishnu!

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://glutton.bandcamp.com/album/skiva-heter-vishnu The musically eclectic and consistently playful Norwegian trio known as Glutton are experts at churning out highly dynamic and oftentimes explosive songs that shift seamlessly between hard-hitting jazz rock, old-school prog, and a wee bit of psychedelia for good measure, and the results are not merely satisfying but also thoroughly intoxicating.…

  • ASIRA – As Ink in Water

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://asira.bandcamp.com/ What we have here is a highly interesting and uniquely crafted release that displays passion and ambition in equal measure. Somewhere between post-black metal, modern progressive rock, and experimental shoegaze lies this epic and emotionally intense opus titled As Ink in Water by the Reading-based outfit intriguingly named Asira. Sweeping melodies,…

  • Author & Punisher – Nocturnal Birding

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://authorandpunisher.bandcamp.com/album/nocturnal-birding The talented sonic sculptor Tristan Shone never ceases to amaze this scribe and few out there are better at crafting intensely heavy, claustrophobic soundscapes of the gritty industrial variety than said artist is. Author & Punisher has been at it for twenty-something years, but Nocturnal Birding may in fact be Shone’s…

  • PANZERPAPPA – Landsbysladder

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://panzerpappa.bandcamp.com/album/landsbysladder It has been a long time since I last sat with a new record by the lovely Norwegian proggers known as Panzerpappa between my hands, but I can honestly that this time around has been the most exciting and stimulating one yet. Landsbysladder, which roughly translates to village gossip, sees the…

  • WHITE WILLOW – Terminal Twilight (2025 Remaster)

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://whitewillow.bandcamp.com/album/terminal-twilight-remaster Originally released fourteen years ago, Terminal Twilight marked a return of sorts as White Willow had more or less ceased activities for a while following the release of Signal to Noise (2006), and although it is hardly the most accessible entry in the group’s varied discography, Terminal Twilight is the most…

  • WARBELL – RUIN

    RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://warbell.bandcamp.com/ The Polish Lower Silesian melodic death metal ensemble Warbell was founded by Paweł “Bloody” Szczypka (bass, vocals), Kamil Ziobro (drums-2008), Patryk Kryński (drums-2013), Marcin “Maroon” Witeska (guitars-2016) and Piotr “Peter” Hasioli (guitars-2019) in 2008 breaking up 2 years later for 3 years without a single recording. Reactivated, the melodeath…

  • ERIC GALES – A Tribute to LJK

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.mascotlabelgroup.com/ Dedicated to his late brother, Manuel Gales, and featuring some mighty impressive guest appearances by the likes of Buddy Guy, Joe Bonamassa, Roosevelt Collier and Josh Smith just to list a few, A Tribute to LJK sees the remarkably gifted Eric Gales pay homage to lost loved one in a classy…

  • ANNLAUG BØRSHEIM – Spring Før Sola Står Opp

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://annlaugb.bandcamp.com/album/spring-f-r-sola-st-r-opp Few albums are as compelling, fully formed, and addictive as this one is – let me just say that to begin with. The immensely gifted Annlaug Børsheim’s latest musical effort saw the light of day in early September via the eclectic Apollon Records, and this 9-song gem is undoubtedly one of…

  • ANALOG AMARA – Slowly Falling Apart

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559498500956&locale=en_GB Hailing from Denver, Colorado, and sporting many of the hallmarks associated with emotionally charged alt. rock, this exciting new trio named Analog Amara is an interesting encounter for many different reasons. There can be no doubt that Amanda Hawkins (vocals), Jim Wilcox (drums and bass), and Max Powers (guitars and bass)…

  • VINTERSORG – Vattenkrafternas Spel

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/vintersorganic/ The first time I came across Vintersorg main man Andreas Hedlund’s fabulous singing was when I saw Borknagar perform live in Aalborg, Denmark, on the back of their splendidly melodic Quintessence album in what seems like another lifetime. But that was then, this is now, and the first new material by…

  • WALTER TROUT – Sign of the Times

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.waltertrout.com/home Legendary blues rocker Walter Trout is the ultimate survivor and a divinely gifted songwriter whose compositions overflow with raw nerve, fiery passion, words that speak to the soul, and gritty riffs with enough power to shake loose your fillings and prompt you to call that much-dreaded dentist of yours. There is…

  • DEEP PURPLE – Rapture of the Deep (20th Anniversary Remix)

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://deeppurple.com/ A much-overlooked entry in Purple’s impressive catalog is the classy and well-written Rapture of the Deep, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. What better way to mark that occasion than remixing and remastering the entire thing and including a handful of bonus track?”! I have always felt that their…

  • BABYMETAL – Metal Forth

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://babymetal.com Origins and Evolution Formed in 2010 as a genre-defying blend of idol pop and heavy metal, BABYMETAL quickly became a global phenomenon with their theatrical performances, intricate choreography, and innovative “kawaii metal” sound. Anchored by the core trio of Su-metal, Moametal, and new member Momometal, they have evolved from viral…

  • DECEASED – Children Of The Morgue

    RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://the-true-deceased.bandcamp.com/ Let me paint you a picture of a bright unscathed new world where mankind would live in joyous peace and cherish his life on Earth, our children would play in safety and real love would own our hearts, true sincerity lives away from greed…Now let me paint you reality’s picture,…

  • ENRAPTURE – Drønn

    RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://enrapture1.bandcamp.com/ The Norwegian progressive post death metal ensemble Enrapture’s third installment, Drønn²⁰²⁴ EP, independently released last April 5th is, to, again (as I’ve used it before) quote Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho” a curious little dish I was surprisingly presented by our dear chief editor, Andrea, quite a while ago,…

  • INFRARED – Manifestation

    RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://infraredmetal.ca/ There are few things more satisfying as a metal fan than watching a band evolve and consistently deliver, and few modern thrash bands have done that quite like Ottawa’s Infrared. With Manifestation²⁰²⁴, their fourth full-length released (again) independently last September 6th, the Canadians reaffirm their place in the XXI-st…

  • WITHERFALL – Sounds Of The Forgotten

    RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.witherfall.com/ The following expose is not a mere review – it is a personal reflection by a listener reborn.There are moments in a music fan’s life when an album doesn’t just impress—it devastates, heals, confronts, and ultimately resurrects you. Sounds Of The Forgotten²⁰²⁴, the fourth full-length offering from Los Angeles…

  • FOUR STROKE BARON – Data Diamond

    RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.fourstrokebaron.com/ After carving out a niche with their theatrical blend of heavy progressive rock and ’80s-inspired new wave with Four Stroke Baron²⁰¹⁴ EP, and King Radio²⁰¹⁵, Planet Silverscreen²⁰¹⁷ (debut for Prosthetic) as well as Classics²⁰²¹, Nevada trio Four Stroke Baron returned with last year’s May 31st Data Diamond²⁰²⁴, their fourth…

  • RITUAL – The Hemulic Voluntary Band (2025 Remaster)

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://ritualsweden.bandcamp.com/merch/ritual-the-hemulic-voluntary-band-cd A most playful, eclectic, and wildly entertaining release inspired by Tove Jansson’s immortal Moomin universe, this remastered issue of the fourth album by Swedish prog rockers Ritual, which originally came out in 2007, delivers a fabulously good time with just the right amount of subtle darkness and melancholy seeping in when…

  • WHERE’S MY BIBLE – Kave

    RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://wheresmybible.bandcamp.com/ When a band finds its voice, the result can be transformative — not just for the group itself, but for the genre it inhabits. With Kave²⁰²⁴, released last September 11th via Inverse Records, Finnish melodic death doom metal act weirdly, possibly jokingly named (no, they’re not Christians) Where’s My…

  • HONEYMOON SUITE – Wake Me up When the Sun Goes Down

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://honeymoonsuiteband.com/ These immensely talented Canadian rockers impressed me last year by means of their melodically rich and gorgeously crafted album titled Alive, so my hopes were high for this brand-new opus of theirs. Although lacking a bit of the vigor, energy, and immediacy that made its predecessor so memorable, “Wake Me up…

  • MYRKVID – Nihilist

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://lnk.to/nihilist Following a rather obnoxious and pointless intro piece, the French underground black metal constellation known as Myrkvid launches into a full-frontal attack on the senses and delivers its potently bleak and destructive old-school madness in a convincing manner. What we have here is called Nihilist and harkens back to the mid-90s in terms…

  • SHOCK NARCOTIC – My Flesh Is Afraid but I Am Not

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://shocknarcotic.bandcamp.com/album/my-flesh-is-afraid-but-i-am-not The fabulous yet underrated extreme metal squadron known as Shock Narcotic released this bone-shattering affair of theirs via the ever-reliable Housecore Records roughly a week ago, and there is plenty to get excited about here, friends. Why is that? Well, these chaps have honed their sound and sharpened their musical claws…

  • MARA – Sword of Vengeance

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://lnk.to/swordofvengeance The Swedish horde known as Mara impressed this scribe greatly with their Loka Mær offering from 2022 (also released by the ever-reliable Immortal Frost Productions), and Sword of Vengeance, which is their fifth full-length assault overall, sounds like the natural successor to what came before, which is a good thing as you…

  • FLOTSAM AND JETSAM – I Am The Weapon

    RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.flotstildeath.com/ For the past three albums, the eponymous²⁰¹⁶, The End Of Chaos²⁰¹⁹ and Blood In The Water²⁰²¹, the Phoenix Arizonian power thrash heavy metal outfit Flotsam And Jetsam have been on a roll with fantastic records full of heavy metal anthems that make Metallica, Megadeth and even Anthrax sound outdated…

  • ZAKULA – White Forest Reign Lullabies

    RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://zakula.bandcamp.com/ In the movie “La La Land”, Keith (John Legend), tells his bandmate and friend, Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling), essentially, that jazz is dying because the latter keeps it too traditional without opening himself for new ideas. How often true of heavy metal, how silly it sometimes sounds in the…

  • ALICE COOPER – The Revenge of Alice Cooper

    RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://alicecooper.lnk.to/RevengePR The phrase “highly anticipated” does not quite do this one justice in that we are talking about a marvelous new opus by the original Alice Cooper group – the first one in fifty years no less. Excited? You should be as this one is a real belter in more ways than…