RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
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INTEGRAL RIGOR – Fallen/Brain Blind/Alast
Awhile ago an Iranian musician named Masoud contacted us for a review of the Middle Eastern death metaller’s Integral Rigor’s single "Fallen". One thing led to another and I decided to review their previous album "Alast" as well as their most recent single "Brain Blind" in addition to "Fallen" as they have all more than…
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SOLEMNITY – Through Endless Darkness
For some strange reason I initially thought these guys were Finnish but they are actually from Birmingham, UK. A project of two very talented musicians, Dan Benton (vocals, guitar), Amit Luther (orchestration, piano, guitar), aided by Dan Dean (bass), Solemnity combines heavily orchestrated composition with fierce death metal on this short debut EP evoking such…
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VEGA – Grit Your Teeth
I had the pleasure of watching UK rockers Vega perform in London a few years ago and they impressed me greatly that night. This brand-new record of theirs entitled “Grit Your Teeth” sports a fabulous album cover and the music does not disappoint either. Falling somewhere between ancient Bon Jovi, early Guns ‘N’ Roses, Skid…
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SPARAGMOS – Invitation From The Host Of Wrath/Mortal Organic Remains
Before Antigama, founded in 2000, there was Sparagmos, a vicious death/thrash construct more interesting than Vader and just as technical and skilled as Behemoth. Sparagmos, featuring Łukasz Józef Myszkowski (vocals, guitars), Sebastian Zusin (guitars), Andrzej "Jolo" Rudnicki (bass) and Tomasz Marecki (drums), started with a promising "Mortal Organic Remains…" demo (1990), followed by the ferocious…
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LESSER GLOW – Nullity
The Boston, Massachusetts sludge/doom post-metal quintet Lesser Glow featuring Alec Rodriguez (vocals), Andrew Nault (guitars), Ben Gram (guitars), Scott Conza (bass) and Seth Botos (drums) is admittedly one of the most original genre purveyors in recent memory on this, their 2nd album, "Nullity", which comes 2 years after their debut "Ruined", but they seem to…
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ARA – Jurisprudence
Technical bands such as Suffocation, Cryptopsy or Deeds Of Flesh took the death metal genre to new highs showing that brutality does not have to come at the expense of melody, while Anata proved that melody and brutality can coexist in equal measure for a great result. Now the Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Ara, who had already…
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IAN PREECE – Listening to the Wind: Encounters with 21st Century Independent Record Labels
“Listening to the Wind: Encounters with 21st Century Independent Record Labels” by author Ian Preece turned out to be quite the revelation for yours truly and something out of the ordinary. Being relatively fond of ambient, drone, minimalism, experimental soundscapes, electronica, and to a lesser extent field recordings (just to list a handful of the…
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PARALYSIS – Mob Justice
Paralysis is a fairly new crossover thrash band from Long Valley, New Jersey, who have been at this Slayer married to Megadeth with Suicidal Tendencies officiating and D.R.I. giving way style since their "No Turning Back" EP (2014) which they re-recorded or re-released with additional tracks in 2015 before their debut "Life Sentence" (2017) album.…
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ESOCTRILIHUM – Eternity Of Shaog
Finally, the French multi-instrumental vocalist known only by an esoteric moniker Asthâghul, who alone is Esoctrilihum, created something worth spinning more than twice with the listener not merely noticing but actually enjoying the hooks. And it’s only been 3 years since the beginning, "Mystic Echo From A Funeral Dimension" (2017), which was followed by my…
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DEATHBARREL – Rebuke/Revoke
Now this is an interesting one! The Norwegian entity named Deathbarrel dabbles in what I would term gloomy Americana with (outlaw) country-tinged influences to it, or perhaps dark singer/songwriter music would be a more apt description? Either way, this dynamic 4-track EP is most definitely not metal, but all you headbanging bastards out there should…
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[EVERTRAPPED] – The Last Extinctions
I have to admit that "The Last Extinction" was a tough album to get into after the excellent, instantly pleasing "Under The Deep". The difference in complexity layering and extremity is comparable to Death’s "Spiritual Healing" vs. "Human". Clearly, James Brookes (Vocals), Frederick Dupuis (Guitar), Vincent Benoit (Guitar), John Yates (Bass) and Eric Lemire (Drums)…
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PRETTY MAIDS – Maid in Japan – Future World Live 30th Anniversary
The Danish heavy metal legends known as Pretty Maids unleashed this great-looking CD/DVD combo via Frontiers Records a few weeks ago and what has been bestowed upon us is a strong, muscular, and above all potent and vital live document. The entire band chimes in with a powerful and energetic performance, and the entire thing…
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TEMNEIN – Tales Of Humanity And Greed
Ever since Opeth went completely prog rock, with Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt abdicating the Bloodbath throne, clearly showing that he was over and done with death metal, bands who emulated his old work aimed to match it. To me two actually did: Omnium Gatherum on "Beyond" (2013) and In Mourning on "Afterglow". We can now add…
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EXHUMED/GRUESOME – Twisted Horror
Matt Harvey is a latter-day death metal legend, heading up both Exhumed and Gruesome, two of the leading lights of the modern genre. Exhumed exemplify goregrind akin to classic Carcass, and have been knocking about since 1990 (albeit with a break from 2005 until their triumphant return in 2010) with a highlight being their "All…
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DENNIS DEYOUNG – 26 East Vol. 1
Former Styx lead vocalist and keyboard wizard Dennis DeYoung recently released this ambitious solo record of his via Frontiers Records and I must say that I am impressed by the scope and diversity of this ten-song opus. In many ways, it leans toward early 80s Styx while simultaneously incorporating elements and ideas that add a…
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PILE OF PRIESTS – Pile of Priests
Pile Of Priests eponymous album is another testimony to the fact that you can have excellent, very skilled musicians, some interesting riffs, melodies and harmonies and make just a good album one struggles to remember any part of once it’s over. And these are not debutants, as they have been around since their 2007 inception…
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BLACK CORONA – The Mission
As our chief editor Andrea Chirulescu aptly put it, Black Corona is quite a seasonal name given the current state of global emergency. Now, it would have been even stranger had this Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austrian melodic groove/death metal construct named themselves AFTER this viral season, which we know they had not since their first and…
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SHEILA ROCK – Young Punks
“Young Punks” by the renowned London-based photographer Sheila Rock is essentially a photographic journey that perfectly embodies and encapsulates the spirit and excitement of British punk rock in the mid-to-late 70s, and the great thing about this huge, beautiful book is that its content goes beyond the actual music, the fashion, or the various social…
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ONE DESIRE – Midnight Empire
The Finnish melodic hard rockers One desire blew me away by means of their latest effort entitled “Midnight Empire” due to the fact that it is an exhilarating and unbelievably catchy listen. Nearly every riff and melody counts, the sound is crystal clear and pristine but packs plenty of power and bombast, and the entire…
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SINISTHRA – The Broad And Beaten Way
It’s actually fascinating that some artists have a voracious appetite for making music which transcends their regular bands. Nicholas John Arthur Holmes (Paradise Lost) leads Bloodbath and Gregor Mackintosh (Paradise Lost) created now defunct Vallenfyre. Guitarist Markus Vanhala straddles both Omnium Gatherum and Insomnium for equally amazing and individually unique result. Former Sepultura vocalist/guitarist Massimiliano…
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MNEMOCIDE – Feeding the Vultures
Now, this is an interesting if not necessarily innovative Basel, Swiss death metal outfit featuring Matthias (vocals), Chris (guitars), Richy (guitars), Niggi Denger (bass) and Laurent (drums), who had already released a "Debris" EP in 2018. Generally Slayer-ic Vader and Behemoth are of easy reference, but then Nile and Gorefest are also present. The riffs…
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HER CHARIOT AWAITS – Her Chariot Awaits
The relatively new act named Her Chariot Awaits released its self-titled debut offering a few days ago and these skilled musicians have churned out a bombastic and sharp-sounding blend of metal and hard rock with a modern sheen to it. There is an emphasis on infectious melodies, big choruses, orchestrated passages, and the charismatic vocals…
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FM – Synchronized
When those fabulous first chords and tones of FM’s latest record “Synchronized” emanate from the speakers, you just know that you are in for a treat. Melodically rich and ridiculously catchy not to mention exceptionally well-played, the British rockers are firing on all cylinders here and this is an exciting and inspired release that beautifully…
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PARADISE LOST – Obsidian
When John Milton wrote his timeless classic he could not foresee that he would energize one of the most creative, versatile and eclectic bands in heavy metal. And just like "Paradise Lost" (and "Paradise Regained") inspired much Christian (not necessarily biblical) tradition, Paradise Lost birthed two powerful genres: doom/death (along with Anathema and My Dying…
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BEAR – Propaganda
Looking at the cover of the Belgian progressive hardcore/metallers’ 4th full length I wonder which meaning of the word "bear" do they associate their band’s name with: the carrying of loads or the wild animal, although, if the musical content is any indication, it’s probably both and therein is the ingenious simplicity of the moniker.…
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WINTERFYLLETH – The Reckoning Dawn
Except for Graveir’s "King Of The Silent World" it seems there have not been any interesting black metal albums lately, but then again, I haven’t been really looking around for them, so the 7th offering by the English quintet Winterfylleth really took me by surprise, with the excellent mix of old Emperor and Dimmu Borgir-ian…
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OMNIARCH – Omniarch
It could be argued that bands such as Arsis, Revocation and The Black Dahlia Murder, while starting out as melodic death metal bands, because of their incredible instrumental prowess and their ability to seamlessly meld different genres, ended up creating what can be called a new, as of yet unnamed, style, roughly technical melodic death/thrash.…
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SUSAN MASINO – Let There Be Rock: The Story of AC/DC (Updated Edition)
Noted rock journalist Susan Masino has written some very cool books revolving around Hank Williams, KISS, and Van Halen, but the one that we shall discuss and focus on here is an updated edition of her work on AC/DC that the ever-awesome Omnibus Press published quite recently. The chronicle of the marvelous AC/DC is obviously…
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FIREWIND – Firewind
Gus G. has made a name for himself over the past 20 years with his superior skill on guitar and songwriting second to none. He’s spent time in Dream Evil, Arch Enemy, and most notably in Ozzy Osbourne’s band, but his primary project and focus has always been Firewind, an act that has truly come…
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HAYK ERSEMERCI – Hayk Ersemerci
The solo artist extraordinaire Hayk Ersemerci presented just this one eponymous EP for our amusement and consumption but, sadly, I cannot find any info on where the man comes from. Perhaps, it is better this way so that we can focus on the music at hand which is very good, indeed. While Hayk makes progressive…