RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS
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SPAZZ – Sweatin’ II Deported Live Gorilla
Next up we have a reissue from hardcore/powerviolence act Spazz. Funnily enough Tankcrimes released Sweatin’ I & III in 2016, so this one is slightly out of step in the chronology, but it offers up all of the same fun as last year’s releases. Sweatin II is taken from various spilts over ‘95 and ’96,…
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XOTH – Invasion of the Tentacube
Xoth are one of those ‘great but low profile‘ bands that it is all too easy to miss or pass up on with the slew of releases coming out each week. In fact ‘Invasion of the Tentacube’ was quietly released in late 2016 to minimum fanfare. Hopefully this review will help bring the band to…
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DREAMING DEAD – Funeral Twilight
Funeral Twilight is the third full-length opus from LA powerhouse Dreaming Dead. Members include front-woman Elizabeth Schall (some of you out there might be familiar of her work with death/grinders Cretin). The first thing that hits the listener is the production – really warm and crisp, this brings out the melodic properties, while simultaneously harnessing…
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BLACK SABBATH – The End
"The End" by Black Sabbath is a gem of a record that I picked up just recently when attending the first of their two 2017 gigs at the O2 Arena in London. The album was released last year and only made available at merchandise stands on their The End tour, but who knows if it…
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ENDOGENIC – Hunter
Fullengder fra Trondheimsbandet Endogenic er på gang og da må skrivesakene fram igjen. Endogenic er sinnametal med varierende tempo. Litt varierende interessegrad i noen av låtene, men for det meste låter dette veldig bra. Det er flust med gode riff og for det meste gode vokale prestasjoner (jeg kommer mer tilbake til dette lenger ned).…
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LOCK UP – Demonization
Lock Up er et band jeg stort sett har latt seile sin egen sjø. Husker jeg hørte litt på ei skive for mange år siden og at det ble med det. Hadde egentlig tenkt å la den nye forbli i det samme farvannet. Men ved en tilfeldighet fikk jeg hørt en av låtene, og siden…
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NIDINGR – The High Heat Licks Against Heaven
The experimental Norwegian black/death metal outfit known as Nidingr has to be one of the most underrated and exceptionally talented extreme metal groups of all time. Pretty much each and every release by the band has been a work of art that defies musical boundaries and any vain attempt by overweight loser like me to…
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BLACK STAR RIDERS – Heavy Fire
Yes! The US/Irish hard rockers Black Star Riders are back and they do not disappoint this time around either. What is it about this band that just makes it better and better as the years pass? Their latest effort, "Heavy Fire", is the most varied, dynamic, and ass-kicking output to date. Each and every track…
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ZAO – The Well-Intentioned Virus
Zao started as a Christian band with Christ-centered lyrics (yes, there are non-Christ centered Christian lyrics) but after the fall out with Solid State Records over the brilliant "The Funeral of God" album they began to deviate from the Christian rhetoric and today not only are they not expressly Christian band but none of the…
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BLACK ANVIL – As Was
It has been a while since I listened to the US black/thrash metal outfit that is Black Anvil. I remember listening to the debut album quite a lot back in 2008 and 2009, but I kind of missed out on their full-length assaults from 2010 and 2014. Well, until now, that is. This brand new…
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PILEDRIVER – Brothers in Boogie
The German (hard) rock quartet known as Piledriver, which is primarily a Status Quo tribute band, released this 13-track album of theirs containing original material back in October 2016 via Rockwall Records, but for some reason the promo did not find its way to my pile of stuff to review until quite recently. Nevertheless, we…
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KREATOR – Gods of Violence
Kreator slipper i disse dager sitt nye album «Gods of Violence» og de er bedre enn noen gang. Flust med gode og kjappe riff, masser av melodiøse partier og refreng og en variasjon i låtene kun et übererfarent band som Kreator kan få til uten at kvaliteten og helheten forringes på noen som helst måte.…
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ARMORED SAINT – Carpe Noctum
Considering a new studio album from California traditional metal band Armored Saint comes around the band every five to ten years (the last gap between "La Raza" of 2010 and "Win Hands Down" from 2015), it’s not surprising that the band wish to capture some of that live energy and release "Carpe Noctum". The last…
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BEHEADED – Beast Incarnate
I min verden finnes det kun et brukbart metalband på Malta og det er Beheaded. Jeg ble gjort oppmerksom på bandet av en tidligere kollega her i Eternal Terror i vårt første leveår 2002 og endte faktisk opp med å kjøpe «Recounts of Disembodiment» som kom ut det året. Mistet deretter interessen med bandet eller…
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SANZU – Heavy over the Home
Although it was originally released by the band itself in 2015, Listenable Records decided to reissue "Heavy Over the Home" by the Australian death metal quintet named Sanzu in 2016. The band released an EP prior to this debut album of theirs, but "Heavy Over the Home" is my first encounter with these guys. Truth…
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HELHEIM – landawarijaR
Can you imagine how happy I was when I heard that the legendary Helheim was to release a brand new musical onslaught consisting of seven sparkling and highly original tunes in January 2017? Well, you probably can’t, but who gives a shit? The only thing that matters is that Helheim is back and that we…
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SHAARIMOTH – Temple Of the Adversarial Fire
This is not music – This is ritual… Shaarimoth takes no prisoners with this beast of an album, setting the bar extremely high for other bands to follow in 2017. "Tempel Of The Adversarial Fire" is nothing less than a dark, merciless and overwhelming masterpiece, not for the faint-hearted, but a revelation for any supreme death…
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STEPHEN PEARCY – Smash
The fourth solo album from Ratt vocalist Stephen Pearcy, "Smash" contains a diverse selection of melodic to modern hard rock tracks. Some of the material takes on a bit of a 90’s sheen, such as opener "I Know I’m Crazy" and "Dead Roses", while the comfortable bluesy throwback elements come up on "Shut Down Baby",…
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MORTIIS – The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost
Given that the classic Vond albums were recently reissued and that there is a lot of activity going on over at the Mortiis Bandcamp profile, I felt that it was only proper to review this legendary and somewhat obscure recording by Mortiis dating back to 1993 and evocatively titled "The Song of a Long Forgotten…
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KROKUS – Big Rocks
Swiss hard rockers Krokus have been a part of the music scene for over 40 years, and decide on this go around to pay tribute to a lot of artists that influenced their outlook and sound. "Big Rocks" as such will have a lot of familiar material to those who follow the rock music of…
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CHRONICLE – Memento Mori
The Danish death/thrash metal outfit known as Chronicle released this rather excellent 5-track EP last year, and I must say that I am glad that I managed to get my filthy paws on this one. While I really do like the band’s previous releases, "Memento Mori" is without a shadow of doubt their best one…
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BÖLZER – Hero
Swiss duo Bölzer have enjoyed massive cult status for the past few years thanks mainly to their Soma and Aura EPs. To be honest, I never really saw what all of the fuss is about and felt they were one of the most overhyped bands out there. I am happy to report that for their…
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FORTID – The Demo Sessions
The Icelandic entity known as Fortíð is one of the more interesting and atmospheric pagan outfits out there today, and due to the band’s impressive discography consisting of five rather awesome albums I was naturally quite intrigued about the prospect of digging into this demo compilation of theirs appropriately entitled "The Demo Sessions". While one…
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DEE SNIDER – We Are the Ones
Legendary Twisted Sister front man Dee Snider released this solo album of his last year, and to tell you the truth, I had no idea what to expect when I popped "We Are the Ones" into the record player, but that is a good thing. It is always cool to kind of just immerse oneself…