ALBUM REVIEWS

RECENT ALBUM REVIEWS

  • ONE YEAR DELAY – Deep Breath

    A six piece metal act who fuse punk, grunge, nu-metal and metalcore together, Greece’s One Year Delay on their debut album "Deep Breath" have a dynamic sound for certain. The monotonous semi-rapping brings Linkin Park to mind, but musically songs like "Headhunters" and "Miss You" have this alluring spectrum of bass and keyboard sounds that…

  • ATOMWINTER – Iron Flesh

    Doomy style death metal from Germany’s Atomwinter, "Iron Flesh" is their second full-length since their inception in 2010. Expect a number of swinging riffs, killer grooves/tempos, and dual growls/ screams that remind of me of classic Asphyx and Bolt Thrower with Obituary and even the evilness of early Black Sabbath on their sonic radar screen.…

  • WITCHSORROW – No Light, Only Fire

    The birth place of doom, the United Kingdom has all the right influences as far as weather, atmosphere, and blue collar work environments to channel the movement from Black Sabbath into current bands like Witchsorrow. "No Light, Only Fire" is the third full-length for the trio, active since 2005 – and has a little bit…

  • RIVERS OF NIHIL – Monarchy

    The first album from this Pennsylvania quintet "The Conscious Seed of Light" didn’t sit very well in the hook department, which can be a problem for technical death metal bands. "Monarchy" is the follow up, and with a couple of lineup changes (welcome Alan Balamut on drums and Jon Topore on guitar) plus a boatload…

  • RUBIKON – Delta

    14 years together as a band and a number of releases under their belt, Rubikon feature a potent bluesy oriented stoner hard rock sound that is very commercially viable for their new album "Delta". Heavier songs like "Live That Lie" and "Captain Deep" nestle nicely against more exploratory, dynamic material such as the ZZ Top-like…

  • THE SUMMIT – Higher Ground

    Featuring 220 Volt guitarist Mats Karlsson, Easy Action drummer Björn Höglund, plus vocalist Michael Klemmé and bassist Lars Ericsson, The Summit on their debut album "Higher Ground" reach back into the 1970’s for a hard rock record that’s bluesy, heavy, and very melodic while also possessing a modern production touch. A Queen aspect in the…

  • MALEVOLENT CREATION – Dead Man’s Path

    In my early tape trading years of the late 80’s and early 90’s, Florida’s Malevolent Creation are one of the bands that set the US death metal scene on fire. Their early albums "The Ten Commandments" and "Retribution" still stand well today for their aggression, intensity, and overall impact on the next generation of death…

  • MALEVOLENT CREATION – Dead Man´s Path

    Malevolent Creation are still doing what they do best, namely pouring out straight forward death metal, without any nonsense. 24 years since the debut album "The Ten Commandments" and 8 albums later, these Floridians still knows how to satisfy a simple souls craving for dark and brutal music. There are some changes from 2010 album "Invidious Dominion", the band have…

  • DEW-SCENTED/ANGELUS APATRIDA – Immersed 7”

    A split 7" limited to 500 copies, this is a true treat for fans of Dew-Scented and Angelus Apatrida. It’s important to see where a band comes from as far as their roots, and both bands willingly put that out there on this release. Dew-Scented choose to recover a Vio-lence song "World in A World"…

  • POLARIZED – Western Hypnosis

    A newly formed international project, Polarized consists of four musicians who hail from the lands of Connecticut, Bosnia, Italy, and Sweden – starting in 2013, "Western Hypnosis" is their debut full-length record. Probably the most notably name in the bunch is bassist Lars Lindén, who also plays in Carnal Forge – the rest of the…

  • ASYLUM PYRE – Spirited Away

    The third studio album from French melodic metal act Asylum Pyre contains 13 tracks of diverse riffs, dual female clean vocals and male growls, and a sense of cyber/dance oriented grooves at times. Artists like Nightwish and Within Temptation come up, as well as the uniqueness of Pain of Salvation, on cuts like "Unplug My…

  • ART NATION – Revolution

    Another Swedish melodic hard rock sensation at the cusp of a "Revolution", here is the sextet Art Nation. Their debut album contains 12 tracks of addictive hooks on both musical/vocal fronts, something you would expect out of H.E.A.T., Eclipse, and Work of Art. Alexander Strandell’s exemplary voice puts "3000 Beats" on the map, and his…

  • DEEP PURPLE – …To the Rising Sun (In Tokyo)

    Classic hard rock never dies – especially when artists like Deep Purple keep writing, recording, and touring after 47 plus years. "…To the Rising Sun (In Tokyo)" is a double live album taken from a recent tour in Japan, featuring 18 songs and over 107 minutes of music. Newer songs like "Apres Vous" and "Vincent…

  • OPERATION: MINDCRIME – The Key

    Lines are drawn. Geoff Tate won the right to take the Operation: Mindcrime name following the lengthy court battle, while Queensÿche can continue with Todd LaTorre at the helm. "The Key" is the first effort with Geoff and his bandmates as Operation: Mindcrime, familiar names involved include drummer Simon Wright, guitarist Kelly Gray, and drummer…

  • PRAYING MANTIS – Legacy

    Transformation appears to be an expectation when it comes to legendary bands who have decades in the books career-wise. The UK classic melodic hard rock/metal band Praying Mantis is no exception, as "Legacy" their latest studio album has two new members in the fold: vocalist Jaycee Cuijpers and drummer Hans in’t Zandt. As long as…

  • REVERIE – Bliss

    Blackened death can be an acquired taste, but when done in this fierce, aggressive manner as Danish band Reverie illustrate for "Bliss", it can get no better. Wails of sorrow against a cocktail of furious riffing, occasional Voivod-ish excursions give the ears a reprieve before the next aural assault assails. Softer military drum patterns open…

  • RAISE HELL – Written in Blood

    Nine years between albums seems like a lifetime to most metal listeners – but that’s the fact you’ll face when checking out Raise Hell’s newest studio offering "Written in Blood". Drummer Dennis Ekdahl parted ways in 2013, so the band recruits ex-Destruction drummer Sven Vormann to be the session guy for this fifth full effort.…

  • LOUD AT LEAST – Dirty

    Austrian band Loud At Least! started in 2008, releasing their debut album "Painful Exploration" a year later. Lineup shuffles and natural personal growth caused 6 years to pass for the follow up "Dirty" – but this melodic hard rock/metal act serves up a decent variety of material in this 13 song record. Catchy, multi-part harmonic…

  • CEMETERY LUST – Screams of the Violated (re-issue)

    Ah… the days of early Teutonic thrash have now hit a second generation of musicians who want to push those ideals to a fresh audience. Portland, Oregon’s Cemetery Lust are a five-piece who develop a style they call ‘rape thrash’… don’t know quite what to make of that, but based on stage names like Disgustor,…

  • KATAKLYSM – Of Ghosts and Gods

    The 12th studio album from Canada’s Kataklysm, "Of Ghosts of Gods" has an even more commercial melodeath feel than their last album "Waiting for the End to Come". Possibly even modern in spots for the down-tuned opening guitar hook choice within "Thy Serpents Tongue", tracks like "Breaching the Asylum" and "Carrying Crosses" take on a…

  • HORRENDOUS – Anerata

    Horrendous (US) took the metal world with storm with their debut "The Chills" back in 2012. Their formidable follow-up two years later, "Ecdysis" continued in the same good manner and now the world must prepare it self for their third opus, "Anerata". Just to get it out of the way, "Anerata" is good, very good…

  • SADISTIK EXEKUTION – 30 Years of Agonizing the Dead

    Sadistik Exekution, either you love em or you don´t (personally I fall into the first category). SE hails from Australia and have been spreading their ugly death/black metal since the late 80´s and they can truly be categorised as pioneérs of the now growing death/black genre that we all love. Their form of extreme metal…

  • FEAR FACTORY – Genexus

    Ahead of the curve in terms of combining the industrial and computer tools at their disposal while still being aggressive in their metal stance, Fear Factory took the world by storm out of the gate in the early 1990’s. Their first two albums "Soul of a New Machine" and "Demanufacture" put them on the map…

  • INHUMAN – Conquerors of the New World

    Dette er litt teknisk, men først og fremst brutal death metal. Med litt teknisk mener jeg at det er visse tekniske finesser her. De er ikke like teknisk som for eksempel band som Origin, men det er da noe slik at det forsvarer at man kan kalle det teknisk brutal death metal. God vokal, masser…

  • THE 3RD ATTEMPT – Born in Thorns

    The 3rd Attempt is a brand new Norwegian black metal outfit consisting of four members, two of which are seasoned veterans within the black metal scene, namely Tchort (ex-Blood Red Throne, ex-Carpathian Forest) and BloodPervertor (ex-Carpathian Forest). The outfit is rounded out by vocalist Ødamark (ex-Midnattsvrede) and drummer Tybalt (Fortid, Den Saakaldte). The debut album…

  • THE 3RD ATTEMPT – Born in Thorns

    Okey, as many know by now The 3rd Attempt is a spawn of Carpathian Forest. With Tchort and BloodPervertor leaving CF because of stagnation in creativity it hits me immediatly when I see the front cover of their new album, wow looks like a CF cover and the new logo isn`t so new thinking either…

  • ARCHAEA – Catalyst

    A Gothenburg, Swedish sextet, Archaea since 2007 have been pushing out their brand of melodic death/thrash to the masses. "Catalyst" is their full-length debut, after releasing a demo and EP earlier in their career. Taking to the time to build their own studio allows the group to record on their own pace and time, and…

  • YELLOWTOOTH – Crushed by the Wheels of Progress

    Yellowtooth hail from Michigan City, Indiana in the US. They feature a quite common line-up of a drummer, a bassist/vocalist and a guitarist/vocalist, and like many before them, they deliver a solid musical punch to the ear of anyone brave enough to listen to their newest album, Crushed by the Wheels of Progress.  The album…

  • CATTLE DECAPITATION – The Anthropocene Extinction

    Cattle Decapitation from US are quite an oddball in my book. Starting out with some really not that great grind, then morhping over to more deathish metal that worked out quite well and now on their seventh full-length adding more progressive elements into their mix of grind/death. I really dug their last album so when…

  • CATTLE DECAPITATION – The Anthropocene Extinction

    Death metal progressive grind – a swirling whirlwind of guitars, bass, drums, and growls/ screams that doesn’t go off the rails. That’s Cattle Decapitation in a small nutshell – yet "The Anthropocene Extinction" is so much more that pushes their style into the hearts of the underground whether young or old. Guitarist Josh Elmore wears…