RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://agusaband.bandcamp.com/ Agusa is a most engrossing and delightful addition to the already impressive prog rock roster of Karisma Records. Formed in Sweden back in 2013 and having released several noteworthy songs and gems since then, this musically adventurous ensemble takes us right back to the late 60s and early 70s by means…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.bonfire.de/ I recall reviewing Bonfire’s Pearls all the way back in 2016 and loving their take on huge-sounding hard rock and classic heavy metal with heaps of groove and class to it, and Higher Ground, which is their latest output, is a statement of intent and shows that there is still a…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://oakinoslo.bandcamp.com/album/the-third-sleep It seems like only yesterday that I had the great pleasure of reviewing the previous album by these talented prog rockers, namely the stately The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise (2022). With its deep-seated melancholy, genuine sense of yearning, and utterly captivating songs, said output was something to be admired and a…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/TheFerrymenofficial/ The Ferrymen impressed me greatly when they released their One More River to Cross opus from 2022, and with a line-up that is comprised of nothing but pure talent and skill in the shape of multi-instrumentalist and producer Magnus Karlsson, singer Ronnie Romero, and drummer Mike Terrana, that was arguably not…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/labyrinthitaly Truth be told, I was never really a huge fan of this Italian progressive power metal outfit as I found many of their earlier discs somewhat lacking in substance and longevity, or at least that is how it was for several years from my perspective. Having said that, their 2021 opus…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/octoploidmusic/ It has become almost a custom among heavy metal (and rock) artists that members of well-established and successful bands either make solo albums or join other bands while remaining active in their main abode. It used to be (80s and 90s), due to time and space constraints (both now…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://kryptograf.bandcamp.com/album/kryptonomicon One of Bergen’s finest and most prominent exponents of genuinely inspired stoner rock is back with a thrilling new album that is bound to please fans of the band both old and new. We are of course talking about the mighty Kryptograf, i.e. the dynamic and tight quartet who churn out…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.skeletal-remains.com/ Except for my brief church choir stint and occasional singing for and with children as an English teacher, I am not much of a musician, however, even I can still make the claim, as an over 30 year metal fan, that it seems not a complicated thing to make…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/wetofficialpage/ Receiving a new album by the fabulous international constellation known as W.E.T. is always a treat and this fifth full-length LP of theirs is no exception. Their line-up is akin to a wet dream (see what I did there?) to lovers of fist-pumping melodic hard rock and there is nothing…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://officiumtriste.com/ Even though I knew what the Dutch atmospheric doom death metal sextet was capable of by the excellent Mors Viri²⁰¹³ and The Death Of Gaia²⁰¹⁹, I never expected their 7th album in 30 years, Hortus Venenum²⁰²⁴, released on September 6th via Transcending Obscurity Records, to be this utterly deep and…
Brazilian melodic hard rockers Landfall impressed me greatly with their spirited and energetic debut offering titled The Turning Point (2020) as it contained plenty of catchy tracks delivered with a sense of class and youthful vigor. The follow-up from 2022, Elevate, was a bit of letdown as it lacked those big, juicy hooks and memorable…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://goremageddon.be/ The Belgium-founded gore death metal quartet, Aborted, is one of those bands which are not amongst my favorites yet which I, nevertheless, have had a special relationship with for over 17 years, beginning with their 5th full length, Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture²⁰⁰⁷, which I had obtained via the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://theactualdarkness.bandcamp.com/album/dreams-on-toast Who could possibly resist the temptation of surrendering oneself wholeheartedly to a sparkling new album by the UK’s finest exponent of uplifting and raunchy rock ‘n’ roll, namely The Darkness? Not me, that is for damn sure! Dreams on Toast is basically the sound of the kick-ass outfit firing on all…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://holycide.bandcamp.com/ If you miss the essential Megadeth from their first 4 (arguably 5) albums, equally essential Kreator from their first 5, Slayer from their first 6, some Sepultura from Beneath The Remains¹⁹⁸⁹ and don’t mind some D.R.I. thrown into the mix poured into a Sodomic basin, then the Spanish deathly…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.gymnocal.com/blogs/news/patriarchy-suffer-with-me-live-in-london How to even describe the US-based Patriarchy without doing them an injustice? Weaving various musical genres and influences such as post-punk, electro rock, industrial music, harsh ambient, and a demented brand of synth pop together to great effect only gets us halfway there, which is merely another way of saying that…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.wordsoffarewell.com/ Sometimes it’s interesting to watch a band evolve from a genre typical act through being a lot of things at once with mixed results to, finally, come full circle and come up with something hard to define. A good example is German progressive melodic death metal sextet, Words Of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://nightrage.com/ Although one of the Gothenburg melodic death metal three, In Flames, had stopped making music with the “wow” effect (to borrow from a commercial) after the fantastic Clayman²⁰⁰⁰, arguably they haven’t stopped making melodeath until after Reroute To Remain²⁰⁰², Soundtrack To Your Escape²⁰⁰⁴ where they started Kornizing their sound. It…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://scourofficial.bandcamp.com/album/gold Following a string of impressive EPs titled Grey, Red, and Black respectively, the immensely talented quintet known as Scour recently graced us with a proper full-length assault on the senses intriguingly titled Gold. It is a rather fitting name for this LP in that there are plenty of meaty bits and evocative passages to whet your…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://painband.bandcamp.com/ My head is empty and I need a break. I have to be hungry again to breathe and create – Pain “Coming Home” When Hypocrisy’s Swedish mainman, Peter Tägtgren sang the above words in the title track of Pain’s painfully mediocre Coming Home²⁰¹⁶, an album I panned in my review,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: http://www.rage-official.com/ I tell you Jesus Christ was just an ordinary man, but he was wise, much wiser than the rest, the few to see wrote tales about him but time perverted it all – Rage “Echoes Of Evil” One of the bands which had had a very long history, tons of…
