RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://bushmansrevenge.bandcamp.com/album/all-the-better-for-seeing-you What a magnificent piece of work this cleverly written opus by jazz rockers Bushman’s Revenge is. Six beguiling compositions that add something fresh and vital to the genre are what lie in store for you, and there is atmosphere and dynamics in spades throughout not to mention that it is…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://rottencoffin.bandcamp.com/ You may ask why I am reviewing a 2022 album in the middle of 2023. After all, the debut full length from this Portuguese death metal trio was released on December 10th by Escaravelho Records last year to follow the independent demo Suffering, Chaos And Death²⁰²¹. However, Bitter Loss…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://degreedmusic.com/ The Swedish hard rock sensation Degreed are back with a follow-up to last year’s near-flawless Are You Ready, and it goes without saying that I had been looking forward to cranking Public Address up real loud in the living room. I shall keep things short here and merely state that…
VENUE: Stereo DATE: 16.09.2023 ORGANIZER: Stereo/Slaamaskin/Glasgow Kiss PHOTOGRAPHER: J. Nepper Photos copyrights belong to the photographer. No unauthorized usage allowed. Please contact photographer if you wish to reuse images in any context. The cozy and somewhat intimate venue known as Stereo, which is situated in a rather vibrant part of Bergen’s city center, had…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://firesinthedistance.com/ While (or why) I hadn’t hurried to review the second album, Air Not Meant For Us²⁰²³ from the Connecticuter quartet as soon as it was released on April 28th on Prosthetic Records, it gave me all the more pleasure to realize how excellent it was once I sunk my…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/beneath-the-darkness This is my first encounter with this unholy Juggernaut from Portugal, and I must say that I am well and truly impressed with their work. Unnerving and vigorous death metal with a menacing aura and a dissonant edge to it is what you get here, and Beneath the Darkness is…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://dwaaldoom.bandcamp.com/album/never-enough Ever since the outstanding Gospel of the Vile opus saw the light of day in 2020, I have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up to that crushing piece of work. The arrival of Never Enough is imminent and you might as well start preparing for it now, because this is one…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023BAND URL: https://pixieninja.bandcamp.com/album/hypnagogia Fresh, clever, and inventive are words that immediately spring to mind when trying to sum up this highly engaging offering by instrumental prog rockers Pixie Ninja, and there can be no doubt that these Scandinavians are flying the flag of musical innovation high. Darkly atmospheric yet playful and eclectic, the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://omnibuspress.com/collections/frontpage/products/heady-daze-the-mission-years-1985-1990-published-on-25th-august-2022 This scribe was madly in love with the inimitable Wayne Hussey’s previous autobiography (or rather the first part of what is presumably a trilogy), namely the brilliant and ridiculously entertaining Salad Daze from 2019. His latest literary output, Heady Daze, picks up where its predecessor ended, and as its title…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/Vyperaofficial Vypera hail from Sweden and dabble in hard rock and heavy metal that harken back to the eighties in terms of sound and style, which is usually a very good thing in my book, but sadly, this sophomore effort of theirs is a bit disappointing in that it lacks those…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/soulcarrion The Polish death metal squadron Soulcarrion impressed me greatly by means of the rotten and highly efficient Infernal Agony full-length assault last year, and this short and lethal 4-track EP basically offers more of the same, which means that you get a batch of killer tunes that evoke the spirit…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.hexvessel.com/ Hexvessel is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating and musically adventurous entities that I have had the great pleasure of listening to since the debut offering entitled Dawnbringer from 2011. There is an enigmatic aura to every single output of theirs, and with the gifted Mathew “Kvohst” McNerney in charge…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023BAND URL: https://slaamaskin.bandcamp.com/track/du-2 I friggin’ love these mad Norwegian bastards and their energetic and spirited take on explosive metal, hardcore, and punk rock. With fierce riffs and even fiercer vocals, Slaamaskin mean business and are clearly out there to melt our faces and pummel us to death, and the cool thing is that…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://omnibuspress.com/products/anymore-for-anymore-the-ronnie-lane-story-published-24th-august-2023 Anymore for Anymore: The Story of Ronnie Lane is a moving and most interesting piece of gripping music literature that sheds light on a hugely skilled musician and songwriter who was held in high esteem by his friends and peers yet somehow came across as an overlooked or underappreciated musical…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: http://www.joelhoekstra.com/ The brilliant songwriter and guitarist Joel Hoekstra has not only done wonderful things for Whitesnake but also released a couple of fabulous solo records, the latest being this 12-track effort titled Crash of Life where he is joined by a stellar cast of friends and musicians, namely Vinny Appice, Tony…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.shoresofnull.com/ In my review of the Italian melodic death/doom metallers Shores Of Null’s one track third full length Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying)²⁰²⁰ (5/6) I necessarily compared it to both Edge Of Sanity’s Crimson¹⁹⁹⁴ and Insomnium’s Wintergate²⁰¹⁶ the former had inspired, but I concluded that it was inferior…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://omnibuspress.com/collections/frontpage/products/mud-ride-a-messy-trip-through-the-grunge-explosion-signed-edition-published-on-8th-june-2023 Renowned Mudhoney guitarist Steve Turner recently published this fantastically entertaining, engaging, and sincere autobiography of his, and this humorous page-turner (see what I did there?) does an absolutely splendid job at chronicling the birth and evolution of grunge and how the Seattle scene came into being and eventually exploded into…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: http://www.augustburnsred.com/ Believe it or not, progressive metalcore bands are hardly a dime a dozen these days, especially those worth listening to twice. Arguably Between The Buried And Me were the first band to marry hardcore to progressive metal, what with their chaotic but still quite original self-titled debut²⁰⁰² followed by…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/Houstonsweden/ Melodic rock and AOR of the highest order are what this fabulous and utterly talented act from Sweden offers, and while the previous full-length disc named IV was an amazing and expertly crafted opus, this 2023 output of theirs is just as wicked due to its enticing atmosphere, melodic strength,…
ROCK NITE AT THE MUSEUM Anmeldt av Roger Hagerupsen SVERRESBORG MUSEUM 11/8 – 2023 TRONDHEIM Ikke mange ukene etter at TRONDHEIM ROCKS er ferdig får trønderpublikummet jaggu besøk av flere legender fra 70 og 80-tallet, å denne gangen er det idylliske Sverresborg museum som får besøk. I denne første (men…
