RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.kingkraken.co.uk/ The hard-hitting Welsh metal outfit known as King Kraken impressed me greatly with their pounding and groovy debut album titled MCLXXX back in 2023, and a few weeks ago they unleashed a brand-new maelstrom of heaviness named March of the Gods, which sees the quintet conjure up ten catchy and concise…
– VENUE: OVO Wembley Arena – DATE: 25.02.2025 – ORGANIZER: Live Nation Photo by C.N. The mighty roar of the thunderous Pantera celebration filled the sold-out OVO Wembley Arena last night to the joy and delight of fans both old and new. With a rapturous and highly energetic crowd spanning multiple generations, there was a…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.exhorder.com/ And you will hear wars nearby and reports of wars far away. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must come to pass, but it is not yet the end. For group will rise against group, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://deceptionnorway.bandcamp.com/ A few reviews back, I had the pleasure to review the latest album from the Norwegian death metal stalwarts Blood Red Throne, Nonagon²⁰²⁴ as well as a chance to give my first 6/6 in a long time. Their new vocalist, Sindre Wathne Johnsen, is the founder of another Norwegian…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/BloodRedThroneOfficial https://bloodredthrone.bandcamp.com/music I’m going to go on the record and say something this review will prove beyond reasonable doubt: if you don’t like Blood Red Throne you don’t like death metal. Blood Red Throne (BRT) is a band whose music I know intimately thanks to their main founder and one…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.flamingwrekage.com/ Melodic death metal was the eagle of choice for the hardcore bands of the late 90s and early 2000s who had decided to save heavy metal from its successful grunge, alternative and nü metal triple attack, bands like Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, Unearth, Darkest Hour and, later, Trivium, who…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/untimeband I will be the first to admit that I have never previously crossed paths with the Tønsberg-based outfit known as Untime, but this catchy and easily digestible little 4-track EP of theirs is an enjoyable offering that serves up plenty of earth-shattering riffs, big and juicy grooves, and a punchy…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.ironaltarband.com/ One of the albums I’ve been meaning to get to reviewing in 2023 but something always got in the way was the 2nd (after the independently released Pillars Of Blood²⁰¹⁸) full length by the Scottish progressive metalcorers Iron Altar, Promethean²⁰²³ released on September 29th via Trepanation Recordings. Despite it’s…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/becomingthearchetypemusic The Georgian Christian progressive metallers Becoming the Archetype (BtA) may be very well known to Christians who love metal but I suspect they are virtually unknown in the greater heavy metal community, possibly due to Christian lyrics most people who aren’t Christians have no interest in reading much less…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.sylosis-band.com/ Sylosis is a British metalcore act with some thrash and groove metal influences of which you could not tell that they were British just by listening to their vocalist who sounds so like the New American Heavy Metal screamer I was actually shocked to learn he was not an…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.brujeria.com/ The Californian grindcore death metal groove act Brujeria (Spanish: witchcraft), which performs their vocals exclusively in Spanish, was formed by John David “Juan Brujo” Lepe, Patrick “Adam Bomb” “Fantasma” Hoed, William David Gould “Güero Sin Fe” Junior (Faith No More) Eric Reed “Jello Biafra” “Hozicón Jr.” Boucher and (until…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://artofpropaganda.bandcamp.com/album/tulpa Linus Klausenitzer is Alkaloid’s powerful bassist and on October 6th last year the man decided to release his solo album Tulpa²⁰²³ via AOP Records. To succeed in this endeavor he had asked many renown contributors to take part in it, among whom are Juggernaut’s Javier Perera Martin on vocals,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/GoAheadAndDieBand It seems ages since the legendary Massimiliano Antonio “Max” Cavalera, the (in)famous ex-Sepultura and current Soulfly frontman, aided by his younger son, Igor Amadeus Cavalera (vocals, guitar, bass) as well as Khemmis’ drummer Zach Coleman, released the explosive bombshell of Go Ahead And Die’s eponymous²⁰²¹ probably because so much…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/angelusapatrida Angelus Apatrida’s eponymous²⁰²¹, which I reviewed here (5.5/6) was a fantastic slab of modern thrash metal with hints of groove and metalcore so, when I saw the Century Media Records alert for the brand new video “Cold” I could hardly wait to sink my ears into it. Indeed, “Cold”…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://carthus.bandcamp.com/ It’s raining independent debuts here at ER so, after the British death thrash groovers Lokust now comes the Australian progressive melodic death metal folk quintet Carthus with Images Of Tyranny²⁰²³ released on July 21st just 3 years after formation. What stands out the most are the band’s extraordinary skills…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://www.6lokust.com/ Since heavy metal was arguably invented in the United Kingdom, and, specifically in England, it’s been fascinating to watch the Americans “hijack” it and arguably make it better but then observe the Britts emulate that previously emulated music in pursuit of their own sound. This complex conclusion I’ve reached…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/prongmusic/ Receiving a promo album by long-running New York metal act Prong always a brings a smile to my face, and not merely because they have a nostalgic effect on me due to their records from the 90s having had a big impact on me but because they always seem to…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: http://sheburnsred.com/ Having not yet had the pleasure of listening to the previous offering by this Scottish hard rock act, namely the debut EP named Take Back Tomorrow from 2020, I had no idea what to expect from this upcoming album by She Burns Red. What I can tell you is that…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://stillbirthofficial.bandcamp.com/ As you listen to the German brutal death metal and death core act’s Stillbirth’s new album Homo Deus²⁰²³ released on April 7th, you may get an impression you’re dealing with one of those young highly skilled ensembles at most on their 3rd installment, stylistically somewhere between All Shall Perish,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://medevil.bandcamp.com/ The Canadian progressive power thrash metaller’s debut Conductor Of Storms²⁰¹⁶ was already a fiercely original record although the influences were also quite easy to point out. I thought what made Medevil original was their approach to metal: they clearly loved it and were inspired by it but it wasn’t…
