RELEASE YEAR: 2023BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/people/Dirty-Velvet-Rock/100076167258796/ The Swiss alternative rock act Dirty Velvet was formed roughly four years ago and have been gigging quite a bit on their home turf since then, but their debut offering will soon see the light of day via Fastball Music, so let us take a closer look at that output,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: http://www.frontiers.it/album/5838 Tommy DeCarlo (Boston) possesses an impressive set of pipes and is undoubtedly a great singer and front man, but this album entitled Dancing in the Moonlight, which is primarily written by Frontiers Records’ in-house composer and musician Alessandro Del Vecchio, is a huge letdown and utterly forgettable. AOR and soft…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/aprilartband/ The German outfit named April Art recently released this independent offering titled POKERFACE, and the quartet essentially dabbles in something akin to a mixture of alternative rock/metal and nu metal, which means that what we have here sounds rather modern and contemporary in many ways. There is a good flow…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/ardoursband/ Anatomy of a Moment by the Italian outfit Ardours, which includes Mariangela Demurtas (Tristania) on vocals, is a weirdly anticlimactic experience. With its gothic rock overtones and prominent nods to alternative rock and experimental metal, there is a modern flair to this pristine-sounding output, and a number of good ideas…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/KandiaOfficial The Portuguese act named Kandia dabbles in something akin to alternative metal with subtle goth rock undertones to it and even a few metalcore elements. The emphasis is clearly on atmosphere, and they do manage to infuse their compositions with both a somber hue and a good amount of aggression,…
The Spanish hard rock outfit Bodyguerra’s upcoming full-length opus titled "Fire & Soul", which is comprised of thirteen tracks in total – two of which are bonus cuts, is characterized by Ela Sturm’s vocals and the varied guitar work of Guodo Stoecker, but frankly, there is nothing truly interesting going on here as such. Some…
What the Swedish quintet Havamal offers is essentially melodic death metal with plenty of bombast and lofty ideas to it. With its pagan/Viking metal overtones and lyrics inspired by Norse mythology, the nine compositions that constitute "The Shadow Chapter" are brimming with galloping riffs, epic atmospheres, growls and chants, choirs and keyboards, and an overall…
The US outfit known as Almost Dead blends modern thrash metal with groove metal and subtle hints of metalcore, and this twelve-track output is some wildly aggressive and energetic stuff. Whenever I spin this disc, acts ala Machine Head, Pissing Razors, and Devildriver come to mind, so that should tell you a little about where…
I was quite looking forward to checking Sunbomb out as I like and admire Tracii Guns’ (L.A. Guns) style of playing and his way of crafting meaty riffs that go straight for the throat, but "Evil and Divine", which is the group’s debut offering, is sadly a bit of a letdown and an underwhelming affair.…
Given that this one was released a couple of months ago, I shall try to keep this little review of mine as short and concise as possible. The sixth melodic hard rock record by the skilled Norwegian singer Issa is a polished and slick affair boasting a pristine sound and some impressive vocals, but sadly,…
Angelica’s new record entitled "All I Am" offers melodic rock/AOR with a modern sheen to it and it comes across as a fresh and current-sounding affair in many ways, but frankly, it is also quite predictable and unexciting. Its main problem is that it is rather generic and somewhat derivative with respect to its melodies…
The rather cool album title “Rats & Ravens” may give you a subtle clue as to what all of this is about, namely a horror-themed (thrash) metal opus with a storyline and concept to it conjured up by the US quartet named FROM HELL. Musically and stylistically speaking, one could argue that there are certain…
There are albums which make one wonder why they were made, why they were released into the wide world instead of spending eternity stashed away on the artist’s hard drive. Such is the case with the Swedish ambient project Lustre and its 7th album, the subject of this review. Born in Östersund, Jämtland and persisting…
Walk Through Fire? And where might that fire be? All I hear is the least interesting parts of Ulcerate-ian doom severely minimalized to the point of sounding like a guitar novice rehersal. This could all be done between lunch and dinner on any given day by beginners. Why even bother with vocals? The only good…
The German trio named Hellride have made a bit of a name for themselves over the years thanks to their original and at times quirky brand of acoustic metal. Consisting of two guitars and a vocal style that bears a strong similarity to what we often come across in a variety metal-related genres, these guys…
This upcoming record by the legendary virtuoso Jan Akkerman is a highly anticipated one in that it has been eight years since he released his previous studio output, but I must admit that I had expected something a little more exciting and musically rewarding than “Close Beauty”. This twelve-track offering falls somewhere between jazz rock,…
The roots of this Spanish progressive metal/metalcoremetalcore band lay in the formation of Arcabuz in 1999. After one year, the band changed the name to Insight and consisted of Eric Garcia (bass, vocals), Ricardo Estrada Sánchez (guitars, vocals), Jordi Pascual Guasch (synthesiser, samples) and Jose Fernández Molero (vocals, guitars), persisting for ten years as a…
I am not quite sure why this 10-track album by This Wild Life ended up in my pile of stuff to review as it is so far removed from what we usually cover here at Eternal Terror Live that I simply feel a little out of my depth here in terms of describing and analyzing…
While it is still too early to identify this year’s best metal album, I am fairly sure I am reviewing the worst, courtesy of Nate Bohnet, his solo debut a way for the man to exorcise some personal demons. He plays all the instruments, vocals and even crafted this abstract cover Pablo Picasso would shoot…
The German power metallers bearing the name Heavatar released their sophomore album about a week ago and rather appropriately named it "Opus II – The Annihilation". The name of the game is a bombastic variant of power metal with quite a few speed/thrash metal influences to it. Such diverse acts as Manowar, Metallica, Judas Priest,…
