Rating: 4.5

RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://omnibuspress.com/products/hey-ho-lets-go-the-st0ry-of-the-ramones?srsltid=AfmBOop-OBwnFd-WxDMgsGKZPCGxPIUdLtnY2SPVSRjLK4NUQf37u6R0 Few bands are as influential and important as the Ramones are in wider musical and cultural context, and their classic and much-loved song material remains as fresh-sounding and innovative now as it did when it first blared out of the speakers in 1976. Spreading from the New York underground scene like…

RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://drakentheband.bandcamp.com/album/here-be-draken From the fertile Norwegian underground comes an excellent new outfit named Draken whose eleven-track recent offering charmingly titled Here Be Draken, which will be released via the ever-dependable Dark Essence Records, is guaranteed to melt brains and tear faces clean off. Consisting of members of such fabulous and musically forward-thinking constellations…

RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/beggarsbliss What a lovely little treat this self-titled effort by the Derby-based hard rockers Beggars Bliss is. Immediately accessible and full of meaty motifs and bluesy riffs, this disc is an effective slab of vintage rock with staying power and depth to it. The song arrangements often impress and the compositional skill…

RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://originalasia.com/ Legendary prog rockers Asia returned to the stage last year with a reconfigured line-up featuring original keyboardist Geoff Downes, world-class guitarist John Mitchell, bass player extraordinaire Harry Whitley, and the fabulous drummer that is Virgil Donati. At the renowned venue known as Trading Boundaries in April 2025, the quartet performed the…

RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://exhumed.bandcamp.com/album/red-asphalt The purveyors of all things gory and unpleasant, namely US death/grind metal freaks Exhumed, are back with a punishing new record titled Red Asphalt, which essentially refers to all manner of horrors and terrors associated with the “American roadway” to borrow a phrase from vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey.   The ten bone-crushing…

RELEASE YEAR: 2026BAND URL: https://lnk.to/sidious The intriguing black metal horde from the UK sporting the moniker Sidious is an interesting proposition. Malefic Necropolis is inspired and relentlessly vicious music from the vilest pits of misanthropy known to man, and these chaps have got a firm grip on how to write engaging and propulsive songs of darkness…

Release year: 2026Band URL: https://www.facebook.com/1986uk/ The first album I listened to in 2026 was the debut album from Manchester based 1986. I went in cold with the somewhat vague description that they combine death, sludge and hardcore. It’s one of those musical combinations that can easily devolve into generic guttural growls and unidentifiable riffs, however…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.stevemorseofficial.com/ The supremely skilled Steve Morse, who has delighted us for decades with his vibrant and vigorous work with Deep Purple, Dixie Dregs, Flying Colors, Kansas, and not least his solo offerings, is back with a new album that sees him team up with such renowned musicians as bass player Dave LaRue…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://1349som.bandcamp.com/album/winter-mass Captured for posterity four years ago at the Parkteatret in Oslo, this ungodly conjuring of Norwegian black metal by long-running ensemble 1349 is an exciting live document that shows how well their compositions translate to the stage, and the fact that they performed on home turf in front of an appreciative…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/ This is my first encounter with the Polish black metal entity known as Königreichssaal, and I must say that I am impressed with (and rather intrigued by) this splendid little 4-track EP of theirs, which is frontloaded with stellar ideas and thick, impenetrable atmospheres of the moody and contemplative variety.  …

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/czarne-obrazy Godz ov War Productions have an uncanny talent for unearthing some of the best and most musically interesting extreme metal bands hailing from the underground, and the Polish quintet known as Pogarda is a prime example of just that. This 5-track EP of theirs was released just a couple of days…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.tobyjepsonofficial.com/ The second installment in the talented Toby Jepson’s (Wayward Sons, Little Angels) “Look Out” chronicle will be out in late October and trumps its predecessor in every conceivable way. As simple as that, really. Now, do please read on, okay? Weaving traits and influences from classic rock, early seventies glam rock,…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/ronnieromeroofficial/ The immensely talented vocalist Ronnie Romero has become a household name in hard rock and heavy metal circles, which is hardly surprising given that he has lent his incredible voice to recordings by Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Michael Schenker, Vandenberg, Sunstorm, and Lords of Black just to list a few examples. His…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://ffm.to/vagrantheimland Fresh off a successful tour with Taake and Asagraum, the purveyors of melancholy Norwegian black metal known as Heimland unleash yet another impressive, emotionally charged torrent of well-composed material that reeks of longing and desolation. Edged Circle Productions undoubtedly have a keen ear for quality metal with soul, passion, and longevity…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://lnk.to/astimeretreats Long-running Italian black metal stalwarts Frostmoon Eclipse embarked on something that felt like a new chapter (or even a new era of sorts, if you will) back in 2019 when they released the near-flawless and brilliantly evocative Worse Weather to Come via Immortal Frost Productions. Its follow-up, namely the thoroughly solid…

RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://warbell.bandcamp.com/ The Polish Lower Silesian melodic death metal ensemble Warbell was founded by Paweł “Bloody” Szczypka (bass, vocals), Kamil Ziobro (drums-2008), Patryk Kryński (drums-2013), Marcin “Maroon” Witeska (guitars-2016) and Piotr “Peter” Hasioli (guitars-2019) in 2008 breaking up 2 years later for 3 years without a single recording. Reactivated, the melodeath…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://omnibuspress.com/products/im-with-the-band-confessions-of-a-groupie Another legendary and timeless piece of work that was recently added to the Omnibus Remastered series and published is the infamous I’m with the Band by Pamela Des Barres, which has often been characterized as a groupie’s memoir but which in fact is so much more than that. It is a…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://tarjaturunen.com/circus-life/ The talented Tarja Turunen recently released this 18-track live offering via earMUSIC titled Circus Life in the shape of a great-looking 2CD/Blu Ray set, and this is a rather interesting symphonic metal release for a number of different reasons. Recorded in Bucharest just a couple of months shy of the Covid-19…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://afargang.bandcamp.com/album/andvake Afargang, which is a relatively new and exciting addition to the Norwegian progressive scene, offers plenty of atmosphere and evocative qualities on this unique-sounding debut album of theirs. Spearheaded and masterminded by fiddle player and harpist Olav L. Mjelva, this talented ensemble merges folk music, forward-thinking black metal, and prog metal…

RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://variety-jones.bandcamp.com/album/shell-shocked What a lovely, rabble-rousing debut offering this is! Variety Jones hail from Bergen but sound like they crawled out of the gutter in Los Angeles roughly thirty-eight years ago, which is obviously meant as a compliment. With an emphasis on raw and concise riffs that will make you raise your fist,…