RELEASE YEAR: 2021 BAND URL: https://omination.bandcamp.com/ There are records which seem like towers of musings seemingly too complex to absorb whereby the reviewer is tempted to give up and move on to something else, but most of them simply prove that 1-2 applications are not enough to appreciate the more ambitious heavy metal records. Such…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/Softffog/ The recently launched Norwegian label named Is It Jazz? Records is off to a flying start with this deftly executed 4-track LP by prog rockers Soft Ffog who also hail from Norway. Well, jazz prog rockers, I suppose. For those of you out there who crave thunderous riffs, fret not…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: https://bjornriis.bandcamp.com/album/everything-to-everyone The renowned musical genius that is Bjørn Riis never ceases to amaze me regardless of whether we are talking about his inspired work with Norwegian prog rockers Airbag or his stunning solo outputs. His latest work is the hauntingly beautiful “Everything to Everyone” where everything that made his past LPs…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: degreed (degreedmusic.com) The latest output by Swedish hard rockers Degreed sounds absolutely massive in every sense of the word and if you desire passionate vocals, an incredibly tight and powerful rhythm section, and thunderous choruses that will blow you away, look no further than “Are You Ready”. Listening to these barnstormers…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022 BAND URL: MARA – LOKA MÆR (smarturl.it) The Swedish quartet known as Mara is one of the more intriguing and noteworthy acts to be found in today’s black metal scene, and these purveyors of blistering darkness are about to unleash a 6-track album that blends precision, atmosphere, and majestic melodies to…
RELEASE YEAR: 2022BAND URL: https://www.marillion.com/ The British prog rock legends Marillion surely need no introduction, and after forty years they still manage to bring something that sounds fresh, daring, and vital to the table. This powerful new musical tour de force of theirs is a case in point, and as much as I love and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2021 BAND URL: https://actofdenial.bandcamp.com/ With files sent by dropbox or google drive one usually doesn’t get to see the lineup, the bio and the like so when I first heard the debut album from the melodic death groove metal part Croatian ensemble Act Of Denial I thought “man, that dude sounds like Björn…
RELEASE YEAR: 2021 BAND URL: http://flyathemon.bandcamp.com/ The international (Brazilian-British) progressive melodic groove doom metal act, Athemon, released their debut self-titled album some time last year but only now was I able to take on this fairly unique fantastic record. At the core guitar groove of ancient Machine Head and Skinlab (remember them?) or Pissing Razors…
RELEASE YEAR: 2021BAND URL: https://facebook.com/thedesignabstract/ “Technotheism”, The Design Abstract’s third and Voiicide’s (vocals, bass, scoring, sampling, programming) and Logan Mayhem’s (guitars, modular synthesis) fourth album (previously as Design) was good if a very flawed effort suffering from overwhelming form over content and, specifically, the techno synth and keyboard elements overwhelming both the death metal…
If there’s one thing you can confidently say about this Swedish blackened melodic death metal act is that they do whatever they want whenever they want for however long they want to do it. From the extreme but not very innovative beginnings through development into a first class melodic death metal act and subsequent, thankfully…
You would think that a band formed in 2018 by former members of the thrash metal icon, Sodom, Bernd "Bernemann" Kost (Guitars) and Markus "Makka" Freiwald (Drums) would simply sound like its extension, especially given the production handled by the same Cornelius "Corny" Rambadt at Rambado Recordings who produced Sodom, but Bonded, currently consisting of…
One of the best things to happen to a reviewer is discovering an excellent band or an album previously unheard of. Such is the case with the Danish melodic death metallers, Livløs (Danish: lifeloss) and their second, after the independently released "Into Beyond"²⁰¹⁸, album, mysteriously and epicly titled "And Then There Were None", which, as…
Trying to contain my excitement whenever a new LP by Norwegian Viking metal stalwarts Helheim looms on the horizon is a futile exercise. I have been a huge fan of the group for many years now and what blows my mind every darn time they release an album is that they seem to get better…
Whatever you can say about the progressive thrascore ensemble Trivium frontman Matthew Kiichi Heafy (vocals, guitars) is that he is far from lazy. This incredibly talented and creative guitarist, vocalist and songwriter has been making music since he was 17 years old, at the time of Trivium’s debut album, "Ember To Inferno" (2003), simultaneously also…
As the Finnish melodic death metal act is one of the major reasons why human beings have been furnished with ears I was pleasantly surprised when they released a new EP just 2 years after their last full length, "Heart Like A Grave". The album marked the addition of a second clean vocalist who was…
I don’t care what they say: the British legend Carcass did not reunite just to cash in on the past as one of the most influential bands in death/grind and melodeath and the 2013 "Surgical Steel" proved it while the best track off of the triumphant comeback, "316 L Grade" provided an idea for my…
Back in 2017 when Himmellegeme’s debut offering "Myth of Earth" came out, I was absolutely floored by the sheer depth and (cinematic) scope of their work and just how utterly original and deepfelt it all sounded. Fast forward to 2021 and their sophomore effort entitled "Variola Vera" is about to be released by the ever-reliable…
It is safe to say that whenever the legendary heavy metal trailblazers Iron Maiden release a new record, it turns into an event and one that is obviously of great significance and value to those of us who love and cherish the group and consider them one of the most important bands of all time…
The final entry in our 4 re-releases series of the reviews for the British-Romanian atmospheric/funeral doomsters courtesy of Personal Records, among "Dor" (2018) "Doliu" (2014) and "Departe" (2016) is "Destin" (2017), but not the immediate EP containing the elaborate dirge "Errata" plus the debut album’s opener and closer, but the 7 track re-release by Vinyl…
New Model Army vocalist and songwriter Justin Sullivan recently released his second solo album titled "Surrounded", which consist of sixteen tracks that were conceived and written in the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, and I think we should take a closer look at what it has to offer. "Surrounded" is a warm, soothing,…
