California is a long way from Cirith Ungol, Tolkien’s fictional pass leading to the kingdom of Gondor. Somebody should have told the Ventura power metal outfit of the same name, as it seems they’ve let an orc or two loose on their upcoming EP ‘Witch’s Game’. A whopping 27 years …

Pulling off a multi-vocal effort is easier said than done, coaxing each member to pick up the mic regardless of their similarities and differences. Bright young Brighton outfit Villainous somewhat effortlessly prove their range of vox make them stand out from the crowd through their eponymous debut EP. Through the …

You can tell a lot about a person by the KISS compilation album they grew up on. While some hail ‘Tears Are Falling’, others laud ‘Plaster Caster’, but everyone raises the roof for the best known classics. ‘KISSWORLD’ is a compilation that gives with one hand and takes with the …

Laying angelic female vocals beside venomous male screams, She Must Burn are taking black metal on a new adventure. There’s a courageous spirit at the heart of She Must Burn, a determination to see their risks through to the bitter end. Female fronted black metal in itself so rarely hits …

Emmure’s self-assured ‘Look at Yourself’ pits frontman Frankie Palmeri against their recent band member exodus and produces a neat collection of annihilating anthems, if nothing breathtakingly inventive. Having survived the mutiny of 2016 with only Palmeri still standing, it’s a pleasure for fans to see 2017 in with a rejuvenated …

The band’s most emotionally fraught release to date, The Devil Wears Prada are sharing the serenity and trauma of their ‘Transit Blues’. Six albums into their career, The Ohio set stand firm to share their incredible evolution at the hands of time and the ‘Transit Blues’, a byproduct of their …

Rising from the ashes of punk’s sad downturn in recent years, The Decline reissue their second venture ‘Are You Gonna Eat That?’ to a scene in desperate need of such a rapturous shake-up. Under a title freshly plucked from a Mean Girls-esque sophomore comedy and showcasing artwork more controversial than …

Are you the janitor that’s always killed off first? Is your house so haunted, even Yvette Fielding won’t come for a sleepover? Do you struggle to run fast enough to outwit your zombie pursuers? Halloween’s just around the corner(!) and it’s about time we addressed what would feature on the …

As the vaudeville icon’s headlining slot at Stone Free Festival beckons, it’s time to dust off those Alice Cooper albums and re-learn those timeless lyrics. With a career spanning five decades and 26 albums, there’s a plethora of material to wade through – so here’s our selected highlights to revive the …

Undoubted frontrunners of industrial melancholy Killing Joke present fifteenth full-length ‘Pylon’ accompanied by strong anti-political sentiment, however sadly a little too repetitive for adrenaline-soaked music lovers. On the bright side, for fans of dull five-minute epic tracks that may as well be cut down to 3 for all it repeats, …

Scandinavian symphonic metal mostly hinges quite fundamentally on a dominant frontwoman, of which Amberian Dawn’s seventh opus ‘Innuendo’ is a prime example. Fear not, this is not another carbon copy Nightwish-come-Delain.  Amberian Dawn are bursting with attitude and self-assurance that accompanies Capri Virkkunen’s bewilderingly diverse vocals. With air punch-inducing, heavy …

‘Wolf metal’ takes a turn for the fantastical at the hands of VARG’s ‘Rotkäppchen’. Contemplate fledgling concept ‘wolf metal’ and the mental image of canine dominance and menace suitably demonstrates a visual representation of VARG’s ‘Rotkäppchen’, otherwise known as ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. Hinged on a fairytale of innocence and concealed …

Unrelenting, unstoppable and unbeatable, Danish thrash outfit Impalers have produced a solid classic with ‘Prepare For War’, out now through Evil Eye Records. With two original tracks allied with covers of two timeless classics from Mötorhead and Sodom, Impalers have struck a perfect balance to accompany their full-length record ‘God …