Album Reviews

Three years in the making, numerous headlining European tours, and now two studio albums, Hard Rock and Glam-inspired band, Chase The Ace, aren’t a band that messes around. “Hell Yeah!” is their second album which was released on 24th November, but available to fans and converts up and down 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 …

Silent Jack a hard rocking four piece from Birmingham released their debut album ‘Play The Game’ on 30th September 2015 following a campaign on Pledgemusic. Their debut album follows a seven track EP Snakebite and was recorded at Arkham Studios, under the guidance of producer Alex Cooper and self-released via their own label …

This fifth album by Brazilian fantasists Dragonheart is one which is truly deserving of the term epic – as not only does it clock in at a little under the hour mark (which is pretty long by today’s attention-deficit-seeking standards) but it marks the completion of a trilogy which the …

The last studio album from Soldier entitled Dogs Of War gave them a hard act to follow but current release Defiant shows Soldier are still in a strong song writing vein. Although slightly more melodic it still rocks hard and shows the NWOBHM survivors are a force to be reckoned …

Just when you think you’ve heard it all and feel as though you could define almost any artist within a single boundary or genre, a duo like The Bloody Nerve show up and change the game completely. Since their formation in 2013, the Nashvillian duo, made up of Stacey Blood …

This second album from northern California’s Shadowkiller is a very loose concept album, based around the the pain and suffering of the German forces fighting to save themselves, their families and their homeland at the tail of the Second World War, but dealing with the horror of conflict on the front line …

Captive City is the debut EP from Manchester based alt-rock trio Sly Antics, due for release on December 22nd.  Normally I’m a pretty unbiased reviewer but they’ve offered to send us a packet of Haribo in return for a good review so I’m tempted to just give it 5/5 and say …

Folky acoustic guitar and fiddle introduce listeners to the eponymous 2015 release by Sweden’s metallic and mighty Manegarm. A definite change of pace from 2013’s Legions of the North, featuring many more quiet, acoustic, moody moments, the new disc brings a welcome dynamic back into metal. As with Manegarm’s previous …

The Kluster-Fux, a hardcore punk bank based in Co. Offaly, in the midlands of Ireland formed in June 2015, by former members of Corrosive Machine and Strichnine, released their debut E.P. Kill The President earlier this year and have played extensively in their home country with bands including GBH and DOA. With …

Live dvd’s are always hard to review, as unless there is new music to be heard, you are already preaching to the converted. This dvd was recorded at the ProgPower festival back in 2014, the idea was to celebrate Pagan’s Mind first appearance at the festival back in 2003, by …

Flying Colors is the band founded by former Dream Theatre drummer Mike Portnoy and Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse. Alongside them are Neal Morse (Spocks beard, Transatlantic), Dave LaRue (dixie Dregs), and Casey McPherson (Alpha Rev). So you’ve got a mix of musicians with backgrounds in classic hard rock, prog …

Up today I have Phantasma’s upcoming release The Deviant Hearts for review, ‘Phantasma is a project sprung from the collective energy of Georg Neuhauser (Serenity), Oliver Philipps (Everon) and Charlotte Wessels (Delain)’ When this project was announced there was a lot of excitement amongst the Symphonic Metal Music fans, and …

“Blessing in Disguise” is Black-Bone’s second studio album after their first release back in 2012. Since then the band have been dedicating their time to building up the fan base and playing the early music their fans all know and love. For a band so early into their career, it’s incredible …

Michigan based Shitfucker a Black/Death/Thrash Metal band with Punk Influences have joined forces with Abigail a three piece Black metal, Thrash metal, Heavy metal outfit from Tokyo to release a 7″ EP via Hells Headbangers on 30th September 2015. Although the opening track on this EP has the words lovely and pussy in it, …

This debut album from Finnish dark lords Sacrificium Carmen is very much steeped in the black metal tradition of that region, combining deep, dense harmonic patterns with brutal blastbeats and vocals so evil you can smell their vile stench on the other side of the dark world. The difference, however, …

Am I the only one on this dirty old planet we call “Mosh” that doesn’t “get” the new Iron Maiden album, ‘The Book Of Souls‘, or believe that isn’t quite the best thing since the invention of heavy metal?  I am?  Oh well… wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been …

Midnight a three piece Black/Thrash Metal outfit from Ohio joined forces with Michigan based Shitfucker a Black/Death/Thrash Metal band with Punk Influences to release a Split 7″ Single via Hells Headbangers on 30th September 2015. Midnight’s contribution being the song ‘Sadist Sodomystic Seducer‘ and with a title like that I wasn’t …

There’s always been a globally shared passion for good old fashioned Rock ‘n’ Roll, but the past decade has seen a surge of geographical diversity hitting the modern Hard Rock genre. Argentinian-based 42 Decibel are one such band who have managed to get their music out there to present to …