Album Reviews

Alice Cooper has been around for years, yet he never looks any older, and if this performance at Wacken is anything to go by, he will be around for a good many years yet. This DVD and CD three disc package captures Alice headlining the Wacken Festival in 2013. The …

Belfast Pop Punk Band Stiff Little Fingers have recorded their tenth studio album ‘No Going Back’ just over 10 years since their last album ‘Guitar and Drum’ and thirty-five years since their first ‘Inflammable Material’ The album was released on 11th August 2014 via the group’s own imprint ‘Rigid Digits’ …

For the first time in many years I’ve actually felt myself emotionally moved by a piece of music! Not since British rock group Rainbow produced the B-side track ‘Weiss Heim‘, have I heard such an amazing sound. Steve Rothery of Marillion fame, has put together an album of seven beautifully …

    There is no doubt that Cannibal Corpse are veterans of Death Metal and since the 80s the Buffalo based band have continued to produce technical and aggressive tracks with a distinctive sound and presence. With 12 classic full length albums under their belt, a huge fan base and …

The sixth offering from the Norwegian black metal 1349 is not overall a bad album. In fact, I enjoy the concept and image of 1349. From their name (which comes from the year the Black Death reached Norway) to their stage show. They’re a black metal band that can stand with the best …

Imagine “Game of Thrones”; Season 4; “The Mountain and the Viper” episode; or for the poor souls deprived of fantasy, chaos and mayhem I shall try to describe it succinctly. The “Mountain” and Prince Oberyn are fighting to the death and you witness Oberyn’s crazy kick spins. By kicking all …

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 …

What can be said of Cannibal Corpse, Metal Blade Records and Brian Slagel‘s “biggest-selling death metal band of all time”? (pp. 149) This five-piece American extreme metal band has accumulated career highs usually only available to rock bands: full-production music videos, boxed set sales, even a cameo in a blockbuster …

Rising from the Leeds underground scene Black Moth have already made quite an impression in the doom/sludge metal genre they currently occupy. Condemned To Hope is their second album following the well received 2012 debut album The Killing Jar. Not being someone who would normally pick up an album from …

Following on from debut album ‘The Brink’, Duncan Patterson and Alternative 4 return with not merely a follow up album but an engaging and thought provoking work of musical art. Forever associated with Anathema/Antimatter, Duncan Patterson truly nails it with ‘The Obscurants‘, a fine collection of emotional and yet quite …

If you’ve attended Bloodstock at all in the last few years, the chances are that you’ve seen and enjoyed Evil Scarecrow – they’ve packed out the Sophie Lancaster stage in previous years, and this year opened the main stage on the Saturday drawing a record crowd of around 11,000 – …

The long awaited new Virgil and the Accelerators album “Army of three” finally landed on my doormat earlier this week, and I couldn’t wait to review it, but first I had a date in London with a certain Kate Bush. Army of Three is the band’s second studio album and …

  Bavarian Black Metal band Dark Fortress have released their seventh full length album under Century Media Records. After four years of their last release, Ylem, Dark Fortress have unleashed Venereal Dawn after what sounds like a tough chapter in the band’s life. It will be interesting to see how …

.@Planetmosh @AnybodyBC reviews “Believe In No Coming Shore” by Falls of Rauros via @NordvisOfficial The first thing comes to one’s mind when listening to Falls of Rauros is the epic “Lord of the Rings” saga. Obviously, it was the source of their  inspiration but this time it is also atmospheric …

I am a huge fan of The Haunted; I have been since I first heard them. They are everything you could want in a modern metal band. The Swedish lads have carried the torch of the “Gothenburg style” of death metal for years now, not to mention the seminal “Made …

Toronto’s metallers, Crimson Shadows, seem to be a band on the “up and up”. One almost has to take a deep breath before running off their list of achievements, for example; an album release, an EP, performing countless shows with some of metal’s biggest names, a successful signing with Napalm …

Skid Row have released the second of three EPs that make up United World Rebellion. The first part was released last year, and the third part is still to come.  It’s an interesting idea, releasing three EPs instead of one album, and does mean that while each release is shorter …

Lovelorn Dolls are a band from Belgium – home of great beer, great chocolate – and some great bands.  The band was formed by Ladyhell and Corpus Christi, and was initially called Lovelorn before becoming Lovelorn Dolls.  Ladyhell was formerly singer of Skeptical Minds from 2002 to 2007 and then …

White Empress may be a new band, but the various members are all experienced musicians.  The lineup consists of Paul Allender (ex Cradle of Filth), Mary Zimmer (Luna Mortis), Will Graney (Damnation Angels), Chela Harper (Coal Chamber), Jeremy Kohnmann (The Awakening), and Zac Morris (many bands including Ugly Kid Joe). …

The Wans, from Nashville Tennessee, are a three piece rock and roll band formed only a few years ago. I have been following them for over a year now after stumbling across them through social media. In such a short space of time The Wans have already supported bands such …