Album Reviews

The greatest selection of albums, reviewed and rated

American Fangs – Pomona

American Fangs from Houston, Texas released their UK début EP Pomona on the 15 October 2013 on In De Goot Recordings. The best track on this five track EP has to be the opener and title track Pomona. Although when I say début, it’s their début release in the UK …

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Protest The Hero – Volition

2013’s Volition is layered, melodic, and jam-packed with more riffs, ideas, and flourish then most bands will produce within five albums. Protest The Hero, another glorious Canadian import, released this exhaustive, 11-tune behemoth, sure to please fans of modern, technically-oriented metal. For rock and jazz, there’s fusion: an eclectic genre …

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Stryper – No More Hell To Pay

Following the release of the Murder by Pride album in 2009, the pioneers of Christian Metal, Stryper, have been teasing their soldiers about releasing an album packed full of original material.  A cover album (The Covering) and an album featuring old songs re-recorded (Second Coming) filled the 5 year gap; …

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Monster Magnet – Last Patrol

Almost a quarter of a century after their formation, stoner rock legends Monster Magnet show no sign of letting up. They’ve been releasing a new studio album every three years consistently since 1995 and Last Patrol, their ninth effort which was released on Tuesday, continues the trend. And whilst four …

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Nomadic Rituals – ‘Holy Giants’

Nomadic Rituals - Holy Giants Artwork

Hailing from my native Belfast, Nomadic Rituals play sludgy doom so dark and dense it sounds like it has been buried deep in a peat bog a hundred or so miles south of the city and then dragged, slowly and inexorably, to the surface by a team of unsuspecting musical …

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Carousel Vertigo – ‘Mighty’

Carousel Vertigo - Mighty Artwork

A band who first came together when the two guitarists – Jansen Press and Vincent Martinez – jammed at a music industry event back in 2009, Carousel Vertigo will be well-known to the Status Quo fans among our readers, as they were the support band of choice on the latter’s …

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Massive Wagons – Fight the System

Lancashire based five piece Massive Wagons recently recorded their second album at Axis Studios. After their début album Fire It Up here comes Fight the System to be released worldwide on 14th July 2014. Might as well start with the title track, Fight The System. Those who already have Fire …

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Primitai – ‘Rise Again’

Primitai - Rise Again

Berkshire five piece Primitai have been honing their particular brand of 80s-inspired traditional heavy metal riffery for a little over a decade years now, and this, their third album, is further consolidation of their position of the best young bands purveying this particular style of metal-foolery. While their 2007 debut …

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Slutvomit- Swarming Darkness (Invictus)

What a great name and instantly summons up images of filth, depravity and altogether general unpleasantness. Hailing from Seattle this band have the corpse paint the classic 3 piece line-up, studs, spikes and a general air of not caring what you do or think. From the opening bars of ”Swarming …

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Sawthis – Youniverse

Sawthis, from Italy, presents us with 2013’s Youniverse. The album sounds like modern extreme metal, which touches on industrial, thrash, and progressive elements. Lyrics are screamed in a hatecore style, so the ‘Cookie Monster’ factor is absent. More refreshment is provided in that the drums sound like drums – like …

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Tides From Nebula – Eternal Movement

Tides From Nebula, from Poland, have composed 50-plus minutes of instrumental music “without vocals” for us to enjoy. Eternal Movement‘s songs, mostly in the five-minute length range, tend to vacillate between channeling the high impact of rock with relaxed, mellow ambiance. Unlike instrumental guitar music which emphasizes solo bursts, this …

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The Burning Crows – Behind the veil

The Burning Crows released their debut EP “Never had it so good” last year which went down well with fans and critics – Planetmosh reviewer Mark Ashby gave it a 9/10.  Now, after a Pledgemusic campaign to raise the funds, the band are back with their debut album – Behind …

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Platinum Brunette – Irritable vowel syndrome

Platinum Brunette are a parody band from Sydney, Australia.  Fronted by Demonica Lewinsky, all three members wear drag, so you have a Nurse, a nun and a schoolgirl.  The band formed in 2003, releasing their debut single, BMW, in 2007.  This was followed in 2009 by their debut eponymous album …

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Los Bastardos Finlandeses – Day of the dead

Los Bastardos Finlandeses come from Finland (as you probably guessed from the name).  Without that Finland reference then with the Spanish name, the names of their previous releases (My name is El Muerte; Return of El Diablo; El Grande’s saloon & Saved by rock’n’roll) and the names of the band …

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Evilyn Strange – Mourning Phoebe

Evilyn Strange is a three piece band with to English members and one Swede.  This album was a long time in the making with recording starting in early 2011 and not finishing till May 2012.  Since then they’ve released three singles, and a year ater completing recording, have recently released …

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’77 – Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll

If you want blood….       Fancy a trip back to the heady days of the late 70’s, when AC/DC were reeling out albums like ‘Let There Be Rock’, ‘Powerage’ and ‘Highway To Hell’ on a yearly basis? Then hop aboard as the Spanish retro rockers crank up another …

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