Album Reviews

Kadavar are another in an increasingly long line of bands – such as Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats and Purson – who recently have been following in the footsteps of illustrious predecessors of the ilk of Electric Wizard and Spiritual Beggars in re-ploughing the retro furrow of late-60s psychedelica blues meets …

“Songs To Invade Countries To” is completely solid throughout. There’s plenty of hard and heavy rocking numbers to thrill and satisfy. Yet it’s full of creativity, structure and wonderful melodies. It has songs which divert you elsewhere and throw you off guard that really makes you smile, and for me this has to be an early contender for one of the albums of the year.

It’s almost impossible to look at Drowning Pool as the same band they were in 2002. A lot has changed since then and five albums and four vocalists later Resilience is Drowning Pools latest studio album with new vocalist Jasen Moreno, and you can’t deny that Resilience is a great …

Delain have enjoyed a very successful few years with their albums steadily increasing in popularity and their shows selling more and more tickets. They've also had problems - the changes at Roadrunner records saw their last album release being delayed much to the band's frustration. They've now signed to Napalm records, home of so many great female fronted bands, and their first release via Napalm is 'Interlude'.

Rob Zombie is the most creative and busiest of all modern day rock stars. Numerous movies, publications, animations and clothing lines abound, yet he still has time to get his ass into the studio and create twelve new anarchic anthems. Excluding White Zombie releases, “Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor” is album …

From sunny California comes one of the finest and darkest albums of 2013. In ‘Opium Morals,SSOS may just have created one of the finest Black Metal tinged Doom albums of recent years. Seriously, this is an album that I can not and will not stop listening to. Ten tracks that …

Cheltenham Brit Rockers get ready to get your feet tapping with an extremely infectious E.P. With this six track E.P. set for release in May, along with a video and a U.K. tour in the pipeline it promises to see busy times ahead for the four piece. Firmly planting their …

Italian rockers Voodoo Highway exploded onto the scene in 2011 with their debut album “Broken Uncle’s Inn”. Two years on and their second album follows on with a slice of good time rock that brings to mind the rock scene of the late seventies and early eighties.

Sweden’s purveyors of  Doom Metal return on fine form. Formed way back in 1992, Memory Garden can hardly be described as new Doomers on the block, this album is actually only the fifth full length release from the band, although you can add a few E.P.’s and mini CD’s to …

Irish duo Chosen – guitarist/vocalist Paul Shields and drummer/percussionist David McCann – have been working together for around eight years now, releasing a few well-received EPs in that period and temporarily relocating to Vancouver before returning to their native sod to record and produce this debut full-lengther. The result is …

Every genre, musical sub-division, has its artists who epitomize its highest standards, and others (the vast majority, if truth be told) who are content to be pulled along on the coat-tails of said leading lights, often becoming mere pale imitations of the innovators who have gone before them.  Metalcore is …

To say that this, the follow-up to their (initially self-released) debut, ‘The Devil Rhythm’, has been one of the most eagerly anticipated releases in this particular part of the world – that’s Norn Iron, for those of you who don’t know – is one of the hugest understatements in the …

Back in the early to mid-1980s, a band called Rough Cutt had everything that it could possibly to take to become the then “next big thing” – big hair, big tunes, a big record deal (with Warner Brothers) and big management (in the shape of one Wendy Dio).  However, despite …

D-A-D first came to prominence outside their native Denmark when it was reported that the mighty Walt Disney corporation had threatened to sue their young asses unless they changed the band’s original name – Disneyland After Dark:  it was not that the quartet had deliberately set out to court controversy …

A triumphant debut album and one definitely not to be overlooked.   Formed in 2001, you might think it’s a really long wait for a debut release but the band have kept themselves busy by releasing a number of demos over the years, as well as gigging and building a …

Live Albums can be a blessing or a curse. Whether as a stop gap between studio sessions or as a contractual obligation; Musical history is littered with releases that have fallen flat on their faces. Iced Earth have already released a classic opus with the stellar Alive In Athens” and …

Anvil began their comeback in 2007 with the self released album This Is Thirteen, the recording of which featured on their acclaimed film  The Story Of Anvil which introduced them to a completely different audience than  they are usually associated with. The doubters wondered if they could keep going as …

A pan-European effort is presented here: an English vocalist, a Greek band, a Finnish producer. Right out of the starting gate, Greece’s Serenity Broken impressed me, by including links to 32 reviews and 21 interviews (many with major publications within Greece, such as Metal Zone or Rock Overdose) in their …

El Pistolero means literally, the gunman. More figuratively, it’s taken to mean “a pistol”: someone with a quick fiery temper, who’s unpredictable, or has an angry streak. With that in mind, I eagerly popped Tracer‘s new one in the CD player, hoping for an album with hints of unpredictability or …

Recorded during the ‘Forevermore’ World Tour on October 15th 2011 at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, this is Whitesnake’s 5th live release, cheekily entitled ‘Made In Japan’. Sliding straight in with ‘Best Years’ taken from the ‘Good To Be Bad’  opus, opens the show before fan favorite `Give Me …