Album Reviews

After last year’s awesome release entitled Speaker of the Devil, it’s hard to think how Emmure could top such a mind-blowing hardcore album. Now in 2012, this New York five piece are back with their best album to date. Presenting Slave to the Game – a commanding and imposing hardcore …

Job For a Cowboy have only recently been accepted by the extreme metal community thanks to the killer Metal Hammer Destroyers of the Faith tour, wiping the grins off the loyalists faces as they smashed through a set of tight and lashing death metal anthems. After their last two mediocre …

With a name like Fuckhammer you automatically presume that these Northern Islanders are going to be a grindcore band and how right you would be.  Bands like Wormrot and Bolt Thrower and Terrorizer are all unique and genre defying bands that put this “controversial” and “extremely brutal” genre on the …

  Rage formed in 1984 under the name, Avenger. After releasing their debut album Prayers of Steel and their Depraved to Black EP in 1985, the band changed their name to Rage because there was another band inEnglandthat also carried the moniker. Originally the new name was to be Furious …

The Sticky Boys are a French rock band that was formed in 2008 when when Tom (drums) and Alex ( guitar/ vocals) decided to put an end to all their ongoing musical projects and to give France something that has been lacking for a long time – a genuine rock …

Swedish heavy metal band Katana had a very busy 2011.  They released their debut album (Heads will roll), they toured with bands including  “Where Angels Suffer”, featuring Chris Holmes and Stet Howland (ex-W.A.S.P.) and American metal legends Lizzy Borden. They also entered the studio to record their second album, “Storms …

Founded in Barcelona in 2001, Spanish Metal band Moonloop play progressive death metal (think Gojira and early Opeth).  Unusually these days, Moonloop are a band who have kept their lineup unchanged since forming ten years ago.  Their name comes from the album Moonloop, by prog band Porcupine tree, which gives …

    “Turn On The Lights… Ready To Rock!” – That is the heart and soul of Hard Riot. They elate their audience with heavy riffs, a powerful stage performance and a stunning, electrifying voice and songs that will strike you like thunder. In the year 2006, a new rising …

I first heard Skam on the latest The Answer/The Union tour when it hit Manchester, and what I heard was good, I had missed a lot of their set as I was Interviewing Paul from The Answer with a colleague. So I was eager to hear the cd, and what …

This is not a new release by Dutch band Legion Of  The Damned but a re-release of their debut album  Malevolent Rapture  ( they had 5 albums released  under their previous name Occult ) as a tribute to their ex- bassist Twan Fleuren who took his own life in May …

I don’t normally agree with the idea of “best of” albums as I feel that they are more of an excuse to release something when a band can’t think of anything new to release. However, I can’t say that this is the case here! At 17 tracks, the album is …

In this day and age there are so many bands trying to sound like bands such as: As I Lay Dying, All That Remains and Shadows Fall and the truth is you have to be something really special and have that spark about you to make it big in the …

 At some point during the recording of this album the band must have took a step back and thought wow, this is something special. ‘Built to Struggle’ is the second album by Lionheart, the title itself gives an indication of what to expect, and those who are aware of debut …

  Being a big fan of the Melodic Death Metal genre I was really looking forward to hearing this debut offering from one of Germany’s most promising bands for some time, and boy I am suitably impressed. A stunning collection of songs of the utmost brilliance that I honestly find …

  With roots going as far back as 2003,the band was formed as a companion and vehicle of expression for the art of guitarist/singer/composer Fursy Teyssier. Although no concrete releases came until 2009 with the appearance of a split EP which was followed in 2010 with the bands first full …

ILL is an Atlanta-based three-piece rock band and “Gotten Gains” is their second full-length album. The members of ill, Damion Goodpaster (Synth, Piano, and Vocals), Marlon Patton (Drums), and Ryan Waters (Guitar and Vocals) describe their sound as, “Big blues riffs done with a punk attitude and very much rooted …

3 Inches of Blood are like Dungeons and Dragons. They are a band whose lyrics, concepts and artwork appeals to “Nerds” or in heavy metal terms; fans of power and symphonic metal. Although they may not be a melodic metal band themselves, 3 Inches of Blood adopt the imagery and …

With a name like This Is Not A Game Of Who The Fuck Are You, you get the impression that this Swedish five piece are a group of pubescent, wannabe teenagers trying to make it as the next Devil Wears Prada, August Burns Red or The Black Dahlia Murder…… How …

Punk bands get a load of stick and get branded as “Those guys with spiky hair, who can’t really play their instruments and just play noise”, when in fact what the haters don’t realise is that punk is one of the hardest types of music to play and takes real …

Despite listening to and attending gigs by numerous female fronted metal bands, Zoltar speaks are a new name to me.  They come from Somerset, and according to their bio have toured in the South and in Wales, which presumably means they havent toured much in the rest of the country …