Album Reviews

Taking us back to the roots of true Blues, ‘Devil On The Loose’ is the debut album from Black River Delta set for release on 4th March 2016. Hailing from Sweden, this strong trio spent their summer locked away in a small wooden cabin near their hometown, using borrowed equipment …

Unhinged a punk rock band from Stourbrige in the West Midlands released their debut album Nostalgia on 11th December 2015, having formed in the summer of the same year. On their facebook page they site their influences  as “Oasis, H2O, The Offspring, Linkin Park, Pennywise, Agnostic Front and Clutch.” Nostaligia with …

Currently on a European tour, German thrash metal merchants Exumer are still playing with the intensity shown on their 1986 debut studio album Possessed By Fire with their recently released monstrous The Raging Tides. Released via Metal Blade Records it consists of 10 fierce originals and 2 inspired cover versions. …

London boys Karybdis step up the game and then some with the first release since their debut From The Depths. Their latest album Samsara is due to be released on the 19th February. Samsara features a dirty groove fused with melodic death that just…works. Every musical component in this release is perfectly entwined within …

Magnum to me are the quintessential British rock band, never a band to court controversy nor chase fame by wild antic’s on or off stage, they remain the gentlemen of rock. In fact they were one of the very first bands I ever saw ( at Wigan’s Pier Nightclub back …

I first saw Wigan based Bigfoot a mere few months after they had formed when they played a short set at the SOS Festival in Manchester, July 2014. Even then their song writing suss was evident and on seeing them a few times since at Wildfire Festival and Bloodstock Festival, …

Let’s not pretend – Super Collider and Thirteen were…questionable at best. This left me wary as I sat at my desk ready to hear the latest offering from Megadeth. Half the band had left in the last year, leaving Ellefson and Mustaine with what looked like nothing to continue the …

London based singer songwriter Millie Manders released her third EP Obsession Transgression via JTV Digital on 20th November 2015. Millie has a wide and varied musical background ranging from classical to jazz, punk to soul and, as well as singing, she also learnt to play the clarinet, saxophone and ukulele. …

Formed in Tamworth, Staffordshire in 2013. Heavy Metal band Hidden released their debut EP True Mercian Metal last year. Containing a short intro track  False Ones Must Die and three tracks packed with the classic NWOBHM sound of bands like Saxon and Judas Priest. Lots of screaming guitars and vocals …

19th February 2016 sees the latest studio album release from Canadian Rockers Monster Truck, entitled Sittin’ Heavy. After months on the road, the guys are ready to show us the new sounds they have to offer since the incredible Juno Award nominated Furiosity, released in 2013. Canada has provided some terrific Rock …

Simo will be a new name to most of you, but as an indication of how good they are, it was Joe Bonamassa who brought them to the attention of the record label – any band good enough to impress him is definitely worth a listen. So, what can you …

A few months ago, Witchcraft began releasing some very vague posts on their Facebook page. Fans were expectant. “Were the Swedish doom rockers hinting at a return?” Then came the announcement that in 2016, a revitalized Witchcraft would release their new album ‘Nucleus‘ on Nuclear Blast records. There was much …

Following his nigh on disastrous live return to the UK last October, with the complete shambles that was “Giuffria” at Rockingham this past October, former Dio guitarist Craig Goldy once more re-enters the rock ‘n’ roll arena with Resurrection Kings – a project that sees him teaming up with one …

Darrell Bath released his latest album Roll Up via Livewire/Cargo Records last month. Darrell is an accomplished guitarist, singer and songwriter having played with many well known Punk/Rock bands including stints in UK Subs, and The Dogs D’Amour contributing to their 1993 release “More Unchartered Heights of Disgrace“. He appeared on …

                    One of Europe’s most exciting young Death/Thrash bands return to give your lobes a damn good pummelling with their follow up to 2013’s much acclaimed debut ‘Humanity’. And where as ‘Incinerate All’ follows the same bludgeoning formula to a certain …

Nordic Union is a project which does exactly what its name suggests, bringing together two generations of the Scandinavian melodic hard rock scene – in the form of Pretty Maids vocalist Ronnie Atkins and uber upstart workaholic Eric Mårtensson (Eclipse/W.E.T/Age Sten Nilsen’s Ammunition). It’s a pairing brought together by Frontiers …

“West of Flushing, South of Frisco” is the debut album from newcomers Supersonic Blues Machine, and it’s one hell of a debut – a stunningly good album featuring plenty of special guests.  Supersonic Blues Machine are Bassist/producer Fabrizio Grossi, Guitarist/singer Lance Lopez and Drummer Kenny Aronoff.  The three members have …

Abbath, the supergroup founded by Norway’s iconic black metal front-man Abbath Doom Occulta after his split with Immortal, hit the web last week and it is killer! The aptly named “Abbath” was streaming in full online and is set for release January 22nd worldwide. I’ve had a chance to have …

Before the luxury of the internet, the only way I could listen to new hard rock/metal music in my mid teens would be from Chris Tetley on Piccadilly Radio and Tommy Vance on the Friday Rock Show on Radio 1, so from the latter in 1980 I heard a single …

California’s power shred act Exmortus would have fit right in on Mike Varney‘s Shrapnel Records in the late 1980s, if not for the band’s double bass drum and extreme metal vocal styling. On 2016’s Ride Forth, the band proves there is beauty in all sorts of precision: the hyper-realist creates …