Album Reviews

When I reviewed the Scars EP by Forever Still, I hailed it as one of the most exciting new releases in the last 12 months. I’ve been waiting patiently to see the fruition of their debut full length album Tied Down, a collection that holds so much expectation. Tied Down …

Dutch Melodic metal band La Ventura released their second album (White Crow) 2 years ago, and if you haven’t heard it then it’s definitely worth a listen if you like melodic metal with great female vocals.  For the last few months they’ve been fairly quiet as they’ve been working on …

With a new album in the can for Feb. 2016 entitled Not Guilty following the 2013 release of Forgotten Dreams, Salem fans can now listen to how they crafted their songwriting with In The Beginning, a superb 17 track compilation album of demo songs recorded between 1981-1983. Released via High …

Stone Broken Stone Broken are a four piece from the Midlands.  They are Rich Moss (lead vocals/guitar), Chris Davis (lead guitar/vocals), Keiron Conroy (bass/vocals) and Robyn Haycock (drums/vocals).  The band was formed in 2013 and released their debut EP, The Crow Flies, the following year.  In October this year they …

Being a mainly rock/metal fan I’m not really sure how a folk metal band like Steel Threads got under my radar. I saw them live before I heard any recorded output at a local gig here in Crewe when some friends who rated them highly took me along and I …

Last In Line, is a band formed by three original members of Dio; namely Guitarist Vivian Campbell, Drummer Vinny Appice  and Bassist Jimmy Bain. They are joined by former Lynch Mob vocalist Andrew Freeman and keyboard player Claude Schnell. Opening track ‘Devil In Me’ kicks off with a hard, heavy hitting …

Leslie West is back with a new album, Soundcheck.  It’s his sixteenth solo album and for this one as well as his own songs he’s chosen to do some cover versions – “Eleanor Rigby” (The Beatles), “People get ready” (Curtis Mayfield), “You are my sunshine”, “Stand by me” (Ben E …

It’s safe to say that when it comes to heavy metal guitarists some of the biggest names have come out of European countries, from Yngwie Malmsteen (from Sweden) to Jari Mäenpää (Wintersun and from Finland.) Yet there is one name who for over a quarter of a century has stood …

Mason Hill is the self-titled debut EP from Glasgow based heavy rock band Mason Hill.  They are Scott Allan Taylor (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Bird (guitar, backing vocals), Craig McFetridge (drums) and Mathew Ward (bass guitar, backing vocals).  Produced at Foundry Music Lab in Motherwell by Sandy Jones this is one of …

Inglorious’ is the self-titled debut album from the rising Hard-Rock band, INGLORIOUS, set for release on Friday 19th February 2016. In their short time together, the band have already begun to make a name for themselves, with upcoming plans to support The Winery Dogs on their European Tour in January …

It was one of those “you had to be there moments” – and one where I’m fortunate to say, “yes, I was”.  It was the Saturday afternoon of what was then supposed to be the last ever Firefest, and a band wandered onto the stage who proved to be not …

Skunk Anansie formed in London in 1994.  They are guitarist Ace, bassist Cass, drummer Mark Richardson and singer Skin.  In ’96 I saw them open for Bon Jovi in Glasgow and remember being blown away by the absolute powerhouse that is Skin.  By that point they were riding high and …

R40 Live, Rush’s 10th live album is so named to celebrate their 40th anniversary with drummer Neil Peart in the band. They have actually been in existence since 1968, formed by current guitarist Alex Lifeson with bassist Geddy Lee joining a few weeks later before their second gig. This 3xCD …

Three years in the making, numerous headlining European tours, and now two studio albums, Hard Rock and Glam-inspired band, Chase The Ace, aren’t a band that messes around. “Hell Yeah!” is their second album which was released on 24th November, but available to fans and converts up and down the …

Undoubted frontrunners of industrial melancholy Killing Joke present fifteenth full-length ‘Pylon’ accompanied by strong anti-political sentiment, however sadly a little too repetitive for adrenaline-soaked music lovers. On the bright side, for fans of dull five-minute epic tracks that may as well be cut down to 3 for all it repeats, …

Scandinavian symphonic metal mostly hinges quite fundamentally on a dominant frontwoman, of which Amberian Dawn’s seventh opus ‘Innuendo’ is a prime example. Fear not, this is not another carbon copy Nightwish-come-Delain.  Amberian Dawn are bursting with attitude and self-assurance that accompanies Capri Virkkunen’s bewilderingly diverse vocals. With air punch-inducing, heavy …

Silent Jack a hard rocking four piece from Birmingham released their debut album ‘Play The Game’ on 30th September 2015 following a campaign on Pledgemusic. Their debut album follows a seven track EP Snakebite and was recorded at Arkham Studios, under the guidance of producer Alex Cooper and self-released via their own label …

This fifth album by Brazilian fantasists Dragonheart is one which is truly deserving of the term epic – as not only does it clock in at a little under the hour mark (which is pretty long by today’s attention-deficit-seeking standards) but it marks the completion of a trilogy which the …

The last studio album from Soldier entitled Dogs Of War gave them a hard act to follow but current release Defiant shows Soldier are still in a strong song writing vein. Although slightly more melodic it still rocks hard and shows the NWOBHM survivors are a force to be reckoned …

Just when you think you’ve heard it all and feel as though you could define almost any artist within a single boundary or genre, a duo like The Bloody Nerve show up and change the game completely. Since their formation in 2013, the Nashvillian duo, made up of Stacey Blood …