Album Reviews

Philm release their second album ‘Fire From The Evening Sun’ with the Godfather of double bass and Slayer legend; Dave Lombardo since the release of ‘Harmonic’ in 2012. Starting with the first track ‘Train’ we are submitted to what feels like the start of an angry journey, rhythmic and energetic; what I …

A Tower Of Crows are a Coventry based Rock/Doom/Stoner band who started in 2013. Initially with just three members, Jay Hughes, Wayne Turner and Lea Cross before they were joined by Sam Clay and Steve Hands later the same year. Three months after their very first gig they were signed …

North American Metallers, Sylo, have recently released their Monuments Of Nothing E.P. They manage to pack a punch in six tracks.   Monument of Nothing, the title track sets the pace of this record. My first initial thoughts were that these guys are very reminiscent of early Slipknot. There’s aggression …

Even though Antromorphia formed in 1990 in Tilburg,in the Netherlands I knew of the name but had heard no music by them until their latest album Rites Ov Perversion. It will be released via Metal Blade Records on Sept.12th 2014 and it is one of the most brutal death metal …

This is the debut 7” outing from this Swiss Death Metal outfit, the Swiss always seem to produce metal with that extra air of malevolence about it. Opening track “Self Abortion Ritual” instantly is reminiscent of Napalm Death’s “Mentally Murdered “period, the powerful bass driven guitar sound with that beautiful …

Blues guitarist, Joe Bonamassa will be releasing his latest album later this month.  That probably isn’t a surprising start to a review – after all, Joe Bonamassa does release a lot of albums, but if you look at the last year or so, the releases have all been live ones …

Unusually, I am going to start this review with someone else’s words.  The following paragraphs are extracted directly from the biographical collateral which accompanied the promotional copy of King 810‘s debut album.  Nothing has been edited. “You’ve never been somewhere like this before. You won’t forget it though. It’s only …

Code Orange‘s album ‘I Am King‘ really split opinions here at PlanetMosh. Some of us enjoyed it while others hated and just didn’t “get it”. So instead of picking a side we let one reviewer from each camp lay down their case for the album. What side are you on? …

Megalomania is the fourth album from five piece German hard rock band Kissin’ Dynamite. Formed in 2007 the band released their first album ‘Steel of Swabia’ in 2008, taking the name of the region in Germany they hail from. Since then their career has delivered two further albums before this …

The internet is really a double-edged sword. There is more entertainment than you could ever imagine all in the palm of your hand. Unfortunately with that, there is a lot of stuff that is derivative and  lacking any talent. On the other hand to get gems sometimes you have to go …

About 10-15 years ago power metal was the genre that enevitably went from popular to over-saturated. Bands like Edguy, Dragonforce and Blind Guardian had massive amounts of coverage and all the while Hammerfall were there to see it all happen.Not only were they there they came out of hype that spawned so …

The hardscrabble, oft-bloodied bastard child of blues-based rock and roll and youthful angst, punk music has found a ready and willing audience with the disillusioned and disaffected for decades. A near-antithesis to virtuosity, punk’s raw edge favors instant consumption: quick composition, hard-hitting rhythms, and raucous riffing guitars. It’s common-man folk music for …

Overdrive, from Grantham in Lincolnshire, are a band I seemed to have overlooked when listening to some of the old eighties rock and metal bands from my heyday. They first came onto the NWOBHM scene way back in 1981 releasing a 3 track EP “On The Run”, and another 4 …

Ascended Dead hail from San Diego and present a four track 7” ep full of death metal violence. This is not your ultra modern produced and tweaked to within an inch of its life death metal, this is raw chaos. This is the second release by the band and first …

Even from their humble beginnings in Stockholm  in 1990, Opeth have always pushed the boundaries in metal and none more so with their last studio album Heritage, released in 2011. The word prog rock was bandied around here, there and everywhere but those who cry out for their death metal …

Two and a half years ago Chainfist were one of my first reviews on Planetmosh and they came as a wonderful surprise. No nonsense metal. A great debut. It’s great to see them back with that always tricky second album. Scarred, thankfully, delivers on all accounts and greatly raises the …

The Osiris Club launched on 1st January 2010 in London and have spent four years on this recently released album, ‘Blazing World’. This band has a psychedelic/ prog rock mix with a bit of a difference.  Yes, it is a concept album, and, yes, the songs have an underlying story …

I wasn’t familiar with Incite until I was handed this review; and that was my fault. I wish I knew of these guys before. The Arizona based groove metal band Incite will smash your face in with their third offering, “Up In Hell”. This is pure groove metal: a nice …

Crucified Barbara formed in 2003 and released their debut album.  The Swedish all-female band got their name after attending the Roskilde festival in Denmark and in a nearby forest found a blow-up doll (generically called “Barbara” throughout Sweden) attached to a crucifix.  They’ve got a traditional heavy metal style which …

Magnolia is the tenth album from The Pineapple Thief.  For a band that started 15 years ago that’s a pretty consistent and impressive rate of work – after all so many bands take two or three years between albums whereas The Pineapple Thief average a new album every 18 months.  …