Album Reviews

Blind Rage is the third album to be released by Accept in the five years since they reformed in 2009 with Mark Tornillo replacing Udo Dirkschneider on vocals. As with “Blood of our nations” and “Stalingrad” it’s been produced by Sabbat/Hell guitarist, Andy Sneap. With most bands that have been …

Winter in Eden are a symphonic metal band from the North East of England.  The band has released two very good albums in the last few years, and are now ready to release their third album.  For the new album the band have pulled out all the stops – they …

It could be argued that there is nothing new in music:  everything is a re-creation, a re-invention of what has gone before. It’s all about variations upon a theme… Now, I’m no musicologist – I’m just a fan who writes about music – but my take on it is this:  …

Hard rock supergroup Mr.Big are back with a vengeance with their eighth studio album “The Stories We Could Tell”. The original line-up of Eric Martin on vocals, Paul Gilbert on guitar, Billy Sheehan on bass and Pat Torpey on drums are back with some of their most powerful material to …

As good as Steel Thread‘s studio albums are to chill out to, their live shows are a completely different animal. A lot of it is off the cuff, with assorted cover songs with added quips from members Neil Wardleworth ( vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion ) and Laura Wilcockson ( violin, …

Black Star Bullet are a four piece Rock ‘n’ Roll band from Coventry and surrounding areas. Originally called Loophole the band changed their name to Black Star Bullet in 2010 and released their debut, self-titled, album via TBFM Records on 1st April 2014. When this album came up for review a …

    Although the bands history and roots lie deep in the Doom Metal genre, Edge Of Haze have evolved and transformed into something much more melodic and progressive orientated, culminating in this glorious yet dark affair. Based loosely on the novel ’Escape From Camp 14’, the album has a …

Dutch power metallers Lord Volture have certainly been prolific with their recorded output since forming in 2009. In the space of just 5 years they have released their debut ‘Beast Of Thunder’ in 2010, ‘Never Cry Wolf’ the following year and  Setember 12th 2014 will see the European release of …

Nautilus are a 5 piece Stoner Doom act from Dublin Ireland. They began as a recording project in 2011 and released their first Ep ‘Trials’ in early 2013 and since have been gigging regularly around the Irish gig circuit. This is their second ep which boasts 6 tracks clocking in …

Adrenaline Rush are a five piece rock band from Sweden. Fronted by Tave Wanning the members have been handpicked from bands in the Stockholm area to bring different backgrounds and influences to the band, making it what it is today. The intro to the self titled album starts as a …

Released on Nuclear Blast, Bury Tomorrow’s third addition to their album family is the thirteen track opus, Runes. Having been released back in late May 2014, this latest offering follows Portraits, (2009) and Union of Crowns (2012). Kristan Dawson joins as lead guitarist for this album, taking over from Mehdi …

If you’ve ever heard a song or album and wondered to yourself “Why have I never listened to this band/artist before?” then you’ll know exactly how I felt when I started listening to Danny Bryant’s new album, Temperature rising. Danny Bryant is an English Blues guitarist who despite only being …

The melodic symphonic power metal genre is a tough one to nail creatively; there all so many bands out there that all are doing the same thing. Or at least, sound like they are. Then there is the other challenge of remaining open to the public and bringing in non-melodic …

      Three years have passed since the release of ‘Aphotic’, so I was really eager to see what latest release ‘Bled White’ had to offer. First thing to say is that the band have lost none of their burning passion and focus since the last album, indeed, if …

Brighton based Jonestown have created a 4 track EP which is certainly not easy listening but in a good way. Not the sort of music you have in the background but something you have to totally immerse  into the lyrics of vocalist Harley Anderson. Every lyric seems to be a …

Heavy metal yes, but i’m hearing something here that just got the hair on the back of my neck tingling! Just occasionally a song or an album comes from out of nowhere and kinda grabs you. Some folks call them “A cult “. In other words it’s an album that …

Los Angeles-based guitar virtuoso Paul Gilbert released his 13th and latest studio album, Stone Pushing Uphill Man, on August 5th, 2014. The 11-track disc features instrumental adaptations of eight famous “oldies” tunes, along with three of Gilbert’s original songs. The result is something like being at the mercy of his …

Aonia are a band from the East Midlands who play metal with female operatic vocals.  They are unusual though in that instead of having a single classically trained vocalist either by themself of paired with a male singer doing growls, Aonia have two classically trained (i.e. operatic style) female vocalists. …

Brighton based band, Bad for Lazarus, have a lineup that includes former members of bands including The eighties matchbox B-line disaster, Unkle and Nine inch nails, so you probably expect these different musical backgrounds to lead to an interesting combination, and you aren’t going to be disappointed. I’m not sure …