Album Reviews

When Sweden’s Troubled Horse released the “Bring My Horses Home” single back in 2010, this reviewer was not expecting to wait almost 2 years for a full length album. Then again, it did take 7 years to release the aforementioned seven inch.  “Step Inside” is proof that good things come …

After numerous YouTube teasers and a 7 year wait since their last album “The Forsaken”, Norwegian “unblack” metal band Antestor release their fourth album “Omen”.  Black metal has never been my cup of tea but over the past couple of years I have grown a soft spot for Antestor and …

It’s a new year and a brand new album, album number 14 to be exact, from that bastion of all things metal from Germany, Helloween. I can’t believe I’ve been listening to these guys for the best part of 25 years now and that makes me feel old. Thankfully one …

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to My Reflection, a five piece melodic metal band from Finland. Formed in 2007, the band quickly released their first EP, ‘Slipping Away’ before taking a year-long break. In 2010 a self-published demo album, ‘Be My Eyes’, surfaced, of which three tracks began receiving …

  Progressive rock supergroup Coheed and Cambria released the first part of their epic double-album attempt last year with, imaginatively titled, The Afterman:Ascension, and it was well received to critical acclaim. Now, after what seems like no time at all, they’re back with the second half, the predictably-named The Afterman: …

There’s nothing like a good rock album to lift the spirits after suffering with the post-Christmas blues, and this is not a good album, this is a great album. So before the Christmas credit card bill arrives, do yourself a favor and buy this record. Simple as. This is a …

Udo Dirkschneider, the legendary founder and front man of Accept, and now singer with U.D.O releases a live dvd filmed in Sofia, the package also contains the concert on two cd’s. This package is a must buy for any metal fan as UDO is in top form here, the band …

Finland, yet again unleashes a monster of a Metal band onto the rest of the world.   Formed in 2009, Retaliatory Measures went through a few line up changes and a settling down period, including a demo release before finding the current line up. The excellent Massacre Records snapped the …

22 years after its original release and after shoddy attempts at repackaging, Relapse Records have come to the rescue with a decent package and a remaster. Having bought this album on vinyl from the much missed Shades in London on release, I was surprised at how the impact of this …

When it comes to snarling, intense thrash metal then German bands always rise to the challenge. Over the last 30yrs,  3 of the most influential are certainly Sodom, Kreator and Destruction and the latest studio album Spiritual Genocide  from Destruction shows they have no sign of mellowing out. Old fans …

Epic display of Symphonic Metal interwoven with Celtic passages that is a joy to behold.     Tatiana Manolidou can not be described as a newcomer to the music scene, her family background is strongly in that field, she herself has studied piano, vocal and theory of music and also …

A majestic offering of grandiose Gothic Doom Metal. The Gothic/ Doom sound of Weeping Silence has been kicking around since the late 1990’s in various guises. ‘For The Unsung’ in some ways marks a fitting epitaph and closure on a particular chapter in the bands history as line up changes …

New Model Army recently bought back the rights to all their pre EMI music and have now embarked on a campaign to re-release their music, re-mastered and with additional tracks, from the same period as the original albums.  The first release in this series is their debut album Vengeance which …

Top class Melodic Hard Rock from a band on top of their game.   ‘2 Big 2 Fail’ is the second album release from the German 6 piece, and really is a triumphant and well produced collection of classic feel good Rock. Right from the off with opener and keyboard …

Finnish progressive death metal. Quite a mouthful really isn’t it? And even more so if you take it in the form of Clock Paradox’s debut album, Egotheism. You may already know these guys from their 2010 promotional release The Five Precepts. If you aren’t so familiar then don’t worry; their …

Austin, Texas based metal band The Sword have certainly matured on their 4th studio album Apocryphon. Even though they have penned some of their heaviest riffs to date there is a more melodic approach to some of the songs. The word Apocryphon comes from the Greek word apocrypha meaning “hidden …

The Attica boys return with by far their finest chunk of Rock to date.   88MPH certainly lives up to it’s title, a full throttle, law breaking, fuel burning, tyre screeching bat out of Hell if ever there was. Acoustic opener ‘From Dusk ‘Til Dawn’ lulls you into a false …

Chiaroscuro is the third album from Seattle band The Bitter Roots.  They have a traditional approach to recording, with all their music being recorded to analog tape, without the use of Autotune or click tracks, and doing as many takes as are needed to get the song right. The band …

Mythodea are a Symphonic/Progressive metal band from Greece that was founded by Christos Nikolaou.  With his diverse influences including classical baroque music and movie soundtracks combined with band members recruited from the Prog metal community, then the band were bound to have an interesting and varied sound. The album contains …

Ironbird are a rock band from Gold Coast City in Australia.  Formed in 2009 they released their debut EP (Hit the limit) in early 2010.  They followed this in early 2011 with their second EP (Midnight overdrive).  In late 2011 Skip Rutter joined on lead guitar and the band have …