Album Reviews

Recently the UK has been somewhat replenished of good old fashioned hard rock bands that actually make an impact and sound decent. Irish rockers, Swanee River on the other hand are a band who through balls out, foot stomping guitar riffs, soaring vocal lines and catchy AC/DC like choruses, prove …

First of all the name, Bull-Riff Stampede, has to be one of the coolest names for a metal band ever, and it’s quite a suited name for their death metal influenced style of crushingly heavy thrash. Scatter the Ground is Bull-Riff Stampede’s debut album, a 46 minute epic made up …

Dirty Rose is a straight up hard rock band from West Lothian. Their groovy guitar riffs, punchy choruses and towering vocal lines, form a wall of sonic power that will knock you off your feet the moment the first track kicks in. This is Dirty Rose’s first EP entitled, Pestilence …

  Taking Root, the debut e.p by Bristol based band Black Wolf was recorded in March 2012, released in April and is a very impressive piece of hard rock/metal. 1st track  Stairway Ticket begins with a   ” one, two lets go ” with Scott Sharp sounding like a higher ranged …

Right from the off, im going to say that X-ufo are not a covers band, the name comes from the fact that all the members have played in UFO at some point or another, with only Bass playing Rocky Newton never having played in UFO, he did however play UFO …

On the 14th May Havok will release ‘Point of No Return’, an EP consisting of two brand new tracks and two classic thrash covers, just one year after putting out the fantrashstic collection of bangers known as ‘Time Is Up’ via Candlelight Records. One of the cover songs from ‘Point …

Hailing from England and the working class suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, The Terraces are a no-nonsense punk rock act fronted by one of the legends of the punk era itself. I had the pleasure of reviewing their first single, “Union”, a few weeks back on the site and having now …

  Cyprus may not have a massive Metal scene but Winter’s Verge are as good as it gets in the Melodic Power Metal genre. ‘Beyond Vengeance’ marks the bands third and without doubt most impressive release to date . Not far short of an hours worth of thundering, technically complex …

  This is actually the bands 11th full length release believe it or not, in a career that spans some 16 years and having had more than their fair share of line up changes. This latest release however is more than just a run of the mill, treading water, label …

Spiritual Rebirth was mixed and mastered at Hertz Studio by Wojtek and Slawek Wieslawski and the artwork is by Xaay on Deviant Art. This album was re-released on March the 26th by Kaotoxin Records. I’m quite interested in this album as the name suggests a deep meaning. Really impressed so …

  Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding for the 7th album from Finnish Symphonic Power Metal heroes Sonata Artica, two years in the making and the result is an excellent , if not somewhat eclectic mix of foot stomping tracks with more riffs than a raff and with buckets of …

“The Aftermyth” is the debut album from London hard rockers Zodiac N Black.  The band cite influences including Led Zeppelin, Queens of the Stone Age, Soundgarden, and Black Sabbath. Comments on a couple of the tracks… The album opens with a heavy track, Bastinado (Useless trivia – apparently Bastinado is …

  Britain’s female fronted symphonic metallers deliver an absolute belter of an album. A collection of a neat round dozen of orchestral laden Gothic tinged songs led by the hauntingly beautiful vocals of Vicky Johnson which captivate from start to finish. The album combines both ‘radio friendly’ catchy tracks such …

Hailing from Australia, Hardcore punks Villa Rise upped sticks and relocated to England, to make their mark on the uk scene, and with the release of Wastelands, coupled with some high profile shows, the gamble seems to have paid off. This 6 track ep is rather different from a standard …

The opening track of Apocalyptic Deadline begins with a beating heart which is the slowest beat on the album by Austrian metal band Deathtale. Guitars build up  and as the heartbeat flatlines   all hell literally breaks loose with next track  Suffering Rain. I was expecting  a death metal album to …

The genre of Female Fronted Metal has grown and grown over recent years, some bands achieving International acclaim, others sinking without trace. Not many however can genuinely lay claim to the tag of ’unique’, 69 Chambers sure can though, being the embodiment of uniqueness is something that sits very well …

Violet. Is a 7-piece band, made up of a Drummer-Robbie george, Keyboad player-Tommy Cotton, bass playing Liam Westnidge, guitar players Charlie Bass and Joe Middleton, and then we come to the singers, yup that’s right, for Violet have two singers, Jonny Nelson and Charlie Bass. This 8 track cd is …

With the ubiquitous resurfacing of N.W.O.B.H.M bands during the past few years, helped largely I feel by the HardRockHell festival who have been bringing these bands to the stage for the past four years, we’re they find them from I’ll never know, but find them they do. So here’s another …

Lonewolf are a French power metal band that formed in 1993.  They released a demo and single before splitting in 1996.  In 2000 the band reformed and released their debut album.  Now in 2012 they have just released their fifth studio album – Army of the damned.  France isnt a …

Oddland have taken a long route to get to their debut release, “The Treachery of the Senses” under Century Media. Launched in 2002 as a rock-oriented band with leanings towards grunge, releasing three demos over the past ten years in 2004 (Against All Odds), 2007 (Connection Critical Behind) and 2010 (Away …