Album Reviews

Blues Guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor will be releasing her fourth studio album in late September, before following it up with a UK tour in November (see dates at the bottom of this review). The album was recorded in Memphis and was produced by Jim Gaines, the man who produced her …

Sweden’s Freak Kitchen, featuring guitar virtuoso Mattias “IA” Eklundh, have returned with a ripping slab of musical whimsy, titled Cooking With Pagans. This 12-track, progressive rock album simultaneously “roasts” contemporary culture and explores new, quirky ways of musical self-expression. Neither pure “djent” nor pure progressive metal, this heavy music is …

Former Guns’n’Roses guitarist Slash releases his latest album next month.  For the new album, “World on fire”, he’s once again teamed up with Miles Kennedy and the conspirators, with whom he recorded his last album, Apocalyptic love.  It’s a great pairing – Slash’s great guitar work with Miles Kennedy’s superb …

      Sometimes, an album falls into your lap, that restores your faith in all that is Heavy Metal. Whilst it is always beneficial, and indeed, essential , for the music we love and worship to evolve and explore different avenues, sometimes, it is just great to get back …

@planetmosh reviews Whatever It Is by .@Estrella_Rocks. When I spoke to Estrella a few months ago they were just back from a European tour and were planning to get into the studio to start work on their much anticipated second album, a follow up to the hugely successful Come Out To …

Twenty years is a very long time to be doing anything without due recognition. Hailing from Sweden WOLF are experiencing that very same situation. I saw them a few years ago supporting ACCEPT and they were nothing less than superb. Initially I though they were a new band but to …

You cannot really fault the ambition of young German ‘post-hardcore’ proponents Annisokay.  Having already attracted considerable attention in both their homeland and elsewhere with their unique reworking of Miley Cyrus’ otherwise dire and unmentionable ‘Wrecking Ball’ (which to date has earned this Halle-based quintet almost half a million hits on …

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 …