Album Reviews

Maverick, a young five piece hard rockin heavy metal band born in Belfast a very short two years ago and raised through the school of hard knocks, release their debut album ‘Quid Pro Quo’ the day after tomorrow (Friday November 28) through Massacre Records. This is good old fashioned rock/metal album …

    Iron Bonehead Records have an uncanny ability and knack in unearthing some really fantastic Black Metal bands from around the world, and none come better than Cult Of Fire from the Czech Republic. This two track E.P. is basically a celebration and homage to the composer Bedrich Smetana, …

This debut album from Dublin dark metallers Zom – they’ve previously released a demo and a 7″ single, both to great acclaim in this particular corner of planet mosh – is dark and murky as you can imagine the deepest parts of the foulest sections of the River Liffey to …

‘Ripping apart the extreme metal rule book, AGHAST! incorporate the blasting fury of death metal, sickening speed of thrash metal and the slamming bounce of grindcore. With an ear for melody that will leave you humming along to the ringing in your ears.’ Pretty much the above bio is self-explanatory …

Finally I have the time to review the debut album from Penrith based metal band Die No More. (You really do not want to know the amount of cd’s I have on my desk for review ) It has been quite a journey for these guys, having changed the band’s …

It became quite fashionable for industrial/EBM bands to go more and more aggressive – more metal. Hanzel Und Gretyl is no exception. They started their metal approach some time earlier and when 2014 knocked on the door they were already working on the new album. This new Dark and heavy …

Pub quiz time – what happens when you take band members from Sikth, Gallows and Cry for Silence, throw in a Radio 1 DJ who was also a member of A and shut them all in a room before giving them the name of an illegal drug with flesh-eating side …

@planetmosh reviews Something Supernatural by .@Crobotband on .@nuclearblasteu I have no idea what Crobot are smoking, but it’s certainly giving them one hell of a trip.  This album should have been named Everything Supernatural, as every track takes us through a nightmare collection of devils, wizards, necromancers and the legendary chupacabra.  …

Solo projects are something of a lottery – whilst allowing an artist the freedom to express their own musical direction in a way they can’t with their main band, the natural comparison to the works of their main project will be inevitable. Spare a thought, therefore, for Richard Z. Kruspe. …

In November 2012, Within Temptation played their biggest concert to date, their 15th anniverary show – Elements.  The concert was held at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, and was sold out with fans travelling from all over the world for it.  The band put on a huge show and had an …

The musical brainchild of Troy Van Leeuwen (Failure, A Perfect Circle, Queens of the Stone Age) and Serrina Sims, California’s alt-rock Sweethead takes it’s name from a vintage “vulgar” David Bowie song, and it’s sound from the various eras of rock music. “Antony”, this first piece, recorded and shelved, not …

“New Life”, by Warsaw native One (name: Adam Malicki), is a random find from a boredom-trawl on Twitter that asks for your attention. Freshly released, this single is a guitar-heavy instrumental track that opens with a waltzing, cracked funhouse flair. Rapidly shifting gears to synth-laden blues rock, and then to …

Spanish film maker Danny Garcia, who has previously released “The rise and fall of the clash” has made a documentary about former Heartbreakers and New York Dolls guitarist, Johnny Thunders.  To make the film he interviewed around 50 former bandmates and friends and has put together a film that tells …

Sky valley mistress are a rock and roll band from Blackburn that has just released their latest EP – “Rivals, hounds & rebel sisters”. There’s a strong Blues influence in the music, and you might detect influences such as Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath but what hits you immediately is …

I love Machine Head; they’re innovators of groove metal… but this one is as dull as dishwater.  There are points that almost hurt reviewing this album, because it gets close to being outstanding – then the vocals come in and ruin it. On the surface, this is a good album. …

There's no argument that In This Moment are one of those bands that tend to be something like Marmite - people seem to either love them or hate them. Butcher Babies are another one of those type of bands. Thing is, I LIKE Butcher Babies and think they are unfairly maligned. I've got the same kind of feeling about In This Moment. What I've heard, I've certainly not been turned off by and I am interested in hearing more. Blood was pretty good. How will Black Widow, the band's latest effort (which arrived in my letterbox this morning) fare?

Dirt Box Disco, the Midlands answer to St Winifred’s School Choir, release their Christmas single I Don’t Want Anything For Christmas via STP RECORDS/Deadfly Recordings on 17th November 2014 and available to order here. It’s like some strange (S)punk cross between Grandma by the aforementioned St Winifred’s, All I Want For …

Ragnarok Juletide is a Christmas album – but please read on before running off as this is actually a good album.  It’s a project that has been a success for many years in Finland under the ‘Raskasta Joulua’ (‘Heavy Christmas’) banner, and is a symphonic metal project featuring an impressive …

London based Neonfly, are Willy Norton on vocals, Frederick Thunder on guitars, Patrick Harrington on guitars, Paul Miller on bass and Boris Le Gal on drums. They have managed to get onto some pretty cool and important supports slots lately, including Power Quest, Magnum, Sonata Arctica and Dragonforce. They lit …

The primary intention of this Italian black metal crew is to resurrect the darkened spirit of the Nineties Norwegian scene, and particularly the energy brought at that time by the likes of Ulver, Darkthrone, Borknagar and Burzum. To a degree they succeed, as this self-titled debut is a very raw, …