Album Reviews

The greatest selection of albums, reviewed and rated

At the Gates- At War with Reality

  This is without a doubt the biggest review I have undertaken in my few years of writing for Planetmosh. From a personal perspective, as with many other fans of this legendary Swedish band, the news of a new release has kept us all holding our breath.  After albums which have been …

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Midnight Sin – Sex First

Sex First is the debut album from Italian sleaze rockers Midnight Sin. Formed in 2010 the band promote themselves playing a sexy combination of Sleaze Rock, Hard Rock and AOR. The intro starts off with jovial carnival feel to it which quickly fades to a more industrial sound with hints …

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Anaal Nathrakh – Desideratum

Two years since their last album, called “Vanitas”, British extreme metal duo Anaal Nathrakh are releasing yet another brand new full-length album. “Desideratum” is already the 8th studio album during the 16 years of Anaal Nathrakh’s existence. There are many ways one can describe Anaal Nathrakh’s music and none of …

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Cold Blue Mountain Old Blood

Califiornia’ s Cold Blue Mountain, to me, are somewhat of an anomoly. When a band has numerous influences and straddle many sub genres often the result is somewhat confused and directionless. The second full length offering “Old Blood” combines doom/sludge with post-rock with harsh vocals similar to that of  Parkway …

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Evergrey-Hymns for the Broken

Heavy metal, in general, in it’s most simple terms deals mainly with strong view points or emotions be it hate, war, death, religion etc. Feelings of vunerability, sorrow or fear are only usually dealt with in passing, this tends to be because writing about such topics without sounding trite or …

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At The Gates – At War With Reality

This job has a lot of pros and cons; and sometimes it is hard to continue after you hear bland act after bland act, or worse something by Avenged Sevenfold. So, it is rare to have an album that has nothing that you feel the artist could improve on. The …

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Slipknot – .5: The Gray Chapter

The words ‘comeback album’ are very often banded around the music industry for a number of quite trivial reasons. Hindsight generally plays a big role in this, particularly if it’s a case of the artist or band merely needing to sell more copies of the album than the previous release …

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Sixx:A.M. – Modern Vintage

Sixx:A.M. - Modern Vintage

Following on from 2011’s ‘This is Gonna Hurt’, Sixx:A.M. have returned with their third full length album; Modern Vintage which is out now. From the very first track ‘Stars’ the listener is under no illusion that this is a record full of big sounding choruses and catchy hooks. James Michael’s …

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Riwen – Riwen

    This is one of those three track E.P.’s that certainly leaves you clambering for more. As fast as a speeding bullet from the off, ballads sure are not the order of the day, with brutal riffs a plenty, over spilling with dynamic quality and precision, to get you …

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Knighthood, Bad Habits

    From the first pluck of the strings, I just knew this was going to be a good album. With raunchy, lascivious little Bad Habits bringing to mind all manner of naughtiness, this is one earthy showcase of what real retro rock sounds like! I’ve said this before, and forgive …

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Sentinel – ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’

When I first came across young Armagh metallians Sentinel, opening a charity gig in Belfast, I must admit that I wasn’t overly impressed:  but then, as I said, they are young (drummer Jordie Kelly is still only 15!) and it was only their third ever live performance… Move the clock …

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Selene – ‘Paradise Over’

Selene - Paradise Over artwork

Sometimes, no matter how well you think you know your local music scene, you suddenly find you don’t know it quite so well as you did, as something comes completely out of left field and makes you ask “where the fuck did that come from?”. In this case, I had …

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SynaptiK – ‘The Mechanisms Of Consequence’

SynaptiK - album cover

Definitely – and defiantly – one of the most impressive acts to have taken to the New Blood Stage at this past summer’s Bloodstock, East Anglia’s SynaptiK have subsequently produced a debut album that is fervent, fresh and vibrant in equal measure. Straddling, with consummate ease, the death, groove, progressive …

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X-Drive – Get Your Rock On

X-Drive released their début album Get Your Rock On via Frontiers Records on 25th August 2014. Based in Los Angeles X-Drive is the brain child of Jeremy Brunner, who although relatively unknown is joined by some big names. James LoMenzo from White Lion on bass, Fred Fischer from Midline on …

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Plainview – Plainview

  Whilst some bands can take yonky donks to write and record an album, Plainview went for the fuck it approach and went straight into the studio to see what they could come up with. Having only a few weeks before decided in a pub one night that they missed …

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Senser- Stacked Up XX cd

Senser, what can you say about the crossover legends that hasn’t already been said before. They changed the alternative music landscape forever in 1994 with the release of their debut album ‘Stacked Up’; an album of pure inventiveness that influenced a generation. I remember hearing it for the first time …

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Jimmy Barnes – Hindsight

Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes is to release a new album, Hindsight.  It’s his 15th solo album, and over the 30 years of his career, both as a solo artist and as a member of the band Cold Chisel, he’s racked up 14 number one albums.  For Hindsight, he hasn’t …

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Steel Prophet – Into The Void / Continuum

30 years on, Connecticut Metallers Steel Prophet have released a re-issue of their 1997 album Into The Void but there is a surprise. With this album comes a re-release of their 1996 EP Continuum for this to become a double album. Sounds like 2 for the price of 1, especially …

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