Album Reviews

The greatest selection of albums, reviewed and rated

Killgasm – A Stab in the Heart of Christ

.@Planetmosh @AnybodyBC reviews ‘A Stab in the Heart of Christ’ by Killgasm released via Moribund Records. This year looks quite productive and May is no exception. Yet another band from sunny California, USA, Killgasm, are already releasing their second full-length album. I must admit, I was intrigued by the name as …

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Rusted – ‘Rock Patrol’

Rusted - Rock Patrol Artwork

Rusted are a five piece hailing from Canada and have released their first album titled ‘Rock Patrol’. Mixed and mastered by Jonathan Lefrancois-Leduc at Silver Wings Studios. Arranged and produced by the band themselves and Silver Wings Studios.  They have been together for approximately four years.  OK now down to …

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Osian – Rhizome

Osian is an alternative metal band from southern Italy, formed during the birth of the genre in the mid 90s. The band’s latest offering, Rhizome, is a six song disc that pays obvious homage to popular alternative music of that era: bands like Depeche Mode, Type O Negative, Ministry, The …

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Scream Maker – Livin’ In The Past

Appropriately titled, Livin’ In The Past by Poland’s Scream Maker is the band’s war cry and answer to the genre of power metal. With the help of star producer Alessandro Del Vecchio, they’ve nailed it: versatile, nicely ranged, fairly operatic, and genre-appropriate vocals matched to staccato archetypal guitar riffs, supported …

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Avelion – Liquid Breathing

Industrial music influenced Italian metallers Avelion released a three-song EP, titled Liquid Breathing, in November 2013. Highly focused on electronic or digital sounding instrumentation, the band incorporates a lot of different keyboard sounds, mixed with digital “djenty” guitar. Avelion, who revamped their lineup in 2013, describes themselves as melodic progressive …

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Aventus – Valley Of The Kings

Another contender in the overcrowded, glutted digital music revolution, Scotland’s Aventus put their spin on rock and roll with their latest disc, called Valley of the Kings. The recording has a warm, analog feel to it, and is nicely balanced and enjoyable. The band mix doomy, sludgy riffs with more …

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Colma Wolves – Orphaned

Edinburgh’s Colma Wolves have released a three-song EP, Orphaned. Songs begin slowly with distorted bass guitar, almost drone-like. The quality of Orphaned is best described as “basement practice room on an old four-track”, demo or hardcore-collector quality “only”. The recording is fairly muddy, and lacks the depth that would benefit …

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Babylon A.D. – The Lost Sessions, Fresno CA 93

Formed in 1988, Babylon A.D. hail from San Francisco, California. Former Arista recording artists, they dredged up at EP’s worth of previously-unreleased material. Titled The Lost Sessions, Fresno CA 93, and released on Perris Records, this EP serves as the band’s ‘appearance at the final UK Firefest’ teaser. The material …

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Moloch – Verwüstung

With Moloch, a true and grim underground black metal band has emerged, with most of their releases available as strictly limited editions! Hailing from dark, frozen Ukraine, Nocebo Records released an eight-song picture disc of Moloch’s material, titled Verwüstung. All lyrics are in Ukranian, but the song titles are in …

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Four Nights Gone – Resilience

Staten Island, New York’s Four Nights Gone recently released Resilience, a 5-song EP. This is the band’s second studio effort, professionally recorded at Vudu Studios with producer Mike Watts. Nicely mixed, clear and crisp, Resilience seems to be fairly straightforward, vanilla modern melodic rock: like fellow bands you’d hear on …

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Portrait “Crossroads” Album Review

  Portrait are a Swedish metal outfit who formed in 2006 (slight confusion here as some sites state 2004 however 2006 is sited on their official Metal Blade page) and are made up of Per Lengstedt on Vocals, Christian Lindell and David Olofsson on Guitars, Mikael Castervall on Bass and …

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Skinlepsy – Condemning the Empty Souls

Downtuned, digital, distorted, and defiant. That’s the first impression of Brazil’s Skinlepsy, who released their debut, Condemning the Empty Souls, on Shinigami Records. Nicely balanced, the recording is listenable even at low volume, but packs more punch “cranked up” a bit. This nine-song (with one intro) full-length album is nothing …

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Winger – Better Days Comin’

Winger - Better Days Comin' artwork

Winger are one of the few bands from the ‘big hair’ era of the late 1980s/early 1990s to have survived not only with their reputation still intact but also their integrity in terms of their viability as a relevant and vibrant rock act in the second decade of the 21st …

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Black Stone Cherry – Magic Mountain

I have been into Black Stone Cherry ever since the release of “Folklore and Superstition” several years ago. Now with the release of their fourth album “Magic Mountain” imminent, how have things developed since I first discovered this band? One thing that is very noticeable from the off is that …

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KXM – ‘KXM’

KXM - Album Artwork

Supergroups?  Don’t you just love them?  Or hate them?  Ever since the dawn of the modern music business, the very mention of the the word ‘supergroup’ has sent many fans and critics – including yours truly – scurrying for cover.  A rock group is either a rock group or its …

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Neal Schon – So U

Most fans of rock and roll have heard of arena-rock sensation Journey, and this is where they’ll realize they’re familiar with guitarist Neal Schon already. What they may not be aware of is that Schon has a vibrant career as a solo artist as well. So U is Schon’s latest …

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Vader – Tibi Et Igni

.@Planetmosh @AnybodyBC reviews ”Tibi Et Igni’ by @vaderband released via @nuclearblasteu Hailing from Poland, these recognizable death metal legends will never get old. Playing already for 31 years now, Vader storm out again and releases new album, called ‘Tibi Et Igni‘. An attention catching album title ‘Tibi Et Igni’, a …

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NASA Assassin – ‘Area 69’

NASA Assassin - Area 69 Artwork

NASA Assassin are a five piece from Northern Ireland, but where I can not say as they describe themselves as being from outer space. They have been together for approximately 9 – 10 years and have just release their debut album titled Area 69.  The album has been produced by …

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Stereo Nasty – Stereo Nasty E.P.

Faith No More once sang “From out of nowhere” which just about sums up County Kildare based metallers Stereo Nasty. As they were completely new to me until today and believe me, there is nothing nasty bout their 80’s tinged 3 track E.P which can be bought as a download …

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Crowsaw ‘ Smoke And Feathers’

.@Planetmosh  @CROWSAW   Right from the off your bombarded with a hard hitting, gritty rock sound. With a heavy bass rhythm section leading the way, the guitar riffs just keep flowing from the many songs on the CD. This self-released album is the next stage in the anthology of Crowsaw’s footprint …

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