Album Reviews

Cork may be Ireland’s second city but it easily rivals capital Dublin as a hotbed of talent. The latest outfit to emerge from the south-west of the island, Inhale The Fall are a complete contrast to the more well known offerings at the darker, denser end of the spectrum which …

    The Finnish Druid/Folk/Gothic Metal band have been a bit quiet in terms of new material over recent years, this being their first release since the excellent “The Enigma Of Immortals” , which surfaced in 2008. The band return though, with all cylinders firing in the form of “Dark …

Bonafide, hailing from Malmo Sweden, were a band I heard some of my friends talk about at times but for one reason or another I never did go check them out. Stumbling across a list of possible albums to review I spotted their soon to be released 4th album “Bombo” …

King Kobra released their first album ‘Ready To Strike’ full of US Hard Rock back in ‘85, their second album ‘Thrill Of A Lifetime’ followed in 1986. At that time the band consisted of Carmine Appice on Drums, bassist Johnny Rod, guitarists David Michael-Philips and Mick Sweda, vocals came courtesy …

Cork’s For Ruin certainly believe in taking their time about things… this EP has been lying around, in one shape or form, for the guts of two years, with a video for the nominal title track having first surfaced on YouTube in the autumn of 2011.  Now, with the band …

Michael Monroe is back with his follow up to 2011’s wonderful “Sensory Overload” and despite there is no Ginger Wildheart this time around  we do have the more than capable Dregen from Backyard Babies trading licks with Steve Conte in the guitar duty department on “Horns And Halos”. Opening with …

It’s been a while since I reviewed an album ( I think my last was Wolfsbane Save The World) so I may be a little rusty, so apologies in advance. Anyway on with matter in hand, It would seem that Five Finger Death Punch are not the taste of your …

London based singer Grace Solero and her band are due to release their second album at the end of September.  The debut album, ‘New moon’ was released in 2009, so it’s been a long wait for ‘Hundred years apart’ but it’s going to be worth the wait. Grace Solero and …

Seven seas of sin is the second album from Ipswich band East Town Pirates Pirate metal ranges from the superb (Alestorm), to the great (Running wild) to the downright awful (Skull branded pirates), so not having listened to East Town Pirates before then I was curious to see where in …

Goodnight Wednesday are a punk rock band who come from Akron, Ohio.  The band was formed in 2006 and “The American nightmare” is the band’s latest release. One other important fact – they’re a Christian band.  Now before you all run off to read another review on the basis that …

Majestic is the musical project of Jeff Hamel, who writes all the music as well as palying guitar and keyboards.  He’s joined by other musicians and vocalists to record this album.  It’s a double album, with the first disc consisting mainly of a ten track opus. Musically it’s Prog rock …

SBS, or to give them their full name, Spicy Bits of Scandal, are a rock band from Lithuania.  The band formed in 1979, and by 1988 was playing gigs in Lithuania and abroad including festivals in Poland and Latvia.  Since then they’ve released three albums, supported Judas Priest and played …

Steroid Freak Pussy are a Leeds band  who formed in 2005 whose influences include L.A. Guns and Zodiac Mindwarp.  In 2011 they had a lineup change and went from a 5 piece to a 4 piece band.  Following this they headed to the studio to record this CD. This release …

Hailing from the humble, hardworking Pittsburgh, PA, is modern rock outfit Parise, a band composed of friends in music. Spearheaded by guitarist Dan Parise, this project came in to being to showcase the prodigious talents of these musical collaborators. These aren’t any ol’ friends: the band features within it’s ranks, …

This sophomore offering from Dublin instrumentalists Parhelia has been four years in the making, being as it is the follow up to their 2009 full-lengther debut, ‘Shifting Sands’ (they previously had released two EPs, ‘First Light’ in 2006 and 2007’s ‘Oceans Apart’). ‘The Precipice Of Change’ is a hypnotic album, …

Due to be released in the UK on 2 September 2013, Turisas2013 is the latest offering from the Finnish metal band.  Only two years since Stand Up And Fight was released, this is a quick turnaround and as well as a change from the previous releases by not being a concept album.  Progression has …

Dennis “Fergie” Frederiksen (Toto, Frederiksen/Philips, Mecca, LeRoux) is an inspiration. His long and storied music career continues strongly, despite advancing age and failing health. Frontiers Records brings listeners his newest material, 2013’s Any Given Moment. Produced by Alessandro Del Vecchio, this record has 11 tracks of melodic, smooth rock and …

Wretched soul are a death/thrash metal band from Canterbury.  The band played Bloodstock festival last year, and on 9th September will be releasing their debut album, Veronica. Brief comments on a few tracks… The album kicks off with ‘Where shadows ride’.  The guitars have a very traditional heavy metal feel …

Theia’s debut EP, just self entitled that, ‘Theia‘. It has got to be one of the most professional hard rock hitting EP’s of 2013. For this extremely young group of three guy’s ( the youngest being sixteen ) to put together songs like theses you would have thought after listening …

Winter Kills is one of the most intense albums I have heard this year, any of the 11 songs will slay when played live.