Album Reviews

The greatest selection of albums, reviewed and rated

Def Leppard – Hysteria at the O2

If like me, you remember “Hysteria” being released then you’re officially old – it’s over 30 years ago. It’s an album that saw Def Leppard’s popularity explode and they were constantly in the charts and on TV as the album spawned seven singles. To celebrate the 30th anniversary in 2017 …

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Aleah – Aleah

Aleah is a heartfelt and fitting tribute to a beautiful soul I was genuinely struggling as to how to approach reviewing this album, I’m a great believer in that music should stir the emotions, and this album certainly does that. To lose such a shining talent at the ridiculously young …

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Poltergeist – Feather Of Truth

Thrash Titans Poltergeist return to wreak havoc with their fifth Metal offering titled ‘Feather Of Truth’ The importance and longevity of the Thrash genre to the Metal world can not be over emphasised, whilst it may have dipped in popularity in the late 90’s, early 2000’s, its resurgence over the …

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Underking – The Throne (single)

Underking returns chomping at the bit with The Throne, a teeth-gnashing single that highlights the more melodic side to them but it’s powerful enough to keep the headbangers busy! All music and lyrics come from head honcho Maxwell Jeffries. Vocals are delivered with angst that the subject matter deserves, musically …

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Massive Wagons -House Of Noise

Massive Wagons

Full Nelson, the last studio album from Massive Wagons opened a lot of doors for them but the soon to be released follow up, House Of Noise on July 17th 2020 won’t just do the same, it’ll smash the windows to and blow the roof off! It’s a heavier album …

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Powerwolf – Best of the Blessed

Powerwolf release their first greatest hits album in July. Entitled “Best of the blessed” it’s a mixture of original versions and re-recorded versions of songs, and to make it even more appealing, the second disc is “The live sacrament” – a live album recorded on the Wolfsnächte tour in 2018, …

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Burnt Out Wreck – This Is Hell (video)

Far from being burnt out, Burnt Out Wreck unleash another video from their riff-tastic album This Is Hell. If you want riffs, you get em as the title track is an absolute monster, to say the least! Fronted by the razor sharp vocals of Gary Moat, the big riffs, the …

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Twisted Illusion – Excite The Light Part III

Twisted Illusion – Excite The Light Part III Mad Max? He’s nothing compared to Mad Matt, as Matt Jones, head guru of Twisted Illusion defies musical genres to baffle us with the brain mangling new studio album Excite The Light Part III. If you thought the first two were complex, …

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Beyond the black – Horizons

German band Beyond the black are back with a new album – Horizons. It’s their second release since a major lineup change in 2016 shortly after the release of their second album. Since that time though the band has gone from strength to strength and the linup has remained stable. …

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Vega – Grit your teeth

British band Vega have been around for over a decade now and have released five studio albums in that time as well as playing plenty of gigs and festivals. I first saw them live in 2011 and was very impressed, and their next album (What the hell) wasexcellent. Sadly for …

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Avarus – In Disbelief (single)

Avarus – In Disbelief Avarus new single In Disbelief is free to stream from Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play and Deezer now! A bombastic blast of modern metal. I first saw Avarus at a festival at the Waterloo Music Bar in Blackpool a couple of years ago, they played …

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Cecil – FATHOM TIME Album review

Cecil

Cecil – FATHOM TIME During lockdown,  Cecil have mixed and mastered some never before heard tracks which we know you will love, so support these wonderful musicians during these desperate times by heading over to Bandcamp to pre-order their new 15 track album ‘FATHOM TIME’. Preview the song ‘Contender’  here …

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The Senton Bombs – Blue Sunset (single)

“Punks not dead” scream out The Senton Bombs with Blue Sunset, their second manic single of 2020. Released on Regolith Records, it will be available on all digital outlets from June 1st. They crank it up by showing off their heavier side as they pummel us for an unrelenting three …

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Chaos Over Cosmos – The Ultimate Multiverse

A multi-national collaboration between Poland and Australia has presented this interesting mix of progressive metal with touches of death metal and flourishes of sci -fi inspired keyboard madness. Opening track “Cascading Darkness” is full on straight out of the gate, chunky chugged guitars being complimented with melodic leads that are …

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Alestorm – Curse of the crystal coconut

Pirate metallers Alestorm are back with their sixth studio album. While critics will no doubt moan about how they must be scraping the bottom of the barrel for pirate themes to sing about, the band won’t care and nor will their fans, and if you’ve seen the crowds they attract …

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Dion – Blues with friends

Dion has been making music since the 50s having had 39 top 40 hits in the late 50s and early 60s including “The Wanderer” and “Runaround Sue”. He’s not stopped making music and now aged 80 he’s releasing his latest album. For this album as the title suggests, Dion has …

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Tokyo Blade – Dark Revolution

Over the last few years, Dissonance Productions have released some very impressive albums  and Dark Revolution from vintage rockers Tokyo Blade is another worthy addition to their roster! Founded in Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1979 but known as their current title since 1982, eleven tracks hit hard and heavy in just …

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Bleed From Within – Fracture

Glaswegian Grindsters Bleed From Within return with their fifth full length album and my lord what a scorcher. Imagine a mixture of Linkin Park, Slayer, Pantera and several others that I can’t quite think of their names right now, and this is Bleed From Within. Opener ‘The End Of All …

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