Album Reviews

The greatest selection of albums, reviewed and rated

Dead Man’s Whiskey – Under The Gun – Reloaded

Released a couple of years prior, Dead Man’s Whiskey have now reissued this their debut album as an expanded version. The whole thing has been re-mastered and has also introduced two new songs, ‘Raising Hell’  and ‘Racing Bullet’. These guys are another band that sit outside the comfort of my …

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Atorc – Under The Raven Banner

Formed in 2012, the battle-hardened folk-metal warriors of East Anglia have become a force to be reckoned with on the UK metal circuit, sharing stages with the likes of Evil Scarecrow, Whispered, Manegarm and Grimner, and received praise for their diverse sound and powerful live show.  The group have now released …

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Left For Red – Human Complex

    Left For Red show their primary colours with the release of this impressive album ‘Human Complex’ I guess it was a kind of conformation of the quickening of time as you get older moment, when it suddenly dawned on me that this bunch have been in existence for …

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Sworn Amongst – Reclamation

Sworn Amongst have returned to the studio, having signed to L.A’s Famined Records and released what I can only describe as a mercy-less onslaught of Groove Metal. Well, I say Groove Metal, but there’s something different here. There’s an element of Melodic Death Metal too. These guys ooze passion and desire. …

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Torqued – The Coup de Grâce EP.

There must be something in the water (or scrumpy) in Postbridge, Devon for Torqued to create the totally unhinged recently released The Coup De Grâce EP. The trio of Marc Cleave, Kurt Johnson and Rimmy Sinclair have created some of the heaviest music I’ve heard in quite sometime as they …

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Obey – Swallow The Sun

So, can Obey overcome the tricky third album syndrome with their new opus Swallow The Sun? Of course they have and with ease! It’s taken 3 years since they served up Maelstrom but the wait has been worthwhile as opener ‘Back Home’ draws you in from the off by a …

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Raised By Owls – Dreadful

Raised By Owls are a Death Metal band from Derby releasing this, their first full length album on the back of nine singles and one EP. The band were formed in 2016 and don’t hold anything back with their witty and hilarious sense of humour which they capture perfectly within …

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The Treatment – Power Crazy

“Power Crazy” is the fourth full-length album from hard rock band The Treatment, released earlier this month via Frontiers Music Srl.  The Treatment formed in Cambridge over ten years ago. Whilst “Power Crazy” is the band’s  fourth album it’s the first album to feature their new third vocalist, Tom Rampton. …

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Hellfire – Mania

‘Mania’  is Hellfire’s third full album release after ‘Metal Masses’  (2016) and ‘Free Again’  (2017). The four piece unit are from San Francisco, California and were formed in 2010. I was quite apprehensive about stepping out of my genre zone again for this one, but I’m glad I did. There’s …

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Blacklist-9 – Mentally ill, legally sane

‘Mentally ill,  Legally Sane’  is the debut album from California groove-metal band Blacklist-9. What’s interesting about the band’s line up is that drummer Lonnie Silva and guitarist Kyle Silva are father and son respectively. The two began writing material in their garage and recruited local musicians to complete the line-up. …

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Blaze Bayley – Live In France.

To say that reviewing Blaze Bayley albums kept me busy is an understatement as the hardest working artist I know of has just released his Live In France double album via Blaze Bayley Recordings which makes it 4 in 2 years in between a relentless touring schedule. The gigs I’ve …

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Snowy White and the white flames – The Situation

British guitarist Snowy White has been a member of Thin Lizzy, woked with Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac), been a backing guitarist for Pink Floyd, has toured with Roger Waters as part of his band on “The Wall live” tour, and has been releasing albums regularly since the early 1980s. This …

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Jordan Rudess – Wired for madness

Jordan Rudess is the keyboard player in Dream Theater, a role he’s held for twenty years. He’s also a successful business man having formed a software company in 2010 to create new music tools to run on tablets and computers. Alongside this he’s also a busy solo artist with “Wired …

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Suzi Quatro – No control

To many of us, the name Suzi Quatro is likely to conjure up memories of her playing bass as she sang hits such as “Can the can” and “Devil gate drive” on Top of the Pops. It’s hard to believe that was the early 70s, and that her music career …

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Megadeth – Warheads on foreheads

It’s been 34 years since the first Megadeth album came out – and I’m sure that fact will make a few people reading this feel old as like me they remember the release of it. In that time we’ve had 15 studio albums, five live releases and half a dozen …

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Devin Townsend – Empath

On completing my first listen of Devin Townsend’s upcoming release Empath, I find myself at a loss for words.  Empath is a genre-bending masterpiece; from start to finish is a chaotic yet utterly blissful masterpiece.  I find myself trying to get my head around the writing, recording and even how …

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Usurper – Lords Of The Permafrost

Chicago based Usurper return with their sixth full length album, Lords Of The Permafrost. Hailing from Chicago, Illinois, the band were formed in 1993 and share their name with another Death Metal band from Atlanta who split up around 1990. What hit me straight away in track opener ‘Skull Splitter’,  is …

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Downfall of Gaia – Ethic of Radical Finitude

Hailing from Germany and formed 2008, they present their 5th album. Downfall of Gaia are a melting pot of influences, taking pieces from many different genres and making them blend into a seamless onslaught which is full of unexpected twists and turns. There are several long pieces on this album …

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High Treason – Silver Bullets

Formed in the late 70s, High Treason released their debut single in 1980 and aside from a couple of tracks that appeared on a compilation album, that was their entire recording output despite the band touring until the late 80s. Many years later the Japanese band Gorgon covered one of …

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Robin Trower – Coming closer to the day

Robin Trower has had a long career so far – the 73 year old guitarist first found fame as a member of Procul Harum (he joined shortly after the release of “White shade of pale”, before starting to release music under his own name. He’s also worked with artists including …

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