Album Reviews

Deicide have been with us almost 30 years with 50% of the original band still intact which is quite a feat in this day and age. This is the 12th studio album and first with new guitarist Mark English ex-Monstrosity. It is surprising to find that “In the Minds of …

Primal Instinct, debut album by London based Superfecta showed promise in 2014 and is a great stepping stone towards 2018 release Disconnect, currently available on CD from Skyfire Interactive/Skyfire Records and on MP3 from Amazon UK. A change in line up seems to have tightened up their songwriting, point proven …

Leicester band Seven Hells formed in late 2016. They’ve been working hard since then and recently released their debut EP, Prologue, and have plans to release their debut album in 2019. They won the Leicester final of the Metal 2 the masses competition and as a result played Bloodstock festival …

When you remember buying an album when it came out, being asked to review the 30th anniversary edition tends to make you feel old. Surely it can’t be 30 years since this classic album came out? Sadly it’s true, so lets have a look what’s involved in this anniversary edition. …

It’s hard to believe, but “The seven” is actually the debut album from Aonia. The band have released EPs in the past (“Sunchaser” and “City of shadows”), dating back to 2011 and 2014, but until now have not released a full length album. It’s certainly a big year for them …

Award winning Australian rock band John Butler Trio have just released their new album, Home. It’s their seventh studio album in a twenty year career. Although they’re a trio by name and in the studio, they’ve recently increased to a five piece band for live shows. There’s a very personal …

German band KMFDM are pioneers of industrial music and have influenced bands such as Rammstein. Founded as a performance art project by multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko in 1984, they’ve gone on to release a string of albums (around 20) and are known for their live shows. Later this month they release …

Being a black metal band generally seems to involve playing to audiences small enough that the tiniest of venues is too large, and if any band dares to actually become successful the black metal audiences tend to desert them as “too mainstream”. Given that you’d be forgiven for wondering why …

Sari Schorr released her debut album two years ago, and despite spending the last two years on the road touring, she’s now ready to release her second album – Never say never. In that time she’s lived in New York, Spain, France and several places in the UK as she’s …

Slaughter II released their self-titled debut album late last year. Recorded at Crack Studios in Hulme, Manchester and produced and engineered by Kevin Foy. Slaughter II features Brian Grantham the original drummer from Manchester punk rock band Slaughter and the Dogs and Edweena  Banger who was in the rebranded Slaughter. …

Bad Touch leave a great touch on the ears with their latest studio album Shake A Leg released via Marshall Records on October 5th. On seeing the running time at thirteen tracks I was a bit apprehensive about it’s length but could not be more wrong as it captivates from …

Hardcore Superstar (HCSS) hits you right in the face from start to finish, with their new smasher ‘You can’t kill my rock n roll’!  Forged in Gothenburg, Sweden back in 1997 and after a brief hiatus and a couple of member changes, they have continued to embed their footprint on …

“Into the electric castle” was the third Ayreon album and was released way back in 1998. Now 20 years on, it’s being reissued including being released on vinyl for the first time. Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen isnt the type of person who’d be content with just re-releasing something so he …

Northward is Nightwish singer Floor Jansen and Pagan’s mind guitarist Jorn Viggo Lofstad. The pair met in 2007 and in 2008 wrote an entire album’s worth of material together, but never managed to find time to record them. In 2017 they got in touch again and finally recorded the album …

Finnish punk band Teksti-TV 666 aim to prove that you can never have too many guitars, so to that end, this seven member band have 5 guitars (on some songs it’s even more at six). That’s a lot of guitars, but does it work? Well yes and no. Having so …

Epica’s latest release is something a bit different (and tha’s an understatement). It started out normal enough – in the summer of 2017 the band won a vote held by the Metropole orkest. This award winning Dutch orchestra were going to record with the winners. Given Epica’s use of orchestras …

When your live show is like four of the Inbetweeners necking a ruck of Monster drinks before going onstage to let all hell break loose, it must be a daunting task for The Senton Bombs to capture that vibe in the studio but with forthcoming studio album release Outsiders on …

California is a long way from Cirith Ungol, Tolkien’s fictional pass leading to the kingdom of Gondor. Somebody should have told the Ventura power metal outfit of the same name, as it seems they’ve let an orc or two loose on their upcoming EP ‘Witch’s Game’. A whopping 27 years …

Pulling off a multi-vocal effort is easier said than done, coaxing each member to pick up the mic regardless of their similarities and differences. Bright young Brighton outfit Villainous somewhat effortlessly prove their range of vox make them stand out from the crowd through their eponymous debut EP. Through the …

Mantar came across the radar 2 years back when they had just released “Ode to the Flame”, whilst heading between stages at Hellfest and heard this unholy racket coming from the Valley stage. From the screens I could see 2 people knocking the life out of a drumkit and guitar. …