Album Reviews

Finnish band Battle Beast are a tricky one to describe.  On a first listen, depending on which songs you listened to, you might say they’re traditional heavy metal with female vocals, and that’s certainly a large part of their sound, but then you come across some of their other songs …

With some musicians who release a solo album, it’s not really very different to the stuff they do in the band they’re part of and you wonder why they bothered, but in this case I was expecting the album to sound nothing like Bermondsey Joyriders since Gary “Guitar” Lammin has …

Courtesans kick off 2017 by unleashing their original brand of Doom/Pop upon us with new EP ‘Better Safe Than Sober’.  Courtesans are one of my favourite bands out there currently, it’s been great watching them grow over the last few years, having seen them put on jaw-dropping live performances at …

Triple Threat, the new release from Annihilator is so named as it consists of a live set played at the 2016 Bang Your Head Festival, an Unplugged : The Watersound Studio sessions and a live DVD of the Bang Your Head Festival set. Currently released by UDR Music, it highlights …

Hailing from the US Sanctuary are a classic metal band from Seattle, who alongside the likes of Queensrÿche and Metal Church helped to forge a scene of different sounding and intelligent metal from the Washington area. With choppy riffs, a damn solid rhythm section and distinctive soaring vocals the band …

With three lauded self-releases already, your first label release – as is the case with the latest Wille & The Bandits release Steal –­­ the impulse to play it safe may be tempting. Not enticing enough apparently. Steal is an out-and-out rocker of an album that’s been spliced, diced and spiced …

Since their formation in Essen 1984, Kreator have consistently delivered an impressive caustic catalogue of thrash metal, proving that the Germans do it better than anyone else and Gods Of Violence their fourteenth studio album shows they are still at the forefront of that genre. Currently available on Nuclear Blast …

Ladies and gentleman it is time for the second album release ‘Arakhne’ from the enchanting Enemy of Reality and it is a killer of an album for all you Greek mythology and arachnid fans. The title of the album ‘Arakhne’ gives the fans a glimpse into the web of music …

Big Rocks, the latest album from Swiss legends Krokus is the perfect way to cure the January blues! It is made up of thirteen songs, twelve covers and a new version of their ‘Backseat Rock ‘N’ Roll’ song which featured on their ground breaking 1980 Metal Rendezvous album. The dozen …

Thunder, as the title of their latest outing suggests, Rip It Up and then some. 27 years in and Danny Bowes and his London/Brighton quintet still don’t understand that they should be considered “old school” by now. Given that this is an album of exceptional freshness, wit and diversity they’re …

With their fourteenth studio album Metal Messiah, thrash metal legends Sepultura are still raising the middle finger to the “Bring back Max” computer keyboard warriors. Lead vocalist Derrick Green has fronted them for over twenty years now and personally speaking he has earned his stripes many times over, point proven …

With his first album in a decade, Times Have Changed, Ronnie Baker Brooks brings a fusion of good old funk-blues-soul inspired pleasure to the plate and delivers something of an overall joy to listen to. With Brooks own magisterial guitar handiwork being more than adequately backed up by original Stax …

You’d forgive Austin Dickinson for feeling that, no matter what he did musically, the world was always against him. As if being the son of Iron Maiden’s frontman wasn’t tough enough, his previous band Rise to Remain were on the cusp of something really special when they released the brilliant …

Maturity is what’s stamped all over Aaron Keylock’s much anticipated debut album, Cut Against The Grain. The rip roaring, yet labyrinthine opener All The Right Moves sets the scene beautifully for that which is to follow and never at any stage does the album disappoint. A riff driven behemoth that …

      With their fresh and unique twist on the Melodic Death genre, Scenario II return with a momentous new offering in the form of ‘A New Dawn’   From the dark and malevolent opening strains of intro track ‘The Darkest Hour’, I was hooked. Conjuring a vision of …

California’s Pintsize was an absolutely brilliant flash in the power pop, pop-punk, hard rock, and heavy metal cauldron. Thankfully, the cadre’s music has been immortalized on this 14 track disc, titled Five Feet…No Inches. Here, the fearsome foursome pulls listeners into a confrontational, hedonistic, and thoroughly entertaining musical joyride. The …

The Japanese are efficient, aren’t they? We saw at the end of last year how rapid they go about their roadworks and then, a little over eight months after three of their hottest exports released their second studio record AND set the UK alight, the first live album from Babymetal was unleashed onto the …

One Ok Rock are a Japanese rock band that formed in Tokyo in 2015, and “Ambitions” is their eighth album, but only their second to be recorded all in English.  This album features guest appearances from All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth, and 5 seconds of summer.  The Japanese version also …

While Accept fans wait for a new studio album from Accept, the waiting is about to get a whole lot easier with the release of a new Live album.  Recorded on tour in Europe it’s being released as a double CD or double CD/DVD.  If you opt for the version …

Reanimate 3.0 is the third covers EP from Halestorm.  As with the previous ones which have covered bands such as Skid Row, Marilyn Manson, Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar and Judas Priest, this EP covers an interesting mix of artists.  You’ve got Whitesnake, Metallica, Joan Jett, Sophie B Hawkins, Twenty One …