Marc Eric – Reaching for Orion

Marc Eric is a guitarist referred to as a “psychadelic blues guitarist extraordinaire”.  He’s played on movie and TV sountracks as well as playing on Graham Bonnet’s “The day I went mad” album.  ‘Reaching for Orion’ is his fourth album, and as normal he both plays guitar and sings. Brief …

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Embersland – Sunrise

Embersland is a metal band from Barcelona, Spain.  The band formed in 2009, and during 2011 and 2012 recorded their debut album, Sunrise, which was finally released in May this year.  The band are fairly unusual in having two male vocalists. Starting with the vocals there is quite a mix …

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Titan – Titan

Prog band Titan consists of thee musicians who met at Appalachian state university.  They recorded their debut album during 2012 and it was released earlier this year. It’s quite a varied album this.  It’s clearly Proresssive rock/metal, but it has a varied sound, taking its influences from different bands.  At …

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Radio friendly – Love is alive

Radio friendly are a Christian rock band from California.  They’ve just released their latest EP, ‘Love is alive’.  This release comes not long after their seventh album. Normally the words “Christian rock” are the kiss of death – too often the music is pretty average and the lyrics are far …

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Days we are even – Himalaya

Days we are even are a band based in Zurich, but with members coming from Germany, Switzerland and Brazil.  They describe their music as “modern metal”, whatever that is supposed to mean. Brief comments on a few songs.. The album kicks off with ‘Misunderstood’.  Nice heavy guitar riffs, good vocals, …

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Piston – Playin With Fire EP

It’s great hearing about bands because they follow you on Twitter or Facebook and throw their material at you. You seem sceptical at first but it soon becomes apparent that some bands really do have something special, and that’s what I discovered with Piston. I came across this Midlands 5 …

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Schwarzer Engel – Schwarze Sonne EP

  If you like your music to come at you from the darker end of the spectrum then this is well worth checking out, although a mere fifteen minutes in duration it packs a mighty punch, very much in the Gothic vein. As a German language band Schwarzer Engel are …

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Huntress – Starbound beast

American band Huntress are a band that are quickly making a big name for themselves.  Their singer Jill Janus is certainly someone worth talking about.  She’s a former opera singer with a staggering 4 octave vocal range.  For anyone who doesn’t know much about vocal ranges, most talented singers can …

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Twisted state of mind – Rise

Twisted State of Mind are a young metal band from Witney in Oxfordshire.  When I say young, I’m not kidding – they’re only 13 years old.  To be honest I was a bit sceptical when given their EP to review – their young ages did make me wonder if they …

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Children of Bodom – Halo of Blood

Children of Bodom - Halo of Blood

“Halo of Blood” is the 8th studio album by Finnish melodic death metallers, Children of Bodom. ‘Waste of Skin’ starts the newly released album with melody, catchy guitar work, typical chugging Children of Bodom riffs and signature keyboards. Before long the entrance of title track ‘Halo of Blood’ brings a …

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States of Panic – Interview with Hex

Fresh from their recent set at Download, States of Panic are due to hit another festival, this time a little further north.  But before they play Les Fest this coming weekend, I spoke to Hex (bass) about why they’re looking forward to playing their set.     There are only …

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Diementia Interview, June 2013

Soon to be playing at this year’s Les Fest, I chatted to Diementia to see why they’re looking forward to playing there.   There are only a couple of weeks now until Les Fest in Scotland, how excited are you about playing there? It’s going to be first and foremost …

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Monument – Interview with Peter Elis

Set to play the main stage at Les Fest this coming weekend, I caught up with Peter Elis (vocals) to discuss all things Les Fest.   There are only a couple of weeks now until Les Fest in Scotland, how excited are you about playing there? We are really excited …

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Dio – Magica (Deluxe Edition)

Originally released via Spitfire Records on March 21st 2000,Magica is the latest Dio solo album to get the re-master treatment,this time via Niji Entertainment Group on June 25th 2013 and is eagerly awaited as the original release has been out of print for many years. The original sold over 100,000 …

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Bloodstock announce new lineup additions

Bloodstock Open Air 2013

BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL are excited to announce a whole batch of new additions for all three stages.  There’s only seven weeks left to the most metal weekend of the year!!  Have you got your tickets yet?! Opening Friday’s main stage, and fresh off the back of the release of ‘IV’, their …

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Altus – Non Omnis Moriar

Altus are a band very new to the Northern Irish metal scene, and have only been together since late last year. The band members were brought together sharing experiences from being in previous bands. I have seen them perform only once at their debut performance at this years inaugural Helfast …

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