Tag Archives: album review

                      Sister Rose will soon be celebrating their 40th Anniversary having been formed back in 1978 by three musicians from Ramsbottom. Pete Nicolson on vocals/bass, Craig (Clanger) Fearnley on guitar and Johnny Jackson on drums. Despite having gone through various line up changes, and …

Jesus Chrüsler Supercar are a trio of death ‘n’ rollers from Stockholm.  They play energetic, vibrant rock mixed with punk fury, with references to death and thrash metal, and even a hint of stoner mixed with grunge.  They play it loud.  VERY loud.  And they play it fast.  VERY fast. …

While Post Pop Depression has been billed as a collaboration, it’s Iggy Pop‘s name on the album’s marquee and spine. Producer, multi-instrumentalist, and co-writer Joshua Homme and Pop are both revered musicians and celebrated collaborators in their own realms. Homme worked with John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl in Them …

With this, the the band’s tenth album, Amon Amarth take their penchant for their epic evocations and retelling of the ancient myths and sagas, the feats of bravery and heroism which soak the bloodstained page of their homeland’s history, to next level by producing their first concept album.  Based around …

                        Reckless Love are a Finnish Glam Rock band who, these days, perform their own music and songs, after initially starting out as Reckless Life, a Guns N’ Roses tribute. They release their fouth album InVader via Spinefarm records on …

Let’s get this clear from the start:  I hate fucking so-called “reality” TV “music” shows.  Never watch them.  By and large, they’re ego-stroking vanity trips for equally vainglorious multi-billionaires merely seeking to embarrass weird and random selections of wannabe has-beens into making complete dicks of themselves and earning undeserved adulation …

Over the course of the past decade or so, the Pure Steel family of record labels has established itself as a stronghold of the classic-meets-New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal sound, whether it be via its own multiple imprints or equally numerous distribution deals.  It has a reputation for picking …

With the ten-track Dead Dawn, Sweden’s death metal behemoth Entombed A.D has returned to a scene the members helped to form, offering its second album under this moniker. Two closely related questions in most fan’s minds seem to be ‘where does Dead Dawn hit stride, and does it measure up …

The word legend is one which is often, and even more frequently inappropriately, bandied about. But, it is a description which definitely does apply to one man: a guitar player from the humble back streets of east Belfast whose name is cemented in the mythos of the Irish, and subsequently …

For almost two decades now, Primal Fear have been one of the cornerstone acts of the European power/speed metal scene, standing alongside the likes of Accept and Helloween and certainly matching both of them in terms of both artistic contribution and musical pedigree. While they may not have enjoyed the …

Last week saw the release of ‘Love and The Death of Damnation’, from the South California-bred Country style singer / songwriter, The White Buffalo, also known as Jake Smith. From past releases, Jake has been known for his diverse storytelling abilities through the medium of music. This new album is …

Colour Of Noise are a classic rock band from Brighton, England! In their own words ‘We are steeped in the spirit of the late 60’s British Blues Boom and early 70’s Stadium Rock, but cannot escape the urge to deliver songs with a steam-powered intensity.’ At the tender age of eleven …

Germany’s Obscura has released Akroasis (which means “hearing” or “listening” in Greek), a modern, technical death metal disc with plenty of progressive overtones. Firmly rooted in darkness, overall, the sound has a distinctly European flair, invoking early Behemoth to mid-period Vader or later Centurian with blasts of speed, precision, and …

London boys Karybdis step up the game and then some with the first release since their debut From The Depths. Their latest album Samsara is due to be released on the 19th February. Samsara features a dirty groove fused with melodic death that just…works. Every musical component in this release is perfectly entwined within …

Let’s not pretend – Super Collider and Thirteen were…questionable at best. This left me wary as I sat at my desk ready to hear the latest offering from Megadeth. Half the band had left in the last year, leaving Ellefson and Mustaine with what looked like nothing to continue the …

Darrell Bath released his latest album Roll Up via Livewire/Cargo Records last month. Darrell is an accomplished guitarist, singer and songwriter having played with many well known Punk/Rock bands including stints in UK Subs, and The Dogs D’Amour contributing to their 1993 release “More Unchartered Heights of Disgrace“. He appeared on …

Undoubted frontrunners of industrial melancholy Killing Joke present fifteenth full-length ‘Pylon’ accompanied by strong anti-political sentiment, however sadly a little too repetitive for adrenaline-soaked music lovers. On the bright side, for fans of dull five-minute epic tracks that may as well be cut down to 3 for all it repeats, …

Scandinavian symphonic metal mostly hinges quite fundamentally on a dominant frontwoman, of which Amberian Dawn’s seventh opus ‘Innuendo’ is a prime example. Fear not, this is not another carbon copy Nightwish-come-Delain.  Amberian Dawn are bursting with attitude and self-assurance that accompanies Capri Virkkunen’s bewilderingly diverse vocals. With air punch-inducing, heavy …

This fifth album by Brazilian fantasists Dragonheart is one which is truly deserving of the term epic – as not only does it clock in at a little under the hour mark (which is pretty long by today’s attention-deficit-seeking standards) but it marks the completion of a trilogy which the …

This second album from northern California’s Shadowkiller is a very loose concept album, based around the the pain and suffering of the German forces fighting to save themselves, their families and their homeland at the tail of the Second World War, but dealing with the horror of conflict on the front line …