Tag Archives: album review

“Bloody Hammers are a heavy rock band from Transylvania County, North Carolina.” Their latest ten-song disc, Under Satan’s Sun, was released in 2014 on Napalm Records. “Although commonly viewed as gothic rock, the band have incorporated elements of doom metal, stoner metal, and psychedelic rock.” By their name and the …

Second Rate Angels are a four piece from Hemel Hempstead, England (a place not known for metal… lol!).   They have been a  hard working band since late 2011 with a load of gigs under their belts, and they have just released their debut EP, ‘The Lost Days’. This EP is …

One of a reviewer’s favourite dreams – and, in equal measure, worst nightmares – is to occasionally stumble across a band who are difficult, if not downright impossible, to categorize. Such an outfit are Parisien quartet Dot Legacy, and this eclectic self-titled debut, which veers between post-rock synchopation, stoner, ambient …

This debut album from upstart Italians Black Gremlin certainly lives up to its name, in that it’s raw – not surprising, since the quartet recorded its seven songs live in one day, and using a traditional 8-track reel-to-reel tape deck. The result is a heady little collection of songs that …

One of the hardest working bands on the Northern Ireland scene, this debut full-length album from Baleful Creed is actually an amalgamation of the quartet’s three previous EPs bound together in one package. BC’s stoner-edged doom sound is very much rooted in the foundation of Black Sabbath – something for …

Dayton, Ohio’s The Devil Wears Prada released their fifth studio album, 8:18, on Roadrunner Records. Featuring 43 minutes of modern melodic metalcore, the 13 song disc is titled after a passage from The Bible, Romans 8:18. Fear not, the album won’t alienate a secular audience: it’s too heavy to be lumped …

It’s an unwritten rule that reviewers are not supposed to talk personally or write in the same mien, but I am sure our dear PM readers will indulge this writer in a touch of reminisence… I remember well the first time I heard Tesla:  I was just over a hear …

Dublin’s Coldwar are a band who are not easy to like.  But, that’s the point:  they don’t want to be the sort of band that people ‘like’:  they want to be reviled, repulsed, exorcised.  They are confrontational and uncompromising.  They are in your face.  And they ram their (anti-)message down …

Armagh-based ten-legged groove machine Astralnaut have been kicking up dust – sometimes quite literally – on the Irish scene, both north and south of the border, for around about two and a half years now, particularly with their fiery and intense live shows, which have been consistently levelling venues with …

The music business is a bit like politics, in that it is incestuous and often works on the basis of “it’s who you know not…” etc.  Take the example of Weathermaker Music, for example:  until now, every release issued by the label has had a direct link to Clutch (the …

UK death-mongers Vallenfyre have returned with 2014’s Splinters. Have you yearned for old-school death metal done right? This 11-song disc, released on Century Media Records, is a full-length album of pummeling buzzsaw riffy goodness. It has been tailor-made just for you. Try convincing someone that this didn’t come out of …

If there’s one band that conjures up the image of “folk metal”, it’s Helsinki, Finland natives and genre pillars Finntroll. Finntroll has a new release out: Natten Med De Levande Finntroll, a toothy 19-tune live album showcasing the band in full glory, performing at Amsterdam’s prestigious Melkweg Concert Hall on …

For nigh on approaching 30 years, Mekong Delta progenitor and leader Ralph Hubert has not been afraid to explore the interconnections between classical music and extreme metal in a way in which has not been attempted since the first wave of overblown prog rock bands away back in the early …

Haerken are a new European band, and their ten-song debut album, …Of Warriors and Kings, released in 2014, is a fresh face on the monolith that is extreme music. (At least for Latin, the ‘ae’ is pronounced “i”.) Modern, technical, crunchy, and fairly dry, the band’s sound could be described …

Let’s start this review with a little insight into the life of a (voluntary) music journalist… Like everyone else who writes for PlanetMosh, this reviewer has a day job.  Writing is a hobby, and we all do what we do for the love of the music we love – namely …

Rusted are a five piece hailing from Canada and have released their first album titled ‘Rock Patrol’. Mixed and mastered by Jonathan Lefrancois-Leduc at Silver Wings Studios. Arranged and produced by the band themselves and Silver Wings Studios.  They have been together for approximately four years.  OK now down to …

  Portrait are a Swedish metal outfit who formed in 2006 (slight confusion here as some sites state 2004 however 2006 is sited on their official Metal Blade page) and are made up of Per Lengstedt on Vocals, Christian Lindell and David Olofsson on Guitars, Mikael Castervall on Bass and …

Downtuned, digital, distorted, and defiant. That’s the first impression of Brazil’s Skinlepsy, who released their debut, Condemning the Empty Souls, on Shinigami Records. Nicely balanced, the recording is listenable even at low volume, but packs more punch “cranked up” a bit. This nine-song (with one intro) full-length album is nothing …

Winger are one of the few bands from the ‘big hair’ era of the late 1980s/early 1990s to have survived not only with their reputation still intact but also their integrity in terms of their viability as a relevant and vibrant rock act in the second decade of the 21st …

Supergroups?  Don’t you just love them?  Or hate them?  Ever since the dawn of the modern music business, the very mention of the the word ‘supergroup’ has sent many fans and critics – including yours truly – scurrying for cover.  A rock group is either a rock group or its …