Album Reviews

Arrow-Haze are a Belgian band who count Pink Floyd, Dream theatre and Queensyche among their inspirations.  Given that then you might expect their music to be firmly in the Prog-rock camp, but in reality it’s not quite that simple.  Yes there is a strong Prog element, but there’s also a …

‘The wake of man’ is the self titled debut EP from Melodic rock band ‘The wake of man’.  Having said that, listening to the EP I wouldnt describe them as “melodic rock” – that conjures up images of a much softer music, more like Foreigner, whereas The wake of man …

The Oxford Coma come from Phoenix, Arizona and describe themselves as “Progressive psychedelic grunge”.  The band formed in 2011, and in 2012 raised the funds to record their debut album via a Kickstarter campaign. Progressive Psychedelic Grunge is an interesting description and one that could mean almost anything really.  Listening …

,OakwindDark Radio was formed in 2010 by Diogo Ferreira and Flavio Silva but only finalised the lineup in 2012.  They’ve now recorded their debut album, Oakwind, and are planning to tour during the year. The vocals are great.  They’re very varied, at times reminding me of The Cult’s Ian Astbury, …

The Crunch may be a new name, but the members certainly aren't new to the music scene. Singer Soren 'Sulo' Karlsson was the singer with Blues-rockers Diamond Dogs, Bassist Dave Tregunna was in Sham 69 and Lords of the new church, Terry Chimes was drummer for The Clash, and Guitarist Mick Geggus was part of the Cockney Rejects.

Post Hardcore bliss, a musical experience not to be missed.   If you are a fan of the post hardcore, post rock, post metal scene and let’s face it, many of us are, myself included, then the choice of bands and different variations of the sub genres is pretty much …

In 2011 Blues-rock singer Beth Hart and Blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa teamed up to record and release 'Don't explain', an album of Soul cover versions. They covered songs from artists including Ray Charles, Tom Waits, Etta James and Aretha Franklin. Now two years on they've teamed up again to release a second album of soul covers - Seesaw.

Three years is a fairly standard gap between album releases, but given the fanbase that H.I.M have following them, it must have seemed a lifetime. Still, that’s the span between 2010 release Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice and Tears on Tape, their eighth album that was released yesterday in the …

Black Metal with a melodic twist ticks all the right boxes.   The Polish Metal scene has always been a strong one generally speaking, even more so since Maiden played groundbreaking shows there way back in the 80’s. The country can now proudly boast a healthy crop of quality bands …

San Francisco Doom merchants deliver another slab of Retro magic.   One thing you can say about Doom is that it never has and never will go out of fashion, unlike certain other sub-genres of Metal I could mention, Grunge being the obvious. Of course, all things evolve and develope …

Death Tyrant emerged from the ashes of Swedish underground supremos Lord Belial when the latter broke up in 2010 – although, in one of those typically murky storylines which epitomizes the Scandinavian scene, they’ve apparently been re-activated on at least two occasions – and this debut album has been the …

At first listen, German electro-industrialists Stahlmann evoke immediate comparisons with fellow countrymen Rammstein – huge chugging, crunching riffs, backed by punchy rhythms… and vocals delivered in their native language!  Add in a penchant for covering themselves in silver paint on stage, and its a parellel which they make stupidly simplistic …

Planet Mosh reviews the debut album from The Resistance, featuring former members of In Flames, The Haunted and Grave.

I love underground music, if it brings out some obvious talent, and especially if it’s from outside my home country – the USA. Turin, Italy’s Ultra-Violence (yeah, like Death Angel, or A Clockwork Orange, your choice) seems to fit that bill. Their newest, Privilege To Overcome, is a long-playing album …

Once in a while an album will come along and completely blow me away with its sheer intensity. An album that strays away  from a collection of  songs  with the usual verse/chorus/verse/chorus/guitar solo etc.  Pelagial, the 5th studio album from Swiss based band The Ocean is definitely one of those …

Unsurprisingly, this seventh album from Rome’s Kaledon is forged in the fires of pure epic metal:  after all, this is a band who, over the course of the past decade, have released a six-part concept work set in medieval England – or the Kingdom of Kaledon as they refer to …

UK metallers Dendera have been making waves with their classic metal style since the release of their debut EP in 2011. With support slots alongside some of metals greats such as UFO, Saxon, Orange Goblin and Ill Nino to name a few they continue to make a name for themselves …

Kadavar are another in an increasingly long line of bands – such as Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats and Purson – who recently have been following in the footsteps of illustrious predecessors of the ilk of Electric Wizard and Spiritual Beggars in re-ploughing the retro furrow of late-60s psychedelica blues meets …

“Songs To Invade Countries To” is completely solid throughout. There’s plenty of hard and heavy rocking numbers to thrill and satisfy. Yet it’s full of creativity, structure and wonderful melodies. It has songs which divert you elsewhere and throw you off guard that really makes you smile, and for me this has to be an early contender for one of the albums of the year.

It’s almost impossible to look at Drowning Pool as the same band they were in 2002. A lot has changed since then and five albums and four vocalists later Resilience is Drowning Pools latest studio album with new vocalist Jasen Moreno, and you can’t deny that Resilience is a great …