Album Reviews

Orianthi the Australian guitar sensation is back with her follow up to her 2009 album Believe titled Heaven In This Hell. Opening with wind noises and a spoken word intro about love, Orianthi screams into the title track ‘Heaven In This Hell’ and firmly puts her foot on the gas pedal …

Vega! Not heard the name yet? Well they are four guys who formed the metal group in 2009 with a sound straight from the 70-80′s now turning out their own original rock songs in the 00′s. Their first album “Kiss Of Life”, which was released in October 2010 was well …

Australian hard rock band ‘Destroy she said’ come from Melbourne and are here with their debut album. While Australian bands are often compared unfairly to ACDC, sometimes the comparison is very valid – take Airbourne as a perfect example.  Destroy she said are another Australian band that it is right …

Light among shadows are a symphonic metal band from the Southern part of Spain, although their singer, Tatjana Klee is German.  The band was formed in 2010 and released their debut EP, “At the gates of dawn” in March 2011.  The EP was well received and the band did a …

Swiss band Tempesta was founded in 1994 by Reto Thalmann, and released their first demo in 1995, and in 2002 released their debut album, ‘Platinum’.  Several albums have been released since then, and the band has played concerts supporting bands including ZZ Top, Good Charlotte, Krokus and Billy Idol. First …

The Distorted Waltz started out as a project when the members were at school.  It split before reforming a few years later and in 2011 started recording their debut album.  Due to studies the album wasnt recorded in one go, but was written and recorded over the course of the …

Melodic rock band Starfire come from Los Angeles and released their debut album, “Eye of the storm” in 2010.  They then followed up with three singles before releasing their second album, “Business affairs” in 2011.  September 2013 will see the release of their third album, “The way I am”. Brief …

Canadian band Inner Odyssey was formed in 2007, but it wasnt until 2010 that founder Vincent Leboeuf Gadreau managed to finalise the lineup.  Inner Odyssey signed with Unicorn records to release their debut album – Have a seat. Musically I suppose Prog metal is probably the most suitable description, but …

Dutch Prog band Illumion was formed in 2002 by guitarist Eveline van Kampen. In 2004 the band’s first three song demo, ‘Into the labyrinth’ was released, and this was followed two years later by ‘Into the labyrinth part 2’ which contained six songs including three covers. In 2009 the band …

“Welcome to a new age” declare Shai Hulud. A new age it might be but this band are old hands and show us in the opening lines of this new album the very sound that has gone on to influence so many of today’s bands. Despite their absence in recent …

Finland’s Gothic masters return with an album full of energy and passion.   Eternal Tears Of Sorrow must be doing something right, you don’t get to just short of 20 years in the business by luck alone. The band have been true to their Gothic roots throughout their career and …

Dream Evil, the 4th solo album by Ronnie James Dio has been given the deluxe edition treatment by Universal Music as they did last year with Ronnie’s 1st 3 solo albums Holy Diver, Last In Line and Sacred Heart. To some it may seem like a cash in as Ronnie …

This ninth album from the Swedish thrash/sleaze mutants sees them abandoning the former and very much planting their feet in the latter camp – a direction they have taken more and more since the recruitment of former Crazy Lixx guitarist Vic Zino six years ago. Following an intro that wouldn’t …

Dublin metal band, Dichotomy, are due to release their eight track album, Paradigms, this coming Saturday 2nd March. This band has a great reputation when it comes to live performances both at local venues and around the country. A reputation that has seen them land support slots for big bands …

‘Best Of..’ from one of Female Fronted Metal’s ‘best of’.   Launching a ’Best Of’ collection after releasing only three albums may seem a little strange but I guess it gives us a chance to take stock of what Imperia have produced so far, if nothing else. The band are …

Demented are a French death metal band formed in 2008.  Across The Nature’s Stillness is their 2nd album. The album starts with a quiet intro called ‘ The Ritual’. It’s a good intro for the album which makes an atmosphere of suspense. The following song ‘Shaman’ starts with a great …

Released on 18 February, ‘Signal Fire’ is the latest album offering from Dan Reed.  This is beyond a doubt a feel good album, by which I mean no matter what mood you are in, what you may be going through or what type of music you are into, there is …

Hailing from Salerno, Campania, Italy Heimdall give us their latest musings over their countries heritage, with the apt name of Aeneid. The first track on the album is named Prologue, which of course is an intro. This fades in with slow dramatic sounding trumpets and drums which builds up to …

The announcement last year that three quarters of the ‘golden days’ Dokken line up – guitarist George Lynch, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer ‘Wild’ Mick Brown – were working together again had fans seeking a long-overdue reunion of the classic original incarnation of the LA rockers positively salivating with expectation …

It may seem somewhat of anomaly, in these days of internet downloads, for a band to release a good old-fashioned ‘Double A Side’ – especially when said release is only be made available in digital format and not pressed to ye olde plastic.  But, that’s what Belfast progressive post-rock quartet …