Tag Archives: music review

California’s Pintsize was an absolutely brilliant flash in the power pop, pop-punk, hard rock, and heavy metal cauldron. Thankfully, the cadre’s music has been immortalized on this 14 track disc, titled Five Feet…No Inches. Here, the fearsome foursome pulls listeners into a confrontational, hedonistic, and thoroughly entertaining musical joyride. The …

Tilberi, the three song EP by Iceland’s Solstafir, starts out slowly, almost melancholic, and highly melodic. As with it’s contemporaries in the sonic land of atmospheric post-metal, Tilberi‘s tracks quickly evolve into something deeper, compelling one to listen further. Tilberi‘s mix is raw, retaining an almost ‘demo’ quality muddiness in …

Heavy Psych Sounds recently compiled and released a first for America’s desertified hard rock act Mondo Generator – a two vinyl record or CD set, titled Best Of. While Mondo Generator was formed in 1997, it’s debut didn’t see the light of day until 2000, when a break in band …

Many of us are familiar with the endangered “physical media” known as CDs, cassette tapes, and vinyl records. Something all physical media bought at retail has in common is that it is contained. This containment is called packaging, and is ubiquitous. Standalone, loose physical media were not reviewed because they’re …

Baltimore’s long-disbanded Pessimist reunited in 2014. As a celebration of the re-grouping, the band has decided to re-release three albums. The first reissue, Slaughtering The Faithful, was re-mastered, then released on Halloween, 2015, by Obscure Records. Pessimist was a premier blackened death metal band on the East Coast late last …

A posthumous release for bassist Bones, Evil Army‘s Violence and War is a five track blast through death-thrash. These three Memphis denizens kick things off with a killer divebomb, letting listeners know they mean business. They’ve got a maniacal, rip your head off direction established right away. Songs range from …

Ah, Exmortus heats up another day in metal-dom! Stark black and white imagery, a dragon, swords, horns, a battle, a horde, scantily-clad women, blood, and fire: these California natives have heavy metal’s best and brightest tropes fenced in and neatly dispatched. The quartet works diligently on their music, and the …

California’s Bl’ast, one of the “founding father” primal hardcore punk bands, has returned with its first new music in two decades. A five-minutes-and-change listening trek, this two song EP, titled For Those Who’ve Graced the Fire! quickly whets fans’ appetites for more. As before, the band’s core members remain Clifford …

Corrosion of Conformity‘s Reed Mullin and My Ruin‘s Mick Murphy decided, along with Jon Lousteau as producer, to create a star-studded, ever-changing group of guests that would convene, as Teenage Time Killers, and create an album. Given the celebrity status for about half of the guests, at first glance this …

Fans of the original wave of Swedish death metal are in for a treat, from Entrails‘s latest release, Obliteration. As the band says, it’s ten tracks of “death metal and nothing else.” Entrails formed around the same time that bands like Entombed and Grave were just beginning to garner some …

Quasi-witty or ‘cheesy’ title aside, Terror Empire‘s second full-length release, The Empire Strikes Black, is one pummeling slab of old-school cool death metal. A young Portugese band, founded in 2009, Terror Empire sound a bit like they’re part of the “revivalist” faction discussed previously on PlanetMosh. The concept is simple: …

Italy’s Game Over, founded in 2008, has presented fans with a crisp, 13-track re-release of their 2012 debut disc, For Humanity. A word being thrown around these days in some metal circles is “revival”, with practitioners labeled “revivalists”. Thrash and speed metal arguably had their heyday around the same time …

Finnish melodic folk-death metal band Ensiferum has released their sixth studio album through Metal Blade Records, titled One Man Army. The band, which takes it’s name from a Latin word translating to “Sword bearing,” has included 15 aggressive tracks, counting the four bonus tracks, for eager fan consumption. Overall, One Man …

With a cast of infamous characters that reads like a short who’s who of the California desert rock scene, Mojave Lords are a lake of fire indeed. Featuring core members David Catching, Kevin Richey, Brian O’Connor, and Joey Castillo, the band has released an aggressive ten song debut, neologically dubbed …

A band that’s been buzzed about as “a force to watch”, Mini Mansions hit BBC 1’s Single Of The Week with “Death Is A Girl” in mid-December, 2014. With that kind of accolade, and an upcoming full UK tour with Royal Blood, this sun-drenched American band are this week’s obvious Pop Focus choice. …

“New Life”, by Warsaw native One (name: Adam Malicki), is a random find from a boredom-trawl on Twitter that asks for your attention. Freshly released, this single is a guitar-heavy instrumental track that opens with a waltzing, cracked funhouse flair. Rapidly shifting gears to synth-laden blues rock, and then to …

And now for something different, and decidedly non-metal, in metal-land! Guitarist Carl Verheyen, of Supertramp fame, released his fantastic solo album, Mustang Run, on August 1. Verheyen has a short tour of the UK lined up to support the release. The 11 tracks (ten instrumental) presented here are a wonderful …

The land with the most heavy metal bands per capita, Sweden, is at it again – unleashing new band The Dagger, comprised of former Grave and Dismember death metal inmates, on an eager listening public. The Dagger’s ten-track eponymous debut has a warm, inviting tone and a pleasing, “retro” or …

Current Vista Chino vocalist, former Kyuss member and desert rocker John Garcia has finally released his eponymous debut solo disc. This 11-track romp has plenty to offer the fan of good ol’ American rock and roll, particularly flavored with a “stoner” edge. He’s enlisted fellow partner in crime (and Queens …

Swedish metallers Falconer have returned with 2014’s full-length disc, Black Moon Rising. This is the band’s eighth studio effort, a nice blend of melodic, power, and folk metal elements. This 11-track disc is packed with classic heavy metal, power metal, and folk metal in spades. Top-tier musicianship only helps to …