Hailing from the Saxony region of Germany, Victorius are one of a new generation of power metal bands who are emerging, from various parts of the continent (including here in the jolly old UK, it must be stressed), who seem determined to inject something new and fresh into what has …

With this, the first in a new trilogy of thematically-linked albums, German deathgore gods Atrocity have set themselves the aim of ushering in a “new era”, one in which they seek not only to produce a series of albums which are “brutal, bombastic and dark” and their “heaviest and most …

Those of you who regularly stop by PlanetMosh will be well aware of my feelings on ‘metalcore’, ’emo’ or whatever the fuck you want to call it today, yesterday, tomorrow, next week, next month, last year, when-the-feck-ever:  listen, genres are generalizations, media fancies adopted by writers who feel they must …

So far this year, I have come across quite a few excellent doom albums which show that the genre is well and truly alive and kicking butt in all corners of the planet we call Mosh – from the epic Greek godliness of Mahakala to the dark Swiss denseness of …

This fifth full-length release from US metalcore mob Hawthorne Heights is billed as a concept album, based around the usual storyline (although admittedly one more often narrated by power metal outfits) about post-apocalyptic world/dystopian future where a totalitarian corporation has risen to overarching power and the ‘little man’ starts to …

Oregon quartet Red Fang have been undertaking quite a gruelling European trek, with something like 40 dates, made up of a mixture of festival slots and intimate headlining shows, and including visits to a number of places where they have never played before, such as Belfast (one of only two …

Oregon quartet Red Fang certainly have a prodigious work ethic. They are currently around halfway through an epic European tour, which takes in something like 40+ dates everywhere from Russia to Ireland, Iceland to Greece. PlanetMosh caught up with bassist/vocalist Aaron Beam during their stop off in Belfast – where …

When Slayer first announced this, the last of three intimate warm up shows on the island of Ireland in preparation for their trip around the European festival circuit – culminating, of course, at Bloodstock – there was at first a certain degree of incredulity.  “Are you fucking serious?” was the …

Lists.  Love ’em or hate ’em (personally I’m of the latter school of thought), they seem to be an inescapable fact of life.  Subjective as they are, they are ubiquitous:  “what’s you’re top ten favourite metal albums?”, “who are your top five best guitarists?”, “what’s your favourite list of lists?”.   …

It seems somewhat weird going to a heavy metal gig that isn’t actually a heavy metal gig – there’s chairs where the mosh pit should be, for feck sake – but, then, it is Scott Ian and there are few more metal than he! Always known as one of the …

This debut full-length album from Bristollian noiseniks RIOT|NOISE – the follow up to a successful and well-received EP, released back in 2009 – is as impressive a first release as you are likely to come across this year. ‘Stand For Something’ is a powerful collection of a dozen songs which …

This may be their debut album, but Paris – named after the French capital, in which the band’s central pairing of vocalist/keyboard player Frédéric Dechavanne and guitarist Sébastien Montet were brought up – trace their roots back three decades, to the heady days of AOR supremacy as evinced by the …

A decade on from their self-titled debut album, French industrial metallers Dagoba have found themselves having to undergo something of a re-invention for this, their fifth full-length album – and not least because of the sudden and controversial departure last year of founder Izakar, whose guitar sound many fans and …

Opinions are extremely mixed on the validity of sample CDs given away free with the vast majority of music magazines… personally speaking, I’m actually quite a fan of them:  they are a good way of obtaining free samples of new work by established artists, and of checking out shed loads …

Although Reign Of The Architect only fully coalesced as a band last year, this ambitious, Israeli-based progressive metal project has been five years in the making, with this album tracing its roots right back as far as 2008, when guitarist Yuval Kramer initially started work on this concept work, along …

‘Utopia’, Norwegian darkened industrialists Gothminister’s fifth album, is a concept work based around the concept of ‘Mr Jekyll And Dr Hyde’ – with, on this occasion, the inspiration coming from band leader Bjørn Alexander Brem and the duality of his existence as a lawyer by day and heavy metal musician …

I cannot be the only one struck by the irony of the coincidence… just days before Black Star Riders – basically, Thin Lizzy with a bit of makeover – release their much-vaunted but ultimately disappointing ‘debut’ opus, the one band acclaimed by many as the natural heirs to the crown …

Launch gigs can be weird affairs… all too often, the band doing the launch, be it an EP or whatever, deliberately pull together a rather lame supporting cast, so as not to expose their own weaknesses.  The alternative, and much more preferable option, is to invite along support acts which …

Doug Aldrich is best known as part of the twin guitar attack in Whitesnake.  But, before he hooked up with David Coverdale – and, indeed, Ronnie James Dio before him – he played in a number of successful bands, including Lion and Burning Rain.  The latter outfit released two highly …

Although personally this is my first encounter with DGM, if the evidence of ‘Momentum’ is anything to go by it is not hard to see why the Italian five piece are highly regarded as one of the better progressive metal bands on the continent of Europe. Featuring guest performances by …