Album Reviews

Skid Row have released the second of three EPs that make up United World Rebellion. The first part was released last year, and the third part is still to come.  It’s an interesting idea, releasing three EPs instead of one album, and does mean that while each release is shorter …

Lovelorn Dolls are a band from Belgium – home of great beer, great chocolate – and some great bands.  The band was formed by Ladyhell and Corpus Christi, and was initially called Lovelorn before becoming Lovelorn Dolls.  Ladyhell was formerly singer of Skeptical Minds from 2002 to 2007 and then …

White Empress may be a new band, but the various members are all experienced musicians.  The lineup consists of Paul Allender (ex Cradle of Filth), Mary Zimmer (Luna Mortis), Will Graney (Damnation Angels), Chela Harper (Coal Chamber), Jeremy Kohnmann (The Awakening), and Zac Morris (many bands including Ugly Kid Joe). …

The Wans, from Nashville Tennessee, are a three piece rock and roll band formed only a few years ago. I have been following them for over a year now after stumbling across them through social media. In such a short space of time The Wans have already supported bands such …

Swedish metallers In Flames are back with 11 cracking new songs on their 11th studio album ‘Siren Charms’, which is out now on Sony Music. After a brief electronic intro, album opener ‘In Plain View’ kicks the record to life with a nice little tapped riff. As always the twin …

Come with me now on a journey into the dark side of the blues! Self described by the band as “Doom/Metal/Blues”, ‘Witch Mountain‘ go to the places other bands tremble to set a foot. With a mix of genres they really have this style of music not just pinned down, …

I had never heard of anything from four piece Blues based Rock band Zodiac prior to reviewing this album. Zodiac hail from Munster, Germany and this will be their third album release, with their previous album “A Hiding Place” having only been released last year. I was looking forward to …

      Sometimes, it can be quite a tedious chore, trawling through mountainous seas of music that falls under the vague umbrella of Female Fronted Metal but occasionally, a little gem appears, shining from the gloom, and demanding of a closer inspection. Such a gem fell into my lap …

When I reviewed Audrey Horne’s Youngblood at the start of 2013, it turned out to be one of my favourite albums of the last 5 years and when the opportunity arose to review their latest offering ‘Pure Heavy’, I leapt head first at the recording with high expectations. This has …

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 …

Dissonant, fast, unsettling, and brutal, Austrian veteran black metal band Abigor‘s 2014 disc, Leytmotif Luzifer, is everything a purist black metal fan should want. Leytmotif Luzifer contains seven original songs, with no excesses, no poor recording or bad sound, just pure Satanic splendor and bleakness. Focusing on the seven “temptations …

Rise Above Records is a mark of quality that all record labels should aspire to. I’m pretty sure I like every band on their roster, or if I don’t like them I know somebody who loves them, such can be differences of opinion. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats are a …

This latest offering from State Of Salazar is full of pleasant enough easy-listening tracks, some a little reminiscent of things gone before, but this is an AOR band after all. Pretty much a safe album for fans of this band and has been released by Frontiers Records ( www.frontiers.it ). S.O.S. have been …

Philm release their second album ‘Fire From The Evening Sun’ with the Godfather of double bass and Slayer legend; Dave Lombardo since the release of ‘Harmonic’ in 2012. Starting with the first track ‘Train’ we are submitted to what feels like the start of an angry journey, rhythmic and energetic; what I …

A Tower Of Crows are a Coventry based Rock/Doom/Stoner band who started in 2013. Initially with just three members, Jay Hughes, Wayne Turner and Lea Cross before they were joined by Sam Clay and Steve Hands later the same year. Three months after their very first gig they were signed …

North American Metallers, Sylo, have recently released their Monuments Of Nothing E.P. They manage to pack a punch in six tracks.   Monument of Nothing, the title track sets the pace of this record. My first initial thoughts were that these guys are very reminiscent of early Slipknot. There’s aggression …

Even though Antromorphia formed in 1990 in Tilburg,in the Netherlands I knew of the name but had heard no music by them until their latest album Rites Ov Perversion. It will be released via Metal Blade Records on Sept.12th 2014 and it is one of the most brutal death metal …

This is the debut 7” outing from this Swiss Death Metal outfit, the Swiss always seem to produce metal with that extra air of malevolence about it. Opening track “Self Abortion Ritual” instantly is reminiscent of Napalm Death’s “Mentally Murdered “period, the powerful bass driven guitar sound with that beautiful …

Blues guitarist, Joe Bonamassa will be releasing his latest album later this month.  That probably isn’t a surprising start to a review – after all, Joe Bonamassa does release a lot of albums, but if you look at the last year or so, the releases have all been live ones …

Unusually, I am going to start this review with someone else’s words.  The following paragraphs are extracted directly from the biographical collateral which accompanied the promotional copy of King 810‘s debut album.  Nothing has been edited. “You’ve never been somewhere like this before. You won’t forget it though. It’s only …