Album Reviews

The musical brainchild between Troy van Leeuwen (Failure, A Perfect Circle, Queens of the Stone Age) and Serrina Sims, California’s alt-rock Sweethead takes it’s name from a vintage “vulgar” David Bowie song, and it’s sound from the various eras of rock music. Premiered quietly in November 2013, the band’s catchy …

Check this out. The new American band, Conquering Dystopia, has their eponymous instrumental debut album on sale for about $10. Fans and listeners can legally stream the album from the band’s official website for the huge price of FREE though. Yes, in our time of “no free lunch”, this professionally …

Ginger Wildheart, one of the UK’s cult heroes of rock and roll, has completed yet another album, his seventh in just two years. This platter is titled Albion, and is released through Round Records. The number of songs on the disc varies: if you contributed to his PledgeMusic campaign for …

Chicago based High Spirits are Chris (vocals), Scott (guitar), Mike (guitar), Bob (bass) and Ian (drums).  Their new album You Are Here is due for release in May by Hells Headbangers.  One of their earliest and most popular tracks, High Spirits has only ever been available as a home-demo from their …

The Joy of Motion is the third album by instrumental progressive metal group Animals As Leaders, released through Sumerian Records. This 12-song release seems like a quirky collection of hundreds of freely associated aural ideas, abruptly or tangentially assembled. First the ideas congeal in to riffs, then verses, then “heads” …

@louelladeville_ @planetmosh review of Spunk Volcano and the Eruptions self-titled EP released via @stprecords on 1st February 2014. Fans of Dirt Box Disco (DBD) will know and love Spunk Volcano as their one-eyed balaclava (complete with knitted mohican) clad guitarist. Spunk has been working on a side project Spunk Volcano …

    Delivering their first album in a good six years has been a true labour of love for the band, having gone through the almost obligatory line up changes, the French Avantgarde Metal band are finally back. In essence, this is a concept album, dealing with a couples tumultuous …

It’s almost four years since one of the true legends of rock and metal died from cancer.  Ronnie James Dio had a career that spanned several decades and included singing for Rainbow, Black Sabbath, his own band Dio, and Heaven and Hell. Now a tribute album is being released with …

In between touring and writing for Nightwish, Tuomas Holopainen hasn’t been taking things easy.  Instead he’s been working on his solo album, Music inspired by The life and times of Scrooge.  Your first thought would usually be of the famous literary character created by Charles Dickens, but if you’ve seen …

It’s been less than 2 years since MAGNUM’s last album, “On The 13th Day” was released and already we have another one, “Escape From The Shadow Garden”. Track one, “Live ‘Till You Die” opens with a dramatic string section, before Tony Clarkin lets rip with an instantly recognizable Magnum riff, …

It is not often I can say this, but, I was there at the recording of this, Saxon’s ‘Sacrifice World Tour’ recorded live at The Ritz in Manchester. British NWOHM Legends Saxon traditionally perform each year on St. George’s Day. By doing so they are paying homage to England’s patron, …

Kari Rueslåtten is Norwegian music artist known both as a solo artist and as a member of  Storm and The 3rd and the Mortal. Together with these projects she has released three albums and five albums as solo musician. It was a break of almost nine years when she decided …

Formed in Edinburgh in 1978 by Terry Buchan (vocals) and Stevie Ross (guitar) the original line up also included Andy McNiven (drums) and Alan Paget (bass). Terry left to be replaced by his older ex-soldier brother Walter Buchan known as Wattie, who has been the stalwart and driving force ever …

@Planetmosh @ArtbyMalia   This new Hawaiian based rock group ElipTic in their own words say:-  “The band was formed from the molten lava’s of Hawaii. It is a conscious metal/rock band created in the center of a gateway between Earth and the unknown Universe“. Quite a statement that intrigued a few of …

4 star review for  Ghost Empire by .@CalibanOfficial out now @centurymediaeu @centurymedia Melodic metalcore band Caliban have been at the forefront of the German metal scene for the last fifteen years. With eight studio albums under their belts their belts, almost exactly two years after the release of I Am …

Blues singer/guitarist Robert Cray is certainly a man who can be called a music legend.  In a career that has spanned forty years he’s released sixteen studio albums (“In my soul” will be his 17th); sold over 12 million records; been nominated for a Grammy award fifteen times and won …

@planetmosh @iamzoltarspeaks @ladylu If your childhood didn’t quite cover watching cheesy 80s films you probably may not get the referencing to 1980S film starring Tom Hanks, Zoltar, being the coin operating fortune teller. Beginning their career some 21 years after the release of the film, Zoltar Speaks descended upon the melodic …

@planetmosh reviews Terror Hungry by .@lostsocietyfi out on .@nuclearblasteu I want to start this review by saying THANK YOU to Lost Society. Why you ask? Well, I had the damn fine pleasure of reviewing their debut album in March of last year. One year ago. Only ONE FRICKIN’ YEAR AGO. …

@planetmosh reviews Die Without Hope .@carnifex out on .@nuclearblasteu A band coming out of hiatus, a year-and-a-half of writing and a new record deal, for Californian quintet Carnifex, this was just what they needed as they signed to Nuclear Blast, in what they describe as a ‘turning point’ and has …

In my opinion, one of the best albums of last year was the second collaboration between Guitarist Joe Bonamassa and singer Beth Hart, “Seesaw”.  Like the first album they did together it was a collection of cover versions of songs by classic artists, and I was just blown away by …