Album Reviews

What a great name and instantly summons up images of filth, depravity and altogether general unpleasantness. Hailing from Seattle this band have the corpse paint the classic 3 piece line-up, studs, spikes and a general air of not caring what you do or think. From the opening bars of ”Swarming …

In June, Europe headlined the Sweden Rock festival with a performance celebrating 30 years of rock music.  That performance was recorded and filmed and is now being released on CD, DVD and Blu-Ray. The track listing is impressive – they played 28 songs that span the entire length of their …

Sawthis, from Italy, presents us with 2013’s Youniverse. The album sounds like modern extreme metal, which touches on industrial, thrash, and progressive elements. Lyrics are screamed in a hatecore style, so the ‘Cookie Monster’ factor is absent. More refreshment is provided in that the drums sound like drums – like …

Tides From Nebula, from Poland, have composed 50-plus minutes of instrumental music “without vocals” for us to enjoy. Eternal Movement‘s songs, mostly in the five-minute length range, tend to vacillate between channeling the high impact of rock with relaxed, mellow ambiance. Unlike instrumental guitar music which emphasizes solo bursts, this …

In the beginning there was Jefferson Airplane and they were a great band.  After Jefferson Airplane split up several former members created a new group – Jefferson Starship.  They in due course changed their name to Starship, under which name they had massive hit singles with “We built this city” …

The Burning Crows released their debut EP “Never had it so good” last year which went down well with fans and critics – Planetmosh reviewer Mark Ashby gave it a 9/10.  Now, after a Pledgemusic campaign to raise the funds, the band are back with their debut album – Behind …

Platinum Brunette are a parody band from Sydney, Australia.  Fronted by Demonica Lewinsky, all three members wear drag, so you have a Nurse, a nun and a schoolgirl.  The band formed in 2003, releasing their debut single, BMW, in 2007.  This was followed in 2009 by their debut eponymous album …

Los Bastardos Finlandeses come from Finland (as you probably guessed from the name).  Without that Finland reference then with the Spanish name, the names of their previous releases (My name is El Muerte; Return of El Diablo; El Grande’s saloon & Saved by rock’n’roll) and the names of the band …

Evilyn Strange is a three piece band with to English members and one Swede.  This album was a long time in the making with recording starting in early 2011 and not finishing till May 2012.  Since then they’ve released three singles, and a year ater completing recording, have recently released …

Norwegian band, Babylon Bastards, were formed in 2012.  In March this year they spent a weekend in the recording studio and recorded their debut EP, “We’re the rats in the city streets”.  The band recorded the EP live as they wanted to capture the raw punk sound of a live …

If you want blood….       Fancy a trip back to the heady days of the late 70’s, when AC/DC were reeling out albums like ‘Let There Be Rock’, ‘Powerage’ and ‘Highway To Hell’ on a yearly basis? Then hop aboard as the Spanish retro rockers crank up another …

Excellent follow up which has class written all over it         The German based six piece return with “Black Is The Colour”, their second album, which follows on from the very well received debut offering “Music Of Light”, which saw release in 2011.   A difficult band …

NIVA’s debut album “No Capitulation” was released back in 1994, but despite an eager fan base wanting more, we had to wait another seventeen years until the band hit us with their second album “Gold From The Future” in 2011. So finally after a mere two years, the bands third …

A little over three years since Relentless Retribution and veteran US thrash giants Death Angel are back with their seventh album, The Dream Calls for Blood. And in a word it is SUPERB.

Pearl Jam’s latest studio album, ‘Lightning Bolt’ is almost upon us. With their previous album, ‘Backspacer’, having been released four years ago, the longest gap between albums in their 23 year history, Pearl Jam are now ready to make a new statement. I have been listening to this album several …

Twenty five years of existence as a band is a hell of an achievement in the world of heavy metal. Many bands have come and gone, many have tried to adapt and conquer, many have failed, yet Paradise Lost, a band of many faces has prevailed. 2013 marks the quadranscentennial …

In March this year Joe Bonamassa played four special shows in four nights in London.  Each night was at a different venue and with a completely different setlist.  Each night had a different theme – the Shepherds Bush Empire show was the Blues night, the Hammersmith Apollo show was the …

Flying Colors, the group formed by Mike Portnoy, Steve Morse, Neal Morse, Casey McPherson and David Larue released their debut album in March last year, and for me it was one of the albums of the year – stunningly good stuff.  Later that year they toured Europe, and reports I …

I suspect many of the people reading this review weren’t even born when Leslie West played one of the biggest shows of his career, when in 1969 he played the legendary Woodstock festival as part of the band Mountain.  So he’s been around for a long time, but he’s not …

Having released their excellent debut album in May – and despite vocalist Lyla D’Souza expecting her first child around the time of release – London quintet Kill For Eden aren’t hanging around with this hard-hitting triptych of an EP. The three songs are fiery and intense, filled with true rock …