Album Reviews

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 …

In the 1990’s, if you were in a death metal band, you were well-off if you could claim Florida, New York, or Chicago as your hometown. Each locale had something distinct to offer – NY had it’s slam “NYDM”, Florida had bands who pushed the genre to greater extremes like …

Jesse Damon is a renowned artist as a solo singer, songwriter, and guitarist foremost, but has also been the front man for the hugely popular melodic hard rock act Silent Rage since the band’s inception back in the mid 80’s. Silent Rage had four critically acclaimed albums released, including the …

Yet another all-star project by Italian brothers Amos and Pierpaulo Monti, this time recruiting Wheels Of Fire vocalist Davide Barbieri to their ranks, along with a veritable who’s who of guests from the entire spectrum of the European AOR scene, this eponymous debut album is nothing more and nothing less …

True underground black metal bands used to pride themselves on a few things: sparse instrumentation, evil vocals, and what used to be termed “basement production”. True to form, but from 2013, we’re introduced to War Iron, a band from Ireland. Their EP, Of Prophecy And Alchemy, plods along in a …

Join the new wave of British Rock. The First, a band from Cambridgeshire, have released Take Courage, their 11-track second album. This is a melodic, hook-laden disc, rich with anthemic, catchy rock tunes. Widely compared to You Me At Six, the band channels influence from classic rock to power pop-punk, …

Ferocity, a Danish death metal band, focuses on truly ferocious vocals, thick buzzsaw stringwork, and solid percussion in a variety of tempos on their second and latest release, The Sovereign. Deep, guttural vocals are “mixed high”, tending to blot out what’s happening underneath. That said, the band seems to have …

London’s Superfecta, formed in 2011, have released their debut EP, a four-song effort titled simply The EP. Drawing influence or ‘mojo’ from bands such as Soundgarden, Alter Bridge, Stone Temple Pilots, or Alice In Chains, the modern rock or nu-grunge band focuses each song on a different classic hook of …

Caveat: don’t judge a band’s entire output based on one “free” song. This tune, “Everything I Am Not”, by West Yorkshire UK’s Down The Machine, sounds like a cross between industrial bands like Nine Inch Nails, grunge type outfits like Alice In Chains, and modern rock outfits like Audioslave. The …

A real monster of an album, from one of Death Metal’s all time greats.     When your record label quotes your new album as your finest work to date you know you’re on to a winner. Furthermore, when you realise that Kataklysm have over 20 years of back catalogue …