Album Reviews

Once upon a time Ministry were the leaders in their field with imitators a long way behind. With a career that spanned 25 years + until they decided to call it a day a few years back. They now appear to be hellbent on tarnishing that solid gold reputation with what …

This album is Sammy Hagar’s first album since 2008, and he’s chosen to fill this ten track opus with award-winning artists from across the musical spectrum. So this could go either of two ways, be self indulgent enough to alienate his fans, or be open enough to please his existing …

Whole is 2013’s release by Chicago modern metallers Soil. The nicely-produced disc is well balanced, with the full band audible and appreciable. A natural progression from (and successor to) 2001’s Scars, the disc stays true to the band’s downtuned, crunchy, catchy form. I hear two cross-disc highlights: the emotive, powerful, …

Badmotorfinger, an Italian hard rock band, released It’s Not The End, a brazen 13-track disc. It’s straight-ahead, catchy, anthemic, guitar-driven hard rock. Modern, confident, and in-your-face music. With no frills, keyboards, or ‘studio effects’, it’s loud, crisp, flashy music for the guitar-friendly audience. With gruff, gritty, lower-register vocals strongly reminiscent …

On “Satyricon”, Satyr and Frost have realized their own roaring declaration of ambition.

Annihilator re-release two of their earlier albums ‘All For You’ (2004) and ‘Schizo Deluxe’ (2005), along with the ‘Live Annihilation’ live recorded album. I decided to look at these three albums with fresh eyes and discuss the relevance it has to date. ‘All For You’ was the first on my list. …

Battlecross is an American modern death metal band showing European flar. With War Of Will, they offer a bit more melody and atmosphere then most. There’s a crisp, punchy sound with a triple vocal tone attack – from a hatecore screech to a brutal low growl. Battlecross offers unusually inspiring …

Veteran German thrash mongers Protector scorch a blazing trail of old-school death-thrash through Swedish woods, taking no prisoners. They channel all that is good from thrash metal into tunes like “Reanimated Homonculus” and “Antiman”, snapping necks furiously and without remorse. The competent, tight band delivers blood-curdling goods on this disc, …

Eternal Torture is a young death metal band from Munich (Bavaria), Germany. This band is part of the “we are faster and more extreme then anyone else” movement, with hyperspeed double-bass drumming, low guttural (and unintelligible) vocals, and downtuned guitars. Their twist on this pun intended, done-to-death schtick is that …

What would happen if you repackaged trendy pop music with a little bit of emo, and some of burlesque subculture’s image? You’d end up with something like Bad Pollyanna. Sugary sweet, digitally perfect female vocals merged with a litany of electronica sounds and effects comprise 2013’s release, Monstrous Child. The …

A bizarre, mellow blend of alternative rock mixed with electronica and industrial elements make up 2013’s Asymmetry, by Australia’s Karnivool. Moods range from a free-floating ambient to an ‘industrial meets emo-pop’ tangent. The oddly sequenced record of longer-length songs seems to take pride in dissonance. There are many quirks and …

Equilibrium‘s Waldschrein is an interesting twist on the folk or pagan metal subgenre. This five-song EP, released in 2013, runs the gamut from entertaining folk metal, to an epic movie soundtrack type tune. This Bavarian band’s rapid ‘riff factory’ idea shifts tend to be jarring or choppy – in the …

Scythe is a three-piece heavy metal outfit from Chicago which was founded by former Usurper front man Rick Scythe in 2010. Old school in their approach, they state on their official website that their sound “incorporates the style of 80’s thrash/black/speed metal, combined with elements of dark atmosphere, classic heavy metal …

#PlanetMosh reviews the debut release from Holland's Pelgrim

If ever the name of a band can describe their music then Onslaught certainly fit the bill judging by the ferocity of the material on their 6th studio album aptly titled “VI”. There have been some excellent thrash metal albums released in 2013 and “VI” is a worthy addition to …

Cork may be Ireland’s second city but it easily rivals capital Dublin as a hotbed of talent. The latest outfit to emerge from the south-west of the island, Inhale The Fall are a complete contrast to the more well known offerings at the darker, denser end of the spectrum which …

    The Finnish Druid/Folk/Gothic Metal band have been a bit quiet in terms of new material over recent years, this being their first release since the excellent “The Enigma Of Immortals” , which surfaced in 2008. The band return though, with all cylinders firing in the form of “Dark …

Bonafide, hailing from Malmo Sweden, were a band I heard some of my friends talk about at times but for one reason or another I never did go check them out. Stumbling across a list of possible albums to review I spotted their soon to be released 4th album “Bombo” …

King Kobra released their first album ‘Ready To Strike’ full of US Hard Rock back in ‘85, their second album ‘Thrill Of A Lifetime’ followed in 1986. At that time the band consisted of Carmine Appice on Drums, bassist Johnny Rod, guitarists David Michael-Philips and Mick Sweda, vocals came courtesy …

Cork’s For Ruin certainly believe in taking their time about things… this EP has been lying around, in one shape or form, for the guts of two years, with a video for the nominal title track having first surfaced on YouTube in the autumn of 2011.  Now, with the band …