Album Reviews

Black Metal with a melodic twist ticks all the right boxes.   The Polish Metal scene has always been a strong one generally speaking, even more so since Maiden played groundbreaking shows there way back in the 80’s. The country can now proudly boast a healthy crop of quality bands …

San Francisco Doom merchants deliver another slab of Retro magic.   One thing you can say about Doom is that it never has and never will go out of fashion, unlike certain other sub-genres of Metal I could mention, Grunge being the obvious. Of course, all things evolve and develope …

Death Tyrant emerged from the ashes of Swedish underground supremos Lord Belial when the latter broke up in 2010 – although, in one of those typically murky storylines which epitomizes the Scandinavian scene, they’ve apparently been re-activated on at least two occasions – and this debut album has been the …

At first listen, German electro-industrialists Stahlmann evoke immediate comparisons with fellow countrymen Rammstein – huge chugging, crunching riffs, backed by punchy rhythms… and vocals delivered in their native language!  Add in a penchant for covering themselves in silver paint on stage, and its a parellel which they make stupidly simplistic …

Planet Mosh reviews the debut album from The Resistance, featuring former members of In Flames, The Haunted and Grave.

I love underground music, if it brings out some obvious talent, and especially if it’s from outside my home country – the USA. Turin, Italy’s Ultra-Violence (yeah, like Death Angel, or A Clockwork Orange, your choice) seems to fit that bill. Their newest, Privilege To Overcome, is a long-playing album …

Once in a while an album will come along and completely blow me away with its sheer intensity. An album that strays away  from a collection of  songs  with the usual verse/chorus/verse/chorus/guitar solo etc.  Pelagial, the 5th studio album from Swiss based band The Ocean is definitely one of those …

Unsurprisingly, this seventh album from Rome’s Kaledon is forged in the fires of pure epic metal:  after all, this is a band who, over the course of the past decade, have released a six-part concept work set in medieval England – or the Kingdom of Kaledon as they refer to …

UK metallers Dendera have been making waves with their classic metal style since the release of their debut EP in 2011. With support slots alongside some of metals greats such as UFO, Saxon, Orange Goblin and Ill Nino to name a few they continue to make a name for themselves …

Kadavar are another in an increasingly long line of bands – such as Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats and Purson – who recently have been following in the footsteps of illustrious predecessors of the ilk of Electric Wizard and Spiritual Beggars in re-ploughing the retro furrow of late-60s psychedelica blues meets …

“Songs To Invade Countries To” is completely solid throughout. There’s plenty of hard and heavy rocking numbers to thrill and satisfy. Yet it’s full of creativity, structure and wonderful melodies. It has songs which divert you elsewhere and throw you off guard that really makes you smile, and for me this has to be an early contender for one of the albums of the year.

It’s almost impossible to look at Drowning Pool as the same band they were in 2002. A lot has changed since then and five albums and four vocalists later Resilience is Drowning Pools latest studio album with new vocalist Jasen Moreno, and you can’t deny that Resilience is a great …

Delain have enjoyed a very successful few years with their albums steadily increasing in popularity and their shows selling more and more tickets. They've also had problems - the changes at Roadrunner records saw their last album release being delayed much to the band's frustration. They've now signed to Napalm records, home of so many great female fronted bands, and their first release via Napalm is 'Interlude'.

Rob Zombie is the most creative and busiest of all modern day rock stars. Numerous movies, publications, animations and clothing lines abound, yet he still has time to get his ass into the studio and create twelve new anarchic anthems. Excluding White Zombie releases, “Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor” is album …

From sunny California comes one of the finest and darkest albums of 2013. In ‘Opium Morals,SSOS may just have created one of the finest Black Metal tinged Doom albums of recent years. Seriously, this is an album that I can not and will not stop listening to. Ten tracks that …

Cheltenham Brit Rockers get ready to get your feet tapping with an extremely infectious E.P. With this six track E.P. set for release in May, along with a video and a U.K. tour in the pipeline it promises to see busy times ahead for the four piece. Firmly planting their …

Italian rockers Voodoo Highway exploded onto the scene in 2011 with their debut album “Broken Uncle’s Inn”. Two years on and their second album follows on with a slice of good time rock that brings to mind the rock scene of the late seventies and early eighties.

Sweden’s purveyors of  Doom Metal return on fine form. Formed way back in 1992, Memory Garden can hardly be described as new Doomers on the block, this album is actually only the fifth full length release from the band, although you can add a few E.P.’s and mini CD’s to …

Irish duo Chosen – guitarist/vocalist Paul Shields and drummer/percussionist David McCann – have been working together for around eight years now, releasing a few well-received EPs in that period and temporarily relocating to Vancouver before returning to their native sod to record and produce this debut full-lengther. The result is …

Every genre, musical sub-division, has its artists who epitomize its highest standards, and others (the vast majority, if truth be told) who are content to be pulled along on the coat-tails of said leading lights, often becoming mere pale imitations of the innovators who have gone before them.  Metalcore is …