Album Reviews

All of your favourite bands will break up. Story of our lives, isn’t it? You wade through hordes of soulless, inoffensive, unimaginative tripe and just before you give up all hope, you see a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of your new favourite band. You latch on …

This powerhouse three track EP from Tipperary industrialists Borderline Prime very nearly didn’t see the light of the day, apparently. Following the release of their debut EP, ‘Blacker’, the band originally had intended to follow it up with another of the same, but then changed their minds and decided to …

  The mighty Danes return to lay waste to your stereo.   This represents the bands twelfth studio release and may well be one of the finest albums they have come up with, if not ever than at least since 2008’s ‘The Prestige’. Illdisposed are a really underrated band in …

It’s hard to categorize this debut album from this Italian quintet (one of a maddeningly large number of acts with the same name, as a quick Google search turns up similarly monickered outfits from as far afield as San Francisco, Singapore and Japan), as it falls between a number of …

The name of Tasmanian devils (sic) Ruins may be unfamiliar to many people outside the southern hemisphere, but that should be about to change soon, thanks to the international release of this, their fourth full length studio album. And a bloody fine slice of blackened metal it is – melodic …

  As a huge fan of Doom Metal I was really looking forward to hearing this album, after doing so I can state categorically that I have been blown away by the sheer power and atmospheric genius that eminates from each and every track. Red Moon Architect is the brainchild …

This debut album from sisters Sarah and Melissa Fontaine features a host of musicians gathered from the AOR fraternity and falls firmly into the Melodic Rock camp. It represents a very clever and thoughtful attempt at creating a foot tapping, sing along record and in places achieves it. Tracks such …

Not many bands can say it’s taken eight years between debut and sophomore album but Finnish metallers Wintersun have finally returned with the first part of their epic concept album, Time. It’s something akin to a fantasy soundtrack and wouldn’t sound out of place as the musical backdrop to the …

  Dust Bolt are a mighty Thrash band from Germany. Formed in 2006 Violent Demolition will be their first album released under Napalm Records. Being quite a thrasher myself I am looking forward to this. As usual I am going to admit that it is very likely that I will …

When Magnus Pelander founded WITCHCRAFT back in the year 2000, he just did so to record PENTAGRAM tribute album. It took until 2002 for the band to finally released their first single. Enter 2012, the band has found a new home with Nuclear Blast records and sees the release of …

Portugal’s Enchantya deliver a superb debut album to rock your socks off.     Formed in 2004 when vocalist Rute Fevereiro decided to take a break from Portugal’s first all female Metal band ‘Black Widow’. The early days saw a demo (Moonlighting The Dreamer) released in 2005 and then following …

You can’t help but feel sympathy for the Iron Knights, formerly Stuka Squadron. Just on the cusp of the release of their new album everything went to hell in a handbasket as a major fallout in the band saw the departure of co-founder Lord Pyre and subsequent mud slinging led …

Female fronted, French melodic metal band Venturia haven’t exactly had an easy time of it over the last couple of years. An unfortunate series of line-up changes (sometimes due to circumstances plainly  beyond their control) have meant that putting music out there has been a difficult task for the band. …

London based Lynchpyn,having only formed  in May 2012 are already looking to be a fine metal band judging by the quality of their new cd single Drop The Blade. An album is being recorded with a possible release in Feb. 2013 which should be one to definitely look out for! …

Pig Destroyer formed in 1997 and ever since have been bringing us their unique brand of grindcore. The band has no bass player which at times leaves them sounding exposed but it is a minor quibble. This is the 5th full length release although they have put out numerous split …

Brent Enman is a multi-instrumentalist who comes originally from just outside Boston, Massachusetts.  He’s played in various bands and shared stages with the likes of Britny Fox, Ratt and REO Speedwagon.  On this album he demonstrates his multi-instrumentalist status by playing all the instruments himself as well as writing and …

Switzerland is a country typically associated with Mountains, Chocolate, cuckoo clocks and banks, but they do actually produce some great bands – Gotthard, Krokus and Celtic Frost being prime examples, and The Vibes being another (lesser known) case.  The vibes play what they describe as T.C.B Rock’n’Roll (I’ve got no …

Manchester band Babylon Fire formed in 2007 as a five-piece but are now a four-piece band.  They released their debut EP in 2009, and are now ready to release their debut album.  The band got a lot of attention when Bruce Dickinson raved about the band on his BBC6 radio …

Manchester’s four piece purveyors of Hard Rock and Metal launch their debut album upon the masses, and what a totally delightful triumph it turns out to be. 10 tracks of pure sweaty, foot tapping Rock played with a serious degree of talent. My first experience of the band was watching …

It’s the return of Vancouver metal heavyweights Bison B.C. with their third album and follow up to 2010’s Dark Ages. It’s a damn huge assed slice of sludge and stoner metal with thrash accents that explodes in your ears like a ten ton weight dropping on Wile E Coyote. It …