Album Reviews

    So what do you get if you merge the spirit of nwobhm with the likes of AC/DC, Motley Crue, Wasp, Van Halen  and Y&T? The answer is Cure For Your Disease by Black Rose! It’s the sort of album to play before going to a gig to put …

Italian Thrash Metal kings rework past classics for a storming, riotous new album. Formed in 2004, from the ashes of Animalator, the band have been around for some time now, scoring really good reviews for their live shows and their album releases. And indeed it is to two of those …

    Formed in 1980 Grave Digger have released fifteen studio albums. Their newest edition Clash of the Gods will take the total to sixteen and I am quite excited to be reviewing it. The albums theme is Ancient Greece and mention Greek gods and legends. The album was released …

Looking like a cross between Mushroomhead and Mutter era Rammstein, Ost+Front (Eastern Front) are a Germen industrial metal band formed in Berlin in 2009.  Having released their first single Fleisch (Meat) in 2011, their debut album Ave Maria is being released on Sept 10th this year (2012) through Out Of …

The latest gothic rock band to emerge from the depths of Scandinavia, Finland to be precise, are The 69 Eyes, a band that adds another name to a long legacy of rock and metal bands from the snowy country. Their latest release, a full length studio album imaginatively entitled X …

Following their dalliance in the unplugged arena, with the highly imaginatively named ‘The Acoustic’ project earlier this year, Hungarian neo-thrashers Ektomorf have plugged their funny shaped geetars back into their Marshall stacks and turned the volume back up to 11 for this, their ninth studio album. Having built a reputation …

Hailing from Londonderry in Northern Ireland, MOTH have built a decent following on the local live scene. Unfortunately they have not been able to transfer this energy and theatricality to tape. There are very obvious My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Cradle of Filth influences from the image down to …

Daughtry are hoping to finally crack the UK market by reissuing their Top 10 US album, ‘Break The Spell’ as a special tour edition to coincide with their support slot on the upcoming Nickelback tour. Fronted by former American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry, the US stars scored back-to-back US Billboard …

Hailing from Norway the mighty Enslaved will release their twelfth studio album RIITIIR is set to be released in Europe on the 28th of September via Nuclear Blast Records. I saw Enslaved annihilate at Bloodstock 2009 so I am quite excited to hear this. Track one is called Thoughts Like …

Bullet return with all guns blazing for their fourth album. The Swedish Hard Rockers are most definitely back, and back on top form as well, following what many consider the ‘treading water’ release in 2011 of ‘Highway Pirates’ , which although very good, failed to kick on from the brilliant …

  In the late 1970’s a new breed of British metal bands were coming to the fore and the term nwobhm was born. That is New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. The best place for information was in a weekly music magazine called Sounds. The editor Geoff Barton was a …

Peacemaker is the third album from Texas Hippie Coalition.  Formed in 2008 in Texas (where else with a name like that), they have released two albums – “The pride of Texas” and “Rollin”.  The band describe their music as “Red dirt metal” and to quote the press release “Take Outlaw …

Formed in France in 2009 by brothers Anthony and Julien Agnello, this represents the bands full length debut. Stylistically I guess we can put the band under the pretty wide umbrella of Symphonic Power Metal, and indeed the band seems most adept at covering all base points within that particular …

“Doom with a difference” was my first impression after playing the 2nd full length studio album, White Hoarhound  by Birmingham based Pagan doom metal band Alunah. The reason for this is the haunting vocals of  female Soph Day. I have not come across a female fronted doom metal band before …

FACTICITY is the debut album from OVER YOUR THRESHOLD, a progressive death metal quintet hailing from Munich in Germany. Formed in 2006 and having released a EP, ‘Progress in Disbelief’ in 2008, the band entered the studio in 2011 to record the album. They suffered a setback at the beginning …

“21st century freaks” is the fourth album from Fatal Smile.  The band come from Stockholm in Sweden, and over the last ten years have built up a good reputation with their albums and their live shows.  Fatal Smile have toured with bands like Dio, W.A.S.P., Queensryche, Lordi, Doro, Winger, and …

Ive always had a soft spot for Robert Cray, often overlooked in favor of BBKING, and overshadowed quite recently by Joe Bonamassa, Ive often felt he had more to offer, and with this, his 16th full length record he has struck gold. The five time Grammy winner is back with …

SNEW are a new band to me, hailing from Hollywood, you can just see these guys hanging out at the Rainbow Bar and Grill, drinking Jack Daniels and loving every second of it. Snew’s debut album, released was June 2008, entitled “Snew You” was named one of the Top Ten hard …

Triaxis are finally back with the long awaited follow up to their 2008 debut album (Key to the kingdom).  Whereas the debut album was self released, for this new album, Triaxis have signed to Rocksector records.  Since releasing their debut album Triaxis have been busy touring at regular intervals as …

Originally founded back in 2001 when guitarist Leon del Muerte left Impaled – and subsequently put on hold when he went on to join Exhumed – MC have been kicking around in one form or another ever since, first making their mark with their self-titled debut EP two years ago, …