Album Reviews

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 …

The war themed second studio album Shoot Em Up is not for the faint hearted as it careers along at breakneck pace for almost 50 minutes. The vocals of Yolin Lafreniere are pure death metal, a bit one dimensional but the aggression is needed for the ferocity of the music. …

Sabbath Assembly formed in 2009 to share the teachings of the Process Church of the Final Judgment. The Church is a splinter group of Scientology which believes Christ and Satan will reconcile their differences to judge humanity at the end of the world. This is Sabbath Assembly’s second release, the …

From the sleepy rural splendour of Yeovil, Somerset come heavy rockin’ trio Hundred Days.  Formed in the summer of 2007 Stuart Curtin (lead guitar & vocals), Simon Evans (bass) and Ryan Leese (drums) got back together after taking a year out from former band X-Teller and decided to set out …

As bands always do in the lead up to a release of their new album, they make a lot of predictions and comments on how they think or what they think the album will sound like. In the running up to the release of The Manticore and Other Horrors, Cradle …

Formed in Stockholm in 2007, Swedish thrash/death metal band Sterbhaus should really be in straitjackets instead of being in a band as they sound truly demented on their second album Angels For Breakfast,God For Lunch. It was released via Kilhead Productions on Sept.18th 2012 and contains 12 tracks of twisted …

Black Country Communion release their third album at a time that rumours are rife that the band may split in the near future, with Glenn Hughes wanting to tour more and Joe Bonamassa wanting to spend the time on his solo career instead.  How much truth their is in these …

Where do I begin when contemplating how to write this review, Doro Pesch has always to me been the absolute embodiment of Heavy Metal, a woman who has sacrificed so much of her own personal life to pursue a career that now is within touching distance of a truly magnificent …