Album Reviews

The greatest selection of albums, reviewed and rated

Raging Speedhorn – Hard To Kill

Now then. Ever since ‘Superscud ‘ drifted through my eyes back in 2000 I’ve been a huge fan of Raging Speedhorn, and I’ve been lucky to catch them twice in the space of seven months with both line-ups. Supporting Phil Anselmo & The Illegals in Manchester (June 2019), and then the …

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Legendarium – Reign In Repose album review

The Dutch metal duo Legendarium is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Laurence Kerbov and Stefano Vaccari, who is also the drummer of the Italian prog band Prophexy.  Their third release Reign In Repose is a full-on concept album with every song telling a different part of the central story.  The style …

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AC/DC – Shot In The Dark (single review)

For well over forty years I’ve been listening, watching, headbanging and singing along to AC/DC, the greatest rock and roll band EVER! They have always done things their way, thundering along like a force of nature through many trials and tribulations. The losses of lead vocalist Bon Scott in 1980 …

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Yersin – Guilt

I first came across Yersin the Saturday before lockdown at Blossom’s in Stockport. Blew the roof off they did. The North East grindsters are one of the most brutal bands I’ve heard in a long time. This latest offering is nothing short of fabulous. Title track and opener ‘Guilt ‘ …

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The Senton Bombs – Coaster (single review)

The Senton Bombs – Coaster (single review) Just when the UK needs cheering up, here come The Senton Bombs to save the day with ‘Coaster’, the fourth track taken from their forthcoming 2021 untitled studio album. ‘Coaster’ is a very personal song as frontman Joey Class says it’s “A special …

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Jim Kirkpatrick – Gravy Train

Jim Kirkpatrick

On September 4th 2020, guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick took a break from his duties with FM and Rhino’s Revenge to dish out a glorious twelve-track solo album Ballad Of A Prodigal Son. It amassed rave reviews from the music press including a 5/5 rating from myself. Said album covered a helluva …

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Ayreon – Transitus

Arjen Lucassen is back with another Ayreon album. The amazingly talented multi-instrumentalist is unusual in that whereas most musicians with several projects will sit down and write for a specific project, Arjen writes and goes where the music takes him, so a writing session may evolve into a new Ayreon …

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Voodoo Six – Simulation Game

Links to the band can be found below :- https://www.voodoosix.com/ It’s been too long since we’ve had any new music from Voodoo Six, in fact it was the Make Way For The King album in 2017. So here we are waiting for October 16th 2020 for the highly anticipated follow …

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Amaranthe – Manifest

By now I’d imagine most metal fans have heard Amaranthe at some point. The band have ben going for a decade, releasing their self titled debut album in 2011, and have been busy touring ever since, either on headline tours, support slots or festivals. They stand out from the crowd …

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Smogg – Entertaining Evil – Part 1

One man Manchester mutha Smogg returns with the first part of a double header entitled ‘Entertaining Evil ‘, and it’s brutal. As soon as opener ‘Sulphur-Exhaled ‘ begins you’re battered with speed, ferocious drumming and Pantera style riffage. It’s relentless. It’s unforgiving, and ‘Damned In Exile ‘ holds no mercy …

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Thirteenth Sign – The Ashes Of A Treacherous Silence

They’ve been around a while have these guys. Since 2006 in fact, when their first EP ‘Oracles Of Armargeddon ‘ announced itself. One EP and three full length albums since that debut release, comes latest offering ‘The Ashes Of A Treacherous Silence ‘. Inspired by Queensryche‘s classic concept album ‘Operation …

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Virus – Evilution Apocalypse

Since forming in 1986, it seems ok to label Virus a veteran thrash metal band and after all these years, they are still raging away like lunatics, point proven by current album Evilution Apocalypse, released via Combat Records. They like to stretch these songs out, many of which are over …

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BlitZ – Fight To Survive

It’s not very often I use the phrase “Riff after riff after motherfu**ing riff” but this Nottingham based trio called BlitZ, formed in 2015 have easily garnered that accolade with their second studio album, the stadium rock of Fight To Survive. ‘One In A Million’ is a ballistic opener and …

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Sander Cohen – Channelling Hank

This first EP from UK quartet Sander Cohen, is short, sharp, and straight to the point……and bloody good as well. Take a mixture of Nirvana and possibly Mudhoney and you have Sander Cohen. Opener ‘F**k You And Everything You Stand For ‘ is full of heavy guitars and screaming vocals …

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Rory Gallagher – The Best Of Rory Gallagher

Back in the day, my introduction to rock music was to buy live albums, so for me to discover Rory Gallagher, essential purchases were Irish Tour 74 and Stage Struck and that was all I bought so I’ve jumped at the chance to review the upcoming The Best Of Rory …

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Dropdead – Dropdead

Dropdead finally present their long awaited third album in an incredible thirty year career.The band state on Bandcamp: “Musically, this album is a bit different from previous recordings, style-wise and vocally, with the latter being delivered so the words have an impact more so than just raw screaming.With 23 songs …

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The Pineapple Thief – Versions of the Truth

What is the truth? A difficult question to both ask and answer in a society where facts are disposable commodities and the accepted reference point for truth has made way for a contentious ‘post-truth’ era.  The latest installment from the British-prog rockers, ‘Versions of the Truth’, attempts to address just …

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Airforce – Strike Hard

When the NWOBHM genre started to get into the music magazines like Sounds, Kerrang etc and bands of that ilk were getting played on the Friday Rock Show, it was a very exciting time for me in my late teens. I bought as much as I could at the time …

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