Album Reviews

The Devil in Faust, Come Apart EP is eventually here and it has been a long wait.  After being impressed with their video single for Dark Places back in December 2014 it has seemed like forever for this EP to appear.  The two further singles released in 2015 (Forsaken and So Clever) only added to …

The band’s most emotionally fraught release to date, The Devil Wears Prada are sharing the serenity and trauma of their ‘Transit Blues’. Six albums into their career, The Ohio set stand firm to share their incredible evolution at the hands of time and the ‘Transit Blues’, a byproduct of their …

The Charm The Fury are a Dutch metal band fronted by singer Caroline Westendorp.  One or two of you may now be thinking – Dutch band with female vocals – they’re bound to be symphonic metal, and to be fair the Netherlands have produced a fair few bands that fit …

Lots of things make perfect sense when put together.  Fish and chips, salt and vinegar.  Some things seem totally incongruous, like cats and dogs, Trump and the Presidency.  And there are other things you would just never even consider pairing up.  Cheese and chocolate, PlanetMosh and boy bands.  The new …

Its been a five year wait for Immortals, the latest studio album released via Century Media Records from Greek power metallers Firewind but the wait is well worth it as founding member Gus G leads from the front with guitar heroics throughout its nine tracks. Founded in Thessaloniki in 1998, …

Hartsick is the debut album from Southampton based band Our Hollow Our Home.   With the album due out on 3rd March, Connor Hallisey – Vocals, Tobias Young – Guitar/Vocals, Josh White – Guitar, Bobby Brooks – Bass and Nick Taliadoros – Drums have produced a great slab of British metalcore that brings the genre back to its basic elements. The album has …

It’s been a few years since Crystal viper released an album as the band went on hold in 2013 due to health issues with the singer Marta Gabriel.  Happily though the silence is over and the band are back.  At a time when there are countless symphonic or gothic metal …

Finnish band Battle Beast are a tricky one to describe.  On a first listen, depending on which songs you listened to, you might say they’re traditional heavy metal with female vocals, and that’s certainly a large part of their sound, but then you come across some of their other songs …

With some musicians who release a solo album, it’s not really very different to the stuff they do in the band they’re part of and you wonder why they bothered, but in this case I was expecting the album to sound nothing like Bermondsey Joyriders since Gary “Guitar” Lammin has …

Courtesans kick off 2017 by unleashing their original brand of Doom/Pop upon us with new EP ‘Better Safe Than Sober’.  Courtesans are one of my favourite bands out there currently, it’s been great watching them grow over the last few years, having seen them put on jaw-dropping live performances at …

Triple Threat, the new release from Annihilator is so named as it consists of a live set played at the 2016 Bang Your Head Festival, an Unplugged : The Watersound Studio sessions and a live DVD of the Bang Your Head Festival set. Currently released by UDR Music, it highlights …

Hailing from the US Sanctuary are a classic metal band from Seattle, who alongside the likes of Queensrÿche and Metal Church helped to forge a scene of different sounding and intelligent metal from the Washington area. With choppy riffs, a damn solid rhythm section and distinctive soaring vocals the band …

With three lauded self-releases already, your first label release – as is the case with the latest Wille & The Bandits release Steal –­­ the impulse to play it safe may be tempting. Not enticing enough apparently. Steal is an out-and-out rocker of an album that’s been spliced, diced and spiced …

Since their formation in Essen 1984, Kreator have consistently delivered an impressive caustic catalogue of thrash metal, proving that the Germans do it better than anyone else and Gods Of Violence their fourteenth studio album shows they are still at the forefront of that genre. Currently available on Nuclear Blast …

Ladies and gentleman it is time for the second album release ‘Arakhne’ from the enchanting Enemy of Reality and it is a killer of an album for all you Greek mythology and arachnid fans. The title of the album ‘Arakhne’ gives the fans a glimpse into the web of music …

Big Rocks, the latest album from Swiss legends Krokus is the perfect way to cure the January blues! It is made up of thirteen songs, twelve covers and a new version of their ‘Backseat Rock ‘N’ Roll’ song which featured on their ground breaking 1980 Metal Rendezvous album. The dozen …

Thunder, as the title of their latest outing suggests, Rip It Up and then some. 27 years in and Danny Bowes and his London/Brighton quintet still don’t understand that they should be considered “old school” by now. Given that this is an album of exceptional freshness, wit and diversity they’re …

With their fourteenth studio album Metal Messiah, thrash metal legends Sepultura are still raising the middle finger to the “Bring back Max” computer keyboard warriors. Lead vocalist Derrick Green has fronted them for over twenty years now and personally speaking he has earned his stripes many times over, point proven …

With his first album in a decade, Times Have Changed, Ronnie Baker Brooks brings a fusion of good old funk-blues-soul inspired pleasure to the plate and delivers something of an overall joy to listen to. With Brooks own magisterial guitar handiwork being more than adequately backed up by original Stax …

You’d forgive Austin Dickinson for feeling that, no matter what he did musically, the world was always against him. As if being the son of Iron Maiden’s frontman wasn’t tough enough, his previous band Rise to Remain were on the cusp of something really special when they released the brilliant …