Album Reviews

Maturity is what’s stamped all over Aaron Keylock’s much anticipated debut album, Cut Against The Grain. The rip roaring, yet labyrinthine opener All The Right Moves sets the scene beautifully for that which is to follow and never at any stage does the album disappoint. A riff driven behemoth that …

      With their fresh and unique twist on the Melodic Death genre, Scenario II return with a momentous new offering in the form of ‘A New Dawn’   From the dark and malevolent opening strains of intro track ‘The Darkest Hour’, I was hooked. Conjuring a vision of …

California’s Pintsize was an absolutely brilliant flash in the power pop, pop-punk, hard rock, and heavy metal cauldron. Thankfully, the cadre’s music has been immortalized on this 14 track disc, titled Five Feet…No Inches. Here, the fearsome foursome pulls listeners into a confrontational, hedonistic, and thoroughly entertaining musical joyride. The …

The Japanese are efficient, aren’t they? We saw at the end of last year how rapid they go about their roadworks and then, a little over eight months after three of their hottest exports released their second studio record AND set the UK alight, the first live album from Babymetal was unleashed onto the …

One Ok Rock are a Japanese rock band that formed in Tokyo in 2015, and “Ambitions” is their eighth album, but only their second to be recorded all in English.  This album features guest appearances from All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth, and 5 seconds of summer.  The Japanese version also …

While Accept fans wait for a new studio album from Accept, the waiting is about to get a whole lot easier with the release of a new Live album.  Recorded on tour in Europe it’s being released as a double CD or double CD/DVD.  If you opt for the version …

Reanimate 3.0 is the third covers EP from Halestorm.  As with the previous ones which have covered bands such as Skid Row, Marilyn Manson, Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar and Judas Priest, this EP covers an interesting mix of artists.  You’ve got Whitesnake, Metallica, Joan Jett, Sophie B Hawkins, Twenty One …

Kicking off my 2017 to a rocking start, I’ve got the debut release ‘Ride Of Your Life’ by JOANovARC up for review.  It’s just the heavy treat I need to send the negativity of 2016 packing. JOANovARC were my favourite new band discovery of 2016; I first came across them …

With 2016 marking the U.K. Subs’ 40th anniversary, Cleopatra Records released a special deluxe reissue of their 1982 Punk Rock classic album Endangered Species (more information about the band and album can be found in the press release here). Formed by Charlie Harper in 1976 and originally called The Subversives the …

When is a new Magnum album not a new album?  When it’s their latest release, Valley of the Tears – The Ballads.  That little bit on the end tells you what this is, it’s a compilation album featuring some of the ballads from their long career.  It’s a nice idea …

Steadfastly moving on with the original line up since their formation in 1979, NWOBHM band Sparta release No Retreat, No Surrender on Suspect Records. Eight new tracks plus a travel back in time to 1981 for one song shows a rich vein of songwriting. A lo fi production makes it …

Marillion are a band with a strong and loyal fanbase and recently announced a show at London’s Royal Albert Hall for 2017 – a show that sold out within minutes of the tickets going on sale.  Nowhere demonstrates the strength of their fanbase though quite as much as the Marillion …

Some of you are probably familiar with the name Simon Kirke, but those who don’t know the name will certainly have listened to songs he played on.  Simon Kirke was a member of legendary rock band Free, having been recruited by Paul Kossoff to form the band.  Being a member …

Manchester band Mohawk Radio formed in July 2012.  Singer Mia Page had just moved to the UK from Bermuda, which caused difficulty with rehearsals in the early days due to her strong accent.  Her love of bands such as the Stone Roses and Oasis differed from the taste of drummer …

Lilith and the Knight are a London based hard rock band.  Their Insanity EP was released a couple of months ago, so this review is a bit late, but it’s too good an EP to skip.  As befits the title, the video for the first song to be released – …

“All the things you’ve said and done” is the debut single from Aaron Buchanan and the cult classics.  Aaron Buchanan formed the band after leaving Heavens Basement with his sister Laurie Buchanan and Tom McCCarthy on guitar, Chris Guyatt on bass and Kev Hickman on drums.  They toured in late …

US sludge metal band Crowbar are back with their eleventh album.  For this album, Kirk Windstein went back to the early albums to try and recapture the mindset of the band in the early days.  As a result the album has some of that early album feel, but with a …

Delicate Steve is a guitarist who plays all the instruments on this record.  The album is an instrumental album, which would normally result in my hitting the Eject button after a couple of tracks, but this album is something very rare – a truly enjoyable instrumental album.  The tracks all …

Beachheads is a band that was founded by Kvelertak members Marvin Nygaard and Vidar Landa.  They had the idea for the band several years ago but as Kvelertak are a hard working band it’s only recently they’ve had time to put their plans into action.  They brought in two musicians …

Almost a year ago, Quartz released Too Hot To Handle, an album consisting of sixteen demo tracks written between 1981/1982 remastered by Bart Gabriel and released on Skol Records. An announcement was made that a studio album of brand new material was planned and so here we have Fear No …