ALBUM REVIEWS
If you’re looking for aggregated album reviews from our seasoned music specialists, including our own score offering at a glance how the album fared, this is the right destination for you. Album reviews certainly still matter to artists, writers, and publicists, as they are the ones dealing with them every day, but does the average listener still pay attention? Well, we sincerely hope you do… Dive in!
Black metal may be one of the clearest glimpses at the frigid maw of hell, a yawning chasm from which nothing but cold wind blows…
Old dogs still have the best tricks. For all of the bizarre happenings that have come to define 2020, if one were to focus on…
Legendary Yes and Asia guitarist Steve Howe cemented his place in the upper echelons of rock guitarists long ago. Having spent the 70s flying high…
After a series of successful crowdfunding campaigns at Indiegogo, the Finnish cinematic metal band Dark Sarah released their first three albums consisting of a musical…
Ride with the symphonic unity. While the question of which party is truly the heir of the Accept legacy, there has been a growing consensus…
“Feelings are good,” a vocoder-soaked John Mitchell tells us at the beginning of Lonely Robot’s fourth album. The sentiment of this album’s title, and its…
Thrash till death and rebirth. While there is much to be said for a band getting the job done in the studio, wherein thrash metal…
Do we take for granted our place in time and space when we long for the nostalgic embrace of the past, or stretch our arms…
With the inevitable heat of summer already making itself at home, there’s few options so tempting as to roll down the windows and embrace the…
Technicality and brutality are universal, proven by the consistent brilliance of Australian technical death-core band Aversions Crown. Three full-length albums already to their name, the…
From the ashes of a tragedy arises a modern form of rebirth, and a band is brought back to its feet after an unexpected loss…
The muses which give birth to metal are not confined to the realm of fantasy or science fiction, though the conceptual array of recent releases…
Looking for a coherent mix of classic prog with a modern approach and sound? Look no further, because Fatal Fusion is ready to take care…
“Namaste Dickhead”. Well, Ten Foot Wizard certainly did it. With the opening track (and first single) called that way, and the flamboyant cover of their…
It’s never too late to pursue one’s dreams, with few better demonstrations than the debut album “Of Gods and Men” from thrash-rooted metal band MaelstroM.…
Rediscovering the missing link. Despite the revival of old school thrash metal that was subsequently dubbed the New Wave of Thrash Metal (NWOTM) being the…
Truth that’s as heavy as a giant, lead feather. Perhaps the greatest pitfall of the ascendency of any art form is that eventually the saturation…
The heat of summer has arrived, and with it the eager anticipation for long nights out on the town filled with laughter, drinks, and driving…
Who is so bold as to paint the unseen history of the very earth we stand on, or to use the tremendous potential of music…
Reviewing a compilation album is always tricky business. At first sight, it is not still clear what a particular band is trying to achieve. On…
Twenty years into their career finds Magenta returning to their roots. Not that they’ve ever strayed that far beyond prog’s traditional borders to begin with…mastermind…
More than just falsettos and fantasy quests, the grit from power metal’s origins fearlessly persists into the present day with darker strains peering through shining…
When chemistry and inspiration strike, run with it. That was the case for Randy McStine and Marco Minnemann, who had previously met while recording on…
The mother of harlots cometh. It has been widely stipulated that the past two decades have seen the power metal tag is of an all…
The bard’s flame never flickers. Few would question the consequential role that Sweden has played in metal music’s ascendancy, but it is often taken for…
“Curiosity is a real bastard…bastard…bastard…bastard.” So begins the latest installment from Germany’s Long Distance Calling, and if that’s got you a little confused on what…
Subjecting oneself to the bittersweet immersion of nostalgia is not without its pain or its euphoria, particularly when a voice from the past is both…
“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be invisible? Let me tell you man, it ain’t as great as it sounds.” So…
The soul of a mighty playing machine. The 80s could rightly be regarded as the decade of the guitar god, and amongst the many heroic…
When Kansas returned in 2016 with “The Prelude Implicit”, their first new studio album in 16 years, there likely were a number of dubious members…
Cinematic ambient rock might be the most apropos way to describe the soundscapes produced by Norway’s Airbag. Spacious meditations – often focused around dreary themes…
Straddling the fine line between alternative rock and progressive metal is Veio, a trio from Portland that has a knack for making anthemic rhythms while…
I’m still an iPod guy. I like having a device fully dedicated to dialing up access to a massive music library without worrying about whether…
Somewhere in the 70s, lodged between Renaissance and Steely Dan, America and Fleetwood Mac, this little nugget from Sweet Invention lay buried. The fact that…
The result of trapping artists indoors for months at a time was always going to be art in one form or another. Whether the opportunity…
One of the most-anticipated melodic power metal releases of 2020 is finally upon us: Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, Allen-Lande, The Ferrymen) brings another Free Fall…
