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!
While a collaboration of Anette Olzon (Nightwish, Dark Element) and “Sir” Russell Allen (Symphony X, Adrenaline Mob, and all things Ayreon) may at first look…
American rock is less of a genre as it is a way of life, a shifting landscape which gives opportunity for bands to traverse turbulent…
A latter day legacy revisited. The task of quantifying the legacy of any one musician’s lifetime is a daunting one, but few could ever hope…
There’s much to be appreciated in an EP that is both concise and satisfying, a concentrated form of expression that doesn’t bother to stuff itself…
Normally, the first few lines of an album review are fertile soil for some rock-and-roll philosophy, or irony, or witticisms, or some old-fashioned rock history.…
Even those beings made of darkness can seek out the light, and even shadows can steal glimpses of sun. A temperance of light among the…
Mike Portnoy recently commented that although he had widely proclaimed “The Similitude of A Dream” to be the crowning achievement of Neal Morse’s discography, he…
Two times the power, half the waiting. The dank and mud-ridden world that is the American sludge scene has welcomed a fair number of up…
It may be physically impossible for one to travel from the smooth, white-sand beaches of Spain to the dark, neon-accented warmth of a New York…
When one resides outside a given nation or region of the world, it can sometimes be difficult to properly appreciate the cultural divides found within.…
There are few ways so apt to express disillusionment with the state of the world than poetry steeped in the darkness of doom, made all…
Long sabbaticals beget stronger sorcery. Though often referred to affectionately as “Iced Guardian” by their fans, no doubt in acknowledgement to the iconic bands from…
There is a certain magic in watching bands that had thrived in the underground for years rocket to stardom practically overnight. This effect is particularly…
Some of the best attempts at genre-bending metal occur when artists balance the strengths of wildly different sub-genres to create a sound that draws evenly…
Having recently celebrated their 40th Anniversary, Pendragon are one of the few bands of progressive rock’s second wave to have persevered and weathered the changes…
The Teutonic apocalypse comes to London. Perhaps the only subject more interesting than headlining act making major waves while on tour is the history of…
In a genre where breaking conventions is the status quo, there is a refreshing light in storytellers that embrace musical conventions as their core, and…
Marley was dead, to begin with. So too, sadly, was Paul O’Neill, and Savatage with him. While Savatage may survive the loss of one or…
Out of the frying pan and into the fire. So it seemed to be for iamthemorning’s Marjana Semkina (henceforth spelled as Mariana, to be in-line…
He sits poised, stiff posture imposing within the commanding might of a pitch black throne. His face rests impassive, the cold, sharp features even more…
It’s his birthday and he can release a triple-album if he wants to. Richie Kotzen knows how to celebrate a 50th birthday and gift his…
The concept of the super-group, while not new, has evolved a bit since it was dabbled with in the 60s and 70s. From Cream to…
Progressive death metal can take many forms, and Thoren proves that there is no need to stifle extremity in the pursuit of the progressive. In…
“Reverie” is defined as “a state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing.” Neoclassical hard rock band Moon Reverie is lined up to release their self-titled…
In a world rich with the indulgent majesty of symphonic power metal, the fight for a sliver of an already crowded spotlight is one wrought…
Anger comes in many forms. There’s the beastly and primitive blind rage, an all-consuming anger that desires to leave nothing but devastation in its wake.…
Invisible borders bind us all. Not unlike the bulk of iconic bands associated with the original thrash metal explosion of the 80s, Brazil’s own Sepultura…
Hailing from South Wales, U.K., Godsticks are a three-piece progressive heavy rock band whose music has frequently been described as imaginative and original. Their musical…
Apparently Lamb of God’s Mark Morton doesn’t want us to think his incredibly poignant and well-received 2019 debut solo album “Anesthetic” was a one-off affair.…
I have a history with Blue Oyster Cult. I bought their first album when it came out in ’72. The lyrics were quirky, the riffs…
While some of our favorite glam and metal acts unfortunately did not survive the heavy metal holocaust of the 1990s, many others did either hang…
Once relegated to the underground, blackened speed metal band Midnight are unafraid to introduce themselves in both style and spirit on just released album “Rebirth…
Hell is live on rock radio. Though they are often compared to the original American prognosticators of all things theatrical and over-the-top Gwar, Finland’s costumed…
There are rarely bands so full of youthful energy as Calgary-based thrash act Hazzerd, who are bursting at the seams with the newest wave of…
Though they may come from the land of the rising sun, the death metal masters of Defiled bring nothing but darkness and technically adept brutality…
His voice is one that conjures up visions of soaring majesty and indomitable strength, iconic in its all-encompassing presence throughout rock and metal over the…
