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!
Let’s get one thing straight. Extreme II, aka “Pornograffitti”, is one of the best rock records since 1990, hands-down. “Extreme III (Sides to Every Story)”…
The cover photo says much about the album and artists. Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton are decked out in ‘50s leather and hair – they…
Godsticks’ prior album, 2020’s “Inescapable,” found the celebrated English ensemble successfully introducing more inviting arrangements and welcoming melodies into their dynamic brand of heavy prog…
Why? Why in God’s name is this necessary? I mean, coming on the heels of “Impera” — which I rated the top album of 2022…
No nonsense thrash that shows no mercy. The unrelenting beast that is thrash could be likened to the Greek myth of the hydra, for if…
Part throwback, part modern, all classic metal! The world at large will no doubt continue to be dumbfounded at how every prediction of metal’s oncoming…
Wonders never cease. Left for dead as a recording entity after the abysmal “Heaven & Earth” in 2014, progressive rock patriarchs Yes returned in 2021…
So color me skeptical. That’s what I thought when I first heard about the Neal Schon album. I mean, face it: a gathering of current…
Savage, all too savage. With a history now spanning more than 30 years, the early 90s offshoot of heavy and thrash metal that has come…
After devoting an entire musical career to exploring global pagan lore with impressive results, Italian metal band Elvenking began to be subtly besieged by a…
Once upon a time, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull mused lyrically about being “too old to rock and roll, and too young to die.” Don’t…
After the death of five, the sixth would rise. The dissolution of a lineup can prove devastating for any band, and the particular eventuality of…
Where rock and metal collide. While still a new player in the American music scene, New York natives and old school metal adherents Tanith have…
The Mars Volta are back with their new album titled “Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon”, a collection of 12 reworked acoustic tracks from their…
Joe Bonamassa at Red Rocks has become a bit of a staple of my summer concert schedule. I’ve been fortunate to see the long-running bluesman…
The Wrecking Crew scorches all in its path. For a band that has been trudging the dank swamps of metal’s thrashing edge for as long…
“72 Seasons” is finally here. What does it bring? Well, I think is a another worthy catalog entry for arguably the biggest metal band in…
A less trodden trail is blazed. With well over a decade in the rear view since what has been dubbed the New Wave of Traditional…
It’s been roughly seven years since Chilean progressive rock sextet Aisles released their highly acclaimed fourth LP: 2016’s expansive and conceptual “Hawaii.” In that time,…
With a growing extraversion and drive to innovate becoming increasingly apparent across the extreme metal world, it is no great shock that a band that…
Launching a debut solo album can often be an exercise in patience and tenacity. All the more reason that Matt Dorsey must be feeling triumphant…
Twenty years. It’s been twenty goddamn years since I’ve anticipated an album as much as I’ve anticipated “Exul.” And like “Exul,” that last one was…
How can an artist create a transformative experience of the highest order with three songs alone? If anyone were capable of this feat, it would…
When a band who makes a comeback after being on ice for decades is actually called Ice Age, well, there’s a mammoth temptation to unearth…
T-minus three… two… one… Whispers of spring fill the air as new life unfurls its leaves. The grey clouds of winter begin their hesitant retreat,…
Tribe of Pazuzu is an aural beast almost as mystifying as the ancient demon of its name. This is an act that fits seamlessly within…
Considering that they began as a Pink Floyd cover band, it’s truly impressive how consistent and distinctive German quartet RPWL have remained over the last…
Hailing from Hungary’s Budapest, the duo Deposed King aren’t likely to be on your radar. How could they be? Armed with only a sparse Bandcamp…
Imagination and falsehood converge. Few stories are as undisputedly American as that of the driven dreamer turned immigrant crossing an ocean to try his hand…
The new Steel Panther album, “On the Prowl”, was released a few days ago, but just to paraphrase the title of its first track, “It’s…
Hailing from the birthplace of black metal, Norwegian black metal project Mork continues to spread winter’s unforgiving chill more than a decade into its active…
Founded nearly 20 years ago, American progressive metal quintet Periphery have always stood out amongst their peers and influences. That’s as true of their self-titled…
As the world slowly emerges from the weirdness of the last three years, one can recognize that many, if not most, artists found creative ways…
As winter fell over Norway in 1991, teenagers Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson (13 and 17, respectively) embarked on a journey that would forever shape…
Galaxies are born, and galaxies die. Indifferent to the life that has sparked deep within the Milky Way’s arms, yawning black holes consume stars and…
Ambitious, innovative, and genre-bending British progressive metalists Haken return to the scene with “Fauna”, the highly-anticipated followup to the 1-2 punch of “Vector” (2018) and…
