Metal Church delivers their 10th record and, aside from the lineup, not much has changed since they released their self-titled debut back in 1984. That’s both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, they’ve stuck to their guns and continue to deliver what fans expect. On the other hand, the music here is not [...]

“In this world people will always throw stones in the path of your success, it depends on you what you make from them, a wall or a bridge…”
Being one of Sweden’s most controversial and widely debated outfits, Evergrey seem to have been ignoring any disrespect they keep getting year in year out, constructing one spectacular [...]

I have to be honest; I don’t know why anyone reviews Motorhead albums anymore. If you haven’t been paying attention these guys have been doing roughly the same thing for the past 33 years, namely blowing out everyone’s eardrums and loving it. These guys make Nigel Tufnel look like a weakling because Motorhead clearly goes [...]

Let’s say you’ve got a car. It’s a nice car. It looks good, it’s dependable, it’s comfortable, it gets good gas mileage. You really like it. Then, let’s say, you get your hands on a sleek sports car that’s loaded with options. It’s faster, more powerful, has a little something extra. Then gas hits $4 [...]

For the past few years, Alice Cooper has been trying, with limited success, to recapture the sound and feel of his 1970s heyday. Those records, The Eyes of Alice Cooper and Dirty Diamonds,  had a little problem, though. While some of the tunes hit the right note, both albums had several songs that sounded like [...]

While being chased after stealing Suttung’s mead, Odin was nearly caught and that close call made him wet himself, the urine raining down upon Midgard to inspire mortal poets. Obviously some spilled directly into Johnny’s glass shard filled drinking horn. Johnny’s vocals are getting harsher again, no mellowing with age here. Hedlund hear my call.
Unleashed [...]

*sigh*
Bland, boring, vanilla, unoriginal, uninspiring, unenthused, lacking of energy - all descriptors of Engel’s Absolute Design. Coming from one of my favorite metal cities in the world, Gothenburg (on top of the impressive list of musicians and their former bands - I’ll dig into this more shortly), I expected more - at least a little [...]

This new live DVD/CD from Germany’s finest thrash band, Kreator, is a re-package, re-edit and re-release of their 1990 VHS, Live in East Berlin. Included with the live show is the mini horror movie the band made for their Coma of Souls album titled Hallucinative Coma, a documentary type thing with interviews from around the [...]

I’m a big enough man to admit when I’m wrong, but in this case, I’m not. Tim Owens owns Matt Barlow in Iced Earth, and this EP is the absolute proof.
Those of you who have read my blog and talked to me on the forums won’t find any surprises in this review. It’s no secret [...]

“The fans have spoken and we delivered it.” - Jon Schaffer, Iced Earth guitarist.
Since the December return of Matt Barlow to the Iced Earth fold, fans and critics have speculated the ‘classic Iced Earth’ vocalist’s ability to bring back both the noise and the funk of previous releases, perhaps moreso one than the other. I, [...]

Following intense and very constructive discussions, Steamhammer/SPV have announced their future collaboration with Swedish dark melodic metal act, Evergrey. The deal includes not only the group’s brand-new studio album, Torn, which will arrive at the stores at the beginning of September, but also Evergrey’s complete back catalogue. SPV Head of Labels, Ulrike Rudolph says: “We [...]

Moonspell has been a fan favorite of mine since the release of Irreligious, but I think the Portuguese lost their focus after The Butterfly Effect. Darkness & Hope, The Antidote had only a few good things going for them, rendering the releases quite forgettable. Moonspell wasn’t the only band in creative doldrums. Anybody care to [...]

How many years has it been since Mr. Coverdale & Co. graced us with a new album? Well over 10, I’m sure. They’ve been back on the touring circuit now for a few years and have given us a live album & DVD, but this is the first album of all new material since 1997’s [...]

If you’ve heard Freedom Call before, you won’t be surprised by their most recent album. What you expect is what you get — a lot of uptempo power metal influenced by the likes of Gamma Ray and Helloween.
Let’s start with the unneccessary intro, “Demons Dance”; I’m begging, can we just drop these useless wastes of [...]

Sometimes you just want to like a band. I felt that way when I pulled this CD out of the envelope. I liked the name. I liked the logo. I had high hopes for this record after seeing the lineup: former Fates Warning drummer Mark Zonder, MSG guitarist/keyboard player Wayne Findlay, Steve Vai bassist Philip [...]

It’s a tried and true formula. You’ve put out a couple of records that were slightly different in style and perhaps not as good as earlier records, a few fans grumbled. You want to make it clear you’re returning to your old style, so you name your new record after one that’s widely considered by [...]

Since their last album, 2005’s How The Great Have Fallen, Raging Speedhorn has gone through a bit of a change. They added two new members, Bloody Kev (vocals) and Dave Thompson (bass), and apparently suffered some deep psychological trauma. That would be the only thing that could explain the vibe on the latest album Before [...]

It’s always nice to be surprised. I’ve only followed Helloween’s career sporadically since the 1980s, and have never really found anything in their catalog that impressed me as much as the first two Keeper records. I didn’t expect to find it here, but they had me from the first true song on the record.
As with [...]

A re-release of sorts, The Final Sign of Evil is a re-recorded version of Sodom’s debut EP, In the Sign of Evil, with the line-up of that album intact (Tom Angelripper on vox/bass, Grave Violator on guitars, and Chris Witchhunter on drums), and seven bonus tracks that were written in that time period, but never [...]

The cover record needs to die. I realize it’s an easy way to put together an album quickly and make a few bucks, but can you really name one all-covers record that just blew you away? No, you can’t. That’s because rarely are the covers as good as the original. Still, it seems we’re doomed [...]

Albums with expectations are always interesting, and this one has plenty. First, fans have been waiting for it since 1998 when the original trilogy of songs appeared on Something Wicked This Way Comes, regarded by many as the band’s best record. The expectations were boosted over the summer when the band released the first single [...]

If there’s one thing you can count on from the Danish death/thrash band Hatesphere, it’s consistency. Five albums in now, showing absolutely no signs of wearing or watering down their tried and true sound, though are beginning to display a bit more versatility, incorporating some slower, more groove oriented songs into the mix on their [...]

Jeff Waters is to Annihilator was Dave Mustaine is to Megadeth. The Main Man. The Chief Dude In Charge. The Head Honcho. When the High Exalted Potentate of this mighty Canadian Thrash Legend that is Annihilator chose to utilize “guest appearances” on his new album, aptly titled, Metal, the decision was met with groans & [...]

Jon Schaffer offers fans a nice little teaser for Iced Earth’s upcoming album Framing Armageddon coming in the fall. Since 1998’s Something Wicked This Way Comes and Schaffer’s promise to expand on the “Something Wicked Trilogy” fans have been waiting for him to follow through as he delivered a horror-themed record and a very personal [...]

I think most (except Johnny Hedlund himself according to a recent botched interview), would agree that Sworn Allegiance was this legendary Swedish death metal/Viking act’s real comeback album, and that Hell’s Unleashed was a sick joke. Either way, with a change in label, these Swedish stalwarts are truly, truly back with a blistering album far [...]