“Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you […]

I don’t hear a lot about bands from Iceland. Sure, there’s Solstafir, and I’m positive many others, but they don’t come to mind. Duft is one such band, so add them. The country of origin is notable, but it’s not as if we have a new Solstafir. They’re entirely different. However, you should be paying […]

Italy’s Drown In Sulfur got off to a hot start in the blackened deathcore genre with various EPs including the excellent Blackwind EP, which I really enjoyed and own, and I thought the band was ready to blow up. Then the band literally blew up shortly after with drummer Domenico Tamila kicking out all of […]

Here we are in 2023, 5 years after their last effort (2018s Reduced to Flesh) and these long-time thrashers from Denmark are now on their eleventh studio album.  Hatred Reborn is another in a long line of awesome death/thrash albums going all the way back to 2001’s self-titled debut.  Hatred Reborn also marks the debut […]

Listen, when it comes to power metal, like my porn tastes, I have very specific, odd niches that I enjoy. For some reason, I skip right past the ‘normal’ power metal like Primal Fear, Firewind, Hammerfall, Iced Earth and such and dive headfirst in with unfettered glee into the uber cheesiest, symphonic cosplay-loving, LARPing, cape-wearing […]

Sun of the Suns is a new band from Italy featuring members of tech-death act Carnality, deathcore stompers The Modern Age Slavery, and symphonic death metal band Nightland, but also features  Francesco Paoli from Fleshgod Apocalypse helping out on drums. And for once, the FFO recommendations in the promo actually nail it pretty hard, mentioning […]

So here is my second American symphonic metal album released this spring, the other being Dead World Reclamation‘s solid The Black Dahlia Murder with keyboards effort, Aura of Iniquity. I have no idea what or who a Wythersake is (google was no help), but on their debut album they offer up some solid if unspectacular […]

Is Kristoffer Göbel really tall? This is the second full length from his project called Six Foot Six and I am going to assume it is some sort of height reference. Perhaps he and I can tour sometime with my project the Five Foot Six Project (not a thing). This is the second album from […]

Almost exactly a year after their debut, De Rerum Natura, Italian Symphonic metallers Moonlight Haze has already cranked out their second album. And you would think it would be a bit rushed and have a drop off in quality, but to their credit, they have kept things on a predictable, but high level with Lunaris. […]

****We interrupt your regularly scheduled slate of death and black metal to bring you this female fronted symphonic/power metal review*****  I’m a very cyclic music listener and reviewer, I do a lot of my listening and reviewing in batches; a 4 or 5 death metal albums in a row, 4 or 5 black metal albums […]

So, quick back story, I recently underwent a musical awakening of sorts. Other than Manowar and Rhapsody, I’ve never been a Power Metal guy. The last power metal album I truly enjoyed was Thy Majestie‘s 1066 back in 2003. However I recent discovered Sabaton’s “Winged Hussars” and Blind Guardian‘s “Grand Parade”, and now I’m hooked. So, I […]

Do you remember when real metal musicians wore all black, spiked arm bands, raised middle fingers,  and said “Hails!” in interviews?  Pepperidge Farm remembers, and so do Denmark’s Horned Almighty.   It’s obvious from the start these guys are old school through and through. …or are they?  How old does something have to be to be […]

The debut album Vitriol from the Italian band Evenoire is an interesting beast. They are firmly rooted in the goth and symphonic sub-genres of metal along with some tentative outgrowth into folk territory. Yet, for the goth and symphonic elements being so dominating, I feel that it is of their most uninspired moments. Vitriol is […]

I really enjoy Edguy, but can’t stand Helloween. Same thing with flowery goth-metal – Nightwish is great, but Epica doesn’t do it for me. And as for Blind Guardian, man, do I really want to love that band. They pen catchy, soaring epics, scored by tasteful orchestration and the right amount of power metal crunch. […]

Though this is their seventh record, my introduction to Spanish symphonic metallers Dark Moor came through their 2007 outing, Tarot, which had some strong moments, but overall was a mediocre effort with a little too much standard power metal. Not a great deal about their sound has changed on Autumnal, yet it strikes me as […]

OK, here’s the thing about concept records. There are only just a few like Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime and Savatage’s Streets that are great from start to finish. The reason is that when you focus on writing songs to fit into a story or theme rather than writing songs you feel, there are always going to […]

Album number three from this highly underrated Italian Melodic Death metal band that features Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid of Soilwork fame on vocals, and ol’ Bjorn has to be pissed that his little Italian side project blows his full time band out of the water.Yeah I said it. Disarmonia Mundi, and this album especially, blows (recent) […]

Let’s put aside for the moment the overly complicated concept about DNA mapping and molecular regeneration on Vision Divine’s fourth album and just focus on the music. Timo Tolkki of Stratovarius fame steps into the producer’s chair here and takes the band in more of a prog direction than their previous power metal outings, and […]

So imagine for a second that the last two In Flames and Soilwork albums had been really good. Same slight experimentation and clean vocal usage, but with the intensity of yore and deliberate thrash edge within the harsher Gothenburg sound. Intrigued? Then check out Denmark’s Withering Surface. With their fourth album, but truthfully the first […]

Someone forgot to tell Scarlet Records that melodic death metal was dead, what with Withering Surface’s Force the Pace and this high octane little number, they seem in denial to admit the relative complacency of the genre. What makes Italy’s Disarmonia Mundi so interesting is the presence of Soilwork’s Bjorn Strid on vocals, and realistically […]

Recently I’ve been wading knee deep in mediocre death metal and to be honest with you, the constant pounding, blasting and gurgling was wearing thin. What I needed was a musical respite of sorts, something uplifting, glorious and stress free. I needed some Italian power metal! While it would be easy to call Thy Majestie […]

The Kim Anderson-ish cover art should clue you in as to the direction this previously very doom/goth melodic death metal outfit have taken with their second album. And yes, they have evolved and matured, but to be honest I think the new material suits them better than the hodgepodge mix of musical styles that was […]

This is one if those really unusual releases that provided me with a serious split personality complex. You see, while I am listening to this debut from this promising and diverse quintet, I am enjoying it completely. Yet, when I am not listening to it, there is nothing about it that makes me crave listening […]

Italy’s Aborym formed in 1991, released a demo and broke up. The same members reformed the band in 1997 and released their debut album, Kali Yuga Bizarre in 1999. Fire Walk With Us is their second full-length, and the first to feature Attila Csihar, formerly of Mayhem, as permanent vocalist. Thier aim is to break […]