Hammerfall are a Swedish heavy/power metal band and this is their tenth album.
Since forming in 1993 and developing into one of the bigger names in heavy/power metal, the title of their tenth album is quite aptly named.
It pleases me that the first song starts right into the action, rather than having any faffing around. It’s a small thing really, but it immediately endears me to the music. Continue reading “Hammerfall – Built to Last (Review)”
Year of the Cobra are a US doom metal band. This is their debut album.
Here we find just drums, bass and vocals, but what a combination. Just a duo, the band nonetheless have a large presence with the near 44 minutes of music on …in the Shadows Below. Continue reading “Year of the Cobra – …in the Shadows Below (Review)”
Headless Kross are a doom band from the UK.
Headless Kross don’t play nice music. They do, however, play heavy music, and this is what we like.
The vocals are unhinged screams. They seem Continue reading “Headless Kross – Projections 1 (Review)”
Hailing from Poland, Arkona are a veteran black metal band and this is their sixth album.
Lunaris boasts 48 minutes of the kind of second wave black metal that would be right at home had it actually been released in the 90s, probably about the time that Arkona actually formed.
This is an album based on the classic black metal template of the time, forged through experience and the hands of people that have been doing this long enough to know how to write good black metal. And it is very, very good.
Blackened riffs of frosted hate seep Continue reading “Arkona – Lunaris (Review)”
Cognitive are from the US and play technical death metal. This is their second album.
30 minutes, no messing around; Cognitive play their death metal with brutal efficiency and technical charm.
Sitting on the modern end of the scale, here we have Continue reading “Cognitive – Deformity (Review)”
This is the sixth album from Witchery, a thrash metal band from Sweden.
Witchery have been around for some time at this point, with this album celebrating two decades of existence. Now, six years after their last album and with a revamped lineup, they return.
With a production that’s nicely rough and ready, Witchery Continue reading “Witchery – In His Infernal Majesty’s Service (Review)”
Sepulchral Curse are a blackened death metal band from Finland. This is their second EP.
Do you fancy a bit of old-school death metal that’s been infested with a Scandinavian black metal influence? Well, you’ve come to the right place!
With a firm, strong sound that avoids Continue reading “Sepulchral Curse – At the Onset of Extinction (Review)”
This is Spirit of the Forest’s third album. They play atmospheric melodic black metal and hail from Canada.
Are you a fan of Emperor, Dissection, Windir and Borknagar? If you are then I’ll happily point you in the direction of Spirit of the Forest and let you listen to their very satisfying new release.
For others that might require a bit more convincing, let me Continue reading “Spirit of the Forest – A Void into the Fields of Silence/La Nature Oubliée (Review)”
Serpentine Dominion are a US death metal band. This is their debut album.
Featuring current and ex-members of Cannibal Corpse, Killswitch Engage and The Black Dahlia Murder, this was only ever going to be good at the very least.
Well, it’s even better than that. Continue reading “Serpentine Dominion – Serpentine Dominion (Review)”
This is the second album by French symphonic metal band Lost Opera.
Lost Opera are a symphonic metal band specialising in a modern take on the genre, heavily accentuated with orchestral keyboards and with a side-order of extremity. This manifests via heavier-than-average guitars, (for this kind of thing), and the Continue reading “Lost Opera – Hidden Sides (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 