River Black – River Black (Review)

River BlackThis is the debut album from River Black, a metal/hardcore band from the US.

Featuring current and ex-members of bands such as Municipal Waste, Burnt by the Sun, and Revocation, River Black already have a wealth of experience in them. Additionally, with the multiple members Continue reading “River Black – River Black (Review)”

Iron Reagan – Crossover Ministry (Review)

Iron ReaganIron Reagan are a crossover band from the US. This is their third album.

Made up of current and ex-members of bands such as Municipal Waste, Cannabis Corpse, Mammoth Grinder, Darkest Hour and Deathcrown, Crossover Ministry is 18 tracks spread across 29 minutes of riotous metallic hardcore thrash. Continue reading “Iron Reagan – Crossover Ministry (Review)”

Brain Tentacles – Brain Tentacles (Review)

Brain TentaclesBrain Tentacles are an experimental/avant-garde/jazz/grind/doom metal band from the US. This is their debut album.

Experimental/avant-garde/jazz/grind/doom metal is a bit of a mouthful, and in all honesty doesn’t even properly do justice to the sounds that this album contains at any rate.

In addition to the usual drums and bass you’ll also find synth, piano and horns on this release. But no guitars. Continue reading “Brain Tentacles – Brain Tentacles (Review)”

Iron Reagan – The Tyranny of Will (Review)

Iron ReaganIron Reagan are from the US and this is their second album. They play Metallic Crossover and feature members of bands such as Municipal Waste, Darkest Hour and Cannabis Corpse.

I have enjoyed Iron Reagan’s previous work so I was expecting good things from this album. It doesn’t disappoint.

Iron Reagan play Hardcore and Thrash mixed in a blender and shat out at escape velocity. It’s highly aggressive and kicks your door down looking for a scrap. There’s no hiding.

The songs are short, heavy and usually exceedingly violent. Iron Reagan have a nice malevolent streak to some of their riffs that keeps things gritty.

The band play tight and fast, and some short, sharp guitar solos are also included in their spiky package.

Vocally the shouts straddle that rarely seen line where you can imagine them being transposed into either an 80’s Thrash band or an 80’s Hardcore band with equal ease. They inhabit both worlds flawlessly and effectively represent both.

A quality album. 24 blasts of anarchy in just under 32 minutes. Play loud.