Old-School Metal – Wonderbox Metal

End of Transmission: 1995-2025 The Final Tour – Orange Goblin/Grand Magus/Urne – Academy 2, Manchester – 13/12/25 (Live Review)

This is quite the event. Legendary band Orange Goblin are calling it a day after 30 years, sadly, and this is their farewell tour. It’s sold out, which I’m happy for them about, as they’re a band who deserves all the success they have had and more. Tonight they’re joined by two other bands that I’m a fan of too, the mighty Grand Magus and the riff-tastic Urne. It promises to be a good one. Continue reading “End of Transmission: 1995-2025 The Final Tour – Orange Goblin/Grand Magus/Urne – Academy 2, Manchester – 13/12/25 (Live Review)”

Devin Townsend – PowerNerd (Review)

Devin Townsend is a prolific Canadian artist who has a vast and intimidating discography. Whatever he touches though is always individual and interesting, and frequently brilliant.

PowerNerd is a 44-minute progressive rock album that has apparently been born out of a desire by the artist to simplify his approach to songwriting. Continue reading “Devin Townsend – PowerNerd (Review)”

Heriot – Devoured by the Mouth of Hell (Review)

This is the debut album from UK metal act Heriot.

I enjoyed 2022’s Profound Morality, so have been looking forward to Heriot unleashing a full album. I’ll tell you what too, they haven’t disappointed me. Quite the opposite in fact. Continue reading “Heriot – Devoured by the Mouth of Hell (Review)”

Unearth – The Wretched; The Ruinous (Review)

Unearth are a metalcore band form the US and this is their eighth album.

Following on from 2018’s Extinction(s), Unearth continue to deliver the metalcore goods. Their tried-and-tested brand of melodic death metal-meets-thrash-meets-hardcore is on fine fiery form, and The Wretched; The Ruinous is a very enjoyable 37-minute slab of old-school metalcore heaviness. Continue reading “Unearth – The Wretched; The Ruinous (Review)”

Gomorra – Dealer of Souls (Review)

Gomorra are a heavy metal band from Switzerland and this is their second album.

Featuring members of Comaniac and Destruction, Gomorra combine heavy, thrash, and power metal into 49 minutes of well-executed music. Continue reading “Gomorra – Dealer of Souls (Review)”

Malevolence – Malicious Intent (Review)

Malevolence are a metal band from the UK and this is their third album.

Malevolence play the sort of groove metal/metalcore hybrid that sounds like it should have been released in the mid-90s. If you take bands like Pantera and Hatebreed, and then throw in a touch of Crowbar, you’ll have a decent reference point for what Malevolence get up to on Malicious Intent; 38 minutes of Continue reading “Malevolence – Malicious Intent (Review)”

Cage Fight – Cage Fight (Review)

This is the debut album from Cage Fight, a metal/hardcore band from the UK.

Featuring a guitarist from Tesseract and an ex-singer of Eths, Cage Fight are here to smash your face unceremoniously into the concrete, over and over again. Prepare yourself. Continue reading “Cage Fight – Cage Fight (Review)”

Burning Witches – The Witch of the North (Review)

This is the fourth album from Swiss heavy metallers Burning Witches.

I always enjoy hearing some new material from this band. Can they follow up 2018’s Hexenhammer and 2020’s Dance with the Devil with another slab of prime heavy metal goodness?

The answer is Continue reading “Burning Witches – The Witch of the North (Review)”

Burning Witches – Dance with the Devil (Review)

Burning Witches are a heavy metal band from Switzerland and this is their third album.

2018’s Hexenhammer was an enjoyable slab of traditional heavy metal, and now the band are back with a new album, and a new singer. Continue reading “Burning Witches – Dance with the Devil (Review)”

Bewitcher – Under the Witching Cross (Review)

This is the second album from US black/speed metal band Bewitcher.

2016’s Bewitcher made an impression, and Under the Witching Cross looks set to cement that impression, with pounding beats and driving anthems. Continue reading “Bewitcher – Under the Witching Cross (Review)”