(8/10) ‘Under Stars’ is the final chapter of a trilogy that began in 2015 with an album entitled ‘Please Come Home’. The following chapter ‘The Big Dream’ continued the concept in 2017 and another two years later it’s this release that marks the closing chapter. The creative mind behind this trilogy of Lonely Robot is... Continue Reading →
CD review VULTURE ‘Beyond the Blade’ – 7″
(7/10) What's much more reliable than German speed trains is German speed metal and Vulture is one outfit that represents German steel with speed. The guys recently inked a deal with Metal Blade and a first countable result of this collaboration is a 7" single entitled 'Beyond the Blade'. Vulture, that's oldschool speed metal and... Continue Reading →
CD review RPWL ‘Tales from Outer Space’
(9/10) Music from Bavaria is often reduced to humpa-humpa Oktoberfest music, but the region in Germany's South-East brings more to table. One representative of Bavarian music with style is RPWL. The four guys from Freising, Bavaria is the successor of a band called Violet District. Kalle Wallner and Chris Postl played in this band and... Continue Reading →
CD review EXUMER ‘Hostile Defiance’
(8/10) Since a few years German thrash veterans Exumer are back with excellent thrash metal. After returning in 2012 band released with ‘The Raging Tides’ an excellent album, followed by very energetic live shows. Three years later Mem von Stein and bandmates are back with a new offer. It’s entitled ‘Hostile Defiance’ and comes with... Continue Reading →
Live report DEVIN TOWNSEND, An Evening With Devin Townsend, Grote Kerk, Haarlem – 11.04.2019
I can't remember that I've ever been to church twice within less than a week, but now it happens. After having witnessed Long Distance Calling's great show at Kulturkirche Altona it is guitar wizard Devin Townsend that invites for a special show to Grote Kerk in Haarlem. Also this time it's impressive to enter a... Continue Reading →
Line-up for ROCK HARD FESTIVAL completed
With the announcement of two more bands the 2019 edition of Rock Hard Festival has a full line-up. Next to The Spirit it's US metal pioneers Lizzy Borden being part of the festival. Here are all the bands and the days they perform: Friday, 7.6.WATAINLIZZY BORDENTYGERS OF PAN TANGTHE IDIOTSCHAPEL OF DISEASEVULTURESaturday, 8.6.GAMMA RAY CANNIBAL... Continue Reading →
CD review ICED EARTH ‘Enter the Realm’ (EP) – Re-issue
(*/10) This release brings back some nice memories. It was in 1989 when metal powerhouse Iced Earth released a first demo entitles 'Enter the Realm'. It was the only demo of Iced Earth and the moment I started to listen to the tape I was excited about what got out of the speakers. Basically it's... Continue Reading →
CD review TRONOS ‘Celestial Mechanics’
(8/10) Is Tronos another supergroup? No idea, since I don't like this inflationary used term. What I do know is that Napalm Death's Shane Embury and producer Russ Russell teamed-up and started Tronos. Drums are handled by no less than Dirk Verbeuren and if you read these names you don't need to look into the... Continue Reading →
CD review PARAGON ‘Controlled Demolition’
(8/10) Hamburg - Rock City? This can be clearly answered with 'Yes'. Not only that band like Helloween and Gamma Ray and many more have their homebase in the Hansestadt, also German metal veterans Paragon call Hamburg their home. The quintet never made it to the top, but the fact that they add with 'Controlled... Continue Reading →
CD review JORDAN RUDESS ‘Wired for Madness’
(9/10) Keyboarder Jordan Rudess is well-known from all his years with prog metal pioneers Dream Theater. It was in 1999 when he joined the quintet from New York. What’s less known is that the master of the keys also release many solo albums with ‘Listen’ being one of them. Rudess is a restless mind when... Continue Reading →
Live report LONG DISTANCE CALLING, Seats & Sounds, Kulturkirche Altona, Hamburg – 06.04.2019
German post metal instrumentalists Long Distance Calling are creative minds, no doubt. Six longplayers, full of excellent songs, speak volume and so far a lot of the creativity was channeled and transferred into great music. After also having played many shows over the last years, the four-piece band from Münster, Germany decided to go for... Continue Reading →
CD review BORN FROM PAIN ‘True Love’
(9/10) This review might be a bit late since the album is already out for almost a couple of month, but it's that good that it's very much worth a review. I'm talking about 'True Love', newest longplayer of Dutch powerhouse Born From Pain. It' an album that wows for sure. Twenty years after having... Continue Reading →
RYKER’S unveil a new song
German hardcore veterans Ryker's revealed a new song entitled 'Let's Run the Scene'. This sonic wrecking ball is taken from the upcoming album 'The Beginning...', which will come on May 31st through BDHW Records. Photo: Sonja Leonhard Fotografie
CD review GODS FORSAKEN ‘Smells of Death’
(8/10) It looks like Swedish steam hammer Gods Forsaken being on an unofficial mission. The guys want to fight the brightness of spring with morbid darkness, at least they provide a soundtrack for the ones that aren't very much in to colours and light. 'Smells of Death' is the title of this deadly release, the... Continue Reading →
CD review ARRIVAL OF AUTUMN ‘Harbringer’
(8/10) Arrival Of Autumn, that's metal from Canada. This time it's neither the East Coast nor the West Coast that is home to a band. Arrival Of Autumn is hailing from Alberta. The five-piece powerhouse premiered in 2014 with 'Shadows', which was a self-released album that comprises of ten songs. After such a solid start... Continue Reading →









