(8/10) Haken is a band that releases records on a quite regular base and after their first live album has been launched some months ago it is the next studio album that reaches the record stores end of October. 'Vector' is the fifth studio album of the London-based prog rockers and it's for sure an... Continue Reading →
CD review BLOODBATH ‘The Arrow of Satan is Drawn’
(8/10) 'The Arrow of Satan is Drawn' is album number two of the Nick Holmes era and it is the premiere of Craft guitarist Joakim Karlsson on the six-string guitar. Four years after 'Grand Morbid Funeral' alighted from the abyss it is the new album that delivers new morbid songs. Two oldschool smashers kick-off the album.... Continue Reading →
CD review NECRONOMICON ‘Unleashed Bastards’
(7/10) A few days ago German thrashers Necronomicon unveiled their newest album. 'Unleashed Bastards' is already album number nine in the band's discography. Things took its course in 1986 when the debut 'Necronomicon' has been released, followed by two additional records. Things slowed down in the 90's before Necronomicon gained speed again in the first decade of... Continue Reading →
CD review NORTHWARD ‘Northward’
(9/10) Northward is an exciting project that needed quite some time to grow. It was in 2008 when Dutch singer Floor Jansen and Pagan’s Mind guitarist Jorn Viggo Lofstad started to work together on new songs they planned to record and release under the banner of Northward. Due to busy agendas and other commitments, things... Continue Reading →
CD review METALLICA ‘… And Justice For All’ (Remastered)
(*/10) '...And Justice For All' was Metallica's fourth album and it became the most successful one up to that date. After 'Master of Puppets' manifested the move from the underground to a wider audience Metallica had to go through a tougher time. It was on September 27th, 1986 when the band had a bus accident... Continue Reading →
CD review WARREL DANE ‘Shadow Work’
(9/10) One of the most talented singers in metal, Warrel Dane, passed away on December 13th, 2017. The news hit the metal community hard. Grief and sadness were recognized everywhere. With his rather unique voice, Dane enriched albums of bands like Sanctuary and Nevermore and all of a sudden this voice became silent. Therefore you... Continue Reading →
CD review GINGER RED ‘Donuts and Coffee’
(7/10) The first thing you recognize when activating Google for a search for ‘ginger red’ is that you get a lot of links, most of them not leading you to this German rock outfit. It took a bit time to get some research material and the label info provided of course some good information too.... Continue Reading →
CD review FIFTH ANGEL ‘The Third Secret’
(9/10) 2018 is the year of two glorious comebacks of Seattle-based bands that released milestone records in metal during the 80’s. Prog masters Heir Apparent is one of them and Fifth Angel is the other one. The latter released a terrific debut in 1986. Songs like ‘In the Fallout’ and ‘Fifth Angel’ belong to the... Continue Reading →
CD review BONFIRE ‘Legends’
(*/10) German hardrocker Bonfire entered a rather successful new era a few years ago. The last three studio records showed a good development of a band that scored bigger achievements in the second half of the 80's when they toured with bands like Judas Priest. This time Bonfire unleashes a double CD with cover versions.... Continue Reading →
CD review ROYAL TUSK ‘Tusk II’
(8/10) I guess it was and is the ice-hockey team, Edmonton Oilers that brought the Canadian city on the agenda of people outside Canada and outside North America. I’m not an ice-hockey fan but even I know the name of Wayne Gretzky and nowadays it’s two Germans being part of the roster. But your right,... Continue Reading →
CD review EARTHLESS ‘From the West’
(8/10) If there would be an award for ‘Most live shows in one year’ I guess vintage rockers Earthless would be a more than a nominee. The guys have toured extensively in 2018 and what is more obvious than arranging some recording equipment and tape a show. The moment this idea turned into reality was... Continue Reading →
CD review PICTURE ‘Live – 40 Years Heavy Metal Ears – 1978-2018’
(*/10) Picture are real pioneers in heavy metal. The band, hailing from The Netherlands, was one of the first metal bands in Holland with a foundation date in 1978. In the meantime we are four decades further in time and Picture is still around. Already this fact is impressive since it demands a lot of... Continue Reading →
CD review SOULFLY ‘Ritual’
(8/10) The announcement of a new Soulfly album led to some curiosity, although the level of excitement wasn’t that sky high. This is mainly due to the fact that the last Soulfly releases didn’t have the firepower of the earlier album, like ‘Dark Age’ and the mind-blowing ‘Prophecy’. ‘Archangel’ showed a slight adjustment of direction... Continue Reading →
Live report SAXON / FM / RAVEN, TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht – 16.10.2018
Three live reports of the same band in one year doesn't happen that often. It's British metal pioneers Saxon that scored such a record on Markus' Heavy Music Blog. It was in February this year when Saxon played a show at 013 in Tilburg, followed by a headliner show at this years Rock Hard Festival.... Continue Reading →









