The winter storms blow a new release from the North towards Europe. Norwegian Black Metal icon Ihsahn is the sender of this ice cold and blackened breeze from Telemarken, home to him and source of inspiration for this EP. 'Telemark' is dark and ferocious. Although 'Nord' comes with a harmonic solo part it's Ihsahn's vocals... Continue Reading →
CD review GOD DETHRONED ‘Illuminati’
God Detroned, that's the brainchild of Henri Sattler who started the band in 1991 in Beilen, The Netherlands. Since then the story of God Dethroned is a scattered one when it comes to the existence of the band. It's a bit of an on/off thing that follows the band with the latest return to the... Continue Reading →
CD review LORDI ‘Killection’
Finnish Rock/Metal monsters Lordi are nearly 3 decades in business, which shows that there must be a bigger fanbase out there, appreciating the heavy monster show. And not to forget in this context the participation at the Eurovision song contest in 2006 that gave Mr. Lordi and his buddies a great platform for reaching a... Continue Reading →
CD review PSYCHOTIC WALTZ ‘The God Shaped Void’
The almost impossible happened. 23 years after having released their latest longplayer to date, Psychotic Waltz returns to the scene with a new record. 'The God-Shaped Void' is the title of the bands 5th album that ends an extremely long waiting time. And not only that the quintet delights fans of Progressive Metal with new... Continue Reading →
CD review BERZERKER LEGION ‘Obliterate the Weak’
If you ask Wikipedia about the term ‘berserker’ you will get the following definition: “In the Old Norse written corpus, berserkers were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word berserk (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). And if you... Continue Reading →
CD review THE SPIRIT ‘Cosmic Terror’
The Spirit has with ‘Sounds of the Vortex’ a great debut out on the market and now the trio takes with ‚Cosmic Terror‘ a bold next step that certainly helps them to win over even new fans and metalheads. The Spirit, a name to keep in mind for the coming years.
CD review MARKO HIETALA ‘Pyre of the Black Heart’
Nightwish-protagonist Marko Hietala is a restless mind when it comes to Rock and Metal. Not only that there are quite some activities ongoing with the mothership, it’s also guest appearances and Tarot, his own band, that filled-/ fills Hietala’s agenda. What was missing up till now is a solo album of the well-known Finnish musician,... Continue Reading →
CD review DEFILED ‘Infinite Regress’
Japan isn‘t that much known for a bigger pool of Death Metal bands. More traditional Metal bands like Loudness and Anthem could get a foot into the door to the European Metal scene during the ‘80s before nowadays bands like Babymetal take over. But since a few years Defiled can be seen as a forerunner... Continue Reading →
CD review MIDNIGHT ‚Rebirth by Blasphemy‘
Latest since Slayer‘s ‚Reign in Blood‘ we all know that a great Metal album isn‘t about running time. You can tell the story in 30 minutes and still deliver a full blast. Why am I telling this? Midnight‘s new longplayer ‚Rebirth By Blasphemy ‘ doesn‘t belong to the epically long records either and still contains... Continue Reading →
CD review PYOGENESIS ‘A Silent Soul Screams Loud’
'A Silent Soul Screams Loud' is the final chapter of Pyogenesis' trilogy that began in 2015 with 'A Century In the Curse of Time'. Two years later "A Kingdom to Disappear' picked it up where part 1 ended and now it's up to the new longplayer to finish off the story. As the prvious parts... Continue Reading →
CD review HIGHER POWER ’27 Miles Underwater’
Higher Power release these days their sophomore longplayer '27 Miles Underwater'. 3 years after having premiered with 'Soul Structure' the guys from Leeds, UK reveal a package of eleven new songs, all mainly based on Hardcore. However, Higher Power has more in the offer, since they merge several styles and genres to a sound that... Continue Reading →
CD review PAUL DI’ANNO ‘Hell Over Waltrop – Live in Germany’
This live album belongs to the more unusual ones of its kind. First and foremost the concert, being the base for this release, took place in 2006 in Waltrop, Germany. So why is the release 14 years later. The concert was part of the Parkfest festival that featured a wider range of sounds, incl. bands... Continue Reading →
CD review DAWN OF SOLACE ‘Waves’
14 years after having premiered with 'The Darkness', Dawn Of Solace returns with the sophomore release 'Waves'. Dawn Of Solace, that's basically the project of Tuomas Saukkonen (Wolfheart) who found with Mikko Heikkilä a great singer for the clean vocals on 'Waves' and after having focussed on Wolfheart the Finn revitalized Dawn Of Solace. Dawn... Continue Reading →
CD review ANVIL ‘Legal at Last’
What to tell you about a new album of Canadian Metal pioneers Anvil? If you haven't lived under a rock over the last decades you're familiar with the trio from maple-leaf country and even-though you might heard very little of Anvil's music you at least saw the documentary 'The Story of Anvil', I guess. Lips,... Continue Reading →
CD review THE RAGGED SAINTS ‘Sonic Playground Revisited’
'Sonic Playground Revisited’ brings some musical color into a grey winter season. It might be that you miss some vitamin D due to a lack of sunlight, but at least you will get some ‘vitamin rock’ with this album which helps to bridge the months until spring breaks through.









