Overlorde unleashed a self-titled EP back in 1988 right before the first era of the New Jersey-based band came to an end. The new century brought a return of the four-piece and a full-length album called ‘Return of the Snow Giant’ brought also new songs to the metal community. With ‘Awaken the Fury’, Overlorde launched... Continue Reading →
Review MASTER ‘Saints Dispelled’
Master belong to the forerunners of death metal with Paul Speckmann being the driving force. The start of the band wasn’t the beginning of a straight-forward adventure as the band disbanded even before a debut album hit the record stores. This happened though a few year later after a restart. The self-titled debut was released... Continue Reading →
Review RUTHLESS ‘The Fallen’
Ruthless hail from Los Angeles, California where the band started in 1982. It was a time, when a bit north of Los Angeles, in San Francisco’s Bay Area, bands like Metallica started their journey and together with bands like Slayer and Exodus became forerunners of thrash metal at the time. While these bands faced an... Continue Reading →
Review SAXON ‘Hell, Fire and Damnation’
That Saxon belongs to the flagships of traditional heavy metal is well-known. With a founding date back in 1978, Saxon is one of the pioneers of an entire genre and a strong protagonist in the NWoBHM. A major change happened though in the early 2023, when long-time member and guitarist Paul Quinn announced his retirement... Continue Reading →
Review LORD DYING ‘Clandestine Transcendence’
Lord Dying hail from Portland, Oregeon and their debut album ‘Summon the Faithless’ hit the shelves in 2013, following two EPs. ‘Sludge’ is still what you hear and read often in the context of Lord Dying and of course, songs like the throbbing ‘Final Push Into the Sun’ show the doomy rawness of sludge. But... Continue Reading →
Review METALITE ‘Expedition One’
Metalite was founded 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden and since then three longplayers hit the shelves. With ‘Expedition One’ the next record waits in line with a scheduled release mid-January this year. The band is very much into melodic metal and has, like many Swedish bands, an excellent feel for big melodies reflected by the sixteen... Continue Reading →
Review LIFESICK ‘Love and Other Lies’ (EP)
Lifesick was formed in 2015 and hail from Frederica, a smaller town in Denmark. The band premiered a year later with an album called ‘6.0.1’. ‘Swept in Black’ followed in 2018 and it was ‘Misanthropy’ that found its way to the record stores in 2022. These release brought the band to the attention of Metal... Continue Reading →
Review SCANNER ‘The Cosmic Race’
Scanner belong to the second wave of German power- and melodic speed metal bands that caught people's attention in the late 80s. While it was bands like Helloween who created the blueprint, it was Scanner from Gelsenkirchen who presented a thoroughly remarkable debut with 'Hypertrace' in 1988. With 'Terminal Earth', the outer spacer metallers managed... Continue Reading →
Review UPON STONE ‘Dead Mother Moon’
If you look at the artwork of this record, you might think it's a dragon and knight release. But you could also think of bands like Amon Amarth and this comparison is certainly more accurate for Upon Stone, even though the guys from San Fernando, CA are dedicated to a slightly different version of death... Continue Reading →
Review MAGNUM ‘Here Comes the Rain’
It's almost becoming a beloved tradition that a new album by Magnum is released at the beginning of a new year. Since 'Sacred Blood Divine Lies', which was unleashed at the beginning of February, all of the following records hit the record stores in January and the newest album 'Here Comes the Rain' doesn't break... Continue Reading →
Review EKTOMORF ‘Vivid Black’
Ektomorf belongs to the bands, that are around since decades and polarizes. For some, the band of mainman Zoltan "Zoli" Farkas is copy-cat of bands like Sepultura and Soulfly. For others, the groove-based metal is a much-appreciated metal experience since the band’s start in 1993. Now, Ektomorf is around for three decades which shows passion... Continue Reading →
Review INCULTER ‘Morbid Origin’
Norway is known for their black metal scene and still there are also bands, hailing from the country in the North-West of Europe that are at home in other heavy subgenres. One of these bands is Inculter from Fusa. The band started in 2012 and released with ‘Persisting Devolution’ a debut album in 2015. With... Continue Reading →
Review HEAVY LOAD ‘Riders of the Ancient Storm’
Heavy Load are hailing from Stockholm, Sweden and unleash with ‘Riders of the Ancient Storm’ their fourth album. “Ancient” is in this case more than solely a word in the album title. The Swedes started in 1976 and the first three longplayers have seen the light of day between 1978 and 1983. After a very... Continue Reading →
Review CHILDREN OF BODOM ‘The Final Show in Helsinki Ice Hall 2019’
Look who is back. Santa Claus? Maybe. The Reaper? Yes! It was three years ago that Alexi Laiho passed away far too early at the age of 39. A thing that for sure remains is the music Laiho brought to the plate, making Children Of Bodom to one of the most respected melodic death metal... Continue Reading →
Review IMMORTAL GUARDIAN ‘Unite and Conquer’
Immortal Guardian started in 2008 and what began slowly with a couple of demos and EP led finally to a full-length debut album in 2018. Since then, though, the time span between releases shortened dramatically into a 2-3 years pattern of new records by the band. ‘Unite and Conquer’ is the tile of the bands... Continue Reading →






