(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 →
CD review THEM ‘Manor of the Se7en Gables’
(8/10) Describing Them as a Kind Diamond clone would be far too shortsighted. Of course, there are undeniable parallels, starting even with the band name, which reminds of the same-titled King Diamond masterpiece from 1988. But Them is more. The band premiered in 2016 with the ‘Sweet Hollow’ album, a release that came out of... Continue Reading →
Live report TARJA / STRATOVARIUS / SERPENTYNE, TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht – 07.10.2018
On a Sunday evening, Dutch highways led me to Utrecht. It was a Finnish package that drew my attention with former Nightwish singer Tarja and power metallers Stratovarius performing a co-headliner show under the header of ‘A Nordic Symphony ‘18’. Before the Finns entered the stage it was up to the London-based quintet Serpentyne to... Continue Reading →
CD review BEYOND CREATION ‘Algorythm’
(8/10) If you check Wikipedia for ‘algorithm’ you get the following answer: “In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm (/ˈælɡərɪðəm/ ) is an unambiguous specification of how to solve a class of problems.” Now, I’m not sure French-Canadian metalists Beyond Creation wants to solve a specific problem, but the new album definitely delivers to the... Continue Reading →
CD review DISTURBED ‘Evolution’
(8/10) Chicago-based rock powerhouse Disturbed released their latest album ‘Immortalized’ three years ago, which was the first album after a hiatus. The album was highly acclaimed by fans and media, which was a motivator enough for starting work on the seventh studio record. 2018 is the year when it happens - a new longplayer is... Continue Reading →









