(8/10) Even though Kaiserslautern, Germany has no geographical connection to the sea, it’s Hammer King that got inspired by the ocean. The band, consisting out some Ivory Night members, is fronted by former Ross The Boss singer Titan Fox V. In contrary to the assumption of a Manowar copycat and in contrary to the debut, Joey... Continue Reading →
CD review MAYAN ‘Dhyana”
(9/10) Dutch powerhouse MaYan is back with a new longplayer. It’s not that the band released many records over the last years, but it’s the quality of each of the albums that’s stunning. After having debuted in 2011 with ‘Quaterpast’ the band unveiled their next strike with ‘Antagonise’ in 2014. Both records were critically acclaimed... Continue Reading →
CD review STRATOVARIUS ‘ENIGMA: Intermission 2’
(8/10) I guess that most of you are familiar with Stratovarius' 'Intermission' album from 2001. The record was a compilation that mainly featured live recordings, B-sides and bonus tracks of the Finnish powerhouse. 17 years later, Stratovarius reveals a new album and it's called 'Enigma: Intermission 2'. As with part one, also volume 2 comprises... Continue Reading →
CD review ACE MAFIA ‘Ace Mafia’
(8/10) Ace Mafia is a hard rock band, hailing from the UK. The band was founded by Geos Letona and it was now less the current Judas Priest axeman Richie Faulkner that played with Ace Mafia for several years. In March 2010 the band’s debut ‘Vicious Circle’ was released, supported by some live shows. Faulkner... Continue Reading →
CD review IRON LAMB ‘Blue Haze’
(7/10) Swedish Iron Lamb will release their newest longplayer end of October. ‘Blue Haze’ is the crucial album number three in the bands history and follows ‘Fool’s Gold’, which saw the light of day in 2015. The new record isn’t an album that’s extremely overloaded with songs. Actually it’ a rather limited amount of music... Continue Reading →
CD review MAXXWELL ‘Metalized’
(7/10) ‘Metalized’ is the title of Maxxwell’s newest strike and I must say that the name fits very well. Nearly four years after ‘Tabula Rasa’ has been released the band continues their journey towards harder sounds. Starting as a more hardrock-oriented band, the guys already made a first move towards metal with 'Tabula Rasa'. The... Continue Reading →
CD review BLACK VIPER ‘Hellions on Fire’
(8/10) It’s not that often that something else than black metal hits the plate when it comes to new releases from Norway. I’m not that much aware of many thrash- and speed metal band hailing from there, but here is one. Black Viper has its home base in Oslo and releases a first album mid-September... Continue Reading →
CD review THE UNITY ‘Rise’
(8/10) It was a year ago when German-Italian metalers The Unity debuted with a self-titled album. The Unity is the brainchild of two Gamma Ray members, Henjo Richter and Michael Ehre. The debut received very good feedback, from media and fans, with some touring activities helping the band to establish themselves in the German metal... Continue Reading →
CD review UNDERTOW ‘Reap the Storm’
(9/10) A lot of things happened since Undertow released their seventh album „In Deepest Silence“. A line-up change took place in 2017 when longtime member Thomas Jentsch left Undertow and a successor needed to be found rather quickly. At that time recording activities have been planned already and things shouldn‘t face major delays. Fortunately Andreas... Continue Reading →
CD review DREAM CHILD ‘Until Death Do We Meet Again’
(8/10) It’s not by conincidents that Dream Child sounds very much like ‘Dream Evil’. The moniker is inspired by the Dio album and “Dream Child’ was Goldy’s nickname from these days. So far so good, but let’s begin from start. Dream Child is a new metal formation that comprises of some scene veterans and like... Continue Reading →
CD review BLACK MAJESTY ‘Children of the Abyss’
(7/10) Black Majesty, hailing from Australia, is a band that releases albums on a very regular base. The guys provide new melodic metal songs in a three years pattern and since the latest longplayer ‘Cross of Throns’, has been launched in 2015 it’s time for a new longplayer in 2018. That's the math an here... Continue Reading →
CD review TANTARA ‘Sum of Forces’
(8/10) It was six years ago when Norwegian thrashers Tantara debuted with 'Based on Evil'. The band, that was founded in 2009, takes its inspiration from the 80's thrash era, proving in the here and now that thrash metal is as vital and lively as it was back then. This September the quartet returns with... Continue Reading →
CD review MANIMAL ‘Purgatorio’
(8/10) Gothenburg is known for a vital metal scene. Death metal and especially the melodic version of this extreme metal genre has a solid homebase in Sweden’s’ second biggest city. But the epicenter of Swedish metal has more in the offer. Also more traditional based metal is hailing from Gothenburg and one ambassador in Manimal.... Continue Reading →
CD review OMNIUM GATHERUM ‘The Burning Cold’
(8/10) Finnish metallers Omnium Gatherum didn’t sit around doing nothing during the last years. After having released the well-acclaimed ‘Grey Heavens’ album in 2016, the sextet went on tour and afterwards back to the studio for recording their eight longplayer. ‘The Burning Cold’ will be unleashed late August this year and it might become the... Continue Reading →








