(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 →
CD review THE SKULL ‘The Endless Road Turns Dark’
(9/10) Doom masters The Skull premiered not that long ago. OK, it was in 2014 when “For Those Which are Asleep’ hit the record stores, an album that was equally acclaimed by fans and media. One of the reasons for success was and is an experienced gang of musicians that came together to do what... Continue Reading →
Track-by-Track: UNDERTOW ‘Reap the Storm’
German metal veterans Undertow spend quite some time in the studio for recording their next power strike, entitled 'Reap the Storm'. The album will be released on September 21st, via El Puerto Records. Markus 'Brandy' Brand and Joachim 'Joschi' Baschin spend some time with Markus Heavy Music Blog and did a track-by-track session, giving more... Continue Reading →
CD review CAULDRON ‘New Gods’
(8/10) Toronto, Ontario is the homebase of rock and metal outfit Cauldron, a band that is around since 2006. The guys are a regular guest on the release schedule overview with in total four albums that saw the light of day to date. After ‘In Ruin’ hit the shelves in 2016 it was time for... Continue Reading →
CD review ENTIERRO ‘Entierro’
(7/10) Entierro is an interesting band, hailing from Connecticut. The outfit, that originally started as Treebeard in 2010, is consisting of Christopher Taylor Beaudette (v/b), Christopher Begnal (g), Dave Parmelee (d) and Victor Arduini (g), the latter known from his time with metal pioneers Fates Warning. This quartet recorded an album that features eight songs,... Continue Reading →
CD review METAL ALLEGIANCE ‘Volume II – Power Drunk Majesty’
(9/10) Metal Allegiance is nothing less than the who is who in metal. The all-star project, that in the meantime evolved to a band setup, is built on the core band itself with the four founding members, Alex Skolnik, Mark Menghi, Mike Portnoy and David Ellefson. Things began with a performance on the Motörboat Cruise in... Continue Reading →
CD review SOURCE ‘Source’ – re-issue
(9/10) Don’t get confused while thinking about Source from Sweden. There are two bands with this moniker, while this one here is the epic metal powerhouse. Source is the brainchild of former Portrait axeman Richard Lagergren. After having left Portrait in 2012 the guitarist immediately started to work on an own band – Source. To... Continue Reading →









