My World of Music – est. 2013
If you read some of my earlier reviews you noticed that I sometimes refer to the eye-level cooperation between singer and guitarist, being a decisive factor for an album becoming just good or even great. Demons & Wizards build exactly on this collaboration. Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kürsch and Iced Earth mainman Jon Schaffer are... Continue Reading →
Over the last years some German Trash Metal bands revitalized what started in the '80s and was put to sleep for some years. Assassin is one of these bands. The guys premiered with 'The Upcoming Terror' album in 1987 before the parted ways in 1989 after having pushed to sophomore album to the market. Since... Continue Reading →
Are you a fan of the early Kreator? Yes? Then you should check out Slaughter Messiah from Belgium. The quartet (L. Sabathan, Rod Iron Bitch, T. Exhumator, J.B.) listened and still listens to bands like Kreator and Sodom too, at least where it seems the inspiration comes from. 'Cursed to the Pyre' is the debut... Continue Reading →
Vinnie Moore belongs to a generation of shredding guitarist that boomed in the second half of the '80s. Especially 'Mind's Eye' and 'Time Odyssey' are great instrumental records to date, exciting longplayers for guitar heroes and jaw-dropping music for non-musicians. During his career, Moore contributed also to records of Alice Cooper and Vicious Rumors, next... Continue Reading →
In more than 3 decades Thrash Metal veterans Sepultura celebrated many victories but had to go through some periods of renewal also. The first big cut happened in 1986 when Max Cavalera left the band and it was twenty years later when his brother Igor parted ways with Sepultura too. The band had no other... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
From Dead Can Dance-like tribal atmospheres to futuristic sci-fi soundscapes, from lush and cinematic passages to a harsh distortion and massive futuristic soundscapes, the founding member and guitarist of Swedish metal masters Dark Tranquillity, Niklas Sundin, has not feared any musical borders with his first public foray into his solo-project, Mitochondrial Sun. The self-titled debut album will... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Markus' Heavy Music Blog 