W.O.A. plants 5,000 trees in Brazil

In view of the horrifying images of burning forests, the team of the Wacken Open Air decided in December 2019 to refrain from sending the usual physical Christmas greetings. Instead, the metal festival joined forces with the German branch of World Wide Fundfor Nature (WWF) and the Instituto Terra to initiate a fundraising campaign in benefit of the Mata Atlantica region in the Brazilian rainforest. The declared purpose of this campaign was the reforestation of an... Continue Reading →

29. January 2020

CD review MARKO HIETALA ‘Pyre of the Black Heart’

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 →

29. January 2020

CD review DEFILED ‘Infinite Regress’

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 →

28. January 2020

CD review MIDNIGHT ‚Rebirth by Blasphemy‘

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 →

27. January 2020

CD review PYOGENESIS ‘A Silent Soul Screams Loud’

'A Silent Soul Screams Loud' is the final chapter of Pyogenesis' trilogy that began in 2015 with 'A Century In the Curse of Time'. Two years later "A Kingdom to Disappear' picked it up where part 1 ended and now it's up to the new longplayer to finish off the story. As the prvious parts... Continue Reading →

26. January 2020

CD review HIGHER POWER ’27 Miles Underwater’

Higher Power release these days their sophomore longplayer '27 Miles Underwater'. 3 years after having premiered with 'Soul Structure' the guys from Leeds, UK reveal a package of eleven new songs, all mainly based on Hardcore. However, Higher Power has more in the offer, since they merge several styles and genres to a sound that... Continue Reading →

25. January 2020

CD review PAUL DI’ANNO ‘Hell Over Waltrop – Live in Germany’

This live album belongs to the more unusual ones of its kind. First and foremost the concert, being the base for this release, took place in 2006 in Waltrop, Germany. So why is the release 14 years later. The concert was part of the Parkfest festival that featured a wider range of sounds, incl. bands... Continue Reading →

24. January 2020

CD review DAWN OF SOLACE ‘Waves’

14 years after having premiered with 'The Darkness', Dawn Of Solace returns with the sophomore release 'Waves'. Dawn Of Solace, that's basically the project of Tuomas Saukkonen (Wolfheart) who found with Mikko Heikkilä a great singer for the clean vocals on 'Waves' and after having focussed on Wolfheart the Finn revitalized Dawn Of Solace. Dawn... Continue Reading →

23. January 2020

CD review ANVIL ‘Legal at Last’

What to tell you about a new album of Canadian Metal pioneers Anvil? If you haven't lived under a rock over the last decades you're familiar with the trio from maple-leaf country and even-though you might heard very little of Anvil's music you at least saw the documentary 'The Story of Anvil', I guess. Lips,... Continue Reading →

22. January 2020

CD review PORTA NIGRA ‘Schöpfungswut’

'Schöpfungswut' is the 3rd longplayer of German Black Metal outfit Porta Nigra, a band that began in 2010 in Koblenz. Four years after the sophomore release 'Kaiserschnitt' saw the light of day it's the new album marking a slight change when it comes to the sound of the band. Porta Nigra is know for avantgarde-ish... Continue Reading →

20. January 2020

New …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OD DEAD album is available

It took five years for ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead to release their new album. Last Friday the wait came to an end, it was release date of 'X: The Godless Void and Other Stories', a new 12 songs comprising longplayer of the Austin, Texas based duo. The tracklist looks... Continue Reading →

19. January 2020

CD review SERIOUS BLACK ‘Suite 226’

It was three years ago when German/US metallers Serious Black released the 'First Light'-album and it became a bit quiet around the band lately. However, the buzz is getting louder again these days with the band having a new album in the pipeline and capturing a support slot on the upcoming Hammerfall tour. Serious Black's... Continue Reading →

19. January 2020

POWERWOLF announce ‘Best of the Blessed’

Powerwolf faced a stellar ascend over the last years with one highlight leading to a next one. The 15th anniversary is a good moment to celebrate all the achievement and what would be better to doe it with a retrospective. 'Best of the Blessed' is doing exactly this, celebrating 15 years in Heavy Metal. A... Continue Reading →

18. January 2020

CD review ANNIHILATOR ‘Ballistic, Sadistic’

Canadian guitar wizard Jeff Waters started Annihilator more than 30 years ago. He and the band went through all the ups and downs in Metal, surviving even the challenging '90s and to me there are two main factors for this decades-bridging success. There is Waters' 100% dedication to Metal, an energy that he never lost... Continue Reading →

18. January 2020