(7/10) Having a look on the artwork of an album that shows a peaceful winter landscape is a refreshing moment on a day with 30 degrees celcius outside and the titel 'Talviyö', meaning 'winter night' in Finnish, amplifies it even. Besides these refreshing ingredients, Sonata Arctica's newest longplayer comes with more of a standard approach.... Continue Reading →
CD review TWILIGHT FORCE ‘Dawn of the Dragonstar’
(8/10) The more bands are busy with image, gimmicks and storytelling the higher is the risk of being distracted from paying attention to their music. In some cases this distraction is planned/welcomed but not in this specific case of Swedish dragon chasers Twilight Force. Three years after the six guys from Falun released ‘Heroes of... Continue Reading →
CD review ELVENKING ‘Reader of the Runes – Divination’
(8/10) Elvenking came into the picture in 1997 when singer Damna started the band. After having inked a deal with AFM Records the band premiered with ‘Heathenreal’ in 2001, the beginning of a fruitful cooperation over nearly two decades. 2019 is a kind of jubilee for Elvenking. Their new longplayer ‘Reader of the Runes –... Continue Reading →
CD review IVORY TOWER ‘Stronger’
(7/10) Ivory Tower, that's Progressive Metal hailing from Kiel, Germany. The quintet released four albums to date with 'IV' being the latest one. Eight years later and after having been gone through line-up changes the guys from Schleswig Holstein puts more wood on the metallic fire with longplayer number five. Frank Fasold (key) is the... Continue Reading →
CD review ENVENOMED ‘The Walking Shred’
(7/10) Australian Heavy Metal has a solid home base in Down Under. Bands like Mortal Sin paved the way for many (Thrash) Metal bands and it’s of course legendary AC/DC and Rose Tattoo that brought the fifth continent on everybody's Rock radar. Nowadays it’s the next generation, being in the starting blocks for their Metal... Continue Reading →
‘Extreme Power Metal’ by DRAGONFORCE
Dragonforce's new album caries the exciting title of 'Extreme Power Metal'. The album comes through earMUSIC and is available in the record stores on September 27th. Tracklist: 1. Highway to Oblivion2. Cosmic Power of the Infinite Shred Machine3. The Last Dragonborn4. Heart Demolition5. Troopers of the Stars6. Razorblade Meltdown7. Strangers8. In a Skyforged Dream9. Remembrance... Continue Reading →
CD review NARNIA ‘From Darkness to Light
(8/10) Narnia is the brainchild of Christian Liljegren and Carl Johan Grimmark who met in 1993 and after having seen a common musical vision Narnia was founded. 'Awakening' was the debut of the band with a release date in 1998. The first era of Narnia ended in 2010 when the band official announced their end.... Continue Reading →
CD review THE OFFERING ‘HOME’
(8/10) The Offering is a fairly new player in the fields of Metal. The band, hailing from Boston, MA, started in 2015 and consists out of Steve Finn (d), Nishad George (g), Alex Richichi (v) and Spencer Metela (b), the latter joining the band last year. The Offering has so far an EP in the... Continue Reading →
CD review V.A. ‘Live At Wacken 2018: 29 Years Louder Than Hell’
(*/10) The Wacken festival has a long tradition and it seem to become a tradition that a release with Wacken recordings creates some extra appetite right upfront the festival. This year it's 'Live At Wacken 2018: 29 Years Louder Than Hell' that looks back on the last years edition of the iconic Metal feast. Two... Continue Reading →
CD review MARTYR ‘Live in Japan’
(*/10) Martyr truly belongs to the pioneers when it comes to Dutch Heavy Metal. The band started in 1982, a time when Heavy Metal gained momentum and it was two albums the guys could add to the books. Matyr premiered with ‘For the Universe’ in 1985 and it was one year later that ‘Darkness at... Continue Reading →
CD review SABATON ‘The Great War’
(8/10) Almost to date three years after having released the successful ‘The Last Stand’-album award-decorated Swedish metal powerhouse Sabaton have a next album in the starting blocks. ‘The Great War’, is the title of Sabaton’s ninth full-length album and the guys pick it up where the left off with the previous longplayer. This time it’s... Continue Reading →
CD review RIOT V ‘Live in Japan 2018’
(*/10) Metal pioneers Riot V, formerly Riot, are a band that is one of the most under-rated bands in powerful Heavy Metal. The guys are inspiration to so many younger bands are rose to underground legends. Unfortunately the step from underground to the big stage never really happened. Records like ‘Fire Down Under’ and ‘Born... Continue Reading →
Exciting news from PSYCHOTIC WALTZ
Good news for fans of Prog Metal. Legendary Psychotic Waltz reunited with its original line-up in 2010. Now they signed with InsideOutMusic and announced a first studio album in 23 years. Release date is scheduled for early 2020 and the band comments: “We could not be happier about joining the InsideOutMusic roster! We are very... Continue Reading →









