Rock and Metal Album Reviews
North Atlantic Oscillation – Grapping Hooks Review
Following on from a highly successful tour with Porcupine Tree, ‘Grapping Hooks’ is the much anticipated debut album from Scottish Experimental / Progressive Rock trio North Atlantic Oscillation and it does not disappoint. The album is released on March 22nd through Kscope and features the single ‘Drawing Maps from Memory’ which has [...]
Falling Red – Shake The Faith Review
In an industry of manufactured one hit wonders, Falling Red, have produced quite possibly the most vital Rock album since Guns N Roses delivered Appetite For Destruction.
Super-charged high octane anthems that take you to the sleazy side of town, intoxicate you, then kick your ass UFC style. Falling Red aren’t Saturday evening family entertainment, they [...]
We The Kings – Smile Kid
Demi Lovato? You see as soon as I spell checked this review it threw up an error. More on that shortly. ‘Smile Kid’ is the sophmore album from American Pop-Rock ensemble We The Kings and starts off in suitably cheery style. It’s evident within the first 10 seconds that when adding the sugar to the [...]
The Smoking Hearts – Pride Of Nowhere
Clocking in at an impressively zippy 29ish mins, The Smoking Hearts debut kicks off and doesn’t let up until the final slide of ‘Message in a Molotov’.
It’s like an uninvited party crasher, opening track ‘Pride of Nowhere’ with its pick scrapes and feedback rattles your front door before the rest of the album crashes through [...]
Taking Dawn – Time To Burn
I am a huge fan of metal without a doubt but before the growling and shredding came into my life I grew up on good old fashioned rock and roll. That was until everyone starting wearing flannel and hating life while drinking coffee. Since that time there hasn’t really been anything on the rock scene [...]
Moloken – Our Astral Circle
Swedish newcomers Moloken are back with their latest full release “Our Astral Circle”. a follow-up to their `15 minute long one track EP “We All Face The Dark Alone” released last year. Now if you havent heard of Moloken before think slow, churning metal, verging on the edge of death metal and you’ve hit the spot were [...]
Converge – Axe To Fall Review
It’s difficult to describe the sound of Converge. From their first inception almost 20 years ago they have been producing aggressive music and never swaying from their initial vision. Whereas many bands deliver the standard pre release boasting about how ‘the new album is far heavier, our best work yet, the album we’ve always wanted [...]
Cinders Fall – The Reckoning
Cinders Fall are a 6 Piece metal band from Essex UK. we recently got hold of their second release “The Reckoning”. The Album to me is a mix of metal and death metal, not heavy enough to be classed as death metal, but with a vocal that wants to be in there.
The album starts off [...]
Soul Sanctuary – Afterlife
Soul Sanctuary are a six piece Alternative Metal Band from the South Coast of England, formed in 2008. Since the release of their début album “Afterlife” they have received an exceptional response from fans from across the world. In the process of developing their first professional video in conjunction with BBC editor and independent film [...]
Daath – The Concealers
I love this time of year, comparing the top albums of the year lists in various publications against the one in my head. It seems that a good chunk of what was on my metal radar didn’t show up on theirs. To that end I felt compelled to drag myself from under the mountain of [...]
Warpath – Damnation
Warpath are a UK based metal band, which since forming in 2003 have gone onto become one of the biggest up-coming unsigned UK metal bands currently around, having been voted ‘The Best Unsigned Band of the Year’ by Terrorizer magazine in January 2009, as well as having a #1 Music video on Scuzz TV. Due [...]
Triaxis – Key To The Kingdom
Triaxis is a Heavy Metal band from South Wales. Dedicated to being the very best that they can be, they give 100% to every gig and recording which is evidenced by their growing popularity on the live scene.
Continuing from the success of their 2008 EP Lord of the Northern Sky, Triaxis have recently launched their [...]
Forever Never – Self Titled
Forever Never are a Metal band from Essex, UK with something a little bit extra than your average metal band, drawing influences from a wider scope than you might expect. Rhythmical, heavy and dripping with melodic twists and technical turns, Forever never take inspiration from Meshuggah, Michael Jackson and Mint condition in equal measures.
The albums [...]
Jesaiah – Et Tu, Hope
Jesaiah are a swedish based hardcore metal band who hooked up in 2006, but have untill now found the thought of putting an album down intimidating. The band wanted to make an album that was diverse, but would hold together.
They collaborated for the first time with a producer to create Et Tu, Hope which was [...]
HeKz – Orfeo
HeKz are a band screeching and squealing out of england and straight into the new wave of traditional heavy metal with all the bombast and bravado of their heroes. The Bedfordshire based quartet, HeKz are hi-octane rockers with intricate and meandering epics, they’ll take you on a journey through all things musical and mythical without [...]
Nixa – Guerilla
Nixa are a 4 piece hard rock band from London that have been around for approximately the last 3 years. They have won praise from various press and publications including Kerrang, Rock Sound and the London Metro Newspaper, and have been referred to as “One of the top 10 unsigned acts in the UK today”. [...]
Fallen Fate – Revengance
I admit that I knew very little about Fallen Fate before now – an unsigned Thrash Metal Band from the North East UK. To my surprise however, upon starting the first track off of their début EP “Revengance” I immediately thought “Why aren’t these guys well-known?, or even signed to a label yet?!” – A question i’m [...]
Enemy Reign – Means to a dead end
Originating from Denver, Colorado, ENEMY REIGN is a band that does not adhere to the restrictions of a closed minded genre. Not afraid to draw influence from Early 90’s Death Metal, late 80’s Grindcore, East Coast Hardcore, and Bay Area Thrash, friends and fans have coined the term “metal for metalheads”
Metal for Metalheads this debut [...]
Them Crooked Vultures – Self Titled
So expectations are big for this album by Them Crooked Vultures, who if you haven’t heard of (by some miracle) consists of John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age).
Right out of the box the album kicks in with a killer song ‘No One Loves me & [...]
Sylosis – Conclusion of an Age
Sylosis are a band who have been around for quite a long time (I remember seeing them in the listings for The Marquee in Hertford and other such small venues around London about 2 or 3 years ago) but have only in the last 12 months or so started to garner the attention they arguably [...]