The sophomore slump. When a second offering is vastly inferior to a high quality initial offering. The Jaws 2 syndrome. Or RGIII. There aren’t many things in the world more disappointing then a terrible follow up effort. You know it very well in the music world. When an artist breaks […]
You know I often wonder to myself, “how can anyone dislike fantasy power metal?” Yes the cheese factor is higher than a family platter at the annual mouse of the year convention. But it just brings such epic joy. New release Viribus Unitis from Austria’s Dragony is a prime example […]
Horror punk power couple Anders and Davallia Manga release their new album Songs of Unspeakable Terror. Creatures of the night come take your place amongst the living. Mortal beings beware. Retro horror punk is the name of the game here from Bloody Hammers. With the return of the Swedish buzzsaw […]
In a previous article I looked at 5 notoriously criticised albums which deserved a second chance. I got thinking more about 2 of them. That being Load and Reload by thrash metal titans Metallica. One of the problems with these albums is that they are a bit jumbled in their […]
Ahoy there Scumbags and Wenches, I be presenting thee the sunken treasure that is the Essential Guide to Pirate Metal. Worry not, I shall reluctantly be using contemporary English to write this guide. Taking a Russian-doll approach to metal classification (a sub-genre within a sub-genre), Pirate Metal is a sub-segment […]
So here we come to the first review of 2021. In a particularly sharp cold spell here in the UK it is fitting that we start with an album called Crypt Of Ice. 2021 was supposed to be the start of a resurgence after the – to put it mildly […]
At the forefront of Viking themed melodic death metal, Sweden’s windmill masters Amon Amarth have transitioned their sound through their career. Beginning very much in a raw blackened death metal style, they eventually made their big melodeath breakthrough on 2004’s Twilight of the Thunder God. Turning up the melody, this […]
After the turmoil the world went through in 2020, it is fitting to now look forward to 2021. I am cautiously optimistic that we will resume to some sort of normality this year. Either way we have plenty to look forward to. Like the proverbial Phoenix we have some new […]
You have no doubt been involved in a conversation where a version of the following question has been asked; “If you could only take 10 albums with you to a desert island to listen to forevermore, what would you take?” Which is just a fancy way of saying what is […]
The golden age of nu metal is somewhere between 1996 and 2003. After the breakthrough of Korn‘s debut album in 1994, it was their release of Life Is Peachy in 1996 when nu metal began to hit the mainstream. In 1997 we had Coal Chamber and Limp Bizkit‘s debut albums. […]
