Tag Archives: album reviews

EP REVIEW: Ihsahn – Fascination Street Sessions

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Ihsahn is a true living musical legend who helped shaped the modern symphonic sound of Black Metal with his work across the four albums Emperor produced between 1994 and 2001, particularly with their debut In The Nightside Eclipse which is perhaps the quintessential release of the genre. And although Emperor are still of course touring and Ihsahn has in the 2000’s released music with his Thou Shalt Suffer and Peccatum projects, the focus for the Norwegian musician has undoubtedly been on developing his solo career.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Mork – Dypet

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At this point, I’m really not sure if Norwegians are resilient, tough, or just plain masochistic. Three months into a year that has already seen record-low temperatures set across the globe and they seem quite happy to let it stay that way. Forget thoughts of spring or summer, Thomas Eriksen, the mastermind behind black metal act Mork, seemingly wants the world to remain in perpetual winter, grimmer and more frostbitten than your average Immortal video.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Gideon – More Power More Pain

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Eschewing hip-hop elements and influences, Alabama hardcore outfit Gideon returns with a metallic, crunchy slugfest that is More Power More Pain (Rude Records/Equal Vision), the bruisers’ sixth full-length record.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Downfall Of Gaia – Silhouettes Of Disgust

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At the time of writing a look out of the window reveals overcast and grey skies, whilst as quick a glance at the news is equally as bleak and miserable. It is hard to pay attention to the discourse in the world right now and not feel some combination of anger and hopelessness.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Kamelot – The Awakening

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Five years after the release of their previous studio album The Shadow Theory, US-based, multinational Power Metal legends Kamelot return with the appropriately titled The Awakening (Napalm). The symphonic act’s thirteenth studio album sees the addition of German drummer Alex Landenburg to the band’s ranks, while Swedish vocalist Tommy Karevik has now been fully and completely assimilated, the ghost of former frontman Roy Khan now just a happy memory, as Tommy delivers arguably his strongest and most versatile performance to date.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Foretoken – Triumphs

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In late 2020, Foretoken warned the entire world of one thing: the Virginia Beach-based duo is on a mission to completely shake up the status quo. Three years later, Triumphs (Prosthetic Records) is proof positive the mission is so far a smashing success.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Story of the Year – Tear Me To Pieces

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Nostalgia has gripped the wrist of time and slung every once-angsty teen back into the mid-noughties. There is an ongoing resurgence of beloved emo, alt-rock, post-Hardcore, and Pop-Punk acts flooding stages and fests again. Hopefully, the remaining slots are many because Story of the Year is another to add to the emo revival.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Majesties – Vast Reaches Unclaimed

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The Swedish death metal scene, especially the Gothenburg-based one with quintessential names like At the Gates, Entombed, and Dark Tranquility surrounding, is indeed all-around influential; many bands heavily inspired by the Gothenburg death metal scene have emerged throughout the past years. The Minneapolis-bound Majesties is one of the said bands. With members originating from the equally groundbreaking extreme metal acts Obsequiae and Inexorum, there was born a convergence, an allied force between those two acts– which is Majesties who recently have just released their first full-length entitled Vast Reaches Unclaimed, through 20 Buck Spin.

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EP REVIEW: Dirge – Dirge

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When an EP is presented, it’s easy to cast it off as a minor installment added to a band’s overall body of work. But Dirge composed four independent, uniquely structured tracks that makes their self-released, self-titled opus bigger and more complex than what the runtime would suggest.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Nanowar of Steel – Dislike To False Metal

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Once upon a time in a faraway land called The Eighties, heavy metal fans had long hair, wore denim and leather, possessed a fierce aversion to all forms of hygiene products, and had absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever. So what? if your favourite bands wore assless chaps, furry loincloths, or looked like an explosion in a clown factory. That was fine. It was metal and metal was serious.

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