ALBUM RE-ISSUES BOXSET REVIEW: Voivod – Forgotten In Space


 

One of the most influential thrash metal acts of the eighties, progressive Canadians Voivod have never been content with sitting back and churning out the same record over and over again. A constant desire for change and reinvention has meant the quartet from Jonquière, Quebec has had to endure much unnecessary and often ludicrous pigeon-holing over the years. Post-Thrash. Punk. Speed. Proto-Industrial. Avant-Garde. Progressive. And even Nuclear Metal (whatever that is).

Continue reading


Tankard – Zombie Attack, Chemical Invasion, The Morning After Reissues


For too many years, Frankfurt alcohol aficionados Tankard had been unfairly excluded from the German Thrash Metal elite, the so-called “Teutonic Trio” of Kreator, Destruction, and Sodom. However, if you knock long enough, eventually you’ll be let in, and finally a few years ago the big boys club opened its doors to the drunken four-piece who had been impatiently waiting outside, pissing on the door handle and vomiting in the bushes.Continue reading


Skyclad – Classic Albums Reissued


The second mouse gets the cheese” is a maxim which pretty much sums up the career of UK Folk Metal innovators Skyclad in a depressingly pithy nutshell. The first band to be labeled with the now commonly used Folk Metal tag, their pagan image, costumes, and use of fiddles seemed to constantly draw nothing but unwarranted mockery from certain quarters.Continue reading


Running Wild – Blazon Stone, Pile Of Skulls, Black Hand Inn, Masquerade Reissues


If ‘Riding The Storm’ from Death or Glory, the album that closed the first chapter of Running Wild’s career as well as being the chronological end of the first batch of Noise Records/BMG’s reissues, saw the band absolutely perfect their main songwriting style, sixth album Blazon Stone saw them kick off a run of unprecedented consistency and quality. By now armed with a recognisable, cohesive and distinct sound, for the next four albums, Rock n’ Rolf dragged Running Wild to a level of Heavy Metal excellence that, though predictable stylistically, was welcomed with open arms, raised horns and strained voices. During this period, Running Wild became masters at their craft, even if they had not yet perfected the art of the photo shoot (seriously… the Labyrinth style costumes and volumized bouffants have not aged well…)Continue reading


Running Wild – Gates To Purgatory, Branded and Exiled, Under Jolly Roger, Port Royal, Death Or Glory Reissues


For some of us Heavy Metal fans of a certain vintage, there exists a memory most tactile and warm; that of visiting record shops that sold vinyl by the rack load, and bloody cheap too. And one Saturday morning while absconding from Spanish GCSE duties, I stumbled up Running Wild’s Branded and Exiled in Time Records, going for less than the cost of a portion of chips (an additional option that was no doubt taken up later in the day).Continue reading


Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales, To Mega Therion, Into The Pandemonium, Vanity/Nemesis, Innocence & Wrath REISSUES


While most Thrash fans during the ’80s were concentrating on the burgeoning scenes in the US, Germany, and to a lesser extent, the UK, bands from a number of other, slightly less fashionable, countries were also getting in on the act. Sepultura were a first glimpse of Brazilian Thrash, Canada gave us Annihilator, Razor, and Voivod, Australian act Mortal Sin looked set to make it big for a while, while the terminally underrated Artillery arrived from Denmark.Continue reading


Kreator – Endless Pain, Pleasure To Kill, Terrible Certainty, Extreme Aggression REISSUES


When presented with the age old question of which bands would make up a second “Big Four” (and after much yawning, eye-rolling and muttering “Oh God, not this again”), it’s safe to say that a large majority of Thrash fans would include Kreator somewhere on their lists. Formed in Essen, Germany in 1982, the band went through a series of name changes (Metal Militia, Tyrant, and Tormentor) before finally settling on the moniker which has seen them become not only one of the most unrelentingly vicious acts on the scene, but also one of the most consistent.Continue reading


Celtic Frost Delve Into The Crypts… Details of Classic Reissues Announced


Continuing their programme of re-releasing the seminal works of German metal label Noise Records, BMG turn their attention next to the founders of Avantgarde Metal, and one of the greatest and most influential bands in the history of heavy music, Celtic Frost. Continue reading


Voivod – RRRÖÖÖAAARRR, Killing Technology, Dimension Hatröss RE-MASTERS


It’s hard to believe there was a time when Voivod took top billing above the likes of Soundgarden and Faith No More, but in 1990 that’s exactly what happened. The Canadian Thrash Metal pioneers were at the top of their game and seemed almost unstoppable, their lofty position due in no small part to the trifecta of albums which had preceded the release they were touring at the time – 1989’s Nothingface (MCA); an unholy trio of seminal albums that have been lovingly re-mastered and re-released by BMG.Continue reading