Category Archives: Album Reviews

ALBUM REVIEW: Prophets of Rage – Prophets Of Rage

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Once in a while, the art that society needs to help it pull through collective dark times comes along right at the precise time. In another life, that album would have been a new album from a reunited Rage Against The Machine, the legendary rap-rock band. However, what we’ve got instead is the début full-length album from Prophets of Rage, the supergroup with members of Rage, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill added in for good measure. After an EP and a slew of singles telegraphing the powder keg of potential greatness to come had dropped, the full meal real deal thing is here. Forget about the quarter of the album already released, and the hype train pulling into the station. Prophets of Rage, may not save the world, but they coming out swinging, making damn sure they will try.Continue reading →


Ensiferum – Two Paths

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If you have even the slightest interest in Viking Folk Metal, then you are sure to have heard of Ensiferum. Formed in 1995, the Finnish five-piece took six years to release their eponymously titled début album, but quickly built up a reputation as one of the major players on the scene. A lofty position they still find themselves in today.Continue reading →


Belphegor – Totenritual

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The numbers don’t seem to quite add up here. If you look at Belphegor’s latest studio album, Totenritual (Nuclear Blast), on paper it appears to be winner. The production and mix is airtight, drum and guitar tones are punched in exactly where they should be, and Belphegor is nothing if not an extreme metal institution. But despite all of that, many of the tracks displayed on Totenritual just don’t pop or speak to me. Continue reading →


Myrkur – Mareridt

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In three short years, Danish singer-songwriter Amelie Bruun has already achieved what many fail to do across a lengthy career, and that is to create art that is interesting and distinctive. With Mareridt (Relapse Records), under the banner of her Myrkur project, she is releasing an album where there is genuine curiosity as to both how it will sound, but also whether she will be able to stride further into a more “mainstream” conscience (the use of the term mainstream being applied quite liberally here… this is unusual and uncompromising music, lest we forget). Continue reading →


Stray From The Path – Only Death Is Real

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Politics and music have always gone hand in hand and the current state of unrest in America is hard to ignore, no matter which side of the coin you choose. No band in metal are therefore more prepared to highlight and the ongoing issues than Long Island New York’s Stray From The Path (SFTP) whose new album Only Death Is Real (Sumerian) is a statement of intent from band that have never and will never pull any punches.Continue reading →


Akercocke – Renaissance in Extremis

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So, Akercocke, it’s been a while; you’ve been missed, welcome back. Trailblazers in their genre, and firm cult favourites Akercocke left a massive hole in both the scene and our cold black hearts when they went on hiatus, and the news they’d be releasing new material was met with widespread anticipation. Renaissance in Extremis (Peaceville) is the album that many a metalhead has been hoping for, but until recently didn’t think we’d get.Continue reading →


Threshold – Legends Of The Shires

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The last couple of years have proven to be a mixed bag for UK prog-metal stalwarts Threshold. The release of 2014’s For The Journey (Nuclear Blast) saw an increased vibrancy with their strongest album for quite some time and with it, an increased spotlight breaching past their cult following. Ever victims of the revolving door of members, however, saw significant changes in band personnel, with guitarist Pete Morden leaving and the shocking departure of talismanic vocalist Damien Wilson (replaced by one-time vocalist Glyn Morgan) potentially providing stumbling blocks. That they have responded with a double album, near conceptual piece in Legends Of The Shires (Nuclear Blast) shows at the very least they hadn’t run out of ideas, and that they certainly haven’t lost any of their mojo as a result.Continue reading →


Various Artists – British Steel: The Rising Force Of British Heavy Metal

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In those glorious/hideous (delete as applicable) years before the inexorable rise of the internet, compilation albums used to be the staple of many record buyers collections. Those of a certain age might remember such collections as Masters of Metal (K-Tel), the superb (and newly reinvigorated) Speed Kills (Music For Nations) series, the Metal Killers Kollection (Castle Communications) series, Axe Attack (K-Tel), Time To Rock (WEA), and the magnificently titled Metal Treasures and Vinyl Heavies (Action Replay).Continue reading →


Arch Enemy – Will To Power

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With former frontwoman Angela Gossow leaving the band in 2014, and uncertainty in the guitarist department since the departure of Christopher Amott, it was almost a foregone conclusion that more changes in the Arch Enemy camp lay ahead. Having already released War Eternal (Century Media) with Gossow’s replacement, former The Agonist singer Alissa White-Gluz, the band’s new album Will To Power (Century Media) marks the full-length début of former Nevermore guitar maestro Jeff Loomis. Although a hugely popular choice among fans, it does seem a little strange that lead guitarist Michael Amott should then come out so publicly, saying on one hand how perfectly Loomis fits in the band, yet on the other stating how their two styles simply don’t mesh.Continue reading →


Cannabis Corpse – Left Hand Pass

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Here’s my plea to anyone who’s ever passed on Cannabis Corpse because they thought it was a joke: listen to the fucking band. Let me sweeten the deal, Left Hand Pass (Season of Mist) is a fantastic jumping off point to this odd, yet technically ferocious outfit. The album art and song titles like ‘In Battle There Is No Pot’ are firmly tongue-in-cheek, but the strain of death metal is very much deadly serious.Continue reading →