Category Archives: Album Reviews

Led Zeppelin’s Debut Album Turns 50

Posted on by

Led Zeppelin has few peers on record in their fiery but brief career. Born from the crowded blues-rock wave, post-British Invasion 1960s, the band expertly and cleverly guess the tastes and whims of the growing music world and capitalized on them. Long gestated in Jimmy Page’s brain as a way to create his own band with a distinct identity that could touch many music bases, but not be commercial and weak. Page created Led Zeppelin and the album Led Zeppelin I (Atlantic) on the back of years of writing, planning, and plotting. The marriage of Jimmy Page’s writing and Robert Plant’s voice, in particular, is the secret sauce of the album and the early era of the band and what makes their debut one of the all-time greats. Continue reading →


Deathchant – Deathchant

Posted on by

From the fuzzy guitars and the distorted, feedback-esque noises of ‘Pessimist’ you know what you are going to get from Deathchant. This Los Angeles based four-piece have just released their self-titled debut album (King Volume Records) and it does indeed deal in Psychedelic Rock with a heavy Stoner vibe, supplemented by the occasional flirtation with Metal – not too dissimilar from North Carolina’s ASG.Continue reading →


Static Tension – Ashes To Animation

Posted on by

There are some great ideas and passages on Static Tension’s Ashes To Animation (Buried By Sky). A marriage of Grunge, Alternative Rock, elements of Prog and a smattering of Stoner and Trouble’d Doom, the bands’ first full-length is an interesting proposition; a hotchpotch of ideas pulled in from The Doors to Metallica, but mainly operating a Progressive Grunge arena.Continue reading →


Orchid – Miasma

Posted on by

Despite a heavy music scene that is abundant in talent, not many of India’s Metal bands have appeared on the radar outside of their native country. Aside from the likes of Demonic Resurrection especially, Bhayanak Maut and (although more an international band) Skyharbor, India’s Metal scene is still a hidden entity to many on the outside. With a formidable live presence and with an exciting debut full length in Miasma (self-released), if there is any justice, Mathcore mentalists Orchid should be poised to be the scene’s next breakout.Continue reading →


Woven Man – Revelry (In Our Arms)

Posted on by

Those of us who developed a fondness for sludgey goodness back in the days of its infancy will have a soft spot for Welsh sluggers Acrimony, who blazed (!) an early trail for the sub-genre in the UK. While most of that band went on to found the Stoner grooves of Sigiriya, Lee ‘Roy’ Davies has drifted through guises until settling in the present day, and Woven Man: an outfit tipping its cap to The Wicker Man and aspects of his former band, which shine throughout debut album Revelry (In Our Arms) (Undergroove).Continue reading →


Nailed To Obscurity – Black Frost

Posted on by

2017’s release of King Delusion (Apostasy Records) was a watershed moment for Nailed To Obscurity. It was an impressive and emotive effort which began to win them wider press and, as far as the UK is concerned, a coveted main stage slot at 2018’s Bloodstock Festival and signing to titans Nuclear Blast, evidence of a much deserved rise in fortunes and out of, ahem, obscurity. Where a brand new album would have hoped to really build upon this success however, sadly Black Frost (Nuclear Blast) isn’t quite the revelation as perhaps hoped.Continue reading →


Van Halen’s Masterpiece “1984” Was Released 35 Years Ago

Posted on by

 

The 1980s was a truly golden age for rock music. As a lot of the successful bands from 1970 transitioned to new era of music competing with heavier styles of rock, New Wave, Punk, Post-Punk and Pop music, many acts had to step up their game to stay alive. While some adapted to new sounds to stay a float and reach for ears and hits, others fell by the wayside. One band that managed to changed while keeping true to what made them great was Van Halen. As proved by their definitive work on 1984 (Warner Bros.), released thirty-five years ago on January 9th, 1984, the album would not only mark the final chapter (at the time) for the David Lee Roth led period of the group, but set a new bench mark for them at the same time.

Continue reading →


Born Of Osiris – The Simulation

Posted on by

Along with the likes of After The Burial and Veil of Maya, Born Of Osiris spearheaded a wave of bands who looked to take Death/Metalcore into new realms with a healthy dose of electronics and progressive elements added to the mix. To this day their debut EP, The New Reign is a genre classic. The Simulation is their latest offering and comes off the back of a real return to form that was Soul Sphere (all Sumerian).Continue reading →


Taking Back Sunday – Twenty

Posted on by

Taking Back Sunday (TBS) made dancing to heartfelt Emo music a pastime. It is crazy to think that it has been twenty years since the Long Island natives introduced us all to ‘Cute Without The E’ and the dynamic that would become one of Emo’s most beloved staple: Tell All Your Friends (Victory). To celebrate those two decades that came up so quick, the band has gathered nineteen of their repertoire and two new songs into a greatest hits album perfectly titled, Twenty (Craft).Continue reading →


Soilwork – Verkligheten

Posted on by

Swedish Melodeath purveyors Soilwork are a staple of the scene. Despite never having the commercial success of In Flames nor the critical acclaim that At The Gates garnered, the band is a reliable ever-present, delivering solid albums on a regular basis.

With Verkligheten (Nuclear Blast), the band’s eleventh album, Soilwork deliver another exactly what they’re good at; a mix of shredding riffs, machine gun drumming, and a penchant for bombastic clean vocals.Continue reading →