In the before times, I enjoyed a band called Airbourne. I’m pretty sure they were Australian, and they sounded remarkably like AC/DC. Highly recommended. So, on the list of available albums, I saw Airborn‘s Lizard Secrets Part 3: Utopia (Fighter Records) and figured I’d give it a shot. Very glad I did. This Italian group delivers a Power Metal tour de force. Bonus, the vocals pitch up in a range most of us can reach.
I spent entirely too long trying to sub-genrefy Nefarious‘ Addicted to Power (Relentless Metal Records). Among the eight tracks on this non-stop aural assault, Thrash, Power, and OG NWOBHM/Warlock/Accept-era influences share a sonic landscape littered with anger, cynicism, and Lovecraft. Before we go any further, let me say I enjoyed this album thoroughly and recommend it highly. You may question that at times if you keep reading.Continue reading
As if the past forty years hadn’t flown by quickly enough for German thrash titans Destruction, it’s already time to move forward from the anniversary celebrations of 2023 and get back to the bread and butter of studio recordings. On their sixteenth full-length release (fifteenth if you ignore 1988’s anomalous The Least Successful Human Cannonball), Birth of Malice (Napalm Records), the band’s founder member Marcel “Schmier” Schirmer looks to the past, present, and future for inspiration, reminiscing over old times as well delivering warnings and observations of a more contemporary nature.Continue reading
Louder Than Life will be disturbing the peace in 2025 with one of the biggest and LOUDEST festivals in North America all year. Over 160 bands will perform on 6 stages September 18, 19, 20 & 21 at the Highland Festival Grounds at Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, KY for the 11th edition of Louder Than Life. Louder Than Life 2025 also marks the largest lineup in the history of producer Danny Wimmer Presents. In addition to the previously announced return of metal legends Slayer, the four-day destination event will also feature Rob Zombie in a global exclusive performance of Astro-Creep: 2000 in honor of the album’s 25th anniversary, plus Marilyn Manson on Thursday; Avenged Sevenfold, Sleep Token and Breaking Benjamin on Friday; Deftones, Bad Omens and A Perfect Circle on Saturday; and Bring Me The Horizon, $uicideboy$ and Evanescence on Sunday.Continue reading
Formed all the way back in 1980, German Metal stalwarts Grave Digger return to celebrate their 45th anniversary with a new album Bone Collector (RPM Roar). The band’s 22nd full-length studio release (if you choose to include the time during the eighties they were known as Digger) finds the band in blistering form with one of the finest records they’ve released in years.Continue reading
To mark the 40th anniversary of Accept’s iconic album, Balls To The Wall, founding member and former frontman, Udo Dirkschneider is planning something special. Under the Dirkschneider moniker, he will be releasing a re-recorded version, featuring guest contributions from across the metal sphere. Balls To The Wall Reloaded comes out on February 28th via Reigning Phoenix Music. Head into the article below to find out more.
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Subtlety and understatement have never been a priority for Hammerfall. Why choose one studded wristband when twenty will do? Well, with more zips and leather than a night at The Blue Oyster (one for the Police Academy fans there) and more chains than a medieval prison, the Swedish heavy metal legends are back with their thirteenth studio album Avenge The Fallen (Nuclear Blast Records).Continue reading
As a surprise to literally nobody familiar with them, it’s all change once again for German glam act Night Laser. Four full-length studio releases with four different line-ups, the only two constants within the band are founding members singer Benno Hankers and his brother, bassist Robert. Also, having presented as both a trio and a quartet since their inception in 2014, the band has grown with another member for this current iteration, switching up to become a five-piece for latest album, Call Me What You Want (Steamhammer/SPV).Continue reading
