Tag Archives: : Album Reviews

ALBUM REVIEW: 10,000 Years – All Quiet On The Final Frontier

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Sweden truly is a melting pot for all sorts of high-octane Stoner Metal acts – Monolord, Graveyard, Hällas, Greenleaf, Void Commander; you name it. It is almost like the ideal home for acid trip-inducing slow-paced riffs. Even back in 2021, the label/collective Weedian curated a compilation album consisting of the finest psychedelic haze-laden Stoner Metal bands hailing from Sweden, entitled Trip to Sweden. One of the bands featured on the gnarly lineup of that compilation, the Västerås-bound 10,000 Years, are actually the one whose latest release I’m reviewing today.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Black Oak County – III

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The world of Post-Grunge and Octane-Hard Rock is often looked down upon in the alternative scene with phrases like “buttrock” and “divorced-dad rock” now part of the common lexicon when referring to such highly esteemed bands like Nickelback and Shinedown. Continue reading →


ALBUM  REVIEW: The Barbarians of California – And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth

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The sound of what was once considered West Coast Hard Core is changing.  The Barbarians of California‘s new album And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth (oneRPM) carries more of a metallic stomp aligned with modern Hardcore. Right from the first song you can hear the band’s more experimental edge. Once into the meat of the album, they bridge hardcore with a Nu-Metal sound, which is not unlike what System of a Down does. They attack with a more spastic jerk. It’s hard not to appreciate the sense of adventure that runs through these songs. The new generation of nu-metal kids who attend festivals like Sick New World will dig it. Hardcore purists might have some questions. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Portrait – The Host

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For their sixth full-length studio release, Swedish metallers Portrait journey to the land of the concept album in order to conjure up a tale of sword and sorcery set in the seventeenth century. Their first full-blown conceptual release, The Host (Metal Blade) is not an entirely fictional piece but also inspired partly by historic events, with the band imparting the tale of an unnamed protagonist seeking strength after encountering injustice and hypocrisy.
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ALBUM REVIEW: Apocalyptica – Plays Metallica Vol 2.

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Everybody loves covers! Especially covers of iconic songs by great bands. What is better than a single cover version of a classic track, but an entire album of them? What’s even better than that? Well, how about two albums of covers of a bunch of classics!

Yes, we’re talking about Apocalyptica, and we’re talking about Apocalyptica covering Metallica, which they did to great effect on their debut album twenty-five years ago! They have made a career of covering classics in Thrash Metal, introducing thrash fans to classical music on a new scale. while slowly creating their own repertoire of incredible original music, including a few hits along the way. What we often say about cover songs is that there are two approaches to take; a direct copy just redone beat for beat, or making those songs truly your own. Obviously and speaking of the classical metal masters of the Cello from Finland, we are talking reinterpretation. But they ratchet that up significantly on the sequel to their classic debut, Plays Metallica Vol 2., which is releasing via their own new imprint, Throwdown Entertainment.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Insect Ark – Raw Blood Singing

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On Raw Blood Singing (Debemur Morti Productions), Insect Ark returns with an otherworldly and compelling sci-fi landscape of noir, subtle menace and mystery.  Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Khanate – Clean Hands Go Foul – Capture and Release

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Having reemerged from its dank void of horror to release To Be Cruel in 2023, deconstructed-avant-doom entity Khanate continues to be pulled piece-by-piece from the mud, as the band’s third and fourth records — 2005’s Capture & Release and 2009’s Clean Hands Go Foul (Sacred Bones Records) — get shined and buffed for physical reissues. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Barry Adamson – Cut To Black

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Eight years on from his last solo record, Cut To Black (Barry Adamson Inc) sees Barry Adamson (former Magazine bassist and Bad Seed) bring us back into his cinematic universe. While soul and murder are still very much on the menu, his latest vision seems a little less murky.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Blue Oyster Cult – Ghost Stories

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One of the least high-profile sign-offs since Button Gwinnett affixed his moniker to the Declaration, Ghost Stories (Frontiers Music srl), billed as Blue Oyster Cult’s final studio album, still qualifies as a “must have” for aficionados, even if it will never be widely celebrated or remembered in the same way as Secret Treaties, Agents Of Fortune, Cultosaurus Erectus, or Fire Of Unknown Origin.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Dead Pony – Ignore This

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Social media might be to blame for the increasing enmeshment of Pop music into the Rock genre. Pop artists are more marketable and interchangeable with social media influencers. What record label would not want an artist with the iconic charisma of Taylor Swift? Continue reading →