Tag Archives: by Gary Alcock

CONCERT REVIEW: Paradise Lost – Messa – High Parasite Live at KK’S Steel Mill

Posted on by

Photo credit: Ville Jurrikkala

 

Seeing as summer is fast becoming a memory, I figured it was time to check my weather app before setting off this evening. With poor visibility due to dense fog, the forecast, leaving earlier than usual was definitely a wise move, but strangely, this apparently widespread, impenetrable wall of mist never actually materialised. However, soon after entering KK’s Steel Mill the reason became clear. With three bands of varying Goth persuasions on the bill, all the fog in the country was inside.

Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Battle Beast – Steelbound

Posted on by

If you enjoy grinning like an idiot while banging your head and playing all manner of air instruments then that probably means you’ve already discovered the mighty Battle Beast. Twenty years into their career, and the Finnish Power Metallers are still delivering instantly enjoyable records chock full of riff-heavy anthems designed for maximum Metal enjoyment.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Biohazard – Divided We Fall

Posted on by

When Brooklyn hardcore crew Biohazard released new single “Forsaken” in June – their first in thirteen years, and their first with the band’s original line-up since 2012 – it felt like being on the receiving end of a sweetly delivered but completely warning-free uppercut from an old friend. From bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld‘s no-nonsense “Let’s fucking go!” to the song’s monstrous groove and welcomingly familiar violent energy, it was made extremely clear extremely quickly that Biohazard was well and truly back in business.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Heads For The Dead – Never Ending Night Of Terror

Posted on by

Sounding like the tagline to an eighties slasher movie, Never Ending Night Of Terror (Pulverised Records) is the fourth full-length studio release for US/European Death Metal gorehounds Heads For The Dead. This time out, the band draw inspiration from directors such as David Cronenberg and Stuart Gordon (among many others), focusing on their favourite slasher/revenge films. However, instead of simply copying down movie plots, the band’s chief lyricist/frontman Ralf Hauber infuses the stories with original ideas.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Warcoe – Upon All Thrones

Posted on by

When thinking about Italian metal, the chances are the first things that come to mind are silk shirts and symphonic keyboards, or the honest down-to-earth raging of thrash and death metal. Warcoe, however, are the purveyors of that rarest of Italian delicacies – classic Doom Metal.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Paradise Lost – Ascension

Posted on by

 

Misery. Sorrow. Doom. Welcome to Halifax. Since 1988, UK gloomsters Paradise Lost have been dishing out the most downcast and despondent riffs known to man, and on their seventeenth studio album Ascension (Nuclear Blast Records), they prove once again there’s still plenty of despair to be mined.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Nailed To Obscurity – Generation Of The Void

Posted on by

After a six-year wait, German Melodic Death/Doomers Nailed To Obscurity throw off any remaining shackles and on their fifth full-length studio album, Generation Of The Void (Nuclear Blast Records), fulfil the potential they’ve been threatening to for years. This might come at a cost for some listeners, as while clean singing has always been integral to their sound, it also tended to remain largely as a supporting character in a much larger play. On this latest offering, vocalist Raimund Ennenga really lets loose, delivering easily the best and most versatile performance of his career.

Continue reading →


EP REVIEW: Car Bomb – Tiles Whisper Dreams

Posted on by

It’s anniversary time for New York Mathcore mob Car Bomb. Formed in Rockville Centre all the way back in 2000, it doesn’t take an advanced mathematician to work out the band is twenty-five years old this year. Their first studio release since Mordial back in 2019, independently released three-track EP Tiles Whisper Dreams is a much-anticipated short, sharp, and extremely brutal shock to the system.

Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: In The Company Of Serpents – A Crack In Everything

Posted on by

Since their inception in 2011, Colorado Sludge trio In The Company Of Serpents have slowly but noisily gone about making a serious name for themselves in the Stoner Doom scene. With four albums already under their belts, the fifth comes in the shape of an independently released behemoth, A Crack In Everything.Continue reading →