Retro-flavoured Swedes The Night Flight Orchestra (ft. Soilwork, Arch Enemy, Mean Streak members) are still at it with their seventh album Give Us The Moon (Napalm Records). With an insanely catchy AOR style, with an unabashedly high level of seventies and eighties-style cheese front and centre. Half the tracks here sound like they belong in some long-forgotten, coming-of-age film from 1985. Continue reading
Addressing an obvious elephant in the room without actually mentioning said elephant, or indeed the massive pile of dung it left behind, is a tricky if not impossible task. However, for those who don’t already know, the origins of this solo project from Angus McSix (aka Swiss vocalist Thomas Winkler) began in 2021 with a split from his previous band for… reasons.
Greeted with a queue that stretches the length of the entire street and beyond, the nearest many get to seeing Italian Dwarven Metal act Wind Rose is listening to them from outside. ‘The Breed of Durin’, ‘To Erebor’, and of course ‘Diggy Diggy Hole’ sound like they’re going down well, but it’s disappointing that a large percentage of the crowd has to miss most of their set.Continue reading
Here in the UK, a power metal tour of any capacity is a cause for mass celebration due to their relative infrequency. Generally speaking, a power metal act will make a sporadic appearance in London alone, and possibly a major summer festival here and there, meaning that unlucky Richards like yours truly in the north or the Midlands will miss out on the action. However, if you happen to live in Mainland Europe, the possibilities and combinations of acts are endless.Continue reading
Six albums and ten years deep sees In This Moment achieve a notable career milestone with Ritual (Roadrunner/Atlantic), celebrated with a prominent change in focus. Toned down is the throwaway innuendo and sexually tinged frippery of previous albums, gone is the overt silliness, and ramped up is the stomping “industrial-tinged” Hard Rock side of the band that has always, in reality, been their calling card.Continue reading