Tag Archives: Gary Alcock

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

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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.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Battle Beast – Steelbound

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Helloween – Giants And Monsters

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Incorporating all three singers from their long and storied history has proved to be an extremely successful venture for German power metal pioneers Helloween. The band’s eponymously titled previous album yielded great results using this formula so continuing down the same path is a no-brainer for now. So, with egos firmly in check, all seven members (now just two away from being a power metal Slipknot) appear to be having an absolute blast. But most importantly, the fans are too.Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Fell Omen – Caelid Dog Summer

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A solo project from darkest Athens, Fell Omen is the brainchild of Greek multi-instrumentalist Spider Of Pynx (a.k.a. Dimitris Corax Augoustinos). A combination of old-school Metal, Dungeon Synth, Punk and classic Black Metal, Caelid Dog Summer (True Cult Records) is the band’s second album, their first, Invaded by a Dark Spirit, only landing in February of this year. A busy little Black Metal bee indeed.Continue reading →


EP REVIEW: Car Bomb – Tiles Whisper Dreams

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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.

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