A one-sentence review of Sick N’ Beautiful’s Horror Vacui (BLKIIBLK Records) is easy: What if Rob Zombie was a woman?Continue reading
Tag Archives: Heavy Metal
Former Judas Priest Drummer Les Binks Has Died
Photo credit Chaoszine
https://www.youtube.com/@chaoszine
Former Judas Priest drummer Les Binks has died. He was 73 years old. The news was shared by the band on social media via a statement you can read below. Binks played drums on Priest’s classic early material “Stained Class”, “Hell Bent For Leather” (released as “Killing Machine” in the UK), and “Unleashed In The East” live album. After the release of “Unleashed In The East”, Binks left the band over pay issues and was replaced by ex-Trapeeze member Dave Holland. Binks was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with former Priest guitarist KK Downing and the rest of the current band. Binks was a respected Heavy Metal Drummer, one of the best in the game at the time of his exit from the band. RIP. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Messa – The Spin
Messa’s fourth album, The Spin (Metal Blade Records), finds the band embracing their inner prog rock guitar gods, and channeling that energy in a few different directions. The first few songs might fake you out as they sound as if the band is heading in a more post-punk direction. The guitars gallop with more tension at a fairly brisk pace. This is certainly a shift from their earlier material that found them as more of a doom band. The vocals are very strong and well-defined from a songwriting perspective, which is the most important element of their sound. The band has always carried a smoky blues-based undercurrent, which is still present, though at times they wander off into more atmospheric shadows, as heard on ” At the Races”. Their guitarist begins to shine on this one, and his heroics do not let up from here. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Warfield – With The Old Breed
A common lesson we’re all taught at some point is to never judge a book by its cover. There are times, however, when it’s actually perfectly acceptable to do just that. Especially when talking about three-piece Thrash Metal bands from the mainland of Western Europe. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Serpent Rider – The Ichor of Chimaera
There must be something about the thin air, and gloom of Seattle, WA that has given birth to some fantastic modern melodic NWOHM bands. Serpent Rider is one of those bands and hearing them for the first time rekindled my love of NWOTHM (New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal) bands. For a while there, I found myself somewhat bored with the bands that seemed to either deliver each album with disappointment or bands that would take years off, return with a subpar album, and then disappear again. It’s hard to keep my attention that way but Serpent Rider grabbed my attention immediately.
ALBUM REVIEW: Fleshspoil – The Beginning Of The End
Fleshspoil not only features the former drummer of Arsis but finds them attacking the Blackened Death Metal subgenre, with a catchier take than most. Their debut album The Beginning of the End finds their dissonant mix of atmosphere and thrashing striking a soothing discordance. They do not attack your ears with a bludgeoning hammering, but there is nuance to their intricate songwriting that holds the technical aspect of their sound check This album is produced in a manner that makes it sound like it came out twenty years ago, which plays to their favor.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Warbringer – Wrath and Ruin
Spring is coming to the Northern Hemisphere as the temperatures start to rise. The bar for the coveted Album of the Year continues to rise as more music is released weekly. Thrash stalwarts, Warbringer, take their shot at the crown with their seventh full-length, Wrath and Ruin (Napalm Records). Each album the California-based group releases builds upon their last release, continuously pushing the boundaries of their brand of thrash metal. For forty minutes, John Kevill and company command your attention as their riff-powered tank tramples the mangled corpses of the fallen.Continue reading
CONCERT REVIEW: Unleash the Archers – Striker – Seven Kingdoms Live at Islington Assembly Hall
It’s been a while since we’ve taken the long journey down to the Big Smoke and what better reason to make the trip than to catch the mighty Unleash the Archers as they set out to conquer the capital city. The show has been greatly anticipated, bringing fans from far and wide as this sole UK outing has managed to sell out not just once but twice after its upgrade from London’s iconic venue space Underworld. Trading some of the intimacy of Underworld for the grand ceilings of the historic Islington Assembly Hall doesn’t seem like such a bad trade-off, giving ample room to really showcase the epic nature of tonight’s lineup.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Destruction – Birth Of Malice
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
INTERVIEW: Andrea Ferro of Lacuna Coil Talks “Sleepless Empire” and A.I.
In this episode, Keefy interviews Andrea Ferro of Lacuna Coil! They just dropped their new album “Sleepless Empire” via Century Media Records. The band has been hard at work on this album for many years, and we discussed a range of topics from the longevity of the band, a return to heaviness, lineup changes and more!Continue reading