Before you listen to Terror Universal’s Make Them Bleed (Minus Head) make sure to take a good look at the album for a minute or two. Approach this experiment as a Heavy Metal Rorschach test. What do you see? How does it make you feel? I see four blokes that look like they walked off the set of Max Landis’ latest “masterwork” Bright. Then I hopped on the Wayback Machine and was transported to the wild west that was the nu-metal years. Continue reading
The climb to success is rarely without slips or derailing obstacles; a fact that Californian Metallers Of Mice & Men have recently found during what has proven to be their most successful time period, and also their most punishing and challenging. Having shared stages with absolute titans of the Rock and Metal world, such as supporting Linkin Park, they also began to show signs of wear, with previous album Cold World (Rise) highlighting frontman Austin Carlisle’s lingering health issues that led to his departure.Continue reading
The Ghost Cult album roundup is back in town, for your vulgar delectation, though we’re taking a different approach this week and grouping together some of the less-“heavy” releases that are polluting our ears; it’s a walk on the lighter side of the Ghost Cult coin…
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It seems most bizarre to think that a beast as all-conquering of the metal world as Slipknot had yet to take their larger-than-life stage show into Mexico City at any point in their twenty-year existence. Yet, until December 2015, and the .5 – The Grey Chapter’s incarnation of Knotfest, that particular duck had yet to broken. Continue reading
In the first of a new feature, Ghost Cult rounds up recent albums that didn’t receive the full review treatment, for your vulgar delectation…Continue reading
Melding differing types of rock and metal together are American metalheads Sons of Texas. Formed in 2013 from, as their name suggests, the lone star state SOT are vocalist Mark Morales, drummer Mike Villareal, bassist Nick Villareal, and on guitar Jon Olivarez and Jes De Hoyos. Their new album Forged by Fortitude, coming two years after their début Baptized in the Rio Grande (both Razor & Tie/Spinefarm), is a continuation of their radio-friendly hybrid of rock and metal. Continue reading
While a career in music, in general, seems to be predicated on a fickle game of risk and reward, for my money no genre has it worse than Hard Rock (Metal, Punk or otherwise). You push too far into a musical extreme and you’re considered a niche product at best. Streamline the sound and introduce a melody, and pockets of fans are deriding you as sellouts before the first check is cleared. Dubai’s Jay Wud attempts to control the chaos down the middle with their new release, Transitions (self-released).Continue reading
The first part of a double album – the second half of which is set to be released within the next year – Prevail I (Napalm) finds Kobra and the Lotus at not only their most ambitious, but also in their strongest form to date. Formed in Calgary, Alberta in 2009 by lead vocalist and songwriter Kobra Paige, the Canadian quartet have gone through a number of changes in sound and personnel, but this latest release could very possibly be the one to give the band that big push towards the next level.Continue reading
It’s fine. Some of us take a little longer to discover who we are and fully become ourselves. As human beings, some of us take until our thirties to become comfortable in our skin and find our niche. Others emerge from the chrysalis, butterfly wings flapping in full effect, but some of us need that time and space to explore and find what doesn’t work, before finding what does. So, it’s fine that it’s taken Motionless In White four albums to truly become who they were meant to be, because with Graveyard Shift, their first for new home Roadrunner Records, they have truly found their space to great effect.Continue reading
There is something other than faeces and fluoride in the water down on the South Coast of England. And it’s contributing to a burgeoning scene of some repute; while the energetic and promising Saint(The)Sinner passed into the night, Southampton’s Creeper stand the dark denizens hotly tipped to become the UK’s next mainstream breakthrough. So where in the pecking order do melodic Metalcore merchants and fellow Hampshire dwellers Our Hollow Our Home sit Continue reading