It was only ever a matter of time until Swedish death metal legends The Crown titled an album after their previous name. Known as Crown of Thorns from their inception in 1990 until their brief demise in 2004, the band reformed five years later and has continued to produce some of the country’s finest and crunchiest Death Metal riffs.
Tag Archives: music reviews
ALBUM REVIEW: Godspeed You! Black Emperor – No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead
With their eighth album — No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead (Constellation Records) — Canadian post-rock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor firmly move into the territory occupied by such bands as Take That, The Pixies, and Smashing Pumpkins in having had major success, before breaking up and then returning to be even more prolific than before. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Rat Boy – Suburbia Calling
Hitching their wagon to both Ska influences and Pop-Punk/Alt Rock proclivities, Rat Boy opts for colorful and lively compositions all across new full-length Suburbia Calling (Epitaph Records).Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Maul – In The Jaws Of Bereavement
Maul is about as self-explanatory as the name suggests, and In The Jaws Of Bereavement (20 Buck Spin) gets straight to the point.Continue reading
5 MINUTE REVIEW: Blood Incantation – “Absolute Elsewhere”
Check out our review of the new album from Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere coming soon from Century Media Records. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: High Reeper – Renewed By Death
Hello, friends today on the block we have the new cut from High Reeper, Renewed By Death (Heavy Psych Sounds). After three years the stoner metal group is back with some new tunes. This new cut is loaded with killer riffs from top to bottom. True to form the guitars come in with an intro calling to past influences to deliver a cool icebreaker for this album. The band also does a good job of keeping the energy up throughout, as well. There is a good flow from song to song. It feels like an album, not just a playlist. I think there are still some of us out there that enjoy the experience of an album, from beginning to end, and what the group/artist is saying as a whole.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Human Impact – Gone Dark
Noise Rock veteran Chris Spencer is probably a great guy to hang out with, but you have to imagine he could read out the ingredients to a tin of pea soup and make it sound panic-inducing. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere
Denver quartet Blood Incantation’s new album Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media Records) is a dense and unique mix of 70s Prog Rock and 90s Death Metal. As is de rigueur for the genre, and like two of their influences Pink Floyd and King Crimson, this 45-minute album is made up of just 2 tracks – “The Stargate” and “The Message” – each of which is split into three parts, or “tablets.”Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Wind Rose – Trollslayer
On paper, a band from Italy dubbed as “Dwarf Metal” may have you scratching your head. Yet when you listen to Wind Rose, it just works and it just makes sense. The quintet from the Tuscany region takes the festive feel of Folk Metal and the playfulness from Power Metal to create this fantastical new genre. Their unique merry-making is greatly contagious and explains why they are rapidly growing in popularity. They are now getting ready to release their sixth full-length record, Trollslayer (Napalm Records) that advances the band’s well-known jovial sound. They have managed to take all their best features, importantly multiple songs about beer, and compiled it all into this new album.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: The Barbarians of California – And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth
The sound of what was once considered West Coast Hard Core is changing. The Barbarians of California‘s new album And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth (oneRPM) carries more of a metallic stomp aligned with modern Hardcore. Right from the first song you can hear the band’s more experimental edge. Once into the meat of the album, they bridge hardcore with a Nu-Metal sound, which is not unlike what System of a Down does. They attack with a more spastic jerk. It’s hard not to appreciate the sense of adventure that runs through these songs. The new generation of nu-metal kids who attend festivals like Sick New World will dig it. Hardcore purists might have some questions. Continue reading