Album Reviews

Back in 1979 there were a number of rock bands that released their debut albums: Van Halen, Toto, Dire Straits, Whitesnake and of course Magnum. While some of the previously mentioned bands are still going, in one form or another, none of them have matched Magnum for their sheer musical …

With “Blue Monday” just around the corner, what better way to blow away the doldrums and negative thoughts, than with a solid dose of Teutonic thrash metal from Bonded. With the jackhammer drumming of Markus “Makka“ Freiwald rattling around the skull, you won’t have time to stop and think about …

As far as attention grabbing strap lines go, the one pushing the latest release from Dutch psychedelic rockers DeWolff really does say it all…“This is DeWolff’s new album it was recorded on the road for less than 50 Euros….but it sounds like a million bucks!” Considering that 50 Euros doesn’t …

A bit of background on Sweden’s Brothers Of Metal; there are eight members including three guitarists, they place themselves under the genre of “Heavy Metal/True Metal” with their Facebook page stating “Wimps & posers beware, for true metal is here”. And songs from their debut album ‘’Prophecy Of Ragnarök’’ racked …

Although it’s been four years since Apocalyptica released an album, they’ve hardly been idle. What was supposed to be a handful of shows to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Finn’s debut album; ‘Plays Metallica by Four Cellos’, soon turned into a 230 show mammoth tour reaching fifty countries. So, …

‘R3LOADED’ serves many purposes. Firstly, it’s cunningly released in the run up to C******s. Secondly, it’s also released to coincide with GUN criss-crossing the country alongside Dan Reed Network and FM (as part of their 30th anniversary tour). But lastly, and more importantly, it serves as a great reminder of …

Writing a review of ‘The Rain Dance’ is similar to what Michael Spicer goes through on “the room next door”. Just as you think you are getting somewhere and grasping what’s going on, a spanner is thrown into the works and it’s back to square one. In Spicer’s case it’s …

Upon listening to ‘Soul On Fire’ for the first time, the listener might be inclined to turn to no-one in particular and give a Winston Wolfe-style “mmmm” and raise an imaginary cup of coffee. Make no mistake, this is the good shit. Fresh from opening for The Cult on their …

When Brad Marr from Massive takes a young Aussie band under his wings, you pay attention. To an extent you also know what you will get with said band, in this case Ablaze. No-frills, energetic, hard rock ‘n’ roll with one eye on getting out of the bloody pub before …

Take the knack of finding a cracking melody that Ginger Wildheart possesses, add some Brian Fallon/The Gaslight Anthem transatlantic hooks, throw in some Yorkshire grit, and you have Hellbound Hearts. One of those deeply infuriating bands, not because of anything that they have done, no, infuriating because they should really …