Album Reviews

It’s a solid fact at this point: if you have the surname Van Halen, you are automatically musically gifted. Jan Van Halen was a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist in swing bands throughout Europe in the 1930s/1940s. His eldest son, Alex Van Halen, is a drummer who formed the legendary metal …

Rénovations caused heads to spin with the release of their debut album ‘Break The Frame’ in 2022, and with the quickfire release of the follow-up ‘Blank’, the Edinburgh-based Electro-Grunge trio are up to their old tricks again and fucking with anyone who simply has to pigeonhole a band into one …

Whilst not entirely as full-on as the often-quoted passage in Corinthians 13:11 about becoming a man and putting childish things away, since signing with Napalm Records in 2019 German folk metal outfit Feuerschwanz have performed a gradual move away from the more comedic elements of their music, and gone full …

Stick a gun to this reviewer’s head and ask for the name of the most underrated vocalist of all time and there is only one answer: Frankie Miller. Likewise, ask for the name of the most underrated songwriter of all time and again there is only one answer: Luke Morley. …

Somewhere in Hertfordshire lies a monster that is about to be unleashed. A mammoth soundscape of trauma, death, anxiety and grief that is one shake away from being unlocked and set free. The monster in question is Negative Energy, the sophomore album by the British alt metal trio Vexed. I …

While the latest offering from Dutch master of everything prog-related Arjen Lucassen is not a concept album per se, there is still a thread running throughout the tracks featured within, and that thread would be tall hippy tipping his hat to the 70s, aka the “Golden Age of Music”. And …

Fifteen years is a hell of a long wait for an album, but ‘Six’ is totally worth it. The three singles that were released were already worth the weight of a full album anyway, and then we get another nine tunes on top of that, all the way through straight …

As much as we hate to admit it, the use of “for fans of” or in its abbreviated form; “FFO”, is a crucial marketing tool. Not only does it help when playlists are being compiled, and when Big Brother Zuckerberg is listening in on your chat and offers up a …

With the Richie Faulkner/Ronnie Romero/Rex Brown/Scott Travis supergroup Elegant Weapons set to deliver their debut album ‘Horns For A Halo’ on May 26th, the next few weeks are bubbling over with easy-on-the-eye (and ears) collaborative projects. Two weeks prior to the debut of the Judas Priest-Rainbow-Pantera mash-up however comes the …

Usually when the phrase “YouTube’s…” is associated with a particular person, the natural reaction is to dry heave. The scourge of the modern age is the arrival of social media celebrities and “influencers”. But for every KSI there is a Laura Cox, and for every Logan Paul there is a …