Album Reviews

Review: Phantom Elite – ‘Blue Blood’

Has it really been six years since Napalm Records unleashed Exit Eden onto an unsuspecting public and in doing so, created one of the best surprises in quite some time? The international symphonic metal supergroup released an album of cover versions of well-known pop and rock songs, and the videos …

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Review: Mademaker – ‘Amble’ EP

Nirvana have been perpetually cool, but there’s also been a more recent spike of reverence for similar 90s grunge, which I’m very much on board with – including, of course, the resulting music by newer artists inspired by the genre and period. ‘Amble’ is no exception, a winding, building road …

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Review: Those Damn Crows: ‘Inhale/Exhale’

Metallica’s forthcoming studio album ‘72 Seasons’ is set to be one of the biggest albums of 2023 regardless of genre. It will undoubtedly be the biggest seller in terms of physical units sold and will be the biggest-selling rock or metal album of 2023. If you judge the importance of …

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Review: Delain – ‘Dark Waters’

Pop quiz, hotshots. Who had Delain down on their 2023 bingo card for producing one of the strongest albums in the first few months of the year? Along with TV personality Carol Vorderman taking the UK government to task for the neverending list of scandals, the return of Delain with …

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Review: Wig Wam – ‘Out Of The Dark’

Kind of cheesy glam metal and hard rock is my absolute bread and butter, and Wig Wam have delivered to a perfect T. ‘Out of the Dark’ is an album full of the kind of arena rock you’d expect from a band that managed to reach a Eurovision semi-final – …

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Review: Polar – Everywhere, Everything

An absolutely killer album, with great highs and lows of energy, and everything you’d want from a band of this calibre, Polar have delivered a choice cut of the proverbial music steak here, and have certainly kicked the year off on a strong note for metalcore releases. We’re led in …

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Review: VV – Neon Noir

He’s the man who most likely defined your high school years. He’s the man who is instantly recognisable just purely from the crooning baritone of his voice. He’s the man responsible for the Heartagram design that you see everywhere – either on someone’s body as a tattoo or on someone’s …

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Review: Beyond The Black – ‘Beyond The Black’

The phrase “back to basics” usually means dialing things back, keeping things simple, and focusing on the tried and trusted rather than trying something new. It will usually appear when, for example, a sports team has tried a new formation that doesn’t quite come off, or, a band or artist …

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