Album Reviews

In these days of Coronavirus lockdowns, self isolation, and news channels that only seem to inform us of ever increasing body counts, we probably all need something a bit more uplifting to bring a smile to our faces. While a new Joe Satriani release at any time is always something …

Given the connection between Worcester’s Bootyard Bandits and Scottish pirate-metallers Alestorm, the lack of fucks given from the purveyors of “Heavy Metal Banjo” shouldn’t come as a surprise. Like Alestorm, Bootyard Bandits play music to put a smile on people’s faces. It’s not serious or containing a deep message… you …

In the clamour to produce what could be classed as an “original” sound, a great deal of bands, courted by the mainstream music press as ground-breakers, forget about that one all-important factor; songcraft. There’s nothing wrong with not reinventing the wheel. Wheels are fine as they are. Writing well crafted …

No colour divides the room like the colour red. Love, lust, roses, Valentines Day… rosy cheeks. Then there is; blood, anger, rage, heat… hell. Even the Devil himself is traditionally portrayed as being red. Devilskin have named their fourth album; ‘RED’, not ‘Red’ – ‘RED’; all caps. There’s no disputing …

With the huge success that the run of ‘Ayreon Universe’ shows brought Arjen Lucassen in 2017, it was only a matter of time before he put his ‘Ayreon’ hat back on for his sophomore live outing. With Lucassen though, it’s not as simple as putting a band together and booking …

Remember when Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta spat his dummy out over the fact that Deftones booked synth-pop act Chvrches for their annual Día De Los Deftones festival? Obviously oblivious to the fact that Deftones frontman Chino Moreno is a huge new wave/synth-pop fan, all JJ had to do to grasp …

Capturing the multi-media tour de force that is a live gig from In This Moment, and transferring it to a studio setting, is akin to capturing lightning in a bottle. In other words; damn near impossible. To simply call an In This Moment show a “gig”, is an understatement though, …

Another day, another young hotshot Blues player. It’s hard to remember a time when the Provogue/Mascot label group didn’t have a debut album worth shouting from the rooftops about. On this occasion it’s 24 year old King Solomon Hicks with his debut album, named after his native ‘Harlem’. You might …

“KB & The Idyllwilde is Katie Burke’s soul rock band based in Nashville, TN. Nasty high octane vocals with gritty riffs, offbeat jokes, add horns.” – The description of KB & The Idyllwilde on the official Facebook page hits the nail square on the head. The vocals are indeed quite …

On 2017’s debut album ‘Songs of Love and Death’, Nergal introduced the black metal community to his blackened blues project; Me And That Man. With a sound hugely influenced by murder-balladeers like Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Johnny Cash, it was a major revelation. But in all honesty, it would …