Album Reviews

The critically acclaimed BBC production The English recently brought the harsh realities of the Old American West to a whole new audience that might have balked at the idea of watching a “Western” had it not been for the involvement of A-list actor Emily Blunt. While it is kinda funny …

“…we spent a long time getting the album to where we felt it was ready to come out…” – Brodie Maguire, Mother Vulture guitarist. There must have been considerable pressure on fast-emerging UK upstarts Mother Vulture to release their debut album earlier this year while they were kicking in doors …

Reimagining albums is a great way for a band to keep their fanbase interested while they are working on a new album. More often a miss rather than a hit, as sometimes it can come across as being a tad self-indulgent and hastily thrown together, but sometimes it does work. …

As unlikely as it sounds, ‘Rad Wings Of Destiny’ is in fact only the fifth studio album to be released in thirty-three years by Californian stalwarts Ugly Kid Joe. And the first since 2015. You might think that navigating the music scene in the 21st century is a balancing act …

Aerosmith’s Joe Perry famously said that listening to Deep Purple’s ‘Highway Star’ was like that first shot of coffee in the morning. Pure adrenaline. A mantra former Biters frontman Tuk Smith seems to have adopted with the debut album from his new vehicle Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts. Opening …

Canadian musical genius Devin Townsend shows no sign of slowing down with this, the 26th studio release of his career. Following 2019’s ‘Empath’ record, work on his highly anticipated album ‘Lightwork’ was delayed. In that gap Townsend ever the workaholic released two stop-gap albums ‘Snuggles’ and ‘The Puzzle’ with the …

When it was announced in August 2018 that We Came As Romans vocalist Kyle Pavone had died at the tragically young age of 28 due to an accidental overdose, the metalcore world was shaken up, and the future of the Michigan-based group was looking uncertain. All the unsteady anticipation was …

After a brief interlude between 2019 and 2022, filled by both Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti releasing solo albums, Alter Bridge are back and as indomitable as ever. An album that is being touted as their heaviest yet, ‘Pawns & Kings’ really does give their previous offerings a run for …

I’m a huge fan of Queensrÿche and I have been for ages. ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ is one of my favourite albums ever, and for good reason. It’s both a perfect concept album and a perfect prog-metal album, and while their more recent material may not be quite the same, I still …

Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado have been recognised widely already, with seven albums already under their belts and high praise from the one and only Dan Aykroyd for their work, but this eighth album, ‘Navigation Blues’, only serves to prove how good they are at what they do, and …