Category: Reviews

  • Helix – Vagabond Bones

    One of Canada’s longest running hard rock/heavy metal bands, Vagabond Bones is Helix’s twelfth full-length studio album and twenty-first album release overall. I am very familiar with Helix’s work over the years, with eleven albums in my personal collection and I am glad to say that this one is a keeper.

  • Pure Fucking Mayhem: A film by Stefan Rydehed

    Pure Fucking Mayhem is a film painted by various interviews of both the prominent and unknown, where much is discussed on the personalities of Mayhem’s infamous band members who have made a significant impact to Norwegian Black Metal.

  • Holy Grail – Improper Burial

    Bottom line is this is fun metal played with over the top guitar shredding.

  • Vulcano – Tales From The Black Book

    By Albert Mansour Brazilian black/thrash/death metal outfit Vulcano is back with a re-release of an album originally issued in 2004, their sixth full length overall. This bunch has been around quite a while. Way back in the 80’s I had the chance to see them in concert opening for Venom in Sao Paulo, Brazil in…

  • Karnivool – Sound Awake

    The problem with Sound Awake is that it’s just too clean, too polished and too pretty because, in addition to the statesmen of goth, Karnivool also mixes in a significant amount of pop sensibility which hinders the whole procession.

  • Overkill – Ironbound

    Now in 2010, armed with the mighty Nuclear Blast behind them in Europe and E1 in North America, Overkill has released the thrash album of this early year.

  • Meshuggah – Alive

    In less talented hands, the 90 minute concert film that constitutes the centerpiece of Alive would come off as a sloppily arranged mess, but director/editor Ian McFarland’s footage is so well-shot and so tastefully edited that we can’t help but forgive him for making the whole experience a touch disjointed. Adrien Begrand reviews the brand…

  • Eluveitie – Everything Remains As It Never Was

    Everything Remains As It Never Was is the fourth album from Swiss folk metallers Eluveitie. Its title, considering the band’s place in the growing mythology of folk and pagan metal, is suggestively profound. It’s a shame, then, that the music on this new offering just isn’t as enjoyable well as their previous work.

  • Blackfield – NYC: Blackfield Live in New York City

    Originally released as a DVD only, it has now been reissued as a two disc set, with the entire performance now also available as on CD too. The band sticks pretty much to Blackfield material, playing everything but one song from their second album II and also including nearly all of the first album too.…

  • Dark Tranquillity – We Are The Void

    There is nothing truly bad about We Are The Void, but there is nothing that makes the album standout from the band’s strong discography.