Category: Reviews – Audio

Glorious metal in all its earthly forms, compressed onto shiny plastic discs or into digital files. Which ones will become the soundtrack to your life?

  • Black Cobra: Chronomega

    Chugging along like a steam train bound for the pits of hell, Black Cobra’s Southern Lord debut is one hell of a beast.

  • Elis: Catharsis

    By Melissa Andrews Elis hails from the tiny country of Liechtenstein. Catharsis is their first release with new vocalist Sandra Schleret singing. Schleret is the replacement for the band’s original singer, who died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in 2006. Schleret’s vocals are adequate but her voice doesn’t have that character of the beautiful innocence…

  • Dark Age: Acedia

    A very solid mature release that should garner them some attention, Acedia is chock full of very well written songs that are smartly paced and demand repeat listens.

  • Assjack: s/t

    All in all, while it’s wonderful to finally hear how Assjack sounds on an album, this is more of a get-it-out-of-the-way effort.

  • Ava Inferi: Blood Of Bacchus

    Blood Of Bacchus is haunting and mysterious. It is graceful and desolate. Picture pure doom, lying under soft, almost operatic vocals and heavy guitars. Though it is very easy to develop a strong sense of what Ava Inferi sound like through this description, you will never fully understand the brilliance of this band until you…

  • Savage Messiah: Insurrection Rising

    The full-length debut from UK’s Savage Messiah, Insurrection Rising is a decent cut of thrash metal that ultimately doesn’t transcend its sub-genre.

  • Eloy: Visionary

    Many times my friends would mention to me that Eloy is the Pink Floyd of Germany and I would have to somewhat agree with that comparison.

  • Weapon: Drakonian Paradigm

    Musically, what makes Weapon unique is its intricate sense of composition, its sinuous melodic leads, and the subtle accents that it uses in order to conjure a distinctive atmosphere. Conceptually (and, by extension, atmospherically), Drakonian Paradigm is uniquely syncretic in its left-hand-pathos, in turn using its music to menace several doctrines from a common ground.…

  • FACE VALUE: Rode Hard, Put Away Wet

    Where the forward-thinking hardcore bands of the time embarked upon a course of combining ‘core with metal riffing and mosh tempos, Face Value spit-balling together punk/hardcore’s fury and speed with classic rock sensibilities, jacked up rhythms and guitar hero soloing.

  • Epica: Design Your Universe

    Epica’s fourth full-length Design Your Universe was the perfect opportunity for the Dutch band to make some serious artistic and commercial strides, but what we’re stuck with is a record that tries so hard to impress that its blind ambition completely gets in the way of tasteful songwriting.