Reviews

A debut that outdoes the old guard of the genre in every department and proves empirically that stale air can be swapped for a fresh breeze!

Caught between the demons of the past and the hazy outlines of the future, musical genius Devin Townsend has launched a link between the two eons into the world in the best possible way!

An outstanding album that will leave you feeling lost in space, yet happy that you almost touched God's beard.

An outstanding trip into the realms of dark psychedelia, chained to swampy sludge metal. Kylesa have just launched their best record yet into the world!

"Waterloo Lily" is a totally one-of-a-kind album in Caravan's rich catalog, and from an instrumental improvisation standpoint it remains especially interesting for anyone who loves jazz rock fusion.

"Pop Design from head to toe" is how we could sum up the band's new release! That unmistakable Slovenian pop rock rhetoric, with its relic-like content from the late-romantic era at the turn of the '80s into the '90s, lives on

A record that would have been even better if the platter had offered fewer dishes, but better-prepared ones.

Mist Season are one of the most pleasant bands jazz has ever known. Even when they sink into heavier fusion, the music stays as bright as sunlight glinting off snow and as upbeat as any morning birdsong.

Masterpieces like "In the Land of Grey and Pink" rank among the greatest achievements in prog rock, and the British government should really get around to declaring it a national treasure.

The band's first official live album shows why some call them the greatest metal band of the new generation, one that hardly anyone can compete with.

What "Christ O." started, the new album finishes. This is the point in the band's evolution where Vanden Plas nailed the perfect balance of complexity, punch, melody and orchestral elements.

Schizophrenia has never sounded this good. After flattening the metal competition, even the softer noisemakers might have to worry about their slice of the pie. Unseen opens the door to new dimensions!

The phenomenal, fresh, hard-hitting second act from thrash metal's new great hopes is upgraded, pumped up and more evolved than most of the competition!

For the band's 30th anniversary, Električni Orgazam have served up a new record that's well worth the sin, skillfully blending the rich legacy of new wave with more modern tendencies.

You'll be hard pressed to find this many brilliant riffs, this much sex appeal, timeless classicism and eroticism in one place as on the record where AC/DC bid a worthy farewell to the past and step into a new age of noise

With this album, Pharao have more than successfully landed back on planet metal and plugged into metal's evolutionary stage for 2010. The missing piece has been returned to the mosaic of the Teutonic school.

Even after more than four decades, Van Der Graaf Generator are still the guarantee of prog rock innovation to the nth power, and the trio keeps building on the sonic direction it has been charting over the past three years.

With their fifth album "No Apologies", Trapt won't win any new fans, but they'll definitely keep the old ones, since the new record faithfully follows in the footsteps of their earlier work.

Mad genius Devin Townsend, in the purest form of bipolar delusion, conjures up a monstrous tangle of bizarreness, aggression and prog – the provocation is total! The aliens are among us!

After five years of conspicuous absence, the holy grail of music returns with a mathematically flawless fourth studio sequence. Lateralus dives even deeper into the cosmos and weaves a fresh veil of dreamlike divinity.

The record that cemented Metallica's primacy among the titans of metal for good. One of the holiest artifacts in any thrasher's collection.

With a masterpiece like "Crime of the Century", you'd struggle to pile up enough superlatives to do justice to the quality and importance of the most significant record in this legendary band's career.

"There are still some people / Who make you glad, / There are still some people like that!" (chorus of the song Ena pesem)

The purest erotica of emotion, provocation to the nth power and intellectualism like nothing else: these are the premises Tool polish to perfection in their own idiom, and Aenima is the summit of the musical Olympus.

Juvaliant, based in Salzburg, Austria, are symphonic progressive metallers with prominent power metal elements. "Inhuman Nature" is a superb debut for the band.

Nordic chill wraps around you in a somewhat more sophisticated way, and under the layers of refined musicianship there are still plenty of sharp black metal teeth ...

Mastodon's softest and most approachable record reaches into the astral realm and pushes the mosaic of their musical genius even further into progressive territory.

A set of devastating performances of flawlessly virtuosic grind shows the band's dark side. A farewell to Relapse and a move to Warner Bros in a way that's impossible to miss.

After the fiery elemental of their debut, Mastodon dive into the ocean depths and drag out a biblical sea monster that initiates you even more convincingly into a world of cruel giants and metal psychedelia.

Mastodon reach for the elementals, and the first one they unleash is the purest and most primal of them all: fire.

A side project that turned out to be far more than that gave birth to the record on which today's sludge scene stands. Myths and legends are beside the point. The music is simply timeless!

A timeless classic that let death metal mate with rock'n'roll, survive, and spawn a whole string of charming-sounding successors!

With this album, the Sarajevo heralds of new primitivism return to the scene after more than 20 years, bringing a bellyful of fun yugo rock rhetoric. An album that leaves no heart cold, soaked in real yugo nostalgia.

The Israelis' new record leans harder on newer bands' influences, throws in some "breakdowns" that nobody really asked for, and compared to the last album the vocals are getting screamier and less aggressive

The band is steering away from raw garage blasting toward ear-friendly sonic streams. The sound and style get commercialized into indie rock pop-song fare, with no real originality and a shortage of true "punch"

"K-Metal" is a standout for the Slovenian scene, reviving the legacy of melodic hard rock. It's a finely cut solo gem showcasing the skills of guitarist Franci Zabukovec.

Label: Parlophone RecordsRelease date: November 18, 1985Production: Alex Sadkin & ArcadiaAlbum length: 43.36 minGenre: New Wave / Art RockRating: 10/10 Arcadia was a side project formed in 1985 by three members of the New…

A heavy metal gem that will sit well with all fans of that old Priest sound or Teutonic heavy metal.

"So Red the Rose" is a one-of-a-kind specimen of New Romantic polish and a thrilling step up from the usual Duran Duran vocabulary, where new wave and art rock walk hand in hand.

Four albums in five years, and it's clear the architects of articulate anger have set their sights even higher and louder!

Vulvathrone's second record, Passion of Perversity, will go down a treat with fans of Lividity, early Carcass, Deeds of Flesh, and the filthiest smut-peddlers around.

Behind the Black Veil, the debut from brand-new progressive metal outfit The Shadow Theory, is a polished concept album with a few nagging problems, but overall it's a solid record.

A modern alternative take on the psychedelic epics of the seventies punches through the layers of the stratosphere and draws a line that will be hard to cross.

"Bass Line" is a one-of-a-kind art rock album with a signature charm of remarkable musical maturity, intelligence and creative breadth, one that breathes with full lungs and sets no limits on its own expression.

With "Charm School," the band stays firmly grounded in its recognizable musical character. It doesn't force hit-single naivety on you. It wins you over with the depth of its artistic maturity in songwriting and expression.

Erik de Beer has finally found his sound with Life Line Project on “Distorted Memories”. | Erik de Beer with his Life Line Project finally found his sound on “Distorted Memories”

Anonymous, hard-hitting, thrash-leaning black metallers Bloodwritten restore faith in metal superlatives beyond mere craftsmanship.

"The King" follows the Anglo-Saxon medieval idea of art: a work has to be both instructive and entertaining. And "The King" is all that and then some.

The soundtrack to the apocalypse hasn't sounded this good in ages, not since "XXV". A refreshed Pallas made exactly the right move, deciding at exactly the right time to follow up their greatest masterpiece.

Parsons and Woolfson clearly decided to pull out every last resource for their final charge, the very tools that turned the band into a one-of-a-kind art rock attraction in the seventies and eighties.

All it takes for a whole cluster of pure pop noise and alternative lung-filling is two pairs of hard-working hands. The Croatian-Dutch duo Gone Bald proves they're far from ready for the scrap heap!

You could say Satriani's sermon has gained a new dimension with the new album. Not in the sense of some revolutionary creative leap, but in the sense that Satriani, thanks above all to his work with Chickenfoot, has rediscovered the magic…

If the previous releases sang about beer and vodka, this time it's tequila's turn! The new album doesn't offer anything particularly fresh, but knocking back drinks to the fun sounds of folk metal never goes out of style

With "Who's Got Mine," Rhino Bucket keep the stance and the voice they've had since day one. After a twelve-year break, we've got a sixth album that belongs in the personal collection of every AC/DC fan.

"Hart Genossen von Abba bis Zappa" spreads the word on Panzerballett as a band with loads of innovation and musical know-how. Put simply, these guys play good music.

»The Vistation« is undoubtedly the best album since the band's resurrection ten years ago, which means it won't leave a single longtime fan of this legendary group cold.

"Estribo" wraps up the band's nine-year journey through musical fantasy very nicely. | "Estribo" sufficiently completes the band's nine year long journey through the musical fantasy.

"The Perfect Stranger" ranks among Frank's most accomplished orchestral works, with traditional strings and woodwinds colliding with the Synclavier to create a gorgeous classical-electronic fusion.

With their fourth record, Metalsteel prove that the young heavy metal band has grown into a force the Slovenian metal scene can respect, and with work like this they can only build on that status from here on!

A blend of rustic musical influences, horror flicks and drugs works a second time too, even with one member fewer ...

»The Man From Utopia« is stuffed with Zappa classics that are forever etched into the hearts of every true 'Zappaholic' and whose titles alone make it crystal clear what this record is about.

Papa Roach's seventh official release mixes brand-new studio tracks with live recordings from their latest tour. A quality package, though it's aimed mainly at the die-hard fans.

A superb compilation look back at the golden early days of Nightrage, a lineup where perfection, honesty and pure ideas were the key to everything they created!

"Elysium" is a solid album. Nothing spectacular. It doesn't offer anything you haven't already heard from Stratovarius in the past. The guys diligently cling to the tried-and-tested formula, which will satisfy the taste of the loyal fans.

Without exaggeration, Wheels of steel could be counted among the famous trilogy of records that firmly staked out the genre known as NWOBHM back in 1980.

On "Stereotomy," The Alan Parsons Project suddenly gave up the hunt for radio hits and partly returned to their roots. The end result was one of their most overlooked records, and its true value only became clear many years later.

A heavy, hard-hitting, devastating listen that'll leave you feeling like a herd of rhinos just ran you over, but this time you can only be glad about the hellish grunge and stoner stampede!

A Distant Thunder is a new era for Helstar. With producer Bill Metoyer on board, they sailed into the strongest stretch of their late-'80s golden age. Harder, faster and more shocking.

On their fourth album, Sabaium have finally cracked the formula, and the result is a great record!

"Kiss Of Life" is much more than an excellent debut from Vega, a band made up of seasoned musicians who know exactly how to serve up the most primal beats of the classic AOR tradition of British origin.

Hardcore punk rock! You can hear the Motorhead influence, with a dash of metal thrown in. Nothing new, nothing you haven't heard before. The accent is so thick you can't make out the English lyrics. Only for the thickest-skinned punks.

When the years have done their thing and Paris Hilton becomes your idol.

What the gloomily lukewarm Lightning strikes again robbed die-hard fans of hard rock heavyweights Dokken of, we've finally gotten with their latest record, albeit in a somewhat less original form.

A new era of thrash? You could say

An album of artistic maturity and a return to the cradle where it all began, drawing on the legacy of the first three studio records. After 1987 and Astronaut (2004), it's one of the most convincing things the band has done.

A superb indie rock album from Danger Mouse and the late Mark Linkous (a.k.a. Sparklehorse), one that EMI Records almost kept from ever coming out! Linkous's schizophrenic mind lives on.

Luckily, the singer herself recognized the double-edged nature of this release, so on her own album she cast herself as the guest performer, which bolsters the credibility of a wildly uneven record, "...featuring".

»Gone To Earth« was the legendary band's big breakthrough in Central Europe, and even though their best creative years were slowly winding down by then, they still had enough juice left to leave a handful of timeless classics on it.

The 12 instrumentals on the very, very good Fuzz Universe dig deeper into the expressive blueprint of "Silence Followed By The Deafening Roar" without bringing any new artistic curveballs from the guitar wizard!

A trip back to the days when Yugoslavia had no shortage of testosterone, hard music and ideals!

"Made Of Metal" isn't as gut-punching and gleamingly reborn a metal album as "Resurrection", but it keeps all the power and grandeur of the Halford name, and its quality challenges even the best work of Judas Priest.

Glory Of Chaos confirms the stellar comeback form of the legendary Texan speed/thrashers, first embodied by The King Of Hell in 2008. Even more aggressive, yet still true to their standard of melodic intelligence.

"On this far-too-long-overlooked masterpiece, Black Sabbath finally morphed into a modern metal band that still stayed true to its sinister roots."

"Tyr" is a completely unique album within Black Sabbath's majestic catalog. The forefathers of heavy metal never again pulled off this kind of blend of ethereal mysticism from the Nordic horizons and dark visions from the heart of hell.

A gem from the days when Yugoslavia was only just getting itself onto the list of metal countries goes by the name Gordi. Despite a shabby image and some pretty trashy lyrics, Pakleni trio unstoppably pushed the boundaries of music!

German precision doesn't let you down even on attempt number thirteen - Sodom are rock-solid, tight and flawless once again, and In War and Pieces makes the shortlist of the 10 best metal records of 2010!

The third compilation from radio station Val 202, aptly named for 2010 as "Val 10", shows the first cracks, tipping the scales toward a feeling of exhaustion, burnout and curatorial dryness in the selection that the new compilation…

This year's outstanding Swedish death metal lineup gets a monster addition: the uncompromising Facebreaker, brutal, infectious and hard-hitting. Time for the slaughter!

Swedish-grade Gothenburg polish, Dutch style, worth every second and every cent from your recession-thinned wallet!

A fusion of poetry and great progressive rock music. The result is a true work of art. | A fusion of poetry and great progressive rock music. This results in a true work of art.

Effortless, polished and toxically good - those are the adjectives that roughly sum up the third flight up the pop-metal scale of standards by the Finnish quartet Manzana.

Flawless, dazzling musicianship!

Kamnik heavy metal outfit Use Less hit even harder the second time around, proving they've made a huge quality leap with their second demo.

A killer record that deserves to stand next to the mighty At The Gates and The Haunted. Finland's answer to Swedish dominance is nothing short of phenomenal!

The last true classic from the hands of the immortal Metallica, the cornerstone of commercialization and a staggering progressive leap into epic megalomania, but above all the voice of a generation - that and more is ... And Justice For…

Slipknot were caught off guard by the death of Paul Gray. That the world didn't quite stop is proven by the third record from Stone Sour, who return to the big league with a tribute to their fallen comrade.

»Vulture Culture« still holds up after the test of time as a first-rate AOR treat, one that keeps thrilling with its distinctive lineup of hypnotic hits and with the remaining, slightly lower-profile but no less excellent tracks.

Poetry shakes hands with Serbian heavy metal and rock. The result is a punchy, outstanding blend of sensuality and edge. A new era is coming: Vreme brutalnih dobronamernika!

The album is done professionally from A to Z; innovative and true to the heart of the band's idea. | "Martelo" is made professionally from cover to cover; innovatively and in accordance with the band's idea.

Deep, personal, lived-in music.