Album

Label: Frontiers Music Srl.Release date: September 4, 2020Production: Michael SweetAlbum length: 46.33 minGenre: (Christian) Heavy Metal Rating: 9.0/10 Who was the one whose wounds healed the (sinful) Christian world? The biblical…

Label: Frontiers Music Srl.Release date: September 4, 2020Production: Perfect PlanAlbum length: 55.19 minGenre: AORRating: 9.0/10 One thing's clear: AOR isn't going anywhere. It's an archaic genre that's been shoved underground and…

Label: Frontiers Music Srl.Release date: August 7, 2020Production: LandfallAlbum length: 49.11 minGenre: Melodic RockRating: 7.5/10 Landfall have dropped their studio debut, "The Turning Point". They're a Brazilian melodic rock band…

"The album comes across as "childishly naive," because it speaks to you with virginally sincere enthusiasm, even though experience and mileage stand behind it. That very fact makes it clear that with this record Blues Pills have grown one…

This is the story of the album with which Judas Priest redefined their heavy metal and caught the trends of the moment. In 1990, Judas Priest were seen as veterans, heavy metal elder statesmen of sorts. Painkiller put these enthroned…

"A brilliant progressive, all-instrumental metal album that's everything Petrucci isn't allowed to be in Dream Thater, and yet you know full well that without an album like “Teminal Velocitiy,” there would never have been a Dream Theater."

"Vanishing Point's new album "Dead Elysium" picks up the story right where its predecessor "Distant Is The Sun" (2014) left off. Fans had to wait a long time for it again, but the wait paid off."

“Love Is” has some really lovely artistic potential. Especially if Steve Howe didn't sing on five of the album's tracks. Apparently even too much love, the downright superfluous kind, can do a bit of damage now and then.

“One thing's for sure. The old farts know how to handle the goods. And after 34 years, the new Alcatrazz album found its way back to 1986 with ease. With commander and iconic rock singer Graham Bonnet at the helm and a whole constellation…

"“The Red Planet” easily stands alongside the finest achievements in Wakeman's hugely sprawling solo output. For all its sheer quantity, there aren't actually that many records in it that deserve the label of masterpiece, as you might…

“By the time of »Headless Cross«, Iommi had finally found a lineup formula that let him sleep a little easier. In that relaxed atmosphere, the same crew of musicians recorded an even stronger album, “Tyr”, which still failed to win over the…

“»Empire«, which was produced once again by Peter Collins, just like »Operation: Mindcrime« (with Jim Barton handling engineering duties) in Vancouver, Canada, remains a timeless musical achievement even after 30 years, embodying the…

"Put simply, it's another quality Mad Max album, one that will win over fans not just of this band but of old-continent European hard rock, as long as they go easy on Voss's worn-out vocals.”

"An album without a single dip in quality and a love letter to the golden age of AOR. Catchy, and even in 2020 still tickling in all the right places."

"A project with potential that surely won't have the last word, though the 2018 debut remains considerably more convincing."

“The debut album from Swedish melodic rock outfit Arctic Rain, led by veteran composer and keyboardist Pete Alpenborg, is going to make every die-hard fan of Scandinavian craftsmanship and proper AOR revivalism very happy.”

"“The band is totally 'stripped down', honest and straight-up. Frontal. The hooks are simple, the rhythms catchy and charging. A mostly 'adrenaline' album that invites you to a hellish party, soaked in burning high-octane fuel and loaded…

"The Bay Area legends don't do surrender. Quite the opposite. They radiate fire, wildness and a frighteningly bestial commitment, delivering one of this year's strongest, most charismatic and, in the end, most beautiful and truest-to-form…

"The Mael brothers have never bowed to anyone, and this time is no different: they refuse to play along with today's life and moral systems and norms."

"No two ways about it. Once again, this is the real Paradise Lost album: it sends sacral shivers down your spine and spins a demonically alluring magnetism with a touch of the kiss of death, in which the soul of frozen hopelessness…

"“Vector” was a story of birth, growth and development, while “Virus” is its opposite. It's the story of a not-so-honorable final lap of the human era. A new chapter packed with thrilling artistic brilliance from British progressive metal…

"With »Whoosh!« Deep Purple have made it loud and clear that they're in no rush to retire from the studio and are still having a blast making new music. Once again they've delivered an impressively solid record, on par with everything…

"A dark, solemn and seductive album, full of mysteries and, for 2020, full of sonic oddities and strangeness. An album that is also seriously catchy and easy to listen to, and that never, not for a second, "wears you down" with the looming…

"Ideas woven into colorful progressive metal instrumentals, steeped in a staggering grasp of neoclassical lessons, all of it riding vehemently on the wings of razor-sharp alertness and the sensuality of Latin temperament and instinct. A fan…

"Beyond a dreadful cover that's unworthy of the high musical quality embodied by the otherwise excellent 'The Reality of Miralces,' Lionheart have hit their mark on every count."

"A record that doesn't surprise and could, under the circumstances, have come out as the new Labyrinth album, yet brings tons of joy to all fans of Mark Boals' vocal feats."

"»Pod pritiskom« strengthens the distinctive voice of Grizl's hard rock, which was established with their predecessor “17 mečev”. The album is darker than its predecessor, more intense in its phrasing, and also serves up a “fatter” guitar…

"“Creatures and freaks like the ones conjured up by the imagination of the underworld and sent after Warkings by the devil have no hope. “Revenge” delivers exactly what this band's fans demand, seek out and want."

"Evolution stopped a long time ago, but the formula is one of a kind, and these seasoned old foxes know exactly how to crank out a fresh batch of true-metal marches that will keep power metal fans under the spell of that primal German…

"»Čas brez iluzij« is a moving, deeply felt record from start to finish. With his confessional one-of-a-kind voice, Gartner adds one more musical gem to the rich, colorful tradition of Slovenian singer-songwriter music, a piece that's been…

"Generally speaking, this project isn't just bold, it's above all a success. It fuses two musical worlds into an excellent, unusual body of work, a metal opera that keeps you entertained even in the theater. U.D.O. stepped away from their…

"Just as the raw energy of untamed winds bends the trees around Slovenia's Ajdovščina region, this release speaks in the same untamed, razor-sharp avant-garde way, and any attempt to pin down its character is hopeless."

In early 1980, AC/DC found themselves in a seriously unenviable position. The Grim Reaper tapped their enigmatic vocalist Bon Scott on the shoulder and invited him along. For good. On 19 February 1980, he was found dead in the early…

Label: Not Two RecordsRelease date: May 15, 2020Recorded by: Borut ČelikMixing and mastering: Iztok ZupanAlbum length: 45.02 minGenre: Free Jazz / Avant-gardeRating: 9.5/10Buy the album! This year saw the release of a gorgeous…

"The main goal of the album "Vrane" has been achieved. Grega hasn't sacrificed a speck of his unique artistic originality. If anything, he's broadened the vividness of his guitar genius with new moves and ideas, successfully weaving into…

"“Lions” is a new musical manifesto of exactly what the Tokyo Motor Fist debut put on the table. It brings no change, but it is once again a seriously bold and fun collision of the musical cross-section of Danger Danger and Trixter, with…

“‘Grit Your Teeth’ brings nothing new that the band hasn't already said plenty of times. The one change is a shift in production toward harder-hitting structures. Eleven by-the-book anthems that slot right into the mold of the band's older…

”Compared to the 'smashing' »Solitude« – let's call it an album firmly backed by a heavier dose of distorted sonic seasoning – »Aura« is its complete opposite. The musical about-face has handed the band yet another flawless studio…

"It's not yet clear whether this is the album of their artistic zenith. Kyros are still developing by leaps and bounds, and "Celexa Dreams" is a definitive, mature step up from its predecessor "Vox Humana", on which Kyros had already…

"Compared to their last album, "We Are Legend" (2017), where Magenta chased a modern sound and tried on a more contemporary musical wardrobe, on "Masters Of Illusion" they're flirting with the giants of the golden age of prog rock again.…

"From A Dying Ember" is a superb new Falconer release that will delight every loyal follower of the band. They stay true to their musical recipe and don't budge an inch from it. With this album the band has also officially retired, and…

"Curiosity is a bastard! It never satisfies you completely. And how do we want to live? In a utopia, or a dystopia? The synthesis of artificial intelligence and humans in the gripping direction of the new Long Distance Calling album"

"Todd Sucherman, the drummer of American rock icons Styx, tries on the singer-songwriter hat on his studio debut and delivers an outstanding art and pop rock gem of eighties retro-nostalgia."

"“26 East: Volume 1” is a revelation for fans of classic Styx, and it adds yet another phenomenal solo studio album to DeYoung's collection of auteur perfectionism. It's bursting with drama-theater flair and pompous melodies, brilliant…

"Fans of the N.W.O.B.H.M. days will be thrilled (again) after 'Unbroken', because with 'Dark Revolution' Tokyo Blade have paid off yet another one of the many debts they owed their fans, who over the years had every right to lose hope that…

"Dominator returns! On wings of apocalyptic doom and merciless fury, he'll crush the last spark of your barren faith and delusional hopes, because the era of steel has dawned."

""Squeezed between two more successful Jethro Tull albums and unfairly overlooked in the band's vast discography, the excellent "Benefit" nevertheless holds the key that opened the door for them to record, the following year, a huge album,…

"With the help of its 'newcomers', who are brimming with great songwriting and arranging ideas, the legendary band sounds fresh the whole way through and can stand toe to toe with plenty of modern prog revivalists who love to imitate…

"No beating around the bush: this is an album we can instantly tag as the "Victims Of Deception of the 21st century." That alone means "The Evolution Of Chaos" is one of the finest releases the metal scene gave us in 2010."

"The Who are simply, quietly reminding the world of music that they're back."

" When it was born 50 years ago, “Very ‘eavy … Very ‘umble” served up remarkable innovation, and with that very first record Uriah Heep proved they were a band with a finely honed musical pedigree, one they could boldly build on and push…

"“We Are the Night” is a fascinating, let's just call it melodic metal, release that once again bursts with a top-shelf dose of predatory pomp rhetoric, thanks to a new manifesto of big conceptual punch from Magnus Karlsson."

"With 'New World – New Eyes,' House Of Lords once again make their fans happy with a full-blooded record, and the lovers of this genre too, a genre that's pretty archaic in a lot of ways these days."

"'Worlds Beyond', the debut album from Swedish progressive metallers Paralydium, is a bold manifesto from a young, ambitious band, marked by great chemistry between the building blocks of its sound, a polished focus and a collection of very…

"This live document is another must-have for the collection of every die-hard fan of the band, and there are certainly plenty of them. It's not exactly a surprise, and some of the band's other live achievements and official releases are far…

"This is an album that's been very skillfully brought up to date in the studio, and it's a bridge to everything that bound Arch and Matheos together on their past albums. Definitely a bridge back to early Fates Warning too."

"The story behind the 50th anniversary of one of the most important albums in the history of rock music."

"With a performance at the Royal Albert Hall that was wrapped in a top-notch atmosphere from start to finish, Steve's in-great-spirits gang delivered an outstanding live set that covered every Genesis album from 1971 to 1976. "

“Curse of the Hidden Mirror” did have a few ups and downs in quality, but all in all it was still a thrilling record that delivered a heaping helping of listening pleasure for most longtime Blue Öyster Cult fans. After the solid “Heaven…

"“Heaven Forbid” remains the overlooked album in the band's huge discography, which makes a lot of sense when you set it next to Blue Öyster Cult's seventies legacy. Still, it's a superb effort, one where the band worked some of the essence…

"The tracks are tailor-made for Zak Stevens' vocal range, and his involvement is the element that conjures up the most Savatage associations. Everything else on the album is a cute bit of "teasing," with detours that, as mentioned, credibly…

"»Firewind« will be hard for any other power metal album to top this year. Firewind have dropped the best power metal album of 2020 so far, and chances are it'll stay that way!"

»On "Titans Of Creation" you'll look in vain for anything you haven't already heard from Testament, or for anything especially fresh, since it sounds very much like its predecessors "Brotherhood of the Snake" and "Dark Roots Of Earth". At…

Gathering Of Kings will appeal to fans of the Scandinavian sound and approach in melodic rock revivalism. Even on their second album, they're not reinventing the wheel, or inventing any "musical Einstein"

"On his new self-released studio outing, this outstanding musical gem of a talent keeps deepening, widening and nurturing the expressive qualities of his previous three albums, holding onto a top-shelf standard of musical artistry dressed…

"The rebirth of a legendary band in the truest sense. For new times. With a new focus! Let's hope Adrian Vandenberg keeps this fire burning in the years to come, because a hard rock achievement this good was really not something anyone…

"With Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith back in the fold and a killer new album in "Brave New World", Iron Maiden reclaimed their status as a superpower on the global metal map at the dawn of the new millennium!"

"The Path of 01" is an unusual, one-of-a-kind and endlessly thrilling product of a bold jazz collision between five very different musical characters, resulting in a vivid body of work where analog and digital elements settle into a…

"Artistically, AlogiA have outgrown their previous studio efforts in maturity with the new album."

"SickBreed have what it takes to climb one day, among the new "alt-whatever" rock outfits in the traditionally colorful expanse of the Slovenian alternative rock underground, into the pick of the more exciting acts on the domestic scene."

"The band has come out of this album artistically even stronger. With an exceptional level of focus and commitment, they've created a document of great creative freshness. And in exploring newly discovered musical expanses, their bold…

"With »V«, Grand Design remain the ultimate "party time" band. Fans of that radio-friendly 80s rock sound will gladly give this album their attention despite the constant flirting with the look and work of Def Leppard, and it should go down…

"So Ivanhoe haven't changed all that much. Albums come out painfully slowly, but the style stays recognizable and unmistakably theirs. A traditional German-bred progressive metal record, the kind you practically need a lantern in broad…

Label: Metal Mind ProductionsRelease date: 21.02.2020Production: Ian ParryAlbum length: 44.45 minGenre: Progressive Rock / Art RockRating: 9.0/10 Ian Parry is no stranger to the rock’n’roll scene. He kicked off his music career in…

"Synchronized is another top-notch chapter from this long-running British AOR outfit. Fans of the British take on the genre will be thrilled, and for the revivalists (the younger crop of melodic rock bands) it'll once again serve as a handy…

"The third reissue of a string of cult classics, first released as "Cult Classic" in 1994, has gotten a sound remaster, and it signals that after 19 dry years Blue Öyster Cult are getting ready to release a new studio album."

"“In the Wake of Poseidon” is less predictable than the debut thanks to some fresh avant-garde touches, and that makes it a real treat for music connoisseurs."

"The memory of 'The Five Man Acoustical Jam' lives on. Carried 30 years forward, it finds a mature reaffirmation in the band's new collection of acoustically arranged goodies, 'Five Man London Jam (Live at Abbey Road)'."

"»Mi nismo« is, as said, the best El Kachon album released to date. A sextet of outstanding musical characters, delivering an extraordinary blend of full-blooded emotion, passion, brilliant creative freshness and eclecticism that's rooted…

"When Ozzy left, plenty of people figured Black Sabbath were done. They couldn't have been more wrong. The band reinvented its sound and style and made one of the best albums of its career. This is the story of "Heaven And Hell"!"

"British Steel was the album where Judas Priest managed to elegantly fuse the bristling punch of heavy metal with a radio-friendly accessibility, given an extra boost by the rise of the N.W.O.B.H.M., and with it Judas Priest scored their…

"The album "Sign of the Times" comes with a different production and a distinctly sharpened-up sound, but otherwise hits every high-quality standard of the top-shelf hard rock that stands behind the name Axel Rudi Pell."

"'Shapeshifting' is an album where Satriani managed to deliver exactly what he set out to. A set of thirteen tracks with wildly different characters that paint a vivid picture of his guitar playing's personality, or rather its musical…

"The new Nightwish album is a hugely ambitious piece of work, and it cements the shift in style and sound already noticeable on the band's last two records. As such, it's going to split their fanbase even further."

" The solo debut from Nightwish bassist Marko Hietala is, loosely speaking, an art rock album! It can even (conditionally) carry the prog label, and as some might wrongly expect, it's nowhere near a metal record. It's an outstanding…

"Still, artistically Blaze has been a little robbed of freshness lately. So this album too will stay in the shadow of the excellent »The Night That Will Not Die« (2009), just like the other two live albums from 2014 and 2019 (!!!), which…

"Let's wait for the new FM first, but I can already say with a straight face that »Ignition«, Newman's twelfth album in a row and, by the way, one of the best of their career, ranks among the top releases of the year in that archaic genre…

"»Fistful Of Fire« is easily one of the best hard rock albums to drop in the first half of this year. Alongside the new Gotthard record »#13«, it's a must for all the »surviving« fans of the genre. It doesn't get more German than this."

"Harem Scarem today stand in a class of their own among bands in the same genre, quality-wise. Experience, talent, know-how, inspiration! It all adds up every time into a perfect melodic rock cumulus!"

"If you know all four Allen-Lande albums, you have to check out 'Worlds Apart', because it'll fit you like a glove. All it takes is being a fan of Magnus Karlsson's musical approach and his way with arrangements."

""Master Of Illusion" draws inspiration from the time-honored staples of AOR, hard rock and even glam metal, and the result is Ward's vision of melodic rock, which is also seriously sharp on the production side and satisfyingly…

" Elixir have risen once again and, once more, stood their ground. They've kept all their trademarks and carried them over to their sixth studio album, which sounds just as you'd expect, as if it were lost in time and space."

"Duke is the album that loudly announced Genesis had entered the eighties too, riding a gradual storm of stylistic changes, just like plenty of their prog rock contemporaries."

"Another studio effort that's pretty damn good overall. Not perfect, nowhere near outstanding, but very nicely packaged and worth your attention. For the more demanding music fans who've followed Ozzy since forever, the new album might…

"The old fart isn't giving up, and in what he takes on with the incredibly inspired “Born Of Fire”, he's hellishly good again and practically untouchable (especially when it comes to his generational uniqueness)."

As if 24 years hadn't passed between the new and previous studio album, but three at most. Welcome home, boys. Let's hope “The God-Shaped Void” isn't your last act.."

“Ballistic, Sadistic” grabs you in a thoroughly “Annihilator” way, no doubt about it, it just doesn't ignite quite the way a longtime fan of the band might have wished or expected."

"The third witches' gathering, dancing with the Devil!"

"Album "#13“ is a fresh, fascinating dive into classic hard rock, Gotthard-recipe style, which the band can't and won't deny. "

"The release of "40th Anniversary - Agents Of Fortune - Live 2016" is a welcome move, if only because it's a nice wake-up call that the iconic fossils of heavy rock aren't done yet and are coming back (let's hope soon) with a promised new…