This live record from the Germa heavy and power metal band Powerwolf came as a special gimmick added to the April issue of the German Metal Hammer in a jewelcase with a small four page booklet. With a running time of forty-six minutes, this surely is value for money. This live record quite equally covers songs from all of the band’s releases apart of the rather unknown first studio record.

Musically, the band offers solid dynamic heavy metal with some thetral elements that sound a little bit over the top and quite stereotypical at some points. The vocals are quite variable and good in the heavier tracks but somewhat pathetic in the melodic choruses. The keyboards and their organ sounds add an atmosphere to the sound that reminds me of a mixture of Avantasia, Ghost and Rhapsody Of Fire. The riffs are not very complex or outstanding in any way but at least straight and quite catchy. The topics also quite remain the same all the time and mix fantasy elements with humorous passages and a couple of poser lyrics that could also come from The 69 Eyes. The main topic is, as you may suggest by the band’s name and the titles of the different tracks, about wolves.

The strongest point of this release is its surprisingly great production and strong live atmosphere. The interactions between the crowd and the band are very enthousiastic. This high degree of passion compensates a lot for more or less addicting and somewhat repetitive tracks. Especially the singer has a certain talent to animate the crowd and prepare them for the coming tracks with a couple of little cheerings, jokes and speeches. Only his exagerated singing cheering in the final track and maybe strongest song “Lupus Dei” and his strange accent sound rather ridicolous. On the other side, this song is probanbly the most addicting one apart of “Werewolves Of Armenia” that has a riff that reminds a lot of Amon Amarth’s “Pursuit Of The Vikings” while the chorus could also come from Rhpasody Of Fire.

In the end, this record is a nice gimmick at a good price. As a live release, this record has a quite good atmosphere and well produced sound. The music itself is though not very convincing or original. After a while it all sounds like something we have heard before too many times and gets rather redundant or even annoying. Those who would like to hear a slightly slower version of Rhapsody Of Fire might though adore this record. If I wouldn’t know that these guys are from germany I would certainly guess they came from Italy. Personally, this release certainly doesn’t inspire me to buy any studio record of the band but it’s good as a little gimmick in your extended metal collection.

Sweden's Sabaton deliver some sort of a shortened greatest hits compilation with the brand new latest title track "Carolus Rex" and an exclusive bonus song called "Harley From Hell" on this special release with the most stupid album title since Candlemass' "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus". This offering was part of the may edition of the German Metal Hammer version which generally offers a lot more than the English original but still can't mess with the brilliantly executed and written Rock Hard magazine in Germany.

The new title song "Carolus" Rex is a quite calm and slow trick that convinces with a very hymnic and catchy chorus which you won't get out of your mind once you have listened to this once. The special track "Harley From Hell" is not as bad as its title suggest that could rather come from Manowar. Musically, the track is quite catchy and would have made a good live track or single release. It has a slight eighties' touch with its dominating keyboards and can be interpreted as a nod to classic hard rock bands such as Deep Purple or Europe. The band played this song first in a biker club back in 2006 as an instrumental and now made something concrete out of it. These two tracks alone are worth the purchase of this compilation for any fan and very well done.

The other eight songs come from the records "Primo Victoria", "Attero Dominatus", "Metalizer", "The Art Of War" and "Coat Of Arms". The band mixes faster bangers such as "Hellrider" with catchy hymns such as "Primo Victoria" and also some more elaborated ans complex tracks such as the very strong highlight "Cliffs Of Galipolli" with its interesting structure including catchy piano melodies. For the occasional Sabaton fan that doesn't want to purchase all the band's records, this release is even more than just interesting but quite a great deal. There really isn't much to criticize concerning this compilation as even the chosen track list represents some of the strongest moments of the band.

On the other side, the chosen tracks prove that the band didn't develop a lot since its beginning. The lyrical topics and the songwriting approaches as well as the technical skills don't show any significiant progress in my humble opinion. The songs are very catchy and can mostly easily be classified as catchy fast tracks or epic mid tempo epic hymns. The same structures are repeated all the time and even though I really like this compilation it doesn't inspire me to purchase the band's full albums. I have listened to some of them in the past and they are all quite alike with more or less keyboard passages and this compilation hits right in the perfect middle with tracks from all past records and that's why I added some points to this rare release. The band is surely a great live act but on the studio records they start to get quite redundant after a while. For me, forty-two minutes with catchy tracks from the past seven years are definitely enough and this release may remain my only Sabaton record in the large metal collection I have collectioned in the past seven years.

In the past years, I have always tried out a couple of Children Of Bodom records and came to the conclusion that the band always quite sounded the same and always included a bunch of predictable but heavily addicting party tracks on their records and some more or less convincing fillers. There were some records that I actually liked as the classic “Hatebreeder” or the quite underrated “Are You Dead Yet” but I rarely listened to them as a whole and always found a couple of songs to skip.

This retrospective is now the perfect release for me. It is filled with eighteen songs from the past fifteen years spanning from the band official debut record “Something Wild” up to the latest album “Relentless Reckless Forever”. From fast and hard melodic death metal like the amazing “Silent Night, Bodom Night” over catchy hit singles as “Hate Me!” up to rather electronic experiments like the wonderful “Living Dead Beat” this album includes everything I have always liked about the band.

As a special gimmick for those who already own everything the band has put out, Children Of Bodom put not only a good booklet inside but also some kind of documentary with over twenty minutes of extra footage and a brand new video clip for “Shovel Knockout” on a bonus disc that illustrate well the band’s philosophy which can be resumed on having fun without any limits and living day by day.

The two brand new cover songs also illustrate that rebellious attitude. On the other side, the two tracks prove once again that the band listens to almost all kinds of music and is able to add their band typical sound to anything. The Celtic punk classic “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” by Dropkick Murphys has quite the same positive energy as the original and is a great party anthem.

“Jessie’s Girl” is a very catchy hymn for jealous stalkers originally interpreted by rock artist Rick Springfield. I always felt that this song could be transformed into something heaver and the Finnish legends made my dreams come true and did an excellent job on this song in times of Glee’s and other stuff. They have kept the charming melodies and grooves of the original, underlined the melodies with an excellent short guitar solo and dominating keyboards and added clean as well as harsh vocals to the original sound. I always liked the way the band made their cover songs but this is definitely one of the best things Children Of Bodom have done from that kind of view and their interpretation made me discover the original again and the track stayed on my mind for hours and days.

In the end, I have finally found the perfect solution to my dilemma that consisted of adoring some particular tracks of the band but not quite their entire albums. The band included over seventy-eight minutes of music on this record and offers value for money. Every studio record of the band to date is honoured on this colourful and diversified release. The band pretty much chose their most popular tracks but also some fan favourite’s songs. Of course, some people might argue that their personal highlight might not be included for whatsoever reason but in comparison to so many other lukewarm greatest hits compilations in times of Icon and Company, I don’t see any essential track missing and think that the band did a quite excellent job concerning their eighteen choices for this release. The two brand new cover songs are excellent and should please to any fan of the band even though the band could have released these two tracks as a single apart for those who already own all the band’s records. A brand new song or some rare bonus tracks could have been interesting but the fact that these can’t be found on here only means that the old singles, Japanese album pressing or reissues keep their value and that some possible new material might soon be honoured in an appropriated way on an entirely new studio record.

I must finally admit that this greatest hits release addicted me a little bit more to the band than before and makes me want to try out again their old studio records. This compilation will surely be part of my personal soundtrack for the summer. Normally, I’m not a fan of best of releases at all but this one is a very well done effort and personally even my favourite Children Of Bodom record.

I must admit that I have always hesitated to check out the music of Varg Vikernes and Burzum. I simply can’t ignore the fact that he is a criminal mind that has burnt several churches, murdered his ancient band mate and promoted strange racist opinions over the last decades. I don’t want to support this kind of human being in any financial, promotional or whatsoever way.

On the other side, I heard so many comments about his music and became somewhat curious. It’s a well known fact that insanity and genius can be really close. I ultimately fought my inner demons and tried to be open minded enough to have an idea of this guy’s musical universe. I decided to listen to his new record “Umskiptar” after many reviews I have read about his last two regular studio records “Belus” and “Fallen” that he released when he got out of prison.

Concerning this record I must admit that this is much ado about nothing at all. This is simply overlong atmospheric ambient music with somewhat intriguing poetical Norse lyrics. The artistic approach is authentic and works very well in the beginning of the record but it gets redundant after a while. The emotions are there but they are not deep enough from my point of view and are rather repetitive, too. Despite its title, there are no big metamorphoses or any kind of surprises on this record.

From time to time, the sleepy flow is then interrupted by some short blackened metal passages that I would not call traditional black metal. To my big surprise, these moments are the most emotional ones on the album and kept me listening to this record to the end. The harder stuff like “Hit Helga Tré” or the refreshingly short “Æra” featuring disturbing vocals between floating and spiritual vibes and aggressive or desperate undertones as well as slow but heavy riffs with some disturbing sound is where Varg Vikernes convinces me the most.

The strongest songs are definitely in the beginning with the airy, progressive and yet angry and dark “Jóln” and in the end of the record with the melancholic epic grower “Gullaldr” that invites you to dream yourself far away. These are the moments when I begin to understand why this controversial personality is also respected by some for his musical input. Even though the record has a very coherent flow and a clear guiding line, there are too many lengths in here that can’t compensate for the boring moments.

If there would only be more quality tracks like this one on the album instead of pure chewy quantity, I would really feel the need to check out his older works after all these years. But overall, this is only an average record with very few sprinkles of genius that is hard to sit through after all. There is almost as much boredom as there is potential in this album but I think that it might grow on me as time goes by and it your listening experience also depends a lot on your personal mood, too. This record should have been released in autumn or winter time. Apart of the numerous Varg Vikernes fanboys, fans of blackened ambient stuff and pagan metal might like this but anybody else shouldn't follow the hype. In the end, sixty-six percent seem to fit perfectly to the lyrical topic, the music and the man behind this release.

When I first got into the metal scene seven years ago, I started listening to a lot of classic heavy metal, to a solid dose of German Medieval Rock and also a lot of European power metal. When I was young, I discovered and adored bands such as Edguy, Gamma Ray, HammerFall, Helloween, Primal Fear, Saidian or Stratovarius but there was always one band I found to pop orientated and tame among these other melodic metal acts: Sonata Arctica. Over the years, a couple of metal fans told me that Sonata Arctica had gone through changes and would sound different and more mature nowadays. They told me to give their new releases a chance. That's what I tried to do when I checked out the band's newest single.

Yes, the band has changed. But the band has changed for the worst. This track sounds a mixture of electro pop bands such as the German Baracuda, American radio pop around acts such as Three Days Grace and a dose of soft power metal as from the commercially acclaimed years of Stratovarius ten years ago or so. When I take a look a the emo style video clip and the new looks of the band and especially the singer I ask myself if these guys are in a serious midlife crisis. Maybe they want to get some chart success to play some festivals with Simple Plan, 3 Doors Down or My Chemical Romance. With this silly piece of garbage they're on the right way but somebody should tell these guys that they've have arrived almost ten years to late to catch the mainstream train. On the other side, I guess that this song might definitely divide their fan basis into a pop and a metal camp with the latter one that might live a huge disappointment.

The single version of this track is just centered around a boring chorus that is repeated way too much. From a positive point of view, you can call the chorus catchy but I would call it irritant. Add some cheesy keyboard sounds to this plus an out of tone young boy's monologue about teenage emotions and you get a solid idea of this song. It's a shame that the band uses the words "sonata" and "arctica" in their band name, they should actually chose something more appropriated and call themselves "Sample Beach" or "Emo Disco" or something like that. I still give ten points for the band's courage to seriously release this kind of music nowadays and to go through changes by taking the risk to lose the reputation they have achieved - I don't know how and why - in the rock and metal world over the years. The other generous five points are for the fact that this track is catchy and stays in my mind even if I desperately want it to get out of it. If you don't want to live the same ashaming dilemma, I give you the advice to stay away from this at all costs!