When I listened to Heart of the Hurricane for the first time, I wondered whether I had made a mistake and was listening to the solid predecessor Lost in Forever again. This statement actually tells us a lot about this record. Beyond the Black has found its own style focused on commercially successful female-fronted symphonic metal with mid-paced tracks around the four-minute mark. The songs are quite catchy and the choruses very melodic. However, despite their individual qualities, the mass of similarly fabricated tunes end up sounding repetitive, predictable and ultimately boring. It's quite an issue when such a young band already repeats itself on the third studio record. The fact that the live concert from Japan included in the limited boxed set is the best thing about this release speaks volumes as well.

A song that exemplifies this lack of ideas is bonus track ''Parade''. It seems to be stuck between symphonic metal stylistics and an attempt at soulful pop ballad. Beyond the Black tries to appeal both to fans of fragile pop music and to symphonic power metal supporters but the two genres are rarely compatible. This particular song feels directionless musically, the vocals are smooth, inoffensive and exchangeable and the tune is produced like an exchangeable routine product. The chorus is repeated to death in order to sound catchy but you will still forget it five minutes after you have listened to it.

One has to admit that the experienced song writing team around band leader and lead singer Jennifer Haben tries to come around with a few fresh ideas. ''For the Godless'' is supported by a bombastic symphonic score and also comes around with medieval instrumentation, aiming to appeal to new fans. The experiment works surprisingly well and shows the talent of the musicians involved as the final result sounds like a mixture of power metal project Avantasia and folk metal veterans In Extremo.

However, such successful experiments remain an exception on Heart of the Hurricane. This album sounds like a lighter version of the solid predecessor Lost in Forever. The production is professional, the musicianship is solid and the singer has improved her skills. Still, the song writing is bland and most of the tunes are forgettable. Heart of the Hurricane is neither a bad nor a good album. It's an unremarkable, tame and exchangeable plastic product save for very few exceptions. Fans of the band will like what they hear. If you miss the good old gothic pop days of Within Temptation, L'Âme Immortelle and Evanescence fifteen years ago, you should also give Beyond the Black a chance. If you ever wondered what Ed Sheeran with heavy rock guitars in a metalized pop outfit would sound like, you will get some answers here. If you look for creative song writing, energetic team spirit and unique songs to be remembered however, you should just ignore this bland effort. Similar bands like Amaranthe, Elvellon and even Kobra and the Lotus have much more oomph. These bands that are worth being labeled as such and not just casted extras surrounded by a selfish diva and greedy producers provide a much more organic and unique sound than this record. Don't be among those who get fooled into believing that this seemingly authentic band could be the next big thing in the symphonic metal scene.

Final rating: 60%

French-Canadian hardcore thrash metal band Blasting All Rotten Fuckers rose from its ashes six years ago and released a stunningly diversified, energizing and entertaining comeback record with Brûle Consume Torture four years earlier. Released by the small label Boîte à musique, the band's sixth full length release almost slipped under my radar. If compared to the predecessor, Mantra is much more aggressive and straight-forward, going at times back to the band's chaotic roots. However, the record's first half is lacking diversity and at times repetitive but the second half goes back to the high quality of the predecessor.

''Tomahawk'' is a first highlight. Lyrically, it honors Canada's first nations. Musically, it even offers some throat singing. Backing vocals were provided by Neurotic Mutation's Sébastien Croteau and Groovy Aardvark's Vincent Peake. The track has a lot of imaginative changes and is quite long for a hardcore thrash metal band with five and a half minutes. 

''Mantra d'apocalypse'' goes even further and breaks the six-minute mark, coming around with carefully employed symphonic elements and a truly haunting middle section with a narrative part. Both elements add to the dramatic and epic atmosphere of the quasi-title track. 

Closing track ''Fade Out'' offers a more light-hearted finale and is actually a duet between B.A.R.F.'s Marc Vaillancourt with his aggressive throaty vocals and the more folk-inspired tell-tale efforts by Mononc' Serge. The two singers discuss whether the record should end with a fade-out as Marc Vaillancourt describes fade-outs as a lack of imagination while Mononc' Serge argues that this device ends songs with dignity. The lyrics are quite hilarious and the vivid music makes for a true party anthem.

After a slow start, a strong middle section and excellent finale save this album. Mantra offers brutal hardcore thrash metal but includes welcome ambitious song writing ideas, atmospheric instrumental passages and a few diversified guest musicians and singers. This might not be B.A.R.F.'s greatest hour but fans of the band will certainly appreciate the new release and enjoy the new material in concert. Newcomers to the band should start with the predecessor Brûle Consume Torture that showed the band at its most creative time to date.

Final rating: 70%

Big Brother is a highly entertaining movie that mixes social drama with some martial arts action elements. The movie tells the story of a veteran with a troubled past who comes back to his former Hong Kong high school to work there as a social science teacher. The school faces several problems such as reduced funds, obsolete infrastructures and difficult students. The protagonist uses quite unusual strategies to help his students and invests a lot of energy and time to solve their individual problems. While he soon gets along with his students, his colleagues and the principal are quick to criticize him and Henry Chen soon realizes that being a teacher might become his biggest challenge yet.

Donnie Yen's latest movie is so efficient because it combines social drama and action scenes in a very balanced way. The plot is quite mature, profound and serious. The occasional fight scenes offer welcome breaks from the intense content. The film convinces with intriguing characters that have troubled pasts. Viewers will connect with the war veteran who was everything but an obedient student, his former friend and antagonist who wasn't given the chance to realize his dreams and especially the students who have serious problems such as poverty, criminality and addictions. The film comes around with life-affirming, optimistic and positive message that are truly inspiring, especially if you are a student or teacher yourself.

Some people might criticize that this film features less spectacular fights than other movies starring Donnie Yen but this reduced and realistic approach suits the film very well. Other people might argue that such an intense social drama would be better off without any big fights at all but the serious content is much easier to digest with these vivid sequences. Big Brother leaves the trodden path, tries out an unusual combination of genres and succeeds almost perfectly to my very positive surprise.

If you like social dramas and martial arts films, you will adore this movie that turns out being one of the best in Donnie Yen's impressive career. The content, messages and vibe of the movie will make you think even long after the movie is over. Big Brother is a film for your body, brain and heart and one of the most positive surprises of the year.

The Burning Cold marks a vast improvement over the boring predecessor Grey Heavens as Finnish melodic death metal sextet Omnium Gatherum offers some of its most inspired songwriting in many years. Instead of simply delivering fast death metal with melodic guitar sounds and depressive keyboard soundscapes, this album actually oozes with atmosphere.

Things kick off very well with the slow, ominous and distorted instrumental opener ''The Burning''. Old problems seem to haunt the band when the actual opening track and single ''Gods Go First'' kicks off nervously and doesn't fit to the amazing instrumental overture but the band manages to slow things down and turn them around by including futuristic keyboard sounds to give the track some depth after a rough start. 

Things improve even further with the next tune and single ''Refining Fire'' that develops an epic atmosphere thanks to a diversified mid-paced structure focusing on outstanding guitar work while the vocals are less domineering and give the song some space to unfold. 

The futuristic touch can also be found in the brilliant ''Over the Battlefield'' that would do justice to any soundtrack of an epic science-fiction movie. The mysterious melodies contrast the combative death metal vocals very well while occasional extended instrumental passages slow the song down at the right moments and give it an extra layer of atmosphere and depth. 

The record keeps the momentum until its end with a track like ''Be the Sky'' that combines aggressiveness and melody brilliantly while the calmer instrumental bridge is again an emotional highlight. 

''The Frontline'' even uses acoustic guitar passages and could be described as intellectual progressive extreme metal track that might qualify as this record's most ambitious song and even as a highlight in Omnium Gatherum's extensive discography. 

The Japanese version of this release includes two more bonus tracks and clearly offers value for money.

After the disappointing predecessor, Omnium Gatherum has finally managed to reproduce the unique atmosphere of its live shows on a regular studio album. I'm still waiting for the band's first live album which is long overdue twenty-two years after its foundation. Before such an album might finally see the light of day and become the group's most essential release, one can't go wrong with The Burning Cold which is easily one of the band's very best records. If you like melodic death metal with epic, futuristic and progressive atmospheres, you can't get around this unexpected highlight.

Final rating: 85%

There is no question that the original Papillon movie released almost forty-five years ago and starring star actors Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman is an amazing historical period drama and survival adventure movie. Based upon true events, it tells the story of a wrongfully convincted prisoner who tries to escape a French penal colony in French Guiana on three occasions. One has to question why such a movie would be remade in the first place. Even by today's standard, the original film's acting performances are very skilled, the exotic locations are breathtaking and the story about freedom and friendship is profound and timeless. Even though the remake isn't a terrible film, it's completely unnecessary. If you're not familiar with the topic, I would suggest watching the original film. I would even suggest reading Henri Charrière's Papillon and Banco novels which inspired both films. I would even recommend watching a documentary about French penal colonies before watching this remake. Watching this film should be your last option. However, it still remains an option, simply because the story is so good that it deserves to be watched or read or heard.

A remake should have the ambition to offer a different take on the events of the original movie and to improve it. There are very few of these elements to be found in this film. If compared to the original film, this remake shows us roughly fifteen minutes of the lead character's life before his wrongful conviction. We can see him cracking a safe, attending a party with members of an organized crime gang and spending time with his girlfriend. This exposition also shows a reason why Papillon would be framed for a murder he didn't commit. He kept some of the diamonds he stole for the gang to offer them to his girlfriend and was seen in the process of doing just that.

One element where the remake nearly matches the original film's quality is the acting. If compared to the unique Steve McQueen and the diversified Dustin Hoffman, Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek are obviously less experienced but they might deliver the best performances of their careers. Their friendship feels stronger and makes even more sense than in the original film. Charlie Hunnam convinces as resilient man who never gives up on his dream of freedom and comes surprisingly close to Steve McQueen's charismatic performance. Rami Malked does a solid job as scared intellectual and has great chemistry with Charlie Hunnam but can't match Dustin Hoffman's natural talent.

On all other levels, the remake is quite a letdown. The new version is about twenty minutes shorter than the original film but ironically feels much longer than the film released forty-five years ago that already had a few lengths. The events leading to the first escape attempt are stretched and the scenes in solitary confinement are played brilliantly but end up being quite repetitive. On the other side, important scenes have been cut or excluded in the remake. The men's haunting passage at a leper colony was completely cut from the remake. Papillon's life with a native tribe lasts for about five minutes in the remake even though he lived there for a long period of time, got married to two sisters and even impregnated them. The ending is quite abrupt in the remake as the director shows a brief scene of Papillon's return to France decades after his final escape without telling what happened in nearly three decades between both events, making the remake feel less concise and focused than the original film that ended with Papillon's succesful escape.

One element I would have liked to be mentioned is the fact that Henri Charrière's story was at least partially made up. He clearly wasn't as innocent and sympathetic as portrayed in the movie. Making his character a little bit more sinister would have been an intriguing addition if compared to the rather neutral original film. However, Papillon instead seems to be an even friendlier lead character than in the original film which is somewhat misplaced but goes along with typical Hollywood productions that fabricate heroic protagonists the audience wants to cheer for. In this case, this approach is too simplistic.

In the end, there are very few reasons to watch this remake. The exposition adds some depth to the lead character and the acting performances exceeded my expectations. However, the movie has more lengths than the original film, important scenes have been cut and the resolution feels misplaced. At the end of the day, this remake was quite unnecessary.