Few bands are as much influenced by their own past as German heavy metal pioneers Grave Digger. The band has been rerecording and rereleasing material from the eighties and nineties throughout the years. The Forgotten Years honours the group's underground years in the late eighties and early nineties when it temporarily existed under the Hawaii banner and had no record label supporting its career. The material presented here consists of Hawaii demo Bottles and Four Coconuts from 1989, Grave Digger's Return of the Reaper demo from 1991 and the 1992 extended play For Promotion Only!!

The most positive thing about this unexpected release is that the aforementioned efforts are finally made available to a large audience. Many of these tapes and discs have been strictly limited and most fans have never had the opportunity to listen to them at all. Up next, the band's enthusiasm for heavy metal is very apparent on all three releases combined on this compilation. The band had attempted to sell out and play more polished adult-oriented rock music for the international market under the Digger banner, so the return to the band's heavy metal roots feels convincing, energetic and liberating. The rough sound of the material blends in perfectly and makes the band sound like the boys next door practising in their garage. A few traditional heavy metal gems can be found on this compilation such as the aggressive, fast and pitiless ''Spy of Mas'On'' and the direct, grooving and tongue-in-cheek anthem ''Wedding Day''.

This compilation however isn't without its flaws. Several songs exist in different renditions here such as the rather bland ''Fight the Fight'' that is included a whopping three times on this compilation. The material offered here is essentially traditional heavy metal without any compromises, imagination or variation. While this approach makes sense in the context of Grave Digger's career with its attempt to return to its roots, it also ends up sounding bland, predictable and repetitive at times. The total running time of sixty-nine minutes is a chore to sit through. Purchasing regular studio album The Reaper that includes this compilation's best cuts with a decent production and concise running time of forty-seven minutes is ultimately the much better alternative.

At the end of the day, Grave Digger's The Forgotten Years is recommended to avid collectors and fans of the band's early years only. They will get sixty-nine minutes of underproduced old school heavy metal with rough vocals, loud guitars, aggressive bass guitar sounds and tight drumming. Occasional fans or those interested in Grave Digger's more complex epics will however quickly feel bored by this homogeneous compilation. A few spins on Spotify will therefore be more than enough for most fans. Here's hope that Grave Digger will end up rereleasing long-lost and heavily underrated studio album Stronger than Ever one day.

Final Rating: 65%

Dreadhammer is a thrash metal quartet from Kolkata that has been around for quite some years before releasing its first regular studio album Sovereign. The cover artwork and logo of this release might make you think of yet another Municipal Waste or Toxic Holocaust clone but the energetic youngsters actually find a solid balance between old school swagger and the dystopian side of contemporary thrash metal.

Opening anthem ''Atomic Pulse'' takes no prisoners whatsoever and reminds of groups such as Annihilator, Anthrax and Over Kill at their very best in the mid-eighties. The guitar riffs are fast and aggressive, the rhythm section is energetic and the vocals sound angry and raw while still adding desperate emotions and a minimum of melody. The gang shouts add some additional oomph and flirt with hardcore punk stylistics. Occasional breaks and mid-paced section give the song room to breathe. The only flaw of this great song is that it ends rather unimaginatively on a fade-out.

The Indian youngsters manage to keep the promising quality of the opener throughout most of the entire record. ''Back from the Void'' is a gloomy thrash metal stomper with more mid-paced sections, discordant guitar solo and dystopian spoken-word sections. Some passages aren't fully fleshed out yet but the songwriting here shows much promise.

''Cold as Ice" has a menacing groove and meanders playfully between pitiless fast passages and more melodious mid-paced sections. The guitar solo is short but sweet and the gang shouts are employed decently at the right moments. This song should work wonderfully in concert and generate a decent circle pit.

''Spectres'' is a mid-paced song with simpler guitar riffs and more dominant bass guitar sections. This track offers rather technical thrash metal with several breaks that make for an exciting, experimental and unpredictable listening experience. The title blends in perfectly as this is by far the record's gloomiest tune.

Closing epic ''Colors of Despair'' might slightly overstay its welcome with a length of almost seven minutes but convinces with a moody atmosphere right from the start. The simple yet sinister guitar tone and dreamy dark vocals remind of gothic metal experiments by veterans such as Kreator. This song is certainly the most unusual on the album and might need a few spins to open up but it works well for anyone who appreciates a restrained, moody and epic interpretation of the thrash metal genre.

At the end of the day, Dreadhammer's Sovereign offers more than worship of genre veterans or jumping the bandwagon of contemporary thrash metal. Instead, the Indian quartet finds the perfect balance between both approaches and adds some refreshing dystopian, gloomy and gothic touches here and there. The songwriting could be more concise, focused and varied at times but the youngsters certainly show much promise. Genre fans should give this release a fair spin and keep their ears on these newcomers emerging from the underground. I could certainly see these folks touring across the world with their excellent compatriots Girish and the Chronicles. Now they just need an international label to sign and promote them to take the next steps.

Final Rating: 70%

Whenever you are working as a prolific reviewer, you end up getting all sorts of negative and positive feedback as well as everything in between. The feedback I received for my review of Nemophila's debut record Revive was however particularly amusing. Some desperate soul made the effort to visit my blog and sent me a long message on Christmas' Eve of all dates. The person charmingly asked me to commit suicide, revealed to me that my parents were divorced and homosexual and that I would never get an Asian girlfriend. Well, here I am, still alive and kicking, my parents have been married for forty years and counting now and I still have fond memories of my ex-girlfriend. One thing that has however changed with that sort of feedback is my genuine appreciation for creative, dynamic and outstanding Japanese all-female metal band Nemophila. The quintet's second studio record is on the exact same level as its predecessor and worth to be checked out by any fan of contemporary Japanese rock music.

The only thing one could obviously criticize on Seize the Fate is the lack of coherency. This band is even more all over the place than similar artists such as Babymetal, Band-Maid and Necronomidol. However, along with Brats, Nemophila is also the most consistent group of its genre and certainly the heaviest. Seize the Fate offers addictive entertainment for forty intense minutes and makes you want to press the repeat button right away to go on this wild ride again.

Let's take ''炎天 - Enten -'' for instance to showcase the band's vast soundscapes. This song combines traditional Japanese folk elements with gloomy darkwave passages and melodic death metal sequences. The great thing is however that all these different influences are mixed fluidly and brought to the point in less than four minutes. This song grows with every spin and certainly sounds unlike anything you have ever listened to before.

Another remarkable tune is ''Rock'n'Roll Is?'' which turns out to be a genuine feel-good party anthem. The song meanders convincingly between classic melodic hard rock and bubblegum punk rock, thus combining genres of the early seventies and the late nineties. This song could have also come from the most recent releases by bands such as Billy Talent which is meant to be a compliment for the Japanese youngsters.

A similar beast is ''Style'' that offers industrial rock guitar work with folk interludes and groovy rap passages. Nu metal fans who have grown tired of the decreasing quality of outfits such as Rob Zombie, Ministry and Marilyn Manson should certainly check out this tune. This genre is usually not my cup of tea but performed with so much conviction here that I can't help but having a bright smile upon my face while listening to this song. Said track must not even be categorized as a guilty pleasure since no creepy boomers who can't keep their dicks in their pants are involved in this tune.

As you can read, Nemophila's Seize the Fate offers a sizzling potpourri of different genres and makes for a wild ride for open-minded fans of contemporary Japanese rock music. The remarkable consistency of this dynamic quintet has only increased my respect for the band. If you don't like it, then this is obviously perfectly fine but you really shouldn't make yourself look like a complete idiot by spreading hateful comments on the internet. Over and out!

Final Rating: 80%

Stone is the sixth regular studio album by American alternative rock quartet Baroness. This output offers everything that has established the band as a unique brand throughout its career. This starts with the short album title, the colourful artwork by John Baizley and the hypnotizing soundscapes combining progressive rock, psychedelic rock and stoner metal. This album is an immersive experience to be enjoyed from start to finish. Stop picking out songs for some shallow Spotify playlists and experience these ten songs with a total running time of forty-six minutes without any distractions. To all those claiming that this the band is no longer focusing enough on its sludge metal roots, just deal with it, enjoy the band's older albums and ignore this new release. Here are a few more words of wisdom: stop taking edibles and spin this record instead to escape from reality and dream yourself far away.

This record starts with the eerie, distorted and otherworldly ''Embers'' featuring inspired lyrics about loss and comfort that set the right tone for this entire release.

''Last Word'' is one of this record's strongest songs. It develops some magical atmosphere throughout its six hypnotizing minutes. The mournful vocals will manage to touch your brain, heart and soul. Despite its length and complexity, this tune is profoundly emotional and stunningly catchy. We have got a winner here right from the start.

''Beneath the Rose'' has a darker atmosphere and sounds like a magnetic maelstrom pulling you into a black hole, tearing you apart and spitting you out by the end. The song sucks you right into its destructive atmosphere and won't let you go for the next five and a half minutes.

This song leads directly into ''Choir'' that lightens up the atmosphere as darkness is gradually replaced by mystery while the lyrics offer eleven quatrains with an A-B-C-B rhyme scheme. This song is worth being discovered time and again for its instrumental atmosphere, lyrical depth and excellent fusion of both elements.

This album loses a little bit of steam in its second half but manages to end on a remarkably high note with relaxed closer ''Bloom'' with harmonious acoustic guitar sounds and stripped-down vocals. The final song goes full circle as the record starts and ends on a calm, mysterious and otherworldly note.

At the end of the day, Baroness' sixth studio album Stone should please to anyone looking for timeless alternative rock, progressive rock and psychedelic rock with hypnotizing atmosphere and poetic lyrics. Metal purists might feel alienated at first contact but this release develops magnetic magic when listeners open up to the band's unique soundscapes, take a closer look at the meaningful lyrics and take the time to immersive themselves into this record from start to finish. Despite a few flaws in its middle section, Baroness' Stone is one of the year's most beautiful hidden gems and deserves attention, recognition and respect.

Final Rating: 80%

Two years after the release of Hellryder's debut album The Devil Is a Gambler, German heavy metal singer Chris Boltendahl of Grave Digger fame comes around with yet another side project. This one here is entitled Chris Boltendahl's Steelhammer and the debut album is known as Reborn in Flames. As a matter of fact, it's difficult to understand the foundation of such a new project in the first place because the traditional heavy metal soundscapes offered here are the same as the ones you regularly get from Grave Digger and the ones recently released by Hellryder.

The only thing that makes this release stand out is its at times terrible quality. The songwriting is as unintentionally amusing, repetitive and stereotypical as you can possibly imagine. One dreadful example is gloomy slow-paced heavy metal stomper ''Let the Evil Rise'' that plods on for much too long with five minutes and repeats the chorus so annoyingly often that one can't help but wondering if Chris Boltendahl had a seizure while recording the vocals. Even the United States Army wouldn't dare torturing prisoners of war with such a scary song.

Another disaster portraying the subpar quality of this output is heavy metal anthem ''I Am Metal''. The cringe factor is so elevated here that it needs another neologism to describe the feelings of shame experienced while listening to this song. If that song were played at a pub and someone asked me if I were listening to metal, I would deny doing so and claim to prefer country music. The lyrics seem to have been written by an elementary school student. They are so bad that they aren't even so bad that it's good anymore. The musicianship is as bland as you could possibly imagine. Not even the most conservative grandfather sitting on a porch with his shotgun while sipping a glass of whiskey would find such a tame song disturbing in any way.

The worst offender might however be the album closer that ends a bad record on a terrible note. Midnight Oil's ''Beds Are Burning'' is one of the most beautiful rock songs ever written and stands out with its intelligent lyrics that were ahead of their time. Canadian progressive metal band Heaven's Cry has once managed to record an absolutely stunning rendition of this song with emotional atmosphere, skillful instrumental work and excellent production. Chris Boltendahl's Steelhammer's interpretation of the song is however a complete disaster from start to finish. The bland heavy metal musicianship is below average. The vocals are way too rough, out of tune and the lyrics are severely mispronounced. The production sounds amateurish, noisy and unbalanced. This track sends shivers down the spine but for all the wrong reasons. It's a profound mystery to me how no producer nor promoter intervened and told the band that such a cover version was a terrible idea. Instead, that nadir was even published as a promotional single. Speak of an utter misjudgement.

To be fair and to end this review on a positive note however, there are a few decent traditional heavy metal tracks to be found on this output. Opening title track ''Reborn in Flames'' sounds powerful and tight in the instrumental department, the raw vocals blend in fittingly and the chorus can be considered rather catchy. 

''The Hammer That Kills'' breaks with conventional songwriting procedures and sounds overall more adventurous than any other tune on this output. This experimental, liberating and uplifting approach shows the possible potential of this project. This track is the record's true hidden gem and deserves more attention.

''Iron Christ'' employs a sacral tone with decently employed chorals as it oozes with atmosphere, recalling Grave Digger's conceptual records released two and a half decades ago. The band should have expanded this song and shall go for a similar approach in the future because Chris Boltendahl has proven time and again to be able to deliver top-quality results in such atmospheric conceptual epics.

At the end of the day, the negative elements on Chris Boltendahl's Steelhammer's Reborn in Flames are so dreadful that they outweigh a few quite decent songs that however deserve some attention. I would recommend to listen to this album and download the best songs, thus encouraging and supporting the band to focus on its strengths and let go of its underwhelming approaches. To be honest, I would however recommend Chris Boltendahl to take a break from his side projects and put all of his conviction, creativity and energy into legendary German heavy metal pioneers Grave Digger that need all of these elements after the recent departure of guitarist Axel Ritt.

Final Rating: 40%