by Sebastian Kluth
If translated literally, 腐尸爱美丽 would be called Carrion Loves Beauty but the band goes under the name Twilight Blooming instead since the last two years. The record 远方, which literally translates to Distance, is known as Far Away and is the first studio...
Unlucky Morpheus is a band whose discography mostly consists of Touhou arrangement albums. In the past few years, the band has however started writing some original material as well and has also increased tour activities. This brilliant live album is...
Midnattsol's The Aftermath is the first record of the German-Norwegian quintet since former Leaves' Eyes singer Liv Kristine joined her sister Carmen Elise Espenæs last year. I expected a clever use of the two distinctive vocalists but the new material...
Barque of Dante is a Chinese power metal band that has collaborated with different international vocalists in the past. Alchemist features Swedish singer Robin Lundgren on lead vocals as well as Argentinian singer Inés Vera-Ortíz as duet partner and backing...
Despite obvious grammar mistakes in the lyrics, Metalwings' debut EP Fallen Angel in the Hell was a promising release thanks to grounded, natural and unique vocals and the use of viola sounds and Irish flutes in an epic symphonic metal context. The first...
Brotherhood of Blades is a very entertaining wu xia movie. It combines dynamic martial arts and sword fights with historical costumes and settings and a dramatic dose of suspense in form of complex conspiracies. The greatest thing about the movie is that...
Three years after the pitiless Cavalo de Tróia, Brazilian crossover thrash metal quartet Ação Libertária is back with another thought-provoking full length effort consisting of twelve tracks and a running time of thirty-five minutes entitled Cidadão de...
Before I Fall is best described as a contemporary feminist take on Groundhog Day. It tells the story of high school student Samantha who seems to have a quite normal life. She lives with her friendly parents and her good-spirited little sister. She has...
Samaritan Zatoichi is the nineteenth film in the franchise about the blind masseur, skilled swordsman and lowly yakuza. In this movie, Zatoichi reprises his work as yakuza to earn some money. Initially hired as observator, he ends up fighting and killing...
I have been a fan of the Tomb Raider franchise for more than twenty years which means more than two thirds of my lifetime. I have played all the video games and watched the previous movies with Angelina Jolie. The first one was a little bit shallow while...
When the infamous Iraq War started one and a half decades ago, I was still in high school but I remember many students of my age demonstrating against said war and the American President George W. Bush. I recall a classmate of mine who brought a poster...
After releasing one of the very best entries in the franchise with the sinister Zatoichi's Revenge, Zatoichi and the Doomed Man is one of the weakest films about the blind masseur. It tells how Zatoichi gets arrested for illegal gambling and meets a prisoner...
After many positive reviews and enthusiastic mentions on numerous lists for album of the year, I decided to give Power Trip a second chance. I had seen the band in concert with Iron Reagan last year but hadn't been particularly impressed. Nightmare Logic...
Cypecore is band that mixes groove metal, industrial metal and melodic death metal. The vocals are mostly performed in a harsh melodic death metal style with a few isolated shouts and clean vocal passages. Distorted vocal effects also shine through here...
When you purchase an Anvil record, you know exactly what to expect: tight old school heavy metal with occasional hard rock and doom metal influences shining through. This is also the case for the band's seventeenth album in forty years. What makes this...
Every year again, citizens of the Western world get bombarded with Christmas music right after Halloween. We are exposed to it on the televison, on the radio and in shopping malls to just give a few examples. Instead of increasing the excitement for Christmas,...
I have always been a supporter of kawaii metal as it has revolutionized the metal genre. Revolutionary bands have always taken risks, expanded horizons and been controversially discussed. This was the case when doom metal created a whole new genre of...
*** This review may contain spoilers *** The Villainess could have been one of this year's greatest movies. The first-person action choreography is absolutely stunning, the characters are interesting to profound and the story is filled with numerous twists...
Going into this movie, I didn't expect anything. I went to a movie night at my local cinema on a Tuesday night and simply needed to find a second film to complete my double feature. It turns out that I got much more than I would have expected from this...
*** This review may contain spoilers *** Let's get one thing straight. This movie isn't historically accurate. It is much more a movie about the relationship between a grandmaster and his respected opponent's daughter than a biography of Ip Man. That...
A Cure of Wellness is one of the best Western movies in recent memory and it's a mystery to me why this film didn't get the attention it deserved. Many people claim that it bombed at the box office. That's not surprising because I was actively trying...
IT offers an excellent mixture of a coming-of-age drama and a supernatural horror movie. What I like about this film adaptation is how the film respects both sides on a perfectly balanced level. We are introduced to the lives of outcast teenage boys and...
I have rarely listened to an album whose title is as appropriate as Masterpiece of Bitterness. It really describes the sound Solstafir explores here as this album showcases courageous and epic song writing with a depressing and gloomy atmosphere. If compared...
I'm glad I didn't buy into the numerous negative reviews and purchased this film that seemed to have a very intriguing plot. I must say that I even got much more than I expected. 400 Days convinces with a gloomy and mysterious atmosphere, four distinguished...
Eight years ago, the French-Canadian action-comedy movie Father and Guns was a massive blockbuster. While a similar movie like Good Cop, Bad Cop managed to reinvent itself for a stunning sequel, the makers of Father and Guns decided to stick to the exact...
