by Sebastian Kluth
Artcell is a rather unkown progressive metal band from Bangladesh that has been around for far over one decade by now. Even though they might never get an international breakthrough, the band mostly skips annoying solo passages and concentrates on diversified...
Dead Mariners are a melodic symphonic black metal band with a couple of gothic and progressive influences that comes from Patan which is one of the biggest cities in Nepal. The band is comparable to other amateur bands of the same genre such as Cryptik...
After the highly promising and short appetizer in form of the well entitled “Ignition” EP, the new German Power Metal supergroup with ex-Helloween singer Michael Kiske, ex-Helloween and Gamma Ray mastermind Kai Hansen on the guitars and some background...
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...
I have always defended the style of DragonForce towards the incredible high amount of haters of this band. Many metal fans claim that DragonForce are too commercial and only gained success thanks to the youth that bought the Guitar Hero series. Others...
Pantera's "Vulgar Display Of Power" is one of the most controversial releases in the whole metal genre and recently got some fresh popularity with the release of the track "Piss" that didn't make it on the original album and was released twenty years...
The record of the band Onmyo-Za attracted me because of the stylish band photo, the unusual cover artwork and many positive experiences with diversified, stunning and sometimes surreal Japanese metal bands from classic groups such as Loudness or X Japan...
This super-band power metal project featuring for the first time in nearly twenty-four years a collaboration of the two Helloween masterminds Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske delivers everything European power metal stands for. This first output features...
After the stunning first full length record "Shade Of Fate", the Bulgarian progressive metal band Pantommind didn't only try to copy its first album but tried out a couple of new things on this second album. While this progression seems very positive...
Unbeing are a quite unknown completely instrumental progressive metal band from Montreal. I discovered their debut record by pure coincidence. It was sold by a lable during a black metal show. Let's note that this music has nothing at all to do with extreme...
Powervice are one of many retro heavy metal bands that are clearly influenced by the hard rock and emerging heavy metal music of the late seventies and the early eighties. They are as solid as genre colleagues such as Bullet, Vanderbuyst, White Wizzard...
During the last years, X Japan have more and more shifted away from their powerful power and speed metal roots and created more and more complex rock opera symphonies that highlighted with the release of the twenty-nine minute masterpiece "Art Of Life"....
Seeds Of Iblis play a very interesting kind of raw underground black metal with harsh but also very atmospheric vocals and some dark spiritual chants. The four songs on their most important release to date are all quite short, intense and surprisingly...
I have never been a big fan of Rhapsody Of Fire because I thought that their early works included to many fast and hectic tracks and a lot of useless bombast and silly orchestrations. On "Triumph Or Agony", the Italians reduced their speed and focused...
Mêlée des Aurores is a side project of the famous Quebec underground black metal band Chasse-Galerie. Their first release called Errances is a piece of calm and atmospheric black metal that has some addicting interludes with some folk vibes, a very hypnotizing...
I discovered this exotic band from Tunisia with a song from their second album last year on a sampler included in the normally pretty weak British Metal Hammer magazine but I forgot to check them out. With the release of their new third record, I remembered...
Metallica's legendary "Master Of Puppets" is without the glimpse of a doubt a record any true metal maniac should sooner or later have in his or her collection. Without questioning the great status of this record, I must though admit that the record has...
"Le Grand Guignol" is the name of a famous theatre in Paris that is known for its grisly horror shows and also the name of this outstanding avant-garde metal band from the beautiful Luxembourg. In comparison to other avant-garde bands like Adversus, UneXpect...
I always knew and felt that Within Temptation were a creative and promising band with some good and innovating ideas. Even though I don't adore any of their albums, I think that every output they have released has a special and unique flow and a couple...
Permanent Waves is one of the most accessible and commercial records that Rush ever made and I don't mean that in a negative way. The brilliant opening double pack "The Spirit Of Radio" and "Freewill" are catchy and easy to listen to but contain still...
This beginning of an era and one of the most unique music projects of the twenty-first century is a very strong start to kick off a unique career. It's still far from being perfect but should nevertheless especially please to fans of gothic and industrial...
Krypteria has always been a complicated case for me. Each of the musicians has got a lot of talent. Let's just have a look at their epic tracks, their orchestral arrangements and their conceptual musical releases at the beginning of the band's career....
Far From The Sun is the weakest album in the strong discography of Amorphis. One can hear that singer Pasi Koskinen lacked passion and emotion and was about to split with the band. It's clear that the band didn't develop any further in the first time...
If musical perfection exists, than it exists on this record. Amorphis lead us in an amorphous form on mushroom clouds and crimson waves to a musical paradise. This album is an "eargasm". It's a combination of everything I love about music. Each time I...
Custard is a solid German power metal band with history and fantasy lyrics that are interesting to listen to. Their debut record has a few strong tracks but offers nothing we haven't heard before. The band delivers epic fist pumping hymns in the style...
