by Sebastian Kluth
Progressive power metal emperors Galneryus are back with an extended play that stands out for multiple reasons. For starters, it's the first release with new drummer Lea who only joined the veterans last year and is also involved in heavy metal band Zygote....
The album cover of Mystic Prophecy's Monuments Uncovered clearly shows that this cover album was all about having fun. It can't be compared to the band's regular outputs. As a cover album, it is overall average as it has as many weaknesses as strengths....
Releasing a live album without an actual audience is a rather strange idea but then again, it fits with Katatonia's elegiac rock sounds. The Swedish quintet offers twenty songs with a total running time of just below one hour and a half. It focuses on...
Dark City is one of the very best dystopian science-fiction movies ever released and deserves more acclaim and attention than it has already gotten. The story revolves around a man who awakes in the bathtub of a dirty hotel room. He doesn't remember who...
American punk rock quartet The Offspring has taken nine years to release its tenth studio album Let the Bad Times Roll due to label issues, line-up changes and other activities such as singer, pianist, guitarist and bassist Dexter Holland becoming a doctor...
Geom-gaek, internationally known as The Swordsman, is an epic historic action drama from South Korea. The story revolves around Tae-yul, the best swordsman in Joseon who is unable to protect the king during an uprising. He decides to live as a recluse...
Gretel & Hansel is loosely based upon the German folk tale Hänsel & Grethel by the Brothers Grimm. It tells the story of an independent sister and her childish brother who leave their hometown behind to join a group of woodcutters to get some work and...
Vanguard is a quirky action movie that convinces with exotic locations in Europe, Asia and Africa, excellent fight scenes featuring martial arts elements as well as vibrant shootings and great action sequences including fast-paced car chases as well as...
The Makarrata Project is the first studio album with new material released by Australian alternative rock band Midnight Oil. It's also the last release involving bassist and backing singer Bones Hillman who died a week after the album's official release....
Horrors of Malformed Men is a quite experimental movie by veteran director Ishii Teruo that has been inspired by the tales of famous mystery and horror author Edogawa Rampo who had himself been inspired by Western authors such as Edgar Allan Poe. This...
Russian heavy metal pioneers Aria decided to re-record their two studio albums featuring former singer Arthur Berkut with the current line-up featuring singer Mikhail Zhitnyakov. In a certain way, this is a lack of respect for the former singer who had...
The Invisible Man is a psycho thriller that imagines a new version of the famous horror film character. Written and directed by Australian genre specialist Leigh Whannell who has brought us genre masterpieces such as Saw and Insidious as well as the science-fiction...
Rusty Knife, originally known as Sabita Naifu, is a Japanese film noir that mixes elements of a personal drama with gangster movie tropes. This was the third movie by young director Masuda Toshio for Nikkatsu Studio and this promising talent would work...
Records such as Pestilence's Levels of Perception are the reason why some people call death metal fans white trash. While I'm usually someone who defends sub-genres, I certainly can't support that dreadful release in any possible way. I wouldn't have...
...and Beyond - Live in Japan, 2017 is another entry in Dream Theater's excellent Lost Not Forgotten Archives and a sequel to the series' first release Images and Words - Live in Japan 2017 that was released one year earlier. This effort here captures...
Bangkok Dangerous is one of the very best Thai movies to have ever seen the light of day. This melancholic gangster drama has stood the test of time and still impresses massively two decades later and counting. This masterpiece revolves around deaf-mute...
Slaves to Fashion is an imaginative Norwegian heavy metal quintet that had the interesting idea to honour the development of its favourite genre of music by releasing ten singles throughout one year that would end up on the appropriately titled record...
Satan Kindergarten might sound like a slightly amusing band name but the Mexican quintet actually offers solid symphonic gothic metal on its debut El significado del dolor y su belleza which translates to The Meaning of Pain and its Beauty. The band convinces...
Bao Ni Ping An, internationally known as Post Truth, is a quirky comedy drama that walks off the beaten path and deserves more attention. This Chinese production criticizes the use of social media by millennials and how people easily believe the most...
Ever since I started listening to metal music, I have come across Arch Enemy on numerous occasions. While the occasional song was much appreciated at different parties, I could never listen to one of the group's records from start to finish because the...
Blacklight is another action thriller featuring a typecast Liam Neeson. This movie is exactly what you can expect and by the numbers. However, it convinces with great acting performances, interesting characters and solid pace. The story revolves around...
Alan Wake is a Finnish video game that was first released all the way back in 2010. The action-adventure game with horror elements quickly became a favourite, receiving positive reviews and obtaining the first spot in Time magazine's list of the top ten...
Byeonshin, internationally known as Metamorphosis, is a supernatural horror movie from South Korea. The movie starts with a scene where a priest tries an exorcism on a girl who is possessed by an evil spirit. The exorcism ends in a disaster and the reclusive...
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets isn't only the best novel of the franchise but also the best movie along with the first entry Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone. The story revolves around a mysterious dangerous presence at Hogwarts that paralyzes...
Experimental Armenian-American alternative metal quartet System of a Down hasn't released any new music for fifteen years due to internal disputes and numerous side projects. The current Nagorno-Karabakh war which is essentially a conflict between Azerbaijan...
