by Sebastian Kluth
HammerFall has a very particular strength. While the band's song writing might be predictable and their musical qualities only of an average quality if compared to several genre colleagues, the band is able to write inredibly catchy songs that won't get...
Colour me surprised! I didn't like anything Lacuna Coil released since ''Karmacode'' ten years ago but the two new songs included as an exclusive version on German gothic magazine Sonic Seducer are quite promising. The excellent ''The House of Shame''...
I appreciated the first two movies of the dystopian coming-of-age franchise that is a little bit too closely inspired by "Battle Royale" but this first part of the third and last instalment is a massive waste of time and a cheap attempt at grabbing some...
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...
Elvenking's first strike is already amongst the best works this band has ever done and shows a degree of diversity and fresh ideas that many other bands of the genre don't have any more. The band mixes folk influences with majestic power metal sounds...
This CD wasn't actually planned by the band and has been created after the band had been invited to play an acoustic concert at a local radio station in front of a couple of fans. The band liked the experience so much that they decided to make an album...
It has been quite a while ago since I have witnessed such a great movie in the cinemas. This is easily the best American movie since Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island". "The Grey" has so many memorable and touching scenes, an incredible and authentic...
A friend of mine told me that this movie was worth a watch and that himself as well as his whole family had adored this funny movie. As I am fan of spy or police parodies in the key of "Mad Mission", "The naked gun" or "Austin Powers", I was looking forward...
This extended play's title track is the song that made me appreciate In Flames back when I was eighteen years old. I have since attended two concerts of the band and purchased all its studio albums. In my humble opinion, ''The Mirror's Truth'' represents...
Assassination Classroom: The Graduation is the second and final part of the science-fiction live action duology that had started with Assassination Classroom one year earlier. The transition between the two movies is very fluid and it's mandatory to watch...
Ladies and gentlemen! Please trust me when I'm telling you that punk's not dead! Before I started discovering the gothic and metal scenes when I was fifteen years old, I had been listening to punk rock music for many years. German legends Die toten Hosen...
Riverwood is an Egyptian quintet that plays progressive folk metal in the key of Amaseffer, Myrath and Orphaned Land. Fairytale is the quintet's debut record and already shows a lot of promise. Even though the folk sounds seem to come from keyboards,...
The Tale of Zatoichi is the first in a long series of samurai movies centered around the blind gambler and masseur turned lowly yakuza who has a strong moral compass and makes us feel empathic not because he is blind and underestimated but because he...
Korsair is a Swedish progressive metal project around mastermind Anders Thonander who's playing bass and keyboards on the debut full length effort and who takes care of the programming and the ambitious lyrics that tell the story of two twins, two friends,...
On its third output entitled Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas, Therion slowly starts to sound the way that most fans of the band are used to. This album still features some death and gothic metal influences however, especially in the form of powerful...
This is the first relevant "Kuchisake-Onna" movie. It's a dark slasher vaguely inspired by true events that hit Japan back in the seventies. Several pupils are kidnapped on their way home. Soon rumours are spread about a possessed woman with a long trench...
I bought this album for only 1 Euro at Woolworth and didn't know anything about this band. While I didn't expect very much, I got surprised by this record. The band plays straight power metal with guts and has even some progressive and surprising elements....
In Extremo is not only the most famous medieval rock outfit but also one of Germany’s most spectacular live bands. It’s impressive to see the seven members on a well decorated stage while they perform exotic instruments such as davuls, harps, mandolin,...
This movie definitely is one of the better crime movies I have seen in the past few years. It's not necessarily the solid but overall not too creative story that makes this movie so great but especially the intriguing characters and the flawless acting....
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...
This movie is a remake from a film of the same name released back in 1960 but both movies are quite different and don't have the same story line. In the original feature, the housemaid seduces a composer and menaces his family until a bloody ending. In...
This exotic melodic power heavy and sometimes death metal band from Qatar convinces at first try with some amazing guitar solos like in the fast and musically well elaborated "Thee ivy and thy tree" where even the drums are quite tight and diversified....
I am a huge fan of Godzilla since my early childhood. If read many books, played many games, collected many cards or little figures or whatever and watched many Japanese movies about this legacy... And then, I watched this American remake. They should...
Ladies and gentlemen, On the twentieth day of my trip through Atlantic Canada, I drove southwards from Corner Brook to Channel-Port aux Basques where I had to take the ferry back to Nova Scotia the next day. I continued visiting multiple places on my...
The Hidden Fortress is an entertaining adventure film and rightfully regarded as one of Kurosawa Akira's greatest and most influential movies. The story follows two naive peasants who try to find gold during a war between the victorious Yamada clan and...
