by Sebastian Kluth
In Flames is a phenomenon that I don't really understand. They are very popular and really get many reviews but most metal fans seem to profoundly dislike them since the late nineties or so. I really ask myself why frustrated and closed minded fans of...
X Japan's third full length album is probably their most diversified and yet most accessible record. The band has lost some identity on this record and tries to adapt to a slightly more European or American heavy metal and hard rock sound with tracks...
Genre: Industrial Rock Label: Soulfood Music Playing time: 36:55 Band homepage: Stahlmann Tracklist: Engel der Dunkelheit Spring nicht Tanzmaschine Asche Mein Leib Am Grunde Götter Schmerz Diener STAHLMANN is another band from the Neue Deutsche Härte...
"Majesty And Mystery Of The Caucasian Mountains" is one of Senmuth's most inspiring releases. The brilliant multi-instrumentalist Valery Av mixed once again ethnic folk sounds and some new age approaches with a few great metal riffs this time. Instead...
"Rajas" is one of Senmuth's most important and profound albums about philosophy and spiritualism. It seems that especially Hindu and Bouddhism play an important role within this record. The Russian multi-instrumentalist mixes inspiring folk vibes with...
I stumbled over this band by pure lucky coincidence. I decided to try out their albums and got stuck on this one which seems to be by far their best one at first sight. "Of Sculptured Ivy And Stone Flowers" offers an epic mixture of doom, gothic and death...
Three years after the strange second part of the Something Wicked saga and an intermezzo of the Matt Barlow about whom I hoped that he would never come back as I largely prefer the singing style, emotional expression and vocal range of Tim "Ripper" Owens,...
"Triade Nordique" is the third output of the band Triskèle and a very hypnotizing record that offers some pleasant surprises. The band doesn't only focus on speed and blast beats as many other bands of the same genre but they are able to create a truly...
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...
I don't know much about Machine Head apart of the fact that traditional thrash metal fans usually dislike the band's modern approaches and compare them to Trivium and even Bullet For My Valentine while younger people claim that Machine Head have their...
The second strike of the more or less infamous Japanese heavy metal legend is not as groundbreaking as their first release but nevertheless a very strong record. There are still a few new interesting elements to find. Some tracks on the record have a...
What a surprise! Seven years after the very well received band classic "Painkiller", the band parted ways and seemed to be buried for all times. But at a certain moment, the remaining members of Judas Priest reanimated the band without their charismatic...
Many people recommended me to try out some records of the legendary death metal band Death and I decided to start chronologically. During the last months and years I got more and more into progressive and twisted extreme metal music from underground black...
The second official solo record by Timo Tolkki is a very calm melodic rock album that reminds me a little bit of the calm rock music of the seventies and eighties and also of the solo albums of Michael Kiske. Sometimes, there is even too much melodic...
Ryder plays traditional hard rock and heavy metal influenced by the music of the late seventies and early eighties around bands such as W.A.S.P., Mötley Crüe or Ratt. While this first full length record is overall solid and contains some great hooks and...
NewOldLive sounds indeed somewhat old and seems to present some filler material from the early days of the ambitious Senmuth project. Some tracks are reworked versions from previous records, others are mediocre bonus tracks and we don't get the high quality...
This album has been my favourite Iron Maiden album for a pretty long while. I have changed my mind throughout the years and I prefer "The X-Factor" and "Somewhere In Time" today, but "Powerslave" is without the glimpse of a doubt in my definitive top...
More than five years have passed since the last official album release of the Russian heavy metal legend and many things have changed since. The band played a high number of concerts in Eastern Europe, they digged in their own past, re-recorded some old...
Theandric is a classic epic heavy metal one man band with lyrics that are normally influenced by the Catholic religion as can be heard on the enjoyable, epic, sacral and diversified harmony filled gem "Adoro Te Devote". Normally, I'm not a fan of white...
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...
Asriel is another Japanese band that mixes classic music with a symphonic gothic metal approach, an epic lyrical concept and a lot of visual expression. One can see that the outfits of the musicians, the physical and vocal expression and the cover and...
The second record of the new Amorphis era featuring the brilliant new singer Tomi Joutsen focuses a lot more on an emotional atmosphere as the more diversified "Eclipse". Amorphis are able to create a very melancholic mood somewhere between sadness, aggression...
Timo Tolkki's first solo output is inspired by neoclassical and melodic metal sounds as well as many traditional songs from the classic genre inspired by Tchaikovsky for example. While Tolkki proves once again that he is a gifted guitar player, the tracks...
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...
Ensiferum's new output received rather mixed and mostly even negative critics but in my humble opinion this album is clearly better than the previous faceless release "From Afar" and the overall quite boring "Victory Songs". Of course, this release doesn't...
