by Sebastian Kluth
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...
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...
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...
Deliver Us from Evil is a conventional supernatural horror film that still manages to convince with very good acting performances, moody atmosphere and sinister locations. The plot revolves around former soldiers and their entourage who are behaving erratically...
It's simply great to return to the cinema and watch a new movie for the first time in half a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to this, it's not just any movie but the new film by British cult director Christopher Nolan who has just celebrated...
Freaks is a fresh contemporary American-Canadian science-fiction drama. The story revolves around a seven-year old girl whose mother died in her early childhood and whose paranoid father overprotects her. As she grows older, she starts questioning her...
Schönberg is a Japanese symphonic power metal quartet. Its first record Splendid Rosa Birth ～華麗なるロサ、誕生～ comes around with thirteen songs, including five instrumental tracks, with a total running time of forty-four minutes. The entertaining record convinces...
Willy's Wonderland is an absurd, creative and surreal horror movie with a few comedic elements. The story revolves around a nameless protagonist who gets stranded in an isolated town after a car accident. Since he cannot pay for repairs, he is given the...
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...
DragonForce's Extreme Power Metal is a quite misleading album title. Without abandoning its trademark guitar duels and keyboard sounds, this album is one of the easiest to digest in their discography. It offers several mid-paced tunes and a few quirky...
Swedish death metal veterans Unleashed released this extended play to promote its thirteenth studio record The Hunt for White Christ. The two most positive elements about this release are the imaginative cover artwork and the fact that this record came...
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...
Music videos have recently been going out of vogue and have traditionally been underused by metal bands and particularly by the genre's most popular groups. Metallica is overall a positive exception and this collection is actually quite entertaining with...
What do Johnny Cash, Gravity Kills, Sammy Hagar and Marilyn Manson have in common with Def Leppard? That's right, they have all covered Depeche's Mode ''Personal Jesus''. Def Leppard's version is actually one of the most decent cover versions because...
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...
The Street Fighter is a Japanese martial arts film that stands out with its rough fights and graphic brutality. Main character Tsurugi Takuma is a tough guy with quite a temper who is able to rip out his opponent's eyes, testicles and vocal chords. The...
Eluveitie is a folk metal band that has had its ups and down and experiments in the early stages of its career. The horrendous debut extended play Vên with its unbalanced genre mixture and terrible production was followed by the much smoother and more...
Psychedelic Flower Power Meets Tight Sweating Rock Japan's powerful trio delivers the goods once more on "Burai Houjou", Ningen-Isu's eighteenth studio album in only twenty-four years. The band convinces once more with its mechanical chemistry between...
One Take Only, also knows as Som and Bank: Bangkok for Sale, is a gangster drama from Thailand. Directed by renowned Oxide Chun Pang who would later on direct movies such as action films The Storm Warriors and Out of Inferno, horror films like The Eye...
Historical drama with depth and grit While everbody seems to be going crazy over Christopher Nolan's new science-fiction epic Tenet, I must admit that I have prefered Chinese historical military drama The Eight Hundred a little bit more. The movie tells...
A or B is a dramatic Chinese thriller that comes around with numerous surprises, twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. This breathless, clever and dynamic movie convinces with a truly amazing script, great...
German groove metal quartet Hämatom had finally shown off its true potential earlier this year, when releasing Berlin (Ein akustischer Tanz auf dem Vulkan), an acoustic record inspired country, folk, jazz and swing sounds of the twenties and thirties...
Versus is a Japanese movie that is quite challenging to classify. It includes elements of fantasy with portals leading to other worlds. It could be described as a horror movie due to the presence of murderous zombies. This is also an action film featuring...
Graveyard of Honor is one of the best and most influential Japanese gangster movies ever made. If it had been more popular abroad, this movie might have the same reputation as The Godfather, Once Upon a Time in America and The Untouchables have today....
Ladybaby is one of the most intriguing idol groups that has gone through significant changes in its career. The band formed back in 2013 but only released its first official song two years later. This first single called ''Nippon Manju'' was an instant...
