by Sebastian Kluth
After the great first part of this power metal musical with many memorable songs Avantasia seems to have decided to put the cut off filler material on a second disc to satisfy the high demand and good selling rates. Musically, this album is not only mostly...
This is now already the fifth part of my little review series: Movies that are way better than you expect. When I bought this movie at a low price a couple of days ago I expected some entertaining gore horror movie and the short length of only seventy-six...
This cult movie is a must see for any fan of humorous movies even though it won't beat "The naked gun" series or the Monty Python movies such as "Life of Brian". It's maybe on the same level as the "Vacation" series minus the cultural part of those ones....
Gone with the Bullets, obviously a pun on Gone with the Wind, is a Chinese comedy-drama with romantic undertones, originally known as Yi Bu Zhi Yao. This film is the second part of a trilogy that started four years earlier with Let the Bullets Fly, originally...
Sou Jiu, internationally known as Come Back Home or Polar Rescue, is an intense family drama from the People's Republic of China. It shows legendary martial artist Donnie Yen in a completely new role as this film doesn't feature any fight sequences at...
This is the second instalment in Therion's Leviathan trilogy consisting of thirty-three songs released in three consecutive years in total. In retrospective, it was certainly a logical idea to release a whopping one hundred fifty minutes of new music...
Innocence, originally titled Gyul-baek, is a South Korean movie halfway between a drama and a thriller. It tells the story of a successful female lawyer who travels from the busy capital of Seoul back to her gloomy hometown to defend her own mother suffering...
Who would have thought that British heavy metal veterans Judas Priest would release such an amazing record as Invincible Shield six years after very strong predecessor Firepower? It's no exaggeration at all to claim that this is the quintet's greatest...
Wallop is a German heavy metal quartet that existed for four years in the eighties, releasing two demos and one full length effort. Thirty-one years after its initial break-up, the band rose from its ashes and has been on an impressive run ever since,...
River, originally known as Ribâ, nagarenaide yo, is a Japanese science-fiction movie with elements of comedy, drama, mystery and romance. The film takes place in Kifune, a calm mountainous town north of Kyoto, on an automnal afternoon. The main setting...
It's a mystery to me why Rebellion isn't a much bigger heavy and power metal band than it is. The band has been around for over two decades and plays music in the key of popular German heavy metal groups such as Accept, Grave Digger and Rage but it has...
Perfect Days is a slice-of-life combining comedy and drama elements directed by renowned German filmmaking veteran Wim Wenders and starring a selection of extraordinary Japanese actresses and actors. Shot in only seventeen days in Tokyo, this movie shows...
Gotsu Totsu Kotsu is Japan's most commercially successful and critically acclaimed death metal band. Back from the Underworld is the trio's sixth full length effort after five years of silence. This album comes around with ten songs and a total running...
Shiki Soku Ze Ku roughly translates to All Is Futile and relates to the fundamentalist Buddhist doctrine that all things in this world having a connection or reason has no intrinsic essence. It's also the title for the twenty-third studio record by Japanese...
Flor de Loto is a progressive folk rock sextet from Peru that has been around for twenty-five years and that has already released nine full length efforts. The band has taken five years between Lines of Nasca and its predecessor but released two live...
Earthshaker is a Japanese heavy metal band that has been around for an incredible forty-five years and that has now released its twenty-fourth studio record in forty years. The five members are all in their sixties now and while the youthful grit might...
Amethyst is a Swiss heavy metal quintet that has released its debut extended play Rock Knights digitally in December 2022, on cassette in March 2023, on CD in May 2023 and on vinyl in September 2023. This means that any collector can purchase this product...
German quartet Lacrimas Profundere has received quite some attention in the German gothic scene in the early years of the millennium and I remember several very good songs being included on samplers by magazines such as Sonic Seducer and Zillo back in...
Over My Dead Body, originally known as Seisi Seisi Seisapsei, is a pitch-black satire from Hongkong criticizing the explosion of property prices and its consequences on middle-class citizens. The movie follows a group of residents of an apartment complex...
I have never been a fan of Marvel's cinematic universe since the vast majority of its films are boring, predictable and shallow. If you wonder why I even bothered watching Madame Web, then I would like to let you know that I had to attend this film because...
Da Zui Xia, internationally known as Come Drink with Me, is one of the very first wu xia movies coming out of Hong Kong that has paved the way for many more films of the same genre to be released ever since. This genre combines historic settings, plots...
Orphan is an emotional, gripping and tense psychological thriller that has aged very well and has ultimately even got a prequel thirteen years later. The film revolves around a little family consisting of mother Kate who has just lost her stillborn baby...
Legendary German heavy metal quartet Grave Digger has certainly been very prolific throughout the past decade, releasing seven studio albums in the past ten years. However, the releases had significant ups and downs with atmospheric, creative and epic...
Guidance is an intriguing international science-fiction drama by Iranian director Neysan Sobhani shot in Mandarin with only four young actresses and actors. The film revolves around a young couple that retreats to a modern cottage in the mountains as...
Avantasia's A Paranormal Evening with the Moonflower Society continues the project's streak of imaginative hard rock, heavy metal and power metal music with an inspiring lyrical concept and a selection of interesting guest musicians and singers. However,...
