by Sebastian Kluth
There Is No Place for Fear might be the strongest release thus far by Russian heavy metal quartet Phaeton. If compared to the debut EP which was already slightly above average, many things have improved on the first full length effort. The production...
Angels of Mercy: Live in Germany is Primal Fear's first live record in seven years which is available as a set consisting of a CD and a DVD or alternatively as a set consisting of a CD and a Blu-ray. Despite a promising set list and an overall solid performance,...
"John Wick" is another fast-paced and graphic revenge movie with some entertaining action and black humour, a fitting soundtrack and the usual stereotypical characters from the Russian mafia. When it comes to gripping revenge flicks, you should rather...
Servantes is a melodic metal band from Moscow that mixes elements of hard rock, traditional heavy metal and European power metal to an entertaining but in the end somewhat superficial first full length effort. The melodic keyboards are smartly employed...
Lord Symphony is a promising new underground band on the rise. The band hails from Solo, Central Java, in Indonesia and mixes traditional European power metal in the key of Gamma Ray with a more epic and symphonic touch inspired by Rhapsody Of Fire, and...
"The After-Dinner Mysteries" is apparently a quite popular Japanese series but you don't need to know that to enjoy this vivid movie. This very Japanese over-the-top film mixes elements of different genres such as dramas, slapstick comedies or old-fashioned...
What happens if you put the best child actress ever called Kim Sae-ron of the wonderful drama "A Brand New Life" and the incredibly gifted actor Won Bin of "Mother" and "The Brotherhood Of War" in one cast? You get a masterpiece that can't be reproduced...
This movie is a loose continuation of the remake "The Housemaid" and received negative critics at Cannes Festival. Director Im Sang-Soo regretted for having presented this movie and said that it could only be understood by Korean people. Of course, this...
Nine Treasures is one of many recent Chinese folk metal bands that are influenced by Mongolian culture, history, and language. The band is clearly heavier than Hanggan, a little bit more accessible and joyful than Tengger Cavalry, and more traditional...
Kielwater is a progressive metal band from Lithuania which has existed under the banner of Spellbound since 1992. Many band members were replaced over and over again through the years, and it took the band until 2012 to release a full length release entitled...
So you guys think you know Power Metal? Maybe that’s the case for the genre, but probably not for the criminally underrated band of the same name. This formation is one of the most important metal bands in Southeast Asia, and has been around since 1986....
Psychotrain is a young thrash metal band from Thailand’s capital Bangkok that released its promising first output with the cool title “Crossing the Threshold of Hell” back in 2010. While the rhythm section of the band is decent and the guitar play even...
Voivod are back in force with a new guitarist called Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain who honours the heritage of the deceased Denis "Piggy" d'Amour for the very first time on a studio record. In fact, he almost appears as some sort of a reincarnation of that...
Asian metal music gets more and more popular these days as leading countries such as Japan are now rejoined by China, Taiwan or Vietnam that all have a very diversified metal scene. Bangladesh has a smaller metal community but was in fact one of the first...
Russian heavy metal legends Ария prove that their genre is still alive and well and have become its most consistent representative act in the entire world. While other heavy metal bands struggle over personal line-up changes, their age or more and more...
Officially, the French band Dagoba is classified as groove or industrial metal but the four guys from Marseille also have a clear melodic death metal and metalcore touch. For the purists that might now be discouraged, I can assure you that this band is...
After the somewhat lovelessly compilated "Home At Last" EP that featured three rehashed live songs, a good title track and two rather generic and powerless songs, I was a little bit secptical concerning the release of this new full length album that mostly...
The Expandables is a action super movie that puts together some of the most famous genre actors of the last decades. The movie exactly delivers what fans might expect. That's why you should not expect profound dialogues, too many romantic moments or a...
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....
After the release of many legendary progressive heavy metal records with his main band Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson decided to stick back to his roots and to release a more grounded and honest hard rock and heavy metal album which would become his first...
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...
After four long years the charismatic American progressive metal band comes back after a strong predecessor with more than eighty minutes of music. Already the first epic title track "Iconoclast" proves that the band has put all their technical skills,...
This last album with the legendary Sabine Dünser who collapsed during a rehearsal for this record is a dark and melancholic testament with a more or less important conceptual story. The positive thing is that the songs also work as single tracks and this...
This album is a truly hypnotizing and chilling record. Amorphis moved away from their experimental death metal roots and passed through a short transitional era to arrive at a very progressive and experimental point of their career. This album has many...
This album is probably the most courageous one I have ever heard. One could have expected a diversified album after the death metal meets progressive doom metal album that gave birth to a legacy before, but this record is high above everything one might...
