A while ago I was asked to write not just a review of the new Iron Maiden album but also a piece on what they mean to metal and why they’re so enduring – if you missed it then, here it is now. It’s been 35 years since Iron Maiden released their debut self-titled […]
There is no subtlety about Far Beyond Driven. It’s just BANG! in your face, how do you like that muthafucker attitude from the moment ‘Strength Beyond Strength’ assaults your senses. It’s the album that best embodies Pantera. From the dragging your ear drums over broken glass crunch of ‘Becoming’ to the venom spitting delivery on ‘5 […]
It doesn’t seem that long ago that I saw Ronnie James Dio fronting Heaven & Hell and absolutely mesmerizing the audience. But it was seven years ago and this May will mark four years since he lost his battle with stomach cancer. The great and good of heavy metal have gathered to pay tribute here […]
Zakk Wylde has survived an alcohol addiction, blood clots and more impressively, over 20 years as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist. Black Label Society IS Zakk. It’s the band he put together as his creative outlet during the down times and Catacombs Of The Black Vatican is the tenth studio album he’s released. The clarity and focus of this […]
When you hear that Max Cavalera is involved in a project you think you know what to expect, right? Not anymore – Killer Be Killed also features Mastodon’s Troy Sanders, Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato and Dave Elitch, formerly of The Mars Volta. the result is a contender for the metal album of the year. […]
Down have under gone changes of late. There was the loss of former Pantera bass player Rex Brown before Part I of the E.P and then, before Part II was written, the immense Kirk Windstein announced he was leaving to concentrate on his own band, Crowbar. Those changes would have killed lesser bands. However, Down […]
White Devil Armory is the seventeenth album from New Jersey’s thrash veterans Overkill. It’s all you’d expect from an old school thrash band, it’s fast, it’s loud, guitars are to the fore and there’s a shred at every turn. Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth has been a mainstay of the band and his higher pitch staccato gives […]
Once More ‘Round The Sun is the 6th studio album from the band out of Atlanta, Georgia and more of a cohesive effort than 2011’s impressive yet clunky The Hunter. The smell of mother nature’s finest permeates the record and it sounds like the band have been immersing themselves in a lot of 70’s Prog-Rock, […]
