Warlord – Appreciation, Communication, Determination
The fifth studio record for Warlord is Free Spirit Soar – paying homage to guitarist William Tsamis, who left this earth in 2021. Recruiting a stellar group of musicians including vocalist Giles Lavery, keyboardist...
Orion Child – Aesthesis (Art Gates Records)
Versatility allows bands to stand out amongst their peers, especially in the modern scene. Orion Child embraces that statement for their fourth album Aesthesis. The sextet arrived on the scene in the mid-2000s, combining...
Bat – Under the Crooked Claw (Nuclear Blast)
Two-thirds of Municipal Waste participates in another active outfit for Bat – already on the radar screen of this scribe for their last EP Axestasy. With plenty of downtime to work out new songs,...
Crownshift – Enter the Halo
Featuring musicians with a wealth of experience across the metal landscape, Crownshift may appear to be a new entity in the melodic death meets power/groove metal arena, but they have a boatload of potential...
Anette Olzon – Rapture (Frontiers Music)
Best known to our readership for her time in Nightwish, Anette Olzon continues to develop her talent through other outlets since her departure from that group. One-half of the dynamic duo The Dark Element...
Belushi Speed Ball – Stellkira (Self-Released)
This Kentucky crossover thrash act possesses an intriguing name – Belushi Speed Ball referencing infamous comedian John Belushi and his tragic overdose cocaine/heroin combination often referred to as a speedball. They started as a...
Six Feet Under – Killing For Revenge (Metal Blade Records)
OK. So there has been a lot, and I do mean A LOT of talk regarding Chris Barnes' vocals. Hey, I get it. Quite frankly he sounded terrible on the last two studio albums...
Esodic – Overcoming Ignorance
Jordan probably is not the most well-known country when it comes to thrash/death metal – as the Middle East continues to deal with religious/government upheaval that has led to constant violence over the years....
Freedom Call – Silver Romance (Steamhammer/SPV)
They may not have invented ‘happy metal’, but most power metal experts know that when it comes to this specific niche in this sub-genre, the poster act that aligns to the uplifting melodies or...
Ammonoid – Pierce the Veil (Self-Released)
Originating as a recording project back in 2022, Ammonoid contains members from an international landscape. Guitarist Vinaya Saksena from the East Coast has previous experience in groups like Critical Mass and Briar Rose –...
Freedom Call – Embrace the Silver Romance
Photo: Patrick Eiserbeck
Entering the silver anniversary as a group, Freedom Call strives to maintain a level of power metal consistency that will continue with their latest record Silver Romance. The quality of positive, uplifting...
My Silent Wake – Lost in Memories, Lost in Grief (Ardua Music)
Twelve albums into their career, UK quartet My Silent Wake capably infuse doom metal with gothic and death inflections for Lost in Memories, Lost in Grief. Living in melancholic splendor, the eight tracks contain...
Bat – Streetbangers At Large
Photo: Howlermano Photography
The purity of traditional metal never loses momentum especially in the hands of acts like Bat. The US three-piece embraces a classic sound full of velocity, energy, and intensity – featuring Municipal...
Mob Rules – Celebration Day – 30 Years of Mob Rules (Steamhammer/SPV)
Compilation albums used to serve two purposes in an artist’s career. First, to provide a welcome break in the normal record/tour/record cycle, and second, to get one record closer to finishing out a current...
Violet Eternal – Reload the Violet (Rockshots Records)
Continental divides no longer pose an issue when the desire to create music trumps everything. Violet Eternal consists of Japanese guitarist Jien Takahashi and Italian vocalist Ivan Giannini – the former part of acts...