Celesty – Vendetta (Spinefarm Records)
It’s split down the middle: if you’re a Finnish power metal band, you’re going to sound like either Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica. Not like there’s anything inherently wrong with that (is Thunderstone still making...
Fairyland – Score To A New Beginning (Napalm Records)
Fairyland, who without question have the worst name in all of power metal, won’t strike fear into anyone in the near future, but Score To A New Beginning has some legs to it. And since there...
Godflesh – Songs Of Love & Hate/Love & Hate In Dub/In All Languages DVD (Earache Records)
Musically, you can’t fault this little box set at all. Originally released back in 1996 Songs Of Love And Hate was a bleak masterpiece that has stood the test of time thanks to it’s powerful product....
Ava Inferi – Blood of Bacchus (Season of Mist Records)
Now having fully severed ties with Mayhem, guitarist Rune Eriksen (aka “Blasphemer”) can now turn his focus to Ava Inferi, a far less black metal-tinged outfit with two albums already under its belt in...
Goatwhore – Carving Out the Eyes of God (Metal Blade Records)
God is the target this time out for Goatwhore. Not Hurricane Katrina or the painstaking healing process singer Ben Falgoust endured after a 2003 van accident. It’s a fitting approach for the New Orleans...
Doro – Fear No Evil (AFM Records)
With 25 years in the business and God knows how many albums under her belt, the legendary Doro is always up to something. Whether it’s cutting the 2009 Wacken theme song, doing some symphony work...
Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage (Roadrunner Records)
This one really could have gone either way. Having always managed to stay a few steps ahead of the rest of the melodic, metalcore crowd, Killswitch Engage seemed to slip a little with 2006’s As...
Ektomorf – What Doesn’t Kill Me… (Regain Records)
These Hungarians usually take a beating from the metal press for obvious reasons. Seriously, who wants to hear a third (world)-rate version of latter-Max era Sepultura and Soulfly? Not very many, eh? Lampooning What Doesn’t...
Forest Stream – The Crown of Winter (Candlelight Records)
Good enough to open for Katatonia during the Swedes 2007 run in Russia, Forest Stream could be the most visible Russian metal band since Mental Home, who came as fast as they went. While...
Pantheon I – Worlds I Create (Candlelight Records)
More than just a step up from 2007’s formidable The Wanderer And His Shadow, Worlds I Create is a gigantic leap for Pantheon I, one that propels this Norwegian quintet into rarely-grazed pastures. It’s the brazen combination...