Martriden – The Unsettling Dark (Candlelight Records)
Matriden’s home state of Montana has about as many palm trees as metal bands, which is why Matriden is quickly earned a rightful position amongst the North American modern black metal scene. The band’s...
Various Artists – Pagan Fire (Nuclear Blast Records)
A compilation of the best-of-the-best epic folk metal bands (sans Borknagar and Tyr), Pagan Fire is an excellent introduction into another one of metal’s niches that is only picking up steam.
Heading up the roster...
Ascension of the Watchers – Numinsoum (Thirteenth Planet)
The promo copy of this comes with a blurb just under the band logo that simply states, “FEAT. Burton C. Bell.” A few small words which carry with them a lot of history and...
L’ Espirit du Clan – Corpus Delicti (Galy Records)
This one sat in the pile for a while, ignored probably because yours truly cringes whenever he sees a bunch of neo-metallers dressed to the nines in baggy, hip-hop clothing. Needless to say, when...
Avantasia – The Scarecrow (Nuclear Blast Records)
With Edguy taking a break after the mostly good Rocket Ride album, mainman Tobias Sammet has resurrected his Avantasia project, this time with a cast of characters culled outside of the metal world, giving...
Death Angel – Killing Season (Nuclear Blast Records)
Of all the thrash reunions and revival going on of late, Death Angel is one of the few that has been able to keep its head above water, immune to the pressures of creating...
Nifelheim – Envoy of Lucifer (Regain Records)
Seven years since their last album (2000’s Servants of Darkness), Sweden’s Nifelheim return with Envoy of Lucifer. One would think such a delay in releases would spark some unbridled creativity, but Envoy of Lucifer...
Primordial – To The Nameless Dead (Metal Blade Records)
There have been few, if any hiccups in Primordial’s run as Ireland’s exo-de-facto metal band. Maybe 2002’s Storm Before Calm ranks as something of a disappointment, but that was the album that succeeded the...
Gorgoroth – Reissues (Regain Records)
Long before Gorgoroth became the resident Drama Queens of black metal, they were regarded as one of the more promising bands on the Norwegian front. The albums in question - Under the Sign of...
Doro – All We Are – The Fight (Locomotive Records)
Obviously this is some sort of stop-gap release, the usually prolific Doro putting together her most popular solo and Warlock tunes for a five-song, five video EP. The only song that really broke Doro...