Everdawn – Seek the Silver Lining
Residing on the East Coast of the USA in New Jersey, Everdawn displays an intriguing blend of sounds and approaches going into their latest studio album Venera. The fourteen songs contain elements of AOR,...
Selected Singles – December 2023
With the way that people consume music changing, alongside the way that groups release music in smaller packages (EPs, singles), it seemed like the right idea to start looking at ways to cover those...
Crust – Dissolution (Avantgarde Music)
For unstoppable forces in heavy music, one needs to take notice of Crust. If you haven’t yet, well, we’re glad you’re here, and we promise there won’t be any regrets. The Russian trio of...
East of Eden – Forbidden Fruit: 1st Piece (Victor Entertainment/JPU Records)
A new Japanese symphonic rock/metal act formed by violinist Ayasa (of Bang Dream's Morfonica), East of Eden brings with it a host of expectations. Mostly because in addition to Ayasa, the rest of the...
Silver R.I.S.C – Knot Over (No Remorse Records)
Tell me if you readers have heard this story before: historical band of a generation before dissolves, only to reform recently for another shot at glory. That’s the case again for Greek hard rock/metal...
Hitten – Making Passion Last
Together now for well over a decade, Spain’s Hitten have developed a sound that incorporates a host of classic heavy metal and melodic hard rock influences – along with power and speed elements –...
Children of Bodom – A Chapter Called Children of Bodom (Final Show in Helsinki Ice Hall 2019) (Spinefarm Records)
In December 2020 the metal world lost a premiere guitarist/songwriter with Alexi Laiho who fronted Children of Bodom since the 1990’s. His defined imprint on intricate, neoclassical shredding taken to the melodic death/extreme levels...
Solitary Sabred – Temple of the Serpent (Vinyl Store)
Cyprus is a well-established island nation that along with Greece have been epic metal havens for decades. The generational appeal of history, fantasy, and mythology runs deep in the hearts of the people –...
Convocation – No Dawn for the Caliginous Night (Everlasting Spew Records)
Doom metal is unequivocally linked with a bevy of feelings. When done right, it’s downtrodden, weighty, emotive, even cathartic. These characteristics draw my brain towards this style, and we assume those of a similar...
Katarina McGinn Best-of 2023
Despite some small personal health setbacks at a few points, 2023 felt like the year of ‘getting back to normalcy,’ for me at least. Getting back into the double-digits for live shows over the...