metal

I was a bit young when this came out so I didn’t really get involved with the hype at the time, but I understand how big a deal this was at the time. It is sad in retrospect to see the Tony Martin line-up finally go under for once and for all, but the people wanted Ozzy-Sabbath and the people got what they wanted with this release. Trouble is, I couldn’t give a bloody fuck…

I need to get myself a copy of this. Born Again is one of the better latter Sabbath albums (fight me), but the mix is a fucking abomination. The Manor Tapes not only clears up the production so that the record is appreciatable in its definitive form, but we also get extended / different version of “Stonehenge” and “Zero The Hero”, and on top of that we also get the unreleased track “The Fallen”. This…

Perhaps a bit silly, and a bit flimsy on the production end, but damn is this a classic. Stuff like “Living After Midnight” is what I’m referring to here, but there’s a place for that kind of thing (shit rock bars hahaha). I’m joking of course, but I’m more interested in some of the other songs on this record like the amazing “Grinder”, “Metal Gods” or the legendary “Breaking The Law”. My most recent listen…

A bit of a weaker entry into the extensive Judas Priest catalog, but not an album without it’s charms. Supposedly written after Halford relocated to Arizona, Point Of Entry is the perfect driving album. I decided to try that out, and being stuck in traffic on the M4 wasn’t exactly the perfect vision I had in mind, but I could not deny the tunes coming from my car stereo. My biggest complaint with this is…

At the time of writing I’ve yet to have the pleasure of hearing every single Priest album, but I’ve heard enough so far to comfortably say that Painkiller is my favourite by a long shot. That isn’t to say that I dislike the other material, but there’s something about Painkiller, like it is some sort of perfect culmunation of the band’s sound up and to that point distilled into one LP. I really wish Halford…

I find it mad that in the 70s it seemed almost common place for big mainstream acts to drop more than one album in a year. It is the only time Priest do this (I think), and the slight drop in quality perhaps shows, as this was a bit of a rush job? IDK, it’s really not that bad, and quite endearing, even though they would hit the nail on the head with this style…

Pretty great boot, which showcases some of the cuts from the Gillan era in a live setting but with good quality sound. It is a shame that this was never officially released, as Gillan was in Sabbath for such a short time. Heck, the entire rest of the band are on Born Again so Gillan’s era is as valid as Dio’s / Heaven And Hell, so even the nay-sayers who quote the Sabbath revolving door…

I have a soft spot for this thing, as I do with most of the earlier Slipknot records. When I was in school, I think 13 years old, my friend Ross burned a copy of this thing off the internet for me, as well as a few other tracks from the supposed “Crowz” sessions. Some of us like to look back at the glory days of the internet as if things were actually different back…

Man O Man is that fuckin’ cover art something, huh? I’m not sure what it is about it exactly that is so endearing to me but I really like it. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Stained Class, for as brilliant as it is, it fails to strike a chord with me as much as Sin After Sin or Sad Wings… did. Despite this, this is fantastic record with that lovely 70s rock production….

I have this DVD (bootleg) and it is actually a very good set. Recorded in 1994 and released in 1995, the line-up is Geezer and Tony, with Bobby Rondinelli on drums (I think this is when Cozy Powell was still recovering from accident with the horse). Tony Martin is back on vocals after a brief stint with Dio back in the band for one album. So we get Martin here performing songs by all eras…

Wait, is that Motorhead? No, it’s long-running and legendary Czech goregrind outfit Malignant Tumour on a bizarre death’n’roll’n’Motorhead’worship trip. Does it work? Well, yes it does. It is very, very well made, if I may say so. But, it is not what I come to Malignant Tumour for, so it’s taken me 15 years to muster up the energy to even write this short paragraph about this album.

You could argue for days whether the songs here “landed” or not, but one has to respect the effort involved here to cover different songs from all these different genres. It’s mad to listen to “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” and think, damn this is the same band who released Bestial Devastation lol, at least in name. Despite not really liking any of the songs here, I don’t hate Revolusongs (man, what a…

Sin After Sin, sounding absolutely massive and glorious in all of it’s golden-era analogue production, is another fantastic early offering from the legends that are Judas Priest. Personally, this doesn’t reach the heights of the sheer VIBE that is Sad Wings but I will note the stunning production (as above) as well as Rob’s vocals sounding particularly incredible here, case in point being “Here Come The Tears”, which is just absolutely phenomenal.

Not bad by any stretch of your twisted imagination, but definitely falls flat compared to the likes of what came before it. In isolation, Possessed is an enjoyable album, but has its predecessors to live up to and therefore kinda lives in their shadow a little bit, if I’m honest. Production wise, its par for the course for an early Venom album. Musically, the band seem a bit more put together, perhaps after the epic…

Uhhhhhhh OK, then. So. Off the bat, this isn’t anywhere near as bad as Grave New World. In fact, it is, on a sliding scale, probably quite a bit better. The general style of “funk” / groove metal (think the more “fun” end of thrash meeting Faith No More and Helmet style stuff) is a massive improvement on the Motley Crue shite they tried to do on Grave New World. At least you can make…

Chronologically, Sad Wings Of Destiny is infinitely better than it’s predecessor. For a start, it sounds more like the band we all know and love today, and well, if I could make such a bold statement, this feels like the true debut album for Judas Priest.  Production wise, this is absolutely perfect. Perhaps a symptom of the times, but it’s so well put together that it doesn’t matter if it sounds a bit aged now….

I’m loathe to rate this lower than a 3/5 because of how inventive it is for what is essentially nu metal. As far as Sepultura goes, this period is definitely a low point in their career, but truly, all elements analysed, this really isn’t that bad. There’s one thing you can do for me, though, and that is to promise to avoid the absolutely fucking godawful remaster of this thing. I don’t know if the…

Bathory’s ever-changing sonic palette is taking me to places that I never thought I would go. Honestly, when I think of “viking metal” I think of idiots at festivals with their plastic drinking horns and cringe shit like Amon Amarth’s stage shows, but honestly, Bathory are leading a much more genuine charge and I’m fucking here for it. Maybe I’m just forever bitter than Skyrim is infinitely more popular than Morrowind and I will forever…

The first time I heard this record I was 15 years old, and drunk on black metal classics like Transilvanian Hunger or Burzum’s first few records. Hungry for more I decided to start at the beginning with Venom’s Black Metal album….only to find a bunch of sloppy thrash with terrible lyrics about shagging your teacher or Satan being your dad. Safe to say, this went straight into a pile and never really got played ever…

I won’t lie to you, I’ve avoided this album for about 15 years, only because Venom doing a 20 minute song has never really been something that has appealed to me. However, the joke’s on me becuase this shit fuckin’ rules. Also, generally, across this whole record, the production is fantastic. The sound isn’t a million miles away from the other earlier albums, but the guitar tone is just so goddamn sick and crunchy. I’m…

Struggling to find the words to accurately convey how absolutely atrocious this single is. Nobody asked for this. Nobody wanted this. Nobody deserved this. This is, honestly, quite possibly, the peak (or is that nadir?) of cringe.

The Number Of The Beast is classic Iron Maiden, don’t get me wrong. There is no contesting that. My issue with this record however is that it is kind of on a bit of a pedastal. The tracklist is something of a classic run, but as a casual Maiden fan only four of these songs really mean anything significant to me. Personal preferences aside, it is impossible to deny that this is a fantastic listen…

A bit of a mixed bag, but such is the way of compilation albums. The first half – or two thirds – of this thing is fairly solid. Granted, danceable industrial metal is not the reason why most people come and listen to Voivod but if you enjoyed the E-Force albums then this is a natural next step. Some of this is very similar to Godflesh, at least their more drum’n’bass-focussed stuff. The record rounds…

Admittedly, metalcore, deathcore, melodic death metal, all of this stuff – it is not in my wheelhouse. The reason I’ve decided to check out this album is the intriguing album art. It is rather still, serene and beautiful, and not something that I would ever expect to represent something that tries to be so heavy and aggressive as this. Unfortunately, where Veto falls for me is it’s enormously compressed production, which whilst not exactly rendering…

Where has this shit been all my life? Now this is how you do 90s industrial properly! Goddamn. It’s like if someone took Pure / Selfless era Godflesh and turned it into a design document, fed that into the machine from The Fly along with a few Sepultura CDs. Fuckin’ sound on this is perfect – amazing production and balance, which really allows those riffs to hit home hard. It’s a shame this is the…

Solid, funk-influenced hardcore from a Cleveland, OH outfit that features some of the dudes from Mushroomhead, namely one-time vocalist Jason Popson and classic-era guitarist John Sekula (known to MRH fans as JJ Righteous). You can tell immediately upon firing this up that Sekula is playing; that dry, super thick guitar tone that immediately reminds me of M3 comes bursting out of the speakers. As far as the funk influences go I think these are held…

Listening to the Sepultura albums chronologically, I was initially surprised by how Against held it’s own – especially after how much I’d read the first transition to a Max-less world (lol) was recieved. Against held its own, allowing the band to continue as a three-piece but also begin flexing their new 4th member. I expected Nation to be more of this, but unfortunately it doesn’t even compare. Nation is just bad nu metal to the…

Something that I initially wrote off as a pointless odds-and-ends collection does actually turn out to contain some interesting moments. All the cover songs at the beginning are well worth a listen, and for the sheer oddity of it, as are the tracks that guest Mike Patton and even Jonathan Davis from Korn. But that’s it, really. One for the die-hards and completionists.

An album that failed to resonate with me on every possible level. I love Max, I love nu metal, I love Ross Robinson, but this just does absolutely nothing for me. It’s hard to decide who was floundering more at this point, Sepultura with Against, or Max and Soulfly with this new project. I respect both artists for continuing in their own direction, but I don’t think either direction really paid off. Against by Sepulutra…

The Underground Resistance was something that I really disliked when it first came out, because I had an mp3 rip of this thing that had the tracks listed backwards, and the opening moments of “Leave No Cross Unturned” that had those King Diamond kinda worshipping vocals immediately had me checking the fuck out of there. Of course, in hindsight, this is hilarious as “Leave No Cross Unturned” is easily the best song on this entire…

1998 was a bad year if you were a die-hard fan of the old Sepultura stuff. In Against, Sepulutra released Roots MK2, but this time with a new vocalist. Disheartened fans may have flocked to Max’s new project Soulfly, only to find Roots MK3 featuring Fred Durst and the guy from Deftones lol. If you were a thrash head in 1998, things were tough. Changing up tack and returning with a new vocalist in the…

Man this shit is some groovy fuckin’ metal. Like, damn. I’ve jammed this record about four times over the weekend alone. I love Igor’s drum sound on this. Shit is fucking fat, and shit is fucking tight. Just like the riffs, which are huge, and the bass. The vocals are angry as fuck. I’m not sure what it is about Chaos A.D. that makes Max sound so pissed off with the world, but it works…

Holy Diver was an excellent way to kick off the “solo” effort of Ronnie James Dio, riding hot off the success of both Sabbath records, Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules. Dio Sabbath isn’t my favourite thing in the world, but I heavily appreciate the work that the group did together with Dio (and not to mentioned, Dehumanizer is awesome and under-rated!). With Vinny Appice being onboard this doesn’t sound a hundred miles away from…

Type O Negative is one of my favourite bands of all time, and Peter Steele is one of the most unique artists of all time. Therefore, every bone in my body wanted to like this, for the cover art, for the vibe, for the flat out Type O worship, but alas, it’s just not very good. “Windows” is by far the best track (and its not as good as people are making out) but the…

I just love that cover art – I’m not even entirely sure what exactly it is supposed to be, but I love it regardless. I’m not sure if it accurately describes the sound of Sepultura on this record, but that’s by the by. Arise is another solid early-career release from the group, obviously with Max still leading the way. Chunky, very well crafted songs meets chunky, very well crafted production techniques from the absolute hero…

The 6 year gap between The Grudge and Perfectly Defect had me completely checked out from the world of Mortiis. Granted, through the MySpace days I kept up to date on the hefty touring he was doing with his full band, and I even saw them myself in I think 2005, and they were great. The Grudge wasn’t my favourite thing in the world, but I really enjoyed the remixes on Some Kind Of Heroin….

Fear Factory hit quite the stride over the last decade or two. Unsure if you would class it as a second wind as such, but there has definitely been elements of revival and invigoration in the band’s sound. Of course, Burton is now gone, but that’s another story for another time. On Aggression Continuum, things have a very real danger of becoming stale, but despite that threat being ever-present, generally this is pretty solid and…

I absolutely loved this album when I was a kid. Back then, in the golden year that was 2000, where the world was changing and looking forward to a brand new millenium (what a dissapointment, eh?), 10-year-old me and one of my best friends, Alex, went to the local Woolworths, money burning a hole in our pockets, and we bought our first ever albums. I bought Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory (the first album I ever…

Notable for being the first album of Voivod’s to feature Jason Newsted on bass (who?), and to include the return of original vocalist Snake, after Eric Forrest’s departure. I’m a bit unclear on whether Eric left or whether Voivod 2.0 disbanded, before reforming with Snake and Newsted. Either way, this self-titled record was the product of the new line-up for the new millennium. Despite the incredibly strong staffing on this record, Voivod S/T begins something…

Suffering a similar fate to that of Katorz, Infini falls a bit flat by treading in slightly safer territory than the band’s usual frenetic thrash or prog-metal output. Is Infini bad? Absolutely not – some would have you believe that this era of Voivod needs wiping from the face of the earth, but I am not one of those people. There is, however, a reason why this period of Voivod languishes as the least favourite…

I’ve heard a lot about how much of a shit show this record is, how that Mustaine gutted the band’s sound is some ridiculous attempt to sell out, and so on and so forth. But honestly, to me, I don’t care enough about Megadeth to give a shit about any of that. From an outsider’s perspective, this is just a boring, less than mediocre album.

I used to play the hell out of “Synthetic” and “New Disease” when I was a wee lad, but I never played this album all the way through until 2023. Which you’d think, is possibly a travesty, depending on your appetite for Spineshank’s industrial-tinged nu metal. Unfortunately, Spineshank were one of those bands who never really survived the fall of nu metal, and judging by the fact that this album sounds more dated that some…

It pains me to rank a Voivod album so low (not that 3 is particularly dog-rough). I struggled for years to get into the Newsted-era / final Piggy releases but have returned to them now with a greater appreciation for the wider Voivod discography and history. It is a shame then that I still generally am not that into this era of the band; Katorz is fairly inoffensive and also rather “safe” for Voivod (they’ve…

A bit camp, a bit silly, but also in a contradictory way very solid and grounded trad rock / heavy metal stuff. Probably, to me, more iconic for its artwork than for its songs, but that might be my own prejudice against this kind of music that is shining through. The production is lovely too, so there’s that.

The Real Thing is one of those records that reveals itself to you more and more the longer you spend with it. It has been surely said a thousand times but Faith No More really were a special band, and whilst perhaps you could argue that the sound on this record is a little dated now, it is still a pleasure to return to and a highly recommended listen for anyone into rock and metal…

A weird one for Voivod, and that is really saying something by Voivod standards. But seriously, this disposes of the hectic, dissonant thrash metal and instead makes us listen to what can only be described as hectic, dissonant grunge. Some say it is Voivod’s sell out album. I don’t know if that is true, but it still has a ton of good songs on it.

What can I say that has not already been said before. Often times when confronted with reviewing something as gargantuan as this I can find myself lost for words. Luckily, the music more often than not will speak for itself and do most of the work for me. Black Sabbath’s self titled record changed everything, at least in my opinion. It set the entire world of rock music onto a different course. One cannot understate…

As someone who has always loved Us & Them despite the flaws it has, you wouldn’t believe how happy I was with the dubs that accompanied A World Lit Only by Fire. Then, in 2017, Post Self dropped, which was some serious shit. You’ll no doubt appreciate my excitement then, upon hearing Nero, that the trend of sick beats in Godflesh’s stuff is set to continue. “Nero” itself is a claustrophobic, bludgeoning affair, but it…

This is considered a classic I know, and I decided upon reading a feature length magazine article on the album’s creation that I would check it out. The record also got its 40th birthday during the COVID lockdown endtimes of 2020, which put it on my radar. Yeah, I’ve heard the hits over and over, but I’ve never really given this the time of day. As with the other Ozzy solo stuff I’ve heard –…

I’ve had this album saved to come back for a review now for 9 years lol – my reluctance is mainly due to the post-rock element, which really isn’t my thing. However, Blackflower starts off really well. Some I’m sure will consider the opening track a bit of a tedious affair, and whilst I fully appreciate the effort and artistic vision, it doesn’t really go anywhere or change up in any noticeable way other than…

I’ve never been a huge fan of Mastadon but I have always had a lot of respect for what they do. They lose me a bit when they go-off on their proggier elements (a sound that I never thought worked all that well with what they cemented into place here and on Remission). Anyway, I was but a wee lad when Leviathan came out. I remember checking out a few tracks on compilation CDs at…

Probably my least favourite Maiden experience yet. There’s just something a bit “meh” about the whole thing, which I think is more to do with the greatness that has come before than to do with any genuine complaint about the sound itself. Oh well. On to the next Maiden entry.

I listened to this album countless times back in the day when I would stay up all hours playing World Of Warcraft (yeah I’m one of those kids). Beer-swilling mega-hit “Trollhameren”(sp) aside, Nattfödd should be noted for its crisp production and superb instrumentation. More often than not, folk instruments are used as a gimmick to prop up bad metal, but not here. This is a really well made record.

Roots is a strange one. I can understand why people would be pissed off at Sepultura for steering away from thrash and going into this super down-tuned, groovy territory. But, you gotta give it to Max for getting a hold of a musical vision and just completely committing to it. It is easy to dismiss Roots as “MaX hEaRd KoRn AnD WAs liKe – lEt’S jUsT Do ThiS LOL”, because after his time in Sepultura,…

I’ve always really liked Fear Factory but for some reason have never really bothered digging that far into their discography. Outside of “Edgecrusher” and the frankly fucking excellent cover of Gary Numan’s “Cars” (which features the man himself), I’ve never really heard anything else off this album until now. I was familiar with the snare drum sound however, as a sample of it is a default in the 2000s-era drum machine program for Windows, called…

How in the actual fuck was this released in 2005? I could have sworn to you it was put out in 2007 but alas I am old and time is slipping away from me at an alarming pace. It’s slippery in here. Anyways. This marked a transitional period for Korn, where they entered into a much, dare I say, tamer direction of sound. This culminates with Korn II / Untitled being the absolute low point,…

Ridiculous, pointless, absurd CD single from the gods of narco goregrind. I picked this up at a festival for next to nothing and its worth owning just because its so bizarre, but hey – this shit happened! The version of “Matando Gueros” as the b-side is also pretty cool.

When I first heard Life Is Peachy I couldn’t believe how disgusting, drab and downtuned it was. Everyone seems to have this reaction to the Korn debut, but personally, for me, the band took their sound even further south with this sophomore effort. This stands up today still, as something that is astronomically heavy. Some of the tracks are a bit pants (the one with the guy from Deftones rapping is an abomination), and the…

This was never really my thing but I caught Trap Them live at Roadburn festival many many moons ago and that cemented them in my head as a formidable musical force. Bliss Fucker, I guess, is a good example as any of the band’s dense, buzzsaw-worship sound. Sure, it’s not completely derivative Entombed-core, but the inclusion of the HM2 pedal always sets a tone (pun intended) about how a release will be received by me….

I’ve never been the biggest fan of King Diamond nor of Mercyful Fate to be honest but there’s something about a couple of their records that keeps drawing me back. Don’t Break The Oath is the main one that does this. I’m not sure if it is the most spectacular and hellish album sleeve, or the music itself, or perhaps a combination of both, but return I do. It’s hard to talk about the sound…

A dusty, reverb heavy full length of cataclysmic heaviness from Scotland’s Black Sun. I’m unsure whether these guys are still going or not but I consider myself lucky to have caught them live (a very long time ago admittedly). Industrial hellscapes are the order of the day, with guitars and drums being the vehicle, upon which a very tormented passenger (the vocalist) sits.

Solo album from ex Mushroomhead frontman, although this was put out when he was still in the group. This starts off a bit like, how are you still making nu metal in 2011 but then it opens up around the half way point into some absolutely fantastic tunes. Well worth a listen and I am massively late to the party on this one. It’s a treat for MRH fans too, as even though the majority…

Rainbow’s Rising perfects the formula (or should I say recipe) that was put down in the 1975 self-titled, and builds and expands on the excellent song writing that we saw there. Adding the legendary Cozy Powell on drums, Rising is more ambitious, and is wrapped in a warm analogue production that really signs, seals and delivers this thing across the line.

Low key, posthumous release from Godflesh during their initial break up, or just before. I think it was recorded in the early 90s originally. Anyway, here are 4 tracks of stunning introspective industrial metal, followed by 4 dub remixes of those same tracks. It gives Messiah a circular feel, as themes you hear at the start are reprised in the dubs at the end. It’s a great mix of stuff.

Another one of those dusty old 80s gems that I have absolutely no idea where I got the recommendation from. There is no way I would have stumbled upon this on my own, but here it is. A mystery! Anyway, this thing fuckin’ rules, if I could be so direct. I love the warm, analog production, and really wish that more stuff was recorded this way. That being said Medieval Kills! does sound pretty ancient…

It’s crazy to think how long this band have been going and how many eras they have had to their sound. These days, with the huge popularity and of course, striking appearance of Alissa White-Gluz, its hard to imagine Arch Enemy being fronted by anyone else. Angela Gossow abso kills it on this thing, however. Its an album I’ve heard many times in my youth, but I never really fell in love with the band….

Across the decade of the 80s, a period of the latter years saw a thawing of the Killing Joke tribal post punk sound into a more accessible, new romantic or synth pop direction. The pinnacle of this was Outside The Gate, which seemed to alienate a lot of fans. The icing on that cake was the spoken word album that followed it, and Killing Joke almost seemed like a band that no longer knew its…

As my Iron Maiden journey continues for the first time, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son has quickly cemented itself as a contender for favourite album, alongside of course the legendary Powerslave. There’s just something about the vibe, the feel, the general pace here that’s a bit different than what came before. I can’t really verbalise what it is exactly, but it’s a little bit special. Like lightening in a bottle, as they say. Production…

Tyr seems to ranked high amongst the Tony Martin era Sabbath records. Personally, it’s one of my least favourites, coming along like a second-rate Headless Cross, if I could be so bold. The later Martin stuff, although much more critically reviled, seems heavier and more in the spirit of Sabbath than something like this. It doesn’t help here that it sounds dated and out of touch, even for its release date. This is a fault…

This later-career effort from Sepultura is a decent, well-rounded release of metallic goodness. It is, admittedly, my first experience with such, outside of a cursory listen to A-Lex several years ago, and I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love how, despite how drastically different this record sounds to the Sepultura of old, that there is still tribal drumming cropping up now and then. Great stuff.

Rammstein’s most recent, self-titled (untitled?0 outing was a streamlined affair of elements taken from several of the more recent releases, but seemingly with that trademark perverted sleaze taken out. Unsure if Lindemann is getting his kinky demons exorcised in his solo project, but Rammstein seems a little sterile. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just that the music now has to speak for itself, with the dumbed down gimmick.

Iron Fist is the first meh experience I’ve encountered whilst working my way chronologically through the Motörhead discography. I suppose whatever the band dropped would have to be diamond hard to top Ace Of Spades or Bomber, but Iron Fist is more than just a record paling in comparison, its just flat out not very good. It just seems tired. Its everything about Motörhead that stopped me from listening to Motörhead. The production is rubbish,…

I’m unsure how the fuck I’ve managed to avoid writing about this album for the entire existence of this website. Especially considering I worked my way through the entire Sabbath discography last year during lockdown. So I broke out my Dad’s copy on 12″ vinyl, and spun it again (any excuse) for the purposes of writing this post. This has to be peak Ozzy era. Three fucking albums in 18 months (this being the third)…

I can’t remember why I bought this as a kid. I’ve never liked this kind of thing. Maybe I thought Tarja was hot? I honestly can’t remember. This is an epic album, however. The usual, expected bombast of earlier Nightwish is present (before the poppy stuff took center stage), and there is a savage heaviness underpinning proceedings. Tracks like “Planet Hell”, or “Romanticide” keep the record grounded, whilst meandering suites such as “Creek Mary’s Blood”…

With the latest Mastodon release unleashed on the world, I figured I’d go back and actually finally check out Remission. Having only heard “March Of The Fire Ants”, I had a lot to learn about this record. The sound stage is huge, with the enormous meat grinder bass taking up the center. Not to shit on the rest of the band, but what captures and ensnares my attention for this entire listen is the drumming…

Usually not my cup of tea, well, ever lol – but recently (last year sometime) I did two Dream Theatre reviews, so figured it only proper to go back and commit this Symphony X record to the site. Its something I came across when I was about 15 or 16, and had it on my iPod, even though I was far from into any of this kinda stuff. Honestly, listening to this put me right…

I have no idea why this is on my To Do list, as this breed of 90s “industrial” really just fills me with rage. I could go off on one here, but I’ll keep it short – how did industrial get from Throbbing Gristle, to Godflesh… to something like this? I often jest how the 90s saw industrial turn from an outsider genre into a tag that basically means “crap dance music for goths”. KMFDM…

I’m starting to notice a shift of some sort in Maiden’s music. A shift away from bombast and more towards the proggier end of the stick. Melodic riffing is more reserved, and whilst the bass has always led the way, the galloping is dialled back and the pulsing, backbone-style playing instead underpins the tracks. Bruce’s vocals are also rather reserved, for the most part. I’m not sure what brought on this change? It works in…

Maiden were one of the bands on my “fill the gaps” project, because as famous as they are, to date I’ve not really heard that many of their full lengths. I tend to go through chronologically, but I made an exception for Senjutsu as its hot off the presses. My first impression is that this thing was going to be slow and boring, and to be fairly honest, the first few tracks were just that….

Where it all began for the Bungle. Its been interesting to go back to this again in light of last year’s complete re-recording (and more). The first three Bungle demos have never really done anything for me, but I’m looking forward to exploring them again with a new perspective. I can’t say my opinion on them has changed, but its more to do with the fact that the sound quality is so bad that I…

I haven’t heard this album in about 18-20 years. The sheer scope of those years alone crushes me with the reminder of the ceaseless march of time, but it’s also a reminder to me that my Limp Bizkit “fandom” belonged in a time and a place, and has, thankfully, stayed there. I have nothing against Limp Bizkit, or specifically Wes Borland, Sam Rivers and John Otto in particular, who are enormously talented musicians, but I…

Piece Of Mind is a classic-era Maiden album that I never really knew about until I started going through the lot. Like, I’d heard of the big guns, Number Of The Beast, Killers, Powerslave and what not, but not Piece Of Mind. Unsure if it has anything to do with the horrendous album cover and title? Unsure. LOL. All in all though this is another solid Maiden effort from their absolute prime. The band clank…

Ah yes, more horrible electronics from Godflesh. Just what the doctor ordered, and a welcome distraction from awaiting a new studio album. Pretty sure I’ve heard a bunch of these tracks before on the Japanese versions of “New Flesh” albums, but this release alone is consistent and filled with all sorts of nasty vibes. If JK Flesh doesn’t bring the crushing metal with GC Green, you can of course rely on him to bring the…

My favourite Iron Maiden album thus far (as I have definitely not heard them all! – not even close!). There’s just something about Powerslave which is just a bit more epic and grandiose than other Maiden records; everything from the art to the song writing, I don’t know what it is, but it all seems stepped up just one more notch! I could listen to the rhythm section of this band forever.

This is one of those records that I have been meaning to check out for years, mainly due to the cool artwork and the age of it. How can something so old be so important to doom metal? Well then, because this shit slaps, is why! For myself, it comes on a bit more trad than doom, but you know… this is the era of trad. Anyways, fuck all this BS genre talk, this is…

Viking metal has to be the most boring and uninspiring form of metal for me, even with the seemingly endless array of traditional instruments you could employ to spice up the sound. I’m not even sure if Turisas are a thing, but they were everywhere at one point, and I caught them at two festivals in one year so got a hold of this record. I mean, it’s epic, but that’s about it. There’s a…

Eternity! (It’s certainly taken me an eternity to review this album). Black One was the first Sunn record I ever bought. When I was 16 or 17 years old, I didn’t immediately ‘get’ this. I wanted big fat drones in my face, blowing me out of my chair. What I got were intense atmospheric compositions that went over my head initially. I think it took seeing Sunn live with Attila on vocals to truly understand,…

Fallout is a pre-Carnivore, pre-Type O Pete Steele project. I suppose it really is just proto-Carnivore, and lays a bunch of themes that would come from both bands (Carnivore in side B and Type O in side A). I love the art, I love the sound and I love the vibe. Perhaps most importantly, I love having the chance to look back at some stuff Pete was involved with “before he was famous”. Good shit!

The dropping of the new FF record reminded me that I hadn’t reviewed this one yet. You gotta love Fear Factory, a band that is more metal than metal itself, that wears melodic vocals and electronic elements like a snazzy overcoat and yet somehow keep the purists happy. Genexus is no different, if only a little djenty compared to the classic stuff.

I’ve never really been the biggest fan of Sabotage as a unified whole, but there are some good tracks on here. Things would get a bit muddier with the last two Ozzy-fronted Sabbath records, and you could argue that Sabotage is the last “good” Sabbath album, but I don’t think that is strictly true. The band is almost unrecognisable even at this point.

So, I finally confronted what is, in my opinion, the worst Cradle record. The band was reduced to a 3-piece at this point, and we’re more or less listening to the Paul Allender show. Cynically, I could suggest that Manticore (and lets not forget its various other horrors) is like listening to Thornography Part 2, but I think that would be an insult to even Thornography. Make of that album what you will, but at…

Iron Maiden’s debut is a class affair. The band were about for a good few years before this dropped so I guess they had plenty of time to hone their craft, but what a debut this is! That warm analogue sound is perfect, the bass pops from the word go, cementing Steve Harris as a legendary player from the very beginning. That isn’t to detract from the rest of the band however, all of which…

Interesting mid-career output from the legendary Voïvod. Not as harsh as their early 80s records, and not as bland / stonery as the 00s output, Outer Limits is a strong 90s offering from a band that is always unafraid to play about with its style and approach.

Hossannas From The Basements Of Hell is the sound of latter-day Killing Joke pushed to the extreme. Everything about the band is pushed to 11 on this release, as the band explore meandering, deafening compositions which were recorded in some catacombs beneath the streets of Prague. As someone who has visited some of these interesting subterranean caverns, one can only imagine the intensity that unfurled as the band conjured their ungodly work. Killing Joke have…

For the longest time, I couldn’t abide King Diamond’s vocals. But, in the last year or so I’ve made a conscious effort to listen to metal that I have always overlooked or wouldn’t usually partake in, so I finally allowed myself to listen all the way through. I enjoyed the concept, and most of the music (the production is definitely of note), but as legendary as King Diamond’s vocals are, I just cannot get behind…

God save me! I always considered myself an Ill Niño fan but somehow always passed up on this album when I was a nipper. Unfortunately, for me at least, Revolution hasn’t aged all that well, with the band’s smoothed-over nu metal sounding clumsy and over-produced. There’s a few stand out tracks, but for the most part, it’s an average listening experience. I bet these guys could still kill it live, mind you. (2021 edit: did…

Its mad to think how far Sabbath had come, or better to say maybe, how much Sabbath had changed, over the course of the seventies. This isn’t a terrible record, but if you compare it to the bands earlier Ozzy-fronted output, there is a lot left lacking. As a side note, it contains the song “Dirty Women”, which has a wicked riff, and this album has a whole bunch of keyboard stuff on it too….

Life Is Killing Me is the final Roadrunner-released Type O record, and brings the band back to focus on their original doomy riffery. Don’t get me wrong, World Coming Down was heavy as shit, but things seem a little more focused here. I’m unsure if I’m remembering things incorrectly, but this release seemed very low key, and aside from single “I Don’t Wanna Be Me”, the record more or less flew under the radar. I…

Fear Factory’s debut (well, the ‘debut’ that actually got released lol) is a perfect distillation of death metal meeting industrial. Coming on like a mix of Harmony Corruption era Napalm Death and Selfless era Godflesh, Soul Of A New Machine is much different from a lot of the band’s more well known stuff. Honestly, the mix is great, and as someone who has always enjoyed Fear Factory, and who loves ND / Godflesh, going back…

I recently did a run through all the original Carcass records, ending with the rather perplexing Swansong. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Heartwork either so this one has always stood out like a sore thumb to me. My recent re-listen hasn’t changed that, but its probably the first time I’ve ever sat through the whole thing in one sitting. Swansong was an interesting time for Carcass. They had split by the time it…