This has been a long time coming. The metal world has been starved of Kenny Hickey ever since the release of the solitary Seventh Void record in 2009 and the...

Finland has a long and storied history with melodic death metal, dating back to the early '90s when the likes of Sentenced were putting their spin on the style. Many...

Truth be told, I did not expect Dragonforce to survive as long as they have done (and I’m probably not the only one). I thought the loss of Roadrunner’s backing...

Insomnium took the boldest step of their career with 2016’s concept album Winter’s Gate, which was comprised of one 40 minute track. The gallant move paid off, being well received...

Excalion were one of the great underrated power metal acts of the 21st century, with a trio of albums between 2005 and 2010 that showcased a maturity and craftsmanship beyond...

Finland’s Sonata Arctica won the hearts of power metal fans the world over with a string of well received albums in the late ‘90s / early ‘00s, before embarking on...

For a lot of veteran metal bands, there seems to come a time when they start to curb their experimental instincts and settle into a safer groove, where their creative...

Whilst Sorcery’s ascent in the extreme metal scene coincided with the resurgence of the Swedeath style around the start of this decade, the group are actually old hat at this...

Swedish hard rock sensations H.e.a.t have come a long way in the last decade or so, and their appearance at Sweden Rock in 2018 consolidated their ascent to the top...

Even before his less than harmonious exit from Immortal, we had seen what Abbath had to offer outside the constraints of the black metal legends he’d fronted since their inception....

Finland is rightfully known as one metal's most productive countries, and one of the genres it excels at is melodic death / doom. Six piece Marianas Rest are a relatively...

Nightwish Once    “Once” was Tarja's last album with Nightwish and boy did they make an impact with this one. Not only did “Nemo” become such a well-known hit in...

Children of Bodom - Hate Crew Deathroll      Finland’s premier melodic death metal group started a mini revolution within their genre in the late 1990s, drenching the movement’s trademark...

American Head Charge- The Art Of War     This album was released in 2001.The album's name was influenced by a Chinese book called 'The Art Of War' and was...

Linkin park - Hybrid Theory     It’s almost impossible to talk about the early 00’s metal scene without bringing up the sub genre of Nu-Metal. Hybrid Theory was the...

This year nu metal continued to dominate the mainstream, but plenty of bands from the next massive scene, metalcore, formed including Atreyu and Bullet For My Valentine. We've got albums...

Limp Bizkit - Significant Other    Now unfairly derided by many as a novelty and a joke, Limp Bizkit were once one of the biggest bands on the planet, and...

Blind Guardian - Imaginations from the Other Side      Beginning life as a speed metal outfit in the ‘80s, German power metal legends Blind Guardian began to find their...

Korn-Korn     Atop a shimmering ride cymbal and gradually building dissonant chords, Jonathan Davis’ mighty bellow asked us if we were ready. And whether we were or not, the...

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses     Roadrunner Records’ first album to receive platinum certification, Bloody Kisses saw Type O Negative break away from the thrash / crossover roots...

Cannibal Corpse - Tomb of the Mutilated     Courting controversy the world over with their graphic cover art and explicit lyrical content, cynics may attribute Cannibal Corpse's ascent to...

Pantera- Cowboys From Hell     When the Glam Metal version of Pantera decided to ditch the hairspray and turn to full time shredding, the metal world had an enormous...

There was once a time that Nightrage could have laid claim to being a bona fide supergroup. The presence of Greek guitar wizard Gus G and vocalist extraordinaire Tomas Lindberg...

Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II      Two of the most influential and important power metal releases ever issued, the Keeper albums (originally planned as a...

Bringer of Pain was a big record for Battle Beast. Having acrimoniously parted ways with founder and main composer Anton Kabanen prior to the writing sessions, the pressure was on...

Possessed - Seven Churches      In the autumn of 1985, US four piece Possessed issued what would become a landmark release in heavy music. Considered by many to be...

Self confessed ‘nerd metal’ group Skeletoon formed from the ashes of Helloween tribute group Jack-o’-Lantern in 2011. Led by founder Tomi Fooler, they fired out two albums of highly melodic...

For many Children of Bodom fans, 2015’s I Worship of Chaos was a step down from the marvellous Halo of Blood, which was seen as a return to form after...

There appears to be a very healthy melodic death metal scene blossoming in Italy. Perhaps it has been there a while and I never really knew. Either way, ignorance is...

The final part of a trilogy that began with 2016’s Lunar Prelude EP, Hunter’s Moon’s purpose is two fold: to close this particular chapter of Delain’s career, and to look...

Perhaps the most prominent group to emerge from the Greek metal scene, Rotting Christ have been steadily working away for over three decades. The song-writing flair of frontman Sakis Tolis,...

A new album from Tobias Sammet is a cause for great excitement, particularly since the stunning return to form that began with 2014’s Space Police that cast off the minor...

Malevolent Creation have had to suffer their share of trials and tribulations during their 30 year career, the most recent of which was a mix of the professional (the mass...

It’s taken seven years for Italy’s Lahmia to follow up their rather splendid debut, Into the Abyss. Their highly melodic, gothic tinged death metal was like an intricate, extreme take...

It was just over three years ago that Swallow the Sun (StS) issued the hugely ambitious triple album Songs from the North. That the quality of the project matched its...

A new year is typically seen as a fresh start... a chance to cast aside the troubles of the prior 12 months for optimism and hope. Along rides A Pale...

For many years, I thought of Soilwork as the lesser of the top tier Swedish melodeath groups from the burgeoning scene in the ‘90s. They struck me as a jack...

With one of the finest voices the rock and metal genre has to offer, Johnny Gioeli has been enchanting audiences worldwide for a quarter of a century now. Whether it’s...

One of the godfathers of heavy metal and the self proclaimed prince of darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, celebrates turning 70 this year. To recognise this landmark, I have plucked seven studio...

Metal Church are a long established institution of the US heavy/thrash scene. Despite a number of highly regarded albums released in their prime, they never seem to have got the...

Skelethal and Cadaveric Fumes have been kicking around the French death metal scene for 6-7 years now, but only have a single full length between them (Skelethal's Of the Depths...),...

My familiarity with P.O.D. is largely based around their hit laden, multi-platinum smash Satellite, as well as the odd song from the albums that preceded and followed it. The rap-rock...

With their 40 year anniversary not too far off, long running thrash giants Sodom are showing no signs of slowing down. During that time, the band has traversed down various...

I may as well get this out of the way: I’m a big fan of Jake E Lee. I was hooked from the first time I heard his scything riffs...

There was only one detail in Afire’s press release needed to draw me in. Upon learning that former Sentenced guitarist Sami Lopakka was involved, I knew I wanted to hear...

I seem to be losing track of what exactly Max Cavalera is up to. Last year we were treated to the fourth Cavalera Conspiracy record, and in the midst of...

It was a little more than two years ago that I came across Skálmöld when tasked with reviewing Vögguvísir Yggdraslis for this very station. It’s to safe to say I...

Denmark’s Hatesphere are a perseverant bunch. Under the stewardship of guitarist Pepe Hansen, the Danes have been plugging away under various guises since the ‘90s, with a steady stream of...

I’ve never made any secret of my affection for old school Swedish death metal. Any time a band revs up those rust ridden buzzsaw guitars and proceeds to carve ear...

Metal fans with a keen ear may have noticed the emergence of a thriving Asian scene in the past few years. Truth be told, this ‘emergence’ has been going on...

What surely has to be the most hotly anticipated extreme metal album in many a year is upon us. Having wowed critics and fans alike with 2014’s The Satanist, Behemoth...

Revocation have long been chipping away at their tech death template, continually reworking and refining it on their quest to produce a genre benchmark. With close to twenty years and...

There are few bands in the metal scene who have been active as long as Grave Digger. The German heavy metal icons, led by Chris Boltendahl, have been playing under...

Sometimes there’s no more sobering indicator of the passage of time than realising how much has drifted by between album releases. It doesn’t seem too long ago that I was...

The concept of brotherhood is likely stronger in Krisiun than it is for almost every other metal band out there. For almost the entire duration of their career, the Brazilian...

Germany has such a plethora of heavy metal pantheons, that it can be difficult for many acts to make any head way. This is the case for bands such as...

There are some for whom the categorisation of bands into sub genres is needless and an exercise in pedantry. Death is death, thrash is thrash, black is black, and so...

Helion Prime’s self-titled debut was one of the most exciting heavy metal albums in recent years, melding the power metal template with sci-fi themes to create a highly enjoyable listening...

For more than 20 years, Omnium Gatherum have been gradually developing and honing their craft, making their name in the more expansive and pensive melodic death metal scene, sharing the...

Alice Cooper’s 27th full length album, Paranormal, was one of many highlights of 2017’s hard rock calendar. As the workhorse he is, he took to the road to promote the...