Tag Archives: power metal

Reviews

Empire: Do Agora Provide One of the Top Prog Albums of Recent Times?

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It feels like it’s been a while since we did an in-depth review of a power metal album, doesn’t it? Granted, the Angus McSix review was only like 6 weeks ago, but it feels like longer. God, for a genre that I only had a passing interest in before Overtone, I have definitely been converted, and quickly! Plus, the last year or so has been phenomenal in terms of releases in the sub-genre.

Mexican metallers Agora very much scratch this itch. Don’t get me wrong, they are mainly prog, but there is definitely some heavy power metal influence in there too. Even without hearing a note played, the album artwork sucked me in and immediately told me what I was to expect from the release. Themes of virtual reality, zombies and extinction are all touched on throughout, and the artwork and sound ties it all together perfectly. I hadn’t even heard of these guys before now, but they are clearly doing something right with their hundreds of thousands of streams and even writing alongside legendary keyboardist Derek Sherinian. Without further delay, let’s dive into the album!

The opener and title track immediately sets the tone with a heavy and fast riff. The drums, bass and even choir and strings build in, adding an already massive feel to the sound. The powerful vocals soon come in over the top, fitting in perfectly. The chanted backing vocals for the pre are great and I’m sure would go down a storm live. The backing vocals continue to add so much to the sound through the chorus as well, providing a fantastic higher harmony for the main vocal melody. It’s all infectiously catchy and sounds huge.

The guitaring leading out of the second chorus was awesome, and then we get an almost breakdown, heavy and slower. And of course, where would prog be without a blistering guitar solo. Holy crap, both parts of the duelling solos are incredible. Props to both of them, I’m not at all jealous… The track follows the standard radio format, which works given it’s single nature, and is a super solid way to start off an album! Playlisted!

‘I’m Just Venom’ opens on an awesome quick bass and drum line, their prog side definitely shining through. The riff explodes in with the guitars, sounding INCREDIBLE. The James LaBrie-like vocals sound fantastic between the huge chords and riffs. It’s another massively catchy chorus too, with everyone playing their part perfectly vocally. The whole track has a slightly more sleaze edge to it which I’m really digging. The soloing throughout is incredible too, one following every chorus. The great breakdown and almost Nuno Bettencourt level of guitaring to transition between parts and solo was amazing. It does very much feel like the guitarists were inspired by Nuno and Petrucci. A final huge chorus finishes off another amazing track. They are so far two for two on playlisted tracks!

Another single, ‘In the Name of Destruction’, is up next. Another great riff, made fatter by some great subtle strings, opens it perfectly. There’s some almost Iron Maiden-like melodies in here that I liked a lot, but obviously beefed up by the heavier guitars and drums. It reminds me a bit of another band I’ve loved for years and wish they’d come back, Painside. We get a great showcase of the bass in the bridge and breakdown and damn, that tone is tasty. We also get a sick brief keys solo in this track, which I have a feeling may have been Derek. It’s another pretty standard track format for a prog band, but a damn enjoyable track all the same!

After a brief interlude/buildup track, ‘Collosus’ explodes in. It, alongside ‘honor in Dying’ and ‘When Honor Ends’ are three more tracks similar to what have come before. All three are good tracks with some nice thrashy riffs spread between them. However, they are all pretty balls-to-the-wall and it’s nothing we haven’t already heard earlier in the album. It would have been nice to hear some dynamics like…

‘Immortal Dream’ is the first time the band slows down at all on the album. It’s nice to hear, and it’s a shame we’re seven tracks in before it happens. I’d have much preferred this around the mid-way mark, though I understand loading the more epic, concepty tracks towards the end. The drums provide a surprisingly excellent backdrop to some beautiful clean guitar and piano. The vocals are the perfect level of power too, it all having an open, almost ethereal sound to it. It all builds into a somehow even massiver, incredibly catchy chorus. And of course there’s another phenomenal solo. It gives off slight Genesis vibes, in the best ways. It’s an incredible metal ballad that does everything to perfection. Playlisted!

Single ‘Infinity’ also opens slowly, but builds masterfully for over a minute before a slower, heavy, sludgy riff comes in over the top. We get another great showcase of the amazing bass tone in the second verse as it drops back to it and the drums and vocals for a bit. Everything about the track was awesome, with the vocals fitting so well over the top the huge guitars, drums and synth. The vocal harmonies again add a catchiness to the chorus, too. And another blistering guitar solo that is another highlight of the track. Another excellent track!

Then we finally reach the last and longest track on the album, ‘Virtual Reality’. It builds for a while through synth, ambient sounds and a beautiful operatic voice, before the typical huge riff comes in. The strings throughout were a great touch too and added an awesome melody to it. We got some more amazing soloing and a nice, albeit brief, almost A7X bridge with a scream in it, which was sick. A little sadly, however, the majority of the 8+ minutes is just more of what we’ve already had. The intro was a cool build and the soloing was excellent, but it still had a similar structure as the rest and everything just felt a little too overly drawn out at times. A good, epic way to finish the album, but not quite what I was expecting or hoping for.

Overall: Wow. This was amazing. I had to hold off from putting over half of it on the playlist, it was that good. I’m now kicking myself for not hearing of them sooner. I loved every track on the album and will definitely be going back through their discography after this. They should be massive, and they definitely have a new fan in me. The final track didn’t quite nail it for me, and there were a couple of more ‘filler’ tracks, but still, I’mma give this…

The Score: 9/10

Interviews & Features, Reviews

Tragedy and Nanowar of Steel: a Match Made in Heaven!

Two of Napalm Records’ hottest newer signings decended on the O2 Institute in Birmingham the other night, midway through their massive UK tour. The two fun, parody metal bands, Tragedy and Nanowar of Steel, are both touring off their first major release with the label earlier this year, and it’s safe to say they tore the roof off the place!

Surprisingly, our friends in Nanowar of Steel went on first. Opening on new, pirate-metal hit ‘Sober’, things soon took a great turn into silly with the likes of ‘Call of Cthulhu’ and ‘Il Cacciatore Della Notte’. For a smaller venue and I’d imagine a smaller budget, the show they put on was off the charts. From costume changes, inflatables thrown into the crowd and the smoke pyro stuff bands use nowadays, it all made for one hell of a show. Heck, for set closer ‘Valhalleluja’ they even built a flat-pack table and passed it around the crowd! Between that and them encouraging a George Michael style wall of love, it was a hell of a lot of fun.

It’s easy to look at the comedy and the stage-show and overlook just how phenomenal they are as musicians, but they are exactly that. Every single of of them plays their parts perfectly, with some great riffs, insane solos and some of the best, most varied vocals around today. From the soaring vocals of ‘Disco Metal’ to the heavier screaming elements of ‘Armpits of Immortals’ to the rapping in crowd favourite ‘Norwegian Reggaetion’, there was a bit of everything! And the new album tracks sounded so good and went down a storm, too. I know we reviewed it very highly, and I honestly think it’ll be the album to push them into the big leagues globally.

We even had the chance for a quick chat with bassist Gattopanceri666 before the show. Check out what we talked about below:

How’s the tour going?

‘It’s been for a while now, yeah. I would say pretty good, I would say about half of the shows sold out. Apart from the UK, the UK sucks..! I’m kidding of course!

And how’s the album gone down?

‘It’s going well! People seem to know the songs. They’ve watched the videos. They buy it at the merch table and online and wherever else they can check it out. I think it’s good. We’re happy about it. What else could we expect? I mean, we could sell more, I guess!

Have you got a favourite track from it?

‘I think you’ll see tonight. The three that we have been playing are the ones that we like the most! It’s not hard to guess, they’re the recent singles!’

And should we be expecting any surprises tonight?

‘Of course not! I don’t know. it’s the first time we’re playing here so I guess anything we do is going to be different from anything you’ve ever seen!’

Yeah, you guys only did Bloodstock before the tour, right?

‘Yeah, this is our first real UK tour. Before this we only played Bloodstock once last year. So we really don’t have any past history in the UK’.

If you want more of Nanowar interviewing, check out our sit-down with guitarist Mohammed Abdul from a couple of months ago below!

Next up were the headliners of the evening. The worlds greatest all-metal tribute to the Bee Gees and disco as a whole, Tragedy. Having seen them before years ago at Glastonbudget and being a fan of them ever since, I was excited to see them again!

They were very good at what they do. Their adaptations of artists like The Pointer Sisters and ABBA sound just as good live as they do on track. And all of them are far better at their chosen instruments than I’m sure they will be given any credit for. And every single one of them is hugely charismatic up on the stage.

Yet still, something felt a little off for me…

I don’t know if it was the constant, over the top sex talk (it felt a little budget Steel Panther, especially when getting the women up on stage at the end) or the fact that a covers band went on after an originals one, or the fact that they played like 18 songs, but something felt deflating. They played amazingly and put on a great show as well as playing plenty of songs I loved. I should have enjoyed it, but I came away feeling a little less joyous than when Nanowar left the stage.

Overall, I had a fantastic night, and still thought both bands did one hell of a job. The crowd loved it from start to finish and I can’t blame them at all. I was probably just tired from getting lost in Birmingham not once, but twice! I would highly recommend seeing both bands, whether you’re into metal or comedy music at all. They both put on that great of a show that you could find something to enjoy no matter what!

Reviews

Angus McSix and the Sword of Power: The Debut Solo Album of the Former Gloryhammer Frontman!

I’m a big fan of Gloryhammer and of Angus McSix in general thanks to his appearances in tracks by bands like Nanowar of Steel. After a turbulent few years for the former band, however, Odin, Master of Ikea himself has gone out on his own and has put out his debut album today! If I haven’t sold you enough, the snippet I go through on the email with the album surely will:

‘After the heroic death of Prince Angus, hope seemed to be fading for Scotland and the whole galaxy. But our mighty hero has fought his way back into the world of the living’. Let’s do this!

‘Master of the Universe’ is the perfect opener to the album. Not only is it a fantastic, catchy power metal anthem, but it reintroduces Angus McSix and his new story and mythos. In fact, the whole album does, as it details the loss of his Gloryhammer and the introduction of his new sword, Sixcalibur. As I said, the opening track is a banger, too. From the opening vocal part to the HUGE riff to the massive, catchy chorus, it has a bit of everything you could want from a power metal track. The lyrics are really well written for the slightly cheesy, silly content and topic, too. It’s one of the easily playlisted tracks of the year so far!

Speaking of ‘Sixaclibur’, it’s the next track! The single is another strong track, filled with huge, catchy vocals, harmonies and riffs. I get that the sort of music is purposefully parodying the sub-genre, but it does it so well that it’s better than a lot of music in the genre today, in my opinion. It doesn’t exactly do anything unexpected or ground breaking, but everyone is insanely talented at their craft and the songwriting is amazing. Another one for the playlist!

As if it wasn’t silly enough, ‘Lazer-Shooting Dinosaur’ is up next. It opens on yet another infectiously catchy chorus and keeps the quick, silly energy up throughout. The synth/electronic parts were a nice touch. It’s another amazing track that is hard to pick fault with. I know a few will complain about the comical lyrical content, but music in general takes itself too seriously, especially power metal, so this is right up my street. So far, this album is off to an amazing start.

‘Amazons of Caledonia’ and ‘Ride to Hell’ are tracks similar to ‘…Dinosaur’. Honestly, so is ‘Starlord of the Sixtus Stellar System’. However, I loved the AC/DC references in the track, from the ‘Thunderstruck’-like riff to the ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ inspired Angus chants. All three are fantastic tracks, but again nothing new.

After a brief intro track, ‘Eternal Warrior’ gets off to an epic start. The drums are a huge highlight of the track, fast and massively impressive. The track itself is similar to the others but I again liked the focus on synth, string and piano focuses and the epic intro was a nice touch!

‘The Key to Eternity’ is the closest thing to a power ballad on the album, and it’s awesome. The vocal melodies at times reminded me of some of Bruce Dickinson’s from the past decade. It’s a slower, epic track that tells a great tale and is a lot of fun.

The two closing tracks, ‘In a Past Reality’ and ‘Fireflies of Doom’, are both great tracks again. There’s a great riff that runs through the former, but honestly the latter is one of my favourite tracks on the album. Not only is it a great, catchy power metal track, but it is silly in the best ways. The lyrics are incredible. Playlisted!

There is another track on the album, a bonus one, ‘Just a Fool Will Play Tricks on Angus McSix’. It’s silly and funny but honestly has maybe the best chorus on the whole album. It could have easily been a full track on the album, but I’m glad it didn’t get cut completely!

Overall: This was fantastic. Honestly one of the best power metal albums I’ve listened to in a good while. Everyone played their parts perfectly and are insanely talented. And it was just the right balance of storytelling and not taking itself too seriously. My only slight issue is that they were all fairly similar; there could have been a slower track to break things up. However, it didn’t really make me feel the length, and when it’s all this good it’s hard to be mad at it being similar. I’ll be listening to this a lot in the coming months, I’m sure!

The Score: 9/10

Reviews

The Awakening: A Bold Return Album from Kamelot!

It’s rare seeing an American power metal band. Tampa isn’t the sort of place you’d associate with the epic norse/medieval feel of the genre. However, Kamelot have been towards the top of the pack in the genre for decades. Having released their 13th album on Friday, we’ve had this for a few days and have definitely had it cranked out loud throughout the office. Check out what we thought!

After a brief orchestral intro track the album explodes into power metal life with a huge riff to open ‘The Great Divide’. It’s a huge sound and riff but it eases off a little for the verses. It was a good touch as the orchestral elements filled out the sound perfect. It builds to a huge chorus, catchy melodies from just about every instrument and vocal going on throughout it. We get an amazing guitar solo after the second chorus. My only issue is that it was too short, I’d have happily had it run twice as long. Then a huge double chorus takes us home. This was a good track and a perfect album opener for fans not as familiar with the band. It was a standard structure and formula and set the stage well.

‘Eventide’ is more of the same, a heavy riff packed full of great strings and bass drum work. Soaring vocals through the choruses and another great guitar solo are more highlights of the track. Meanwhile ‘One more Flag in the Ground’ opens on an almost Egyptian feel with the guitar chord progression and vocals. The vocal runs through the intro riff also reminded me a little of Iron Maiden’s more recent work. The verse also reminds me a bit of some of Dream Theater’s heavier stuff, it had big ‘Panic Attack’ vibes. The chorus is catchy and the lyrics were pretty fun and uplifting. The heavier bridge was also a lot of fun, a highlight of the track, as was the insane outro solo. It’s an amazing song and easily makes our playlist!

Check out more power metal here.

The longest track on the album, ‘Opus of the Night Ghost’, teases a slower open before immediately slapping the listener with another heavy, similar-tempoed riff. The Dream Theater vibes are back, but the vocal melody throughout felt pretty Muse-y; the high notes were impressive. It dropping down to the orchestral elements and drums for the bridge was fun, building back up through a fantastic violin and guitar solo. The slower, piano led outro was nice, too.

Said outro lead very nicely into the slower, very medieval sounding intro to ‘Midsummer’s Eve’. It was nice to hear a bit of variety as Tommy Karevik sounds amazing over the top of the beautiful piano and strings. It stays as a simple, beautiful ballad throughout too, which was a great choice, especially for around the midpoint of the album. It’s the perfect, emotional slower track for a power metal band. Great stuff.

The pace picks back up with ‘Bloodmoon’, but the acoustic guitar and strings to open was a nice, fresh touch. It’s a catchy song and one of my favourite on the album. However, much like ‘NightSky’, ‘The Looking Glass’ and ‘New Babylon’, it’s simply straight up, slightly-formulaic power metal. There’s nothing wrong with that, with the latter track being awesome and a massive highlight of the album. It’s simply hard to write about a lot of similar songs.

‘Willow’ is another beautiful piano led ballad. The vocals again fit so well over the piano, giving off big Matt Bellemy vibes. The strings added so much depth and beauty to the track too, complimenting everything perfectly. The rest of the band coming in from the second chorus was a fantastic choice too, the heaviness coming in but not overpowering the emotion. Heck, even the solo complimented it, feeling very Slash. It’s another great track.

The final full track on the album, ‘My Pantheon’, feels like a real culmination of everything that’s come before it. A slow piano intro, a huge, heavy riff, plenty of symphonic and string elements, it draws everything together perfectly. It’s also one of the best, catchiest choruses on the album. Plus, the harsh vocals in the bridge were amazing, and I wish we’d got them more throughout the album. Then we get taken home by a beautiful orchestral outro track, ‘Ephemera’.

Overall: This was pretty great. While it didn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel, it was a fun, very well written power/symphonic metal album. There are a number of standout tracks, from heavy anthems to ballads, and there isn’t a bad song among them! I’ll definitely be listening to this album a fair bit over the coming months.

The Score: 7.5/10

Reviews

Dislike to False Metal: Have Nanowar Of Steel Become Major Players in Metal?

Nanowar of Steel have seemingly exploded onto the international scene over the last couple of years, thanks in large part to their partnership with Napalm Records, but also due to their amazing songwriting and quick wits. Comedy in metal is such a thin line to walk but this band have been doing it to perfection recently. I’ve loved their singles so far so when we got sent the album, I had to check it out!

Album opener ‘Sober’ sets the tone of the album perfectly. It’s a fun, heavy sea shanty packed full of cleverly written lyrics and some surprisingly awesome instrumentation. As Mohamed pointed out in our interview (check it out here) the backing music isn’t necessarily as important as the lyrics are in comedy music. However, the band are just as talented as any other power metal band out there today as far as guitars and drums are concerned. The track fits in perfectly with their back catalogue, a fun romp that takes itself equal amounts seriously and not at all. It easily makes our playlist!

The second track features Madeleine Liljenstam of dark symphonic metal band Eleine. It dives straight into a more epic, power metal feel, staying heavy and massive throughout. It has a more serious feel to it than the previous track, and could easily be considered a full on symphonic metal track if it wasn’t for the lyrics. Madeleine’s vocals fit in perfectly and she adds an awful lot to the track. It’s just a great, straight up metal track.

Next up is a single, the infectious awesomeness of ‘Disco Metal’. I’ve had this track firmly lodged in my head and ears since it was released and thought I’d just about escaped it. Now that I’ve heard it again, I fear it’ll be there forever. Disco and metal mix surprisingly and incredibly well, as evidenced by Tragedy and Lordi’s Superflytrap. Now Nanowar of Steel have thrown their hats into the ring and upped the ante even more. My only slight complaint is that the autotune on the higher vocals took a little getting used to. Still, it’s a phenomenal track and easily makes the playlist!

‘Muscle Memory’ is the first slower track on the album. The clean guitar chords to open with the powerful vocals was awesome, as was building up through the vocal harmonies. The chorus is huge, massive guitar chords and vocal melodies that would fill out a stadium with ease. It reminds me of ‘And Then I Noticed That She was a Gargoyle’, and also any of the slower Guns N’Roses tracks blended together. The guitar solo is fantastic and confirms my suspicions, being very Slash. The whole track is amazing and so catchy. And of course it goes without saying that the lyrics are incredible.

One of my two favourite track titles is up next (I’ll let you work out the other one). ‘Chupacabra Cadabra’ is also a proggy, folky, heavy masterpiece. From the ‘Painkiller’ tribute to open to the fantastic, uplifting horns, the track starts strong. It sounds very… well… Italian folk metal, and in the best way! I loved the multiple languages throughout, especially when it came to the spoken work parts near the middle. It all built perfectly in the first 4:20 to an almost Tool-like climax, dropping down to acoustic guitars and a great, western-style whistle. This part ALSO builds perfectly into a great spoken few lines that got a pretty big laugh out of me.

The rest of the track continues as the first part did, finishing off the epic tale. I absolutely LOVED this. From the style to the progressive nature to the frankly ridiculous lyrics, it was the perfect track. Man, I hope we get a video for the track, it’d be excellent. Playlisted.

Next up is another single, this one featuring the legendary Joakim Brodén. Of course this was the most power metal track on the album, but it fit perfectly with Joakim’s vocals and style. And, to have a track so heavy and serious sounding be about the world cup finals nearly three decades is hilarious. Especially with them playing the commentary from the game in the bridge. It’s a damn good song and another huge highlight of the album.

‘Metal Boomer Battalion’ and album closer ‘The Power of Imodium’ are two more straight up power metal bangers. Both have some great comedic lyrics throughout and the latter has a fun, clear tribute horn line that fit surprisingly well. However, it is the two tracks between them that stood out the most.

The fantastically titled ‘Dimmu Boogie’ is a swing rock track that definitely does make you want to boogie! The simple blues lines, call-and-response vocals and the jazzy horns all came together perfectly to make one of the funnest tracks on the album. The guitar solo is maybe my favourite on the album too, it fits so well with everything and the technicality is amazing. I honestly can’t get over how infectiously catchy that horn melody is. It’s so good. Playlisted!

Then, ‘Protocols (of the Elders of Zion) of Love’ is another slower track, this one a clear love ballad. It’s somehow a combination of Bon Jovi and a boy band (not that I’m sure there are those out there thinking they’re the same thing). Heck, I can even hear some Michael Starr in the vocals, both the melody and delivery. It’s cheesy in the best possible way and it’s another track I love. It is so catchy vocally and so simple instrumentally. It’s a pop song and it somehow fits so well on a power metal album. Somehow again, playlisted!

Overall: This was brilliant. The blend of comedy and actually innovative (for metal) was brilliant. I actually found myself enjoying the weirder, less metal tracks than the straight-up power metal just because of how refreshing it sounded and how well written it all was. Everything about this album was amazing, and it’s definitely going to be up there among the albums of the year come December!

The Score: 9/10

Interviews & Features

Nanowar of Steel: ‘I have nothing left in the pocket, we just put everything in it!’

Ahead of the release of Nanowar of Steel ‘s brand new album and UK tour, we got to sit down with guitarist Mohammed Abdul to chat about it all! Check it out below!

So firstly, what inspired you to be more of a comedy band?

We just wanted to have fun together. The thing blew up unexpectedly, maybe a little too much! But we have to follow it through and here we are!

So obviously you self-released a lot of your early stuff, how does it feel to now be signed to someone like Napalm?

It feels fucking great! We were struggling for a long time to have the chance to play the game in a professional environment. This is our first chance. The first album we did with Napalm, we made something very special for the Italian fans during the Covid period. But this is our debut, it’s our first time and we’re very very happy to collaborate with them.

They’ve been great to us. They let us make whatever we wanted because they knew it’s kinda hard to make any lesser version of the bullshit we put into the songs. So they didn’t want to do anything in advance, they let us do what we want. Even we don’t know what we are going to make next! They gave us complete freedom and great support so we’re happy.

And obviously the album is out 10th March, what was it like to write and record?

This album was mostly written during Covid together with our previous one. We’re quite happy with that as we had a lot of time to work on the details of the album, the arrangements and the instruments and everything. I’m not the one in charge to judge myself or the work we do as a group but I’m happy because I had the chance to put all the things that I have into it. I have nothing left in the pocket, we just put everything in it. And we’re happy with that.

The process has been quite difficult, as you can imagine. We started from the Covid stuff and wrote the songs just like we are talking right now. We were talking in remote meetings all through the year. It’s not easy but we’re used to it a bit as we never used to be in the same city. What changed for me personally is that once I started working from home it was easier to switch from the regular job to the songs. I had much more time to do more accurate work.

The recordings have been quite a pain in the ass. We recorded this album while touring. We faced quite a hard summer as we had to make the shows for this summer and all the previous shows from 2020 that were cancelled and rescheduled. So we had a very crazy schedule and we made maybe the wrong choice of editing the tracks ourselves, as that’s what we’re used to. But we had to edit the tracks while touring. So I spent all summer while touring in the van with the headphones on mixing the tracks. It’s been quite a huge pain in the ass! But it’s over now and we’re happy!

It’s not easy. Even just travelling, going around and playing, can be tricky. Adding on more to that, spending all the time you’re supposed to relax working is not fun at all. So for all the bands and readers, please don’t do it! Take care of your mind and don’t do that!

A fair few people consider it harder to write comedy over more serious stuff. Have you found that?

I cannot tell you if it’s harder or not. I’m very happy that you give us the credit of the work! The main approach I’ve found talking to people is the opposite. Many people think that writing comedy songs is kinda B-side music or that it’s easier to do. It’s not. I cannot tell if it’s harder or not than non-comedy music as the approaches are completely different. But I can tell you that it’s not easy.

You have to face a lot of things that you don’t have to with regular music. You have to put a lot of effort into the lyrics and the relationships between the lyrics and the music. It’s easier on the musical part as you can be a little more relaxed on the innovation put into it. You’re not forced to make something completely new, not that that’s something that’s taken into account much in metal! But the drawback of it is that you have to put more work into the lyrics.

You guys are coming to the UK soon, right?

Yeah! Somewhere between April and May. We’ve only been there for one concert, last summer for Bloodstock. That was great. Every time I come to Britain I have a great time, I love the place in general. I’m saying this like the common sentence that you say at every live show, but I do actually love it there!

All my favourite bands come from there. Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, even The Beatles. And Jimmi Hendrix got famous when he came to the UK! That means the UK is great!

And I imagine you have a lot more touring planned off the album for the rest of the year?

Actually we don’t have a huge long term plan. We are planning this long tour during the spring, around Europe and the UK, and then we take some rest and then do the festivals in the summer.

After that we don’t have anything planned. So I really don’t know what’s going on during the autumn or winter. We expect something, but I think it depends how the record goes and how good the concerts go. This is the first time we’ve headlined a tour like this around Europe so we hope it goes right as that would mean a lot to us and our business.

Are you guys planning on doing more parody tracks like ‘I’m Heavy’?

No, actually it’s something that we want to stop doing. The early years we were perceived as a parody band. We mock the style of a lot of bands but we don’t make parody, in a strict term. We saw that once we stopped doing them people started to feel that we can write songs. So we are trying to be as far as we can from the strict parody stuff. We just write our own song in the style of something else or put a reference in, but we prefer to write our own style of music.

Reviews

Plains of Oblivion: Are Blackment the Start of the New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal?

Blackment, in case you couldn’t guess by the title, are a melodic heavy metal band from Finland. I hadn’t heard of the band before but we got sent the album a week or two ago for review. It comes out today so we thought we’d let you know what we thought!

‘Apparatus’ opens heavy with a great synth behind it, giving the death metal an 80s edge. It then opens up into a fantastic thrash riff, already a highlight. It stays thrashy as the harsh vocals come in for the verse, before it suddenly changes pace into some proggy, jazzy rock. The chorus after is really catchy too thanks to some cleaner power metal vocals ringing through. This really has a bit of everything so far. A ripping, technical guitar solo or three follows the second chorus. It makes me in no way jealous of their talent at all… However surprisingly, the song fades out after this. One the one hand, it’s always fun to not know what’s coming. On the other hand, I feel like another big chorus could have really helped cement this track as a top tier opener.

‘Remnants Astray’ opens on a prog as fuck riff and I’m all for it. The synths are behind it to give it such a huge sound, too. The power metal is back the powerful clean vocals come in over the top of a great, epic riff. It stays heavy and interesting though, two things that I find are my two downfalls when it comes to power metal so this is excellent. The kinda harsh vocals return for the bridge after the second chorus, but they are still rather clean, like a Matt Heafy kind of sound. There’s more absolutely incredible guitar soloing afterwards, so good it would probably make Steve Vai jealous. We then get a final epic chorus to close up. This was utterly fantastic, I loved it. It very easily made our playlist.

‘Clouds’ is a slightly slower but in no way less epic riff. The clean vocals sound even bigger and more powerful here given that the riff is bigger and it’s all backed by some great strings and even some operatic backing. Also, the backing vocals for the chorus make it even catchy and again we get the kind of half-scream on the back of it. It’s still a harsh vocal but most not familiar with scream would probably still be able to understand what is being said. The best of both worlds, so to speak. It feels almost redundant at this point to say there was a good guitar solo in the track, but you’ll never guess what… there was! Another song that I cannot praise enough, this was phenomenal. Playlisted!

If I didn’t feel like a vastly inferior musician before, ‘Composure’ definitely made it clear. This is awesome riff after awesome riff and I love it. The Trivium-style vocals are back in full force for this track too, which is another huge positive for me. It honestly feels like ‘Ascendency’, which for anyone who knows that album is very high praise. Again there is nothing but praise I can give for this track. The third in a row to make the playlist. This album better chill out or I’mma get in trouble for it all making it to our Spotify!

The most recent single, ‘Northern Lights’, starts folky as hell. To carry on the feeling, a modern day Maiden riff comes in over the top of it all, sounding great. This whole track in fact is like a heavier Iron Maiden song, it’s great! The same could be said for the following track, ‘Grasp of Hel’, too. Both are great songs that somehow sound like power metal, NOWBH while also sounding modern and following the bands sound. You definitely know it’s Blackment when hearing the tracks.

Check another metal review here.

The title track brings the heaviness and progginess back with a huge but fantastically technical couple of riffs. Even when the guitars are doing stuff like this, the band add synths and strings and stuff to really pack out the sound. It makes it all sound huge. The pre and chorus are massively catchy too even as the vocal melody jumps all over the place. It’s so interesting and I couldn’t stop listening to it, skipping it back a couple of times at least. Some more awesome guitar soloing and even a jazzy as fuck bassline round out this AWESOME track. Playlisted, it’s amazing.

‘Desolation Fields’ brings back the blackened death metal for a slow intro that builds into a hugely heavy track. The heaviness continues through the final two tracks too, single ‘Maw of the Dread’ and album closer ‘The Ruins’. However, the band also blend it masterfully with their epic power metal side. All three tracks are fantastic and the latter is a great closer. In a time where most bands seem to follow the weird trend of putting the lightest track last, I’m glad this was still pretty heavy. Three great tracks that I’d just gush over the same points for if I didn’t clump them together. Great stuff!

Overall: this was MUCH better than I was expecting. Granted, I went into it with zero expectations, but they blew the roof off my mind. Everyone involved with this is a master of their craft, be it guitars, vocals, songwriting, even production, it’s all top notch. I’ve already listened to this a few times and I don’t think I’ll be stopping any time soon!

The Score: 9/10

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Reviews

Kingdemonium: My New Favourite Power Metal Album?

German power metallers Hammer King are set to release their fifth studio album this week, Kingdemonium. We managed to get a sneak preview so read below to see what we thought of it!

The album starts off strong with ‘Invisible King’. An awesome power metal riff is backed up perfectly by some solid drumming. It drops down to drums and bass for the verse, the powerful, higher vocals fitting great over the top. The guitars come back in for the pre, harmonies adding perfectly to the vocals and it all having a huge, epic sound to it.

It then opens up even more in the chorus, it reminding me of Iron Maiden’s ‘Longest Day’ in that the pre is big enough to be a chorus on its own, but the chorus itself takes it to even huger heights. The call and response backing vocals in the chorus make it even catchier, too. We of course get a fantastic guitar solo because power metal, it also reminding me a lot of modern Maiden. The a double chorus takes us home. A simple, straight to the point, awesome rock song. Playlisted!

Another single, ‘Pariah is my Name’, is up next. After another fun, epic metal riff it boarders on thrash territory for a fast verse. It reminds me more of Sabaton when they speed up. The pre feels like it’s building to something huge again but instead it drops back a bit, hitting hard with a straight-forward chorus. It’s still catchy as anything thanks to the great vocal melody and heavy instrumentation. A great riff follows out the second chorus and again leads to a fantastic technical guitar solo. The short bridge leading into the final chorus was also awesome, adding in some chanted vocals that would go down a storm live. Hammer King are two for two so far, another great song playlisted!

Check out more power metal here.

‘We Shall Rise’ opens on an extended, awesome harmonic guitar riff. It then heads into exactly what you’ expect from power metal, and it’s awesome. This is similar to the opening track in terms of structure, building more and more epicness throughout the track. The chorus is catchy as anything, especially with the ‘rise’ chants. Pointing out the awesome guitar solo feels redundant at this point but yep, there’s one here too! The rest of the track is again awesome power metalness through and through.

‘Live Long, Die Nasty’, alongside ‘Guardians of the Realm’, ‘Mark of the Beast’, ‘Other Kingdoms Fall’, ‘The Four Horsemen’, and the title track all follow similar formulas. Don’t get me wrong, they are all great songs. Songs that I’ll be listening to a lot still moving forward. They just all abide by the typical intro, (verse + chorus)x2, bridge/solo, chorus end, structure. Lumping them all together as they are all fantastic songs, especially the album closing track. It simply makes this review a nicer read so you aren’t reading the same thing over and over. All good songs, I’ve just already said what I’d want to say about them in previous paragraphs.

‘The 7th of the 7 Kings’ opens straight into vocals, a beautiful clean guitar behind them. The band wear their Maiden influence on their sleeve as this whole thing reminds me so much of Moonchild. And of course, for those who don’t know, go look up what album said song opens. It explodes into a HUGE metal riff after the opening verse before dropping back a bit again for more vocals. The drums and bass were a nice touch this time though, adding some dynamics and layers.

The epicness of course builds through a catchy-ass pre until an absolutely massive chorus comes in. Both sets of vocals, the lead and backing, are catchy as hell and make it all sound Homeric. The duelling lead guitars were fantastic, as were the operatic-style vocals in the background between the solos. Yes, solos. There is more than one and they’re all awesome. The outro is amazing too and I know I’m using the word too much but this whole track gives a new meaning to the word epic. Power metal done very right. Playlisted.

Finally we have the prog track of the album, the near 8-minute epic ‘Age of Urizen’. Opening on a short acoustic guitar riff it soon drops into a huge heavy one. It stays quick and heavy for the riff, again the backing vocals adding an epic edge to it with all the ‘oo’s and ‘oh’s. The chorus opens up into slower, effortlessly catchy vocals.

After a short bridge out of the second chorus we get an amazing duelling lead guitar line, the harmonies sounding excellent. The band do a good job of filling out the sound behind it too, a lot of bands leave it to the low bass and it sounds like a big empty gap, but here it filled out well. The soloing continues for a bit, making me not at all jealous of their talent. We then get another verse and chorus before a catchy-as outro takes us home in style. This didn’t feel like 7:30 at all. It followed the typical structure but gave everything such space to breath that it felt massive. Good stuff!

Overall: This was awesome! Being so up and down with power metal I didn’t expect to like this as much as I did, but I loved it. The band are all insanely good musicians and their songwriting is off the charts. I’m going to have to check out their older stuff now and hopefully they tour in the UK sometime soon!

The Score: 8/10

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new music mondays

New Music Mondays: Motionless in White, Kreator and More!

Another week stacked full of new music, this time primarily metal. Also, both myself and Charlotte are tackling this one together, as I had a crazy busy weekend. Without further ado, let’s get cracking!

Motionless In White: Scoring the End of the World

I was never really a fan of this band. Another that my friends all liked when we were growing up that I never really ‘got’. However, this was great! Leaning heavier into the industrial side of metal as opposed to their earlier metalcore stuff, it’s like a heavier, catchy Marylin Manson. ‘Meltdown’ is a great opener with some catchy hooks and melody and suitible heaviness, though the lyrics being about the last couple of years felt just a tad cringy. Tracks like ‘Sign of Life’ and ‘Cyberhex’ also draw on the bands nu-metal influences with the rapping, it sounding like a great mix of Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

However, the biggest highlight for me is ‘Werewolf’. It’s heavily influenced by 80s pop and synth but still maintains the heaviness the band are known for. And it fits the song title perfectly, it feels like a horror song. It’s amazing. Subsequent tracks ‘Porcelain’ and ‘Slaughterhouse’ are also fantastic. A surprisingly great album.

Charlotte: Motionless in White’s Scoring The End Of The World embodies man’s inhumanity and explores the struggles we’re facing today – everything from violence and leadership to inequality and global warming.

As an album with an important but heavy message, I think you can subconsciously expect the music to be pretty either too heavy or too soft but I think this album hits it just right and it’s definitely something I’ll listen to again.

8.5/10

Kreator: Hate Uber Alles

German thrash legends Kreator released their whopping 15th studio album last week. I have to admit that as much of a thrash head I am, I have slept on the German scene for years without really any reason to. This album very much shows me the error of my ways. It is a brutal assault of the senses from start to finish and touches on some pretty interesting topics lyrically. It reminds me a lot of Slayer’s best work. The band did a good job at picking the singles too, as all of them (alongside the opening track) are definite highlights of the album. The inclusion of sofia portanet on ‘Midnight Sun’ was a nice addition too, adding an almost symphonic metal element to the album. Another good album. 8/10

Wind Rose: Warfront

Charlotte: Wind Rose’s album Warfront took me by surprise. For an album written specifically for a video game, I wasn’t sure if it would engage me enough but I can’t deny the composition is fantastic.

I don’t think this is an album I could listen to on repeat, it’s not exactly written for car sing-alongs or festival crowd surfing, but it’s impressive all the same.

Joe: Italian ‘dwarf metallers’ Wind Rose have gained quite the following thanks to their Tolkein-inspired lyrics and getup. Their last album was fantastic (who can’t love ‘Diggy DiggyHole’?) and this one very much continues that same energy. Opener ‘Army of Stone’ is a great track and one of the singles, ‘Together we Rise’, is still enjoyable even though I’ve already been listening to it for a month to get on the hype train. Sometimes power metal takes itself far too seriously, and it’s nice that some bands can still have fun with it, too. 7.5/10

The Dream Syndicate: Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions

Switching gears away from metal for just a se3cond, we get alt-rock pioneers The Dream Syndiate and their eighth studio album. It isn’t especially my thing, but it is enjoyable. It’s chilled out, punk-inspired soft rock, and it’s amazing background music. There’s not quite enough going on to keep my little ADHD brain interested fully, but it is far from boring. ‘Damian’ and ‘Every Time You Come Around’ were particular highlights for me. 6.5/10

Yatra: Born Into Chaos

This band are on their fourth album in four years. Even if you don’t like death/extreme metal, you’ve got to at least admire their work ethic. Heck, it’s a tiny bit heavy even for me, with the growls being a little hard to hear at times. However, the instrumentation was fantastic and off-set a the vocals a fair bit for me. The riffs were incredible, venturing into black and doom metal with ease and almost grace throughout the album. I wouldn’t go out of my way to listebn to it but I also wouldn’t turn it off if it came on! 5/10

Wolfsbane: Genius (Wolfgenius)

Poor Blaze Bayley. He gets such a bad rep from the metal community because he simply wasn’t Bruce Dickinson. Sure, his tenure in Maiden gave us X Factor, but it also gave us The Clansman, so it was not all bad. Blaze’s original band, Wolfsbane, reunited the band when he parted ways with Maiden and has put out some great music since then. Their new one is no different. Having a punk edge to the NWOBHM sound, not too dissimilar to Wildhearts, the album is a fun collection of catchy choruses and grungy guitar riffs. Tracks like the opener and ‘Rock the Boat’ stood out to me as some of the best on the album and give off a good idea of what the band are like for new listeners! 7/10

Check out our review of Iron Maiden’s latest album here.

Black Therapy: Onward

While it boarders black metal and regular readers know my feeling on said sub-genre, there is enough melody and death metal in here to keep me interested and enjoying it. It’s definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I again find myself drawn to the sick riffs and awesome drumming. Don’t get me wrong though, those deep growls are insane. ‘Blindness’ was a particularly great highlight, but the whole album is a pleasant surprise! 7/10

Megasnake: Charming

Charlotte: As a first time listener of Megasnake, I didn’t know what to expect. After listening to their latest release Charming, I’m left wondering why I haven’t heard of them before? I loved this album.

The style is right up my street – that classic rock sound combined with gritty and powerful vocals (reminiscent of Chris Robertson), and not to mention the quality of the album’s production is superb. 

I expect to see them hitting some major new wave of classic rock festivals in the UK next year. 7.5/10

And there we have it, another great week for rock music in the bag! Next week promises to be just as good, too, so make sure to keep an eye on our Facebook here for all of our content.

new music mondays

New Music Mondays: Billy Talent, Comeback Kid and More!

Another week, another round-up of the album releases and me giving you my opinion on them. A real mixed bag this week. A lot of punk, a splash of metal and even some country wiggling its way in too! Check out all the new music below!

Billy Talent: Crisis of Faith

Billy Talent’s Official Facebook

Opening your first album back in six years on a nearly 6-minute, two-part track is a ballsy move, but ‘Forgiveness I + II’ is just the tip of the awesomness iceberg (but it’s a good tip, especially with that saxophone). From there the band rip into their awesome, balls-to-the-wall lead single ‘Reckless Paradise’ and equally great ‘I Beg to Differ’. I could sit here all day and go over all ten awesome tracks on the album, but instead I’ll just say CHECK THIS OUT. I can see this being up in contender for album of the year in 11 months time, it’s that good. 9/10

Comeback Kid: Heavy Steps

The hardcore punk icons returned with their seventh studio album this last week. I know of the band but they were always a little heavy for me back in my youth. Therefore, I have no real reference point with this compared to their older stuff, bar the odd song. It sounds pretty decent though. Unfortunately like most hardcore music, it does get a little repetitive towards the end. If you like that kind of music I’m sure you’d love it, but it got a little old for me around the 2/3rds mark. 6.5/10

Yard Act: The Overload

The Leeds-based post-punk band released their debut album on Friday. I’d never even heard of them before but I have to admit, I liked what I heard. The Overload is an entertaining, funny blend of early Arctic Monkeys and Blur. It’s an entire album of ‘Parklife’, but far angrier and politically charged. It’s lyrically fantastic and the instrumentation is good enough to carry the rest of the tracks through. Highlights include ‘Dead Horse’, ‘Rich’ and ‘Land of the Blind’. 8.5/10

Dollyrots: Down the Rabbit Hole

Strap in guys, it’s a long one. An hour and twelve minutes, 24 songs and two discs. Some would argue that is far too much pop-punk. I would agree, but the second disc is all covers, and it’s massively enjoyable. That’s not to take away from the first disc, it’s also enjoyable, but none are exactly ‘Ruby Soho’ or ‘Walking On Sunshine’. A good album, but it was definitely helped along bvy some kickass punk covers. 7.5/10

Battle Beast: Circus of Doom

A band that I seem to be seeing and hearing everywehre at the minute, Battle Beast returned with their sixth album this last week. The power metal sextet once again knock it out of the park, with epic instrumentation, soaring vocals and enough heaviness to keep even the most loyal metalhead happy. Tracks like the opener and ‘Master of Illusion’ are awesome and well worth checking out no matter what your music tastes. HOw is power metal not a bigger genre by now? 8/10

If you like this, check out our Powerwolf review!

Age of Apocalypse: Grim Wisdom

Doom/thrash metal band (not the fantastic X-Men storyline that Google brings up) return with their second album, Grim Wisdom. Short, sweet and straight to the point, the album is a 27-minute schooling on modern darker metal. It’s heavy, steady and sludgy, and everyone plays their parts perfectly. Highlights include ‘Valley of the Mystic’ and ”Ghost (Hart Island)’. 7.5/10

Walker Hayes: Country Stuff The Album

It has come to my attention that a lot of rock fans, much like myself, are also country fans, especially in the UK. So we figured we’d start covering a bit of that, too!

Walker Hayes has released a very steady stream of music, this being only his third album since debuting in 2011. However each album has been pretty good, and this one is no exception. For those who don’t know he’s the one who did ‘Facny Like’, a tune, even if it’s too popular for how many better country songs there are. ‘U Gurl’ and ‘Drinking Songs’ are also ggood. 7/10

And there we have it guys, another week down. This one was a strong one, with great releases across the board from metal to rock to country, and lots of it! I would recommend you check out all of it this week, not a single dud album. Tune in next week for a big one… Jethro Tull!

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