My Silent Wake - Lost In Memories, Lost In Grief (Ardua Music) [James Jackson] As with all genres and classifications, you envision a certain aesthetic, a certain sound or style that immediately lets you know what you are getting into.   The press sheet that comes with My Silent Wake’s latest album, describes the band’s material as Epic/Doom Metal and there are plenty of Doom elements, particularly on the intro to the track Lavender Garden; When You Look Back and The Last Lullaby are great examples of Doom, the latter holding fast to the tradition of lengthy tracks. No Time is another g ..read more

FM - Old Habits Die Hard (Frontiers Music Srl) 40 years at the forefront of British AOR, FM can be considered legends of the game. Still led by Steve Overland, his smoother than silk vocals and fluid clean guitar lines, they have listened through their most popular albums, have attempted to recreate the 'best' elements of these albums to properly celebrate the band. It hasn't been all plain sailing however keyboard player Jem Davis was diagnosed with cancer, but has since had the all clear and former guitarist Chris Overland, co-founding member of the band passed away suddenly so this delayed ..read more

Roadburn Festival, Tilburg, The Netherlands, 18-21.04.2024 https://roadburn.com/ This year Roadburn celebrates 25 years of “redefining heaviness” and championing the cutting-edge of underground heavy music. It started out as a zine by Walter Hoeijmakers, whose generous and open-minded approach to new music and its grassroots communities is still the beating heart of the festival. Since 1999, Roadburn has grown from a small sporadic event to a four-day multimedia experience woven into the fabric of Tilburg city that includes live music held anywhere from 3000-cap main stages to intimate jazz ..read more

Ten Ton Slug - Colossal Oppressor (Self Released) [Matt Bladen] It's been a long time coming, a few previous releases, a trail of slime right across their native Ireland, the UK and continental Europe, with a show at Maryland Doom festival coming this year, but it culminates with Colossal Oppressor the debut album from Connemara's Ten Ton Slug.  Conjure up in your mind the sound a ten ton slug would make, I think you'll find it's pretty close to the cavernous, monstrous crawl that this band deliver, if Electric Wizard eased off on the weed and jammed some Eyehategod, Ten Ton S ..read more

Terminal Nation - Echoes Of The Devils Den (20 Buck Spin) [GC] It’s been a couple of years since Terminal Nation released their debut album and since then they have been steadily building momentum to become one of the most exciting bands on the scene, they mix elements of hardcore and death metal and are currently on one of the hottest labels around in 20 Buck Spin, so naturally I am all over this one! It all starts with Echoes Of The Devils Den which creeps up with a dark, slow and menacing build, before some vicious vocals kick in and introduce a hardcore stomp that is then dragged through ..read more

Wheel - Charismatic Leaders (Inside Music) [Matt Bladen] Often used to refer to those in charge of cults, dictators, demagogues et al We have all witnessed Charismatic Leaders more and more recently. Think of the blonde, mop top from a few years ago or Mr Orange over the water in the USA and you'll be on the right train of thought. These are the people that use their personality and their rhetoric to breed dissention for their own gain, it is “divide et impera” in practice, orchestrated by inflammatory language behind crocodile smiles and the idea of being something different or needed. It’s ..read more

Pale Wizard Records – Sparks: Kimono My House 50 Years Later (Pale Wizard Records) Having already confirmed that 2025’s 50 Years Later album will be Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, the Pale Wizard Records guys have again collected the best and brightest stoner/doom/riff worship bands to cover another 70’s classic. So far we’ve had Alice Cooper, David Bowie and Budgie but things get a bit more avant garde with the breakthrough of Ron and Russell Mael aka Sparks. The glam/synth/pop/rock band scored their breakthrough with third album Kimono My House and the lead single Thi ..read more

Arð – Untouched By Fire (Prophecy Prodcutions) [Matt Bladen] Mark Deeks has been trading under the name Arð since 2019. You may have seen him tinkling the ivories and providing backing vocals for Winterfylleth for a bit longer but Arð is his project dedicated to the cultural heritage and identity of his native Northumbria.  Deeks is Arð and Arð is Deeks, he is vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist (rhythm), pianist and bassist, relying on a band for live performances which includes Nick and Chris from Winterfylleth and Pantheist main man Kostas.  The music of Arð very similar to that o ..read more

Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All (Peaceville) Twenty One! Darkthrone have released twenty one albums, perennial meme Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have been churning out various types of metal since 1986, beginning their career as one of the pioneers of black metal but in recent years they've adapted their sound to bring more classic, speed, punk, doom, thrash and death.  On this album putting together the anguished barks of Nocturno with Fenriz providing more of the clean vocals on this album to make it much more like classic metal album than previous efforts, if you've heard Coffin Storm yo ..read more

Morgul Blade - Heavy Metal Wraiths (No Remorse Records) [Matt Bladen] The works of Tolkien form the basis of so many bands, his epic tales are just as prevalent in power/epic metal as they are in black metal, so Morgul Blade have brought both together with Heavy Metal Wraiths the follow up to their 2021 debut Fell Sorcery Abounds.  Formed by vocalist/guitarist Lord Klauf, Spectre joined on drums in 2020, the Heavy Temple sticksman also known as Baron Lycan (or Will to his mum) also producing as they solidified their line up with Jimmy Viola on bass/guitar/keys and Sister ..read more