“A terrible plague upon the chicken shop” …. more about that later! These pages' readers might recall my 1st Voices review before their 1st album when I witnessed them 1st time live in 2012 and was caught totally by surprise! Since then, they have earned themselves a place among my fave bands, but who would not be if you have experienced the per...

01/05/2018

'----------------- Open Curtain! This Performed Exhibition is about to begin -------------------- As readers to these pages notice, I rarely ever contribute with a review. A past zine editor & radio show DJ who due to lack of time refuses to accept promos from anyone, I feed my love for reviewing by sporadically discovering gems myself, and...

19/11/2014

<p class="p1">Headlined by TED MAUL and crammed into the smaller 2^nd floor pub recently converted into a live music venue, 18^th Feb was a date when I witnessed a band that stood high above the myriad of uninspiring bands that infest metal nowadays. That band is VOICES, a project from some AKERCOCKE members, and a band that lef...

22/02/2012

This is difficult! To come to terms with the fact that for the 1st time in my metal years my words towards MORBID ANGEL will not be of complete adoration. In fact this time it is a love/hate situation, that sense of having for so long been in a relation with a dear girlfriend, but who is lately acting strange, so strange that I still cannot come...

04/07/2011

date: Saturday, May 23, 2009 venue: London Purple Turtle, Camden, UK Arriving late into the set of DIVINE CHAOS, the 5th of the 11 bands on today’s bill, I find myself welcomed by a good sound, a band delivering its best of thrash/death, and a crowd packing the Purple Turtle more than usual. All seemed good for the afternoon ahead, brought tog...

26/02/2010

Given Moses’ mountain downward spiral with 2 stones of scribes and this Resurrection Macabre mean slab as the choice between fact or fiction, I will definitely opt for the latter over the former. With a career interrupted 14 years ago via less fan-receptive Spheres, a release that nonetheless justifiably showcased Mameli’s phrasing talents at par w...

26/06/2009

To the already accustomed to Maltese foursome FORSAKEN, it comes as no surprise that they change their overall recording timbre with each new CD, yet preserving their heavy trademark of doom off course. <div> Henceforth, their 4th full-length After the Fall - seemingly a concept story of good vs evil – opens with the dirgy film-like Tenebrarum int...

26/06/2009

The 2nd outing from this LA sextet (since reduced to a fiftet), and already there they are supporting CARCASS, SUFFOCATION, MESHUGGAH, EXODUS, and CANNIBAL CORPSE! By that alone this means this band has its act under control already! <div>“….they have managed to single-handedly assimilate death metal fans, hardcore kids, tech metal elitists, myspa...

26/06/2009

Bygone in Brazil in 1996 before re-allocating to London, and establishing its current power-trio since 2003, INNER RAGE’s metal document so far is a round of demoes, a history that hopefully is to change later this 2009, as a full-length recording is already in the oven while I write. <div>Long coming, but definitely catapulted by a barrage of rev...

26/06/2009

On handing the final mix of this four-strong promo in mid-2007, Unisound Studios’ own death metal guru Dan Swanö told HAIL OF BULLETS that “If this promo doesn’t get you guys a good record deal, I will eat my laptop!” And he was indeed right as soon after they were signed to Metal Blade, which came as no surprise at all judging by the strength of t...

26/02/2009

Fresh from the longest of their now customary hibernations from the music world that has by no means deterred their 22 years career, the ambivalent sons of Erich Zann return to bewilder us all with their classically enriched thrash metal blast operettas!!! Named after a river bed in Vietnam, with each member bearing a nom de plume, and as a band...

26/02/2009

Why is it that us reviewers build up such a perception on listening to so many different releases, a perception that at times disallows us to approach a KING DIAMOND album with less curious innocence as that of a child opening up a nursery rhyme book for the very first time? Given that KING’s books are no common nursery rhyme at all, but rather...

26/02/2009