DEATHThe Sound Of Perseverance (Reissue) Relapse (2011)Rating: 10/10 When Death frontman Chuck Schuldiner passed away in 2001, all those Death albums I’d accumulated over the years took on a different light. The classic debut album, Scream Bloody Gore (1987), alongside follow-up opus, Leprosy (1988), no longer seemed to be a raw slab celebrating zombification and […]

CROWBAR – The Wicked Hand Severed Anthony Morgan February 2011 Crowbar (l-r): Pat Bruders, Kirk Windstein, Matthew Brunson and Tommy Buckley By the time the third studio full-length from North American supergroup Down – Down III: Over The Under – underwent issue in September 2007, guitarist Kirk Windstein’s other outfit Crowbar had last released material […]

KORPIKLAANI – Folk Metal’s ‘Iron Fist’ Anthony Morgan February 2011 Korpiklaani (l-r): Jarkko Aaltonen, Jaako Lemmetty, Jonne Järvelä, Kalle Savijärvi, Matti Johansson and Juho Kauppinen While the English language is arguably king undisputed, this isn’t to say that all metal outfits have wholly forsaken their native tongues. Though some like Italy’s Lacuna Coil or Germany’s […]

DALRIADAIgéret AFM (2011)Rating: 6.5/10 You know what I really like about folk metal albums? I really dig those god-awful intro tracks that have an out of time, out of tune fiddle that sounds like a cat in a wood lathe. What makes them even better is old man drunken singing, it really sells your album […]

BATTLELORE – The Children Of Tolkien Anthony Morgan February 2011 Battlelore (l-r): Timo Honkanen, Jyri Vahvanen, Kaisa Jouhki, Henri Vahvanen, Tomi Mykkänen, Jussi Rautio and Maria Honkanen Originally outlined in the 1910s, The Children of Húrin was one of many manuscripts left unfinished by fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited posthumously by son Christopher, The Children […]

KORPIKLAANIUkon Wacka Nuclear Blast (2011)Rating: 5.5/10 Songs about beer, hunting, and being Scandinavian are all very well. Korpiklaani have always appealed to me more above the similar folk stylings of their contemporaries Finntroll and Ensiferum, being the more upbeat of the bunch. Albeit with slightly odd music videos. And so we come to Ukon Wacka, […]

LAZARUS A.D. – The Strong Prevail Anthony Morgan February 2011 Lazarus A.D. (l-r): Alex Lackner, Jeff Paulick, Ryan Shutler and Dan Gapen Pic: Stephen Jensen Cyclical in nature much like other music subgenres, thrash metal’s mid noughties resurgence – particularly championed by Nottingham’s Earache Records whose stable includes the likes of Evile, Gama Bomb, Municipal […]

TITANS EVEThe Divine Equal Self-released (2010)Rating: 10/10 Canada’s Titans Eve launch themselves into the metal heavens with The Divine Equal. Written with Paradise Lost and the biblical book of Genesis in mind, The Divine Equal is a giant slab of metal that makes me feel the same way I did when I first heard Metallica’s […]