FLOTSAM AND JETSAMUgly Noise Self-released (2012)Rating: 9/10 After a decade of existing as an afterthought to metal fans, Phoenix, Arizona’s Flotsam And Jetsam go for broke on Ugly Noise. Featuring the return of original members Michael Gilbert (guitars) and Kelly David Smith (drums), this is the first Flotsam And Jetsam record they have appeared on […]

FEAR FACTORY – Recharged Anthony Morgan December 2012 Fear Factory (l-r): Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares Writing sessions in support of June 2012’s The Industrialist – the eighth full-length by Los Angeles, California-based industrial metal outfit Fear Factory – began in earnest during early 2011. Guitarist and co-founder Dino Cazares as well as friend […]

IRON KOBRADungeon Masters Dying Victims Productions (2012)Rating: 4/10 Following a handful of EPs, Dungeon Masters is the debut full-length studio album from German headbangers Iron Kobra. It’s an 11-track opus wrapped in a cracking sleeve, but it’s an album that doesn’t live up to my expectations. The major downfalls of the album are the vocals, […]

ATTICThe Invocation Ván (2012)Rating: 5/10 Mmmm, Attic… now this is a tricky one. If you read my review of Ghost’s 2010 Opus Eponymous record (which a majority of “fans” would have probably scolded me for), you may get where I’m going to be coming from with this one. Those of you who’ve read my reviews […]

GOLDInterbellum Ván (2012)Rating: 5/10 Some bands are treacherously hard to classify. As an example, let’s consider Gold’s debut release, Interbellum. The Dutch band is built upon the sounds of previous The Devil’s Blood guitarist Thomas Sciarone, which is in itself a bit of an enigma. Like Sciarone’s previous band, Gold falls somewhere between the best […]

YNGWIE MALMSTEENSpellbound Rising Force (2012)Rating: 5/10 When you think of metal, the first thing that comes to mind is guitars. Big guitars; big, fast guitars drenched with distortion. The guitar hero is the icon of the heavy metal world, and few encompass that ethos as well as Yngwie J. Malmsteen. Malmsteen debuted on the international […]

BOB KATSIONISRest In Keys Self-released (2012)Rating: 8/10 It’s an unfortunate truth in heavy music that a band’s keyboardist traditionally garners little recognition relative to the rest of the band. Vocalists and guitarists seem to bask in the majority of the limelight while drummers and keyboardists languish in thankless anonymity. There is one name, however, which […]