Review: DECAPITATED – ‘Anticult’ [Official Videos]

Decapitated has been reigning since the year 2000, that year they also released their first full-length album ‘Winds Of Creation’. But, 1 album wasn’t enough for them so the album ‘The First Damned’ came to claim its righteous spot. After that they have released 4 beautifully dark albums, ‘Nihility’, ‘The Negation’, ‘Organic Hallucinosis’ and last but certainy not least ‘Carnival is Forever’, this album created a spot on the record label Nuclear Blast for these guys. The 2014 album ‘Blood Mantra’ is for sure one of my favorite releases from that year, this album marked their sound’s turn around. Roughly 3 years later they came back with another crazy fast album ‘Anticult’. It got out today, on the 7th of July. If you love their old sound combined with fast riffs then this is the album for you!

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Review: KRAANIUM / ANALEPSY – ‘The Kraanialepsy Split’ [Official Stream]

The Analepsy and Kraanium split might be the most brutal split from this year that got released via SLAMWORLDWIDE on the 1th of July, they are both a brutal death metal band and arguable the best in the game. To avoid any confusion I will first talk about the widely known slam band Kraanium.

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Review: THE ACACIA STRAIN – ‘Gravebloom’ [Official Videos]

The Acacia Strain is a deathcore band from Conneticut, US with some dark yet clear downtempo influences. The band started out really heavy with its first release ‘3750’ in 2004. Albums like ‘The Dead Walk’ and ‘Continent‘ pushed forward the heavy death core, almost death metal, sound the band originally had. The band took a big turn in its sound with the release ‘Wormwood’. The downtempo influences really started to break through on this album. This is also the first album that features the famous ”Bird” on the cover art. Just 2 years later The Acacia Strain let us know that they were still capable of making some kick ass music and so they did with the release of ‘Death Is The Only Mortal’.  Latest and maybe even their best work yet, ‘Coma Witch’, gave us everything we loved about the band. Last year the band collaborated to create ‘The Depression Sessions’ with death core pioneers Thy Art Is Murder. This isn’t all of it yet, Fit For An Autopsy also worked hard on this Split. They are one of the best upcoming death core bands at this very moment, check them out HERE! The long awaited upcoming album ‘Gravebloom’ will release via Rise Records in just 3 days, 30th of June. A new The Acacia Strain is just what we needed in a world full of disappointments!

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Album Review : MARZI MONTAZERI Ft. TIM “Ripper” OWENS – “THE UPRISING” [Live Videos]

Known for his groundbreaking musicianship and energetic showmanship, Marzi Montazeri AKA “The High Priest Of Distortion” is a guitarist, producer, and songwriter from Houston, Texas. Currently the guitarist for Heavy As Texas, Marzi has been the man behind the axe for Superjoint Ritual and more recently in 2010, he rejoined with Philip Anselmo to work on Anselmo’s first solo project, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals. In 2015, Montazeri and Washburn Parallax Guitars united to co-design his own signature electric guitar series called “The Priestess”. Montazeri’s collaborations as a guest artist include Prong, Doug Pinnick (Razr 13), Defiatory, and the Judas Priest tribute record ‘Hell Bent Forever’, also featuring the vocalist on this album, Tim “Ripper” Owens.  It was through this tribute how he came to know Mr. Owens. “A while ago I was asked to play a couple of solos on the tribute album ‘Hell Bent Forever’ and the track was, “Exciter”” recalls Marzi of first meeting Owens. “When I arrived, Tim was walking out of the vocal booth for the evening. I was blown away by his performance and personality. He’s a super cool and funny dude. So when it came to this EP where I knew I wanted a powerful metal vocalist, I just made a call to him and here we are with some original music.” Tim Owens is a Grammy-nominated American hard rock singer who first gained attention as the vocalist for Judas Priest (1996-2003) and then Iced Earth and Yngwie Malmsteen. Owens currently tours the world as a solo artist and performs as the lead singer of Charred Walls Of The Damned. Also worth noting, the movie Rockstar (featuring Mark Walhberg) was loosely based on Owens’ time in Judas Priest. In 2001, Marzi released his first solo effort ‘The Need’ and after 16 years, he has come back with what could be some of his best solo work yet with ‘The Uprising’.   Continue reading

Review: MIRRORED IMAGE – ‘The Pursuit Of Happiness’ [Album Stream]

Mirrored Image is a 4 piece band based in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky. There isn’t a huge rock scene in the area that is better known for country and bluegrass artists, but Mirrored Image is looking to change that. The Kentuckians boast a true alt rock sound with amazing melodic vocals. The band has a sound that the music world has truly been missing. They have a 90’s alt rock inspired sound but with their own modern twist. Mirrored Image is made up of vocalist and songwriter Dylan Belcher, guitarist and backing vocalist Mark Chaney, drummer Evan Compton and bassist Elijah Purvis. Mirrored Image’s debut album ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ was recorded and mixed by John Chaney and mastered by Drew Thomas at Sage Audio in Nashville, Tennessee. The debut released on April 7th, 2017. Continue reading

Review: Iced Earth Return With ‘Incorruptible’

Iced Earth first graced the Tampa, FL hard rock/metal scene in 1985 under the name Purgatory, changing their name to Iced Earth in 1988.  Formed by original singer Jon Schaffer, the band has experimented with several lineup changes throughout the years and released eleven studio albums, four EP’s, three compilations, three boxed sets, three live albums, and one cover album.  Continue reading

Review: TOMBS – ‘The Grand Annihilation’ [Official Videos]

 

When you mention the word metal in Brooklyn it will be likely that you will stumble upon the band Tombs. They are signed to the one and only Metal Blade Records and currently consist of 3 members. Tombs has known a lot of musicians will all different styles yet they have always stayed the great metal band with black metal like vocals. Guitarist Evan Void and drummer Charlie Schmid have both joined the band in 2014, vocalist Mike Hill on the other hand has stayed with the band since the beginning (2007). Tomorrow on the 16th of June they will release their 4th album ‘The Grand Annihilation’ which will be available for purchase worldwide. The EP ‘Winter Hours’ has created their pathway into the local Brooklyn scene where the albums ‘Fear Is The Weapon’, ‘Path Of Totality’ and ‘Savage Gold’ from 2014. Eventhough they have changed their line-up multiple times all these albums sound like the Tombs we all adore, EP ‘All Empires Fall‘ from 2016 has pointed the band in the right direction to create more awesome music. ‘The Grand Annihilation’ is all we ever wanted and more!

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REVIEW: CELLAR DARLING – “This Is The Sound” [Official Videos]

New born trio CELLAR DARLING is a new found force in the folk rock/metal category already creating major ripples on the scene with their debut masterpiece, ‘This Is The Sound‘. After pulling the plug on their previous band ELUVEITIE almost a year ago, the Swiss trio of Ivo Henzi, Anna Murphy and Merlin Sutter quickly huddled together to form CELLAR DARLING, with a goal of driving themselves in a new direction as they wanted to try out something new and different from what they were already doing. Fast forward a year, and here we are with their debut release titled, ‘This Is The Sound‘, arguably one of the best albums already this year.

Slated for a June 30th, 2017 out via Nuclear Blast Records, let me tell oh boy what a beautiful and enchanting album this has been. I am already in love with the record and this awesome band! Continue reading

Review: SHEIKS OF NEPTUNE ‘Come Drink With The Sheiks’ [Album Stream]

Photo Credit: Chase Stevens @csstevensphoto

Sheiks Of Neptune currently hail from the sinful city of Las Vegas, though there sound is from out of this world. I first got acquainted with the band while in Las Vegas and they were opening for Dead Kennedys. Let me tell you now that Sheiks Of Neptune’s stage performance is nothing short of jaw dropping. With Sheikenstein on vocals, Buzzed Aldrin on guitar, Val 9000 on violin, Cosmo Knotts on drums, Skeeter O’Toole on bass, and Brando Calrissian on ANOTHER guitar, things get wild with the rowdiest drunken space crew you’ll ever have a close encounter with. I know what you are thinking…violin? Val 9000 fits perfectly into this far out fold. I honestly was a little skeptical at first until I heard the chemistry within the band come alive in their music. They have a surf punk kind of sound with and rough and rowdy edge. The band recently released their new album ‘Come Drink With The Sheiks’ on May 12th. It’s 13 jet fueled tracks that rocket you through their sound.

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Album Review : TRICKY LOBSTERS ‘Worlds Collide’ [Official Video]

Copyright : Christian Thiele

It’s said that if the term “Insider Tip” wasn’t so drawn out, it would be perfect to describe Tricky Lobsters. Formed in Rostock, Germany around 1996, this band has spanned the genres with their sound throughout the years. From the early days of noise to punk rock, to their last effort, ‘The Blue Hospital Conspiracy’ that took on a gnarly sludge rock blues sound. Tending to be unknown outside of their native home of Germany, they still enjoy quite the substantial following back home. After four years of wadding in the waters, the Lobsters have returned to shore with a western-driven face off in an epic clash of stories, riffs, and drama on ‘Worlds Collide’. The power trio consisting of Sarge (Guitar/Vocals), Doc (Bass/Backing Vocals), and Cpt. Peters (Drums/Backing Vocals) come at you with thunderous rhythm sections that take shape song after song. Their new album ‘Worlds Collide’ courtesy of Exile On Mainstream, coming out June 23rd, is a perfect example of this statement. Rocker after Rocker, their newest effort is a must listen for all stoner rock and blues rock enthusiasts. Continue reading