Review: FERRETT – ‘In Through the Out Door’ [Album Stream]

FerreTT is a glam metal/thrash band that hails from New York City. Their lineup consists of “The King of The Night Time World” on vocals, “TT Benoit” on rhythm and lead guitar, “Scotty Hart” on rhythm and lead guitar, “Nicky G.” on rhythm and lead guitar, “Lexi Slade” on bass, “Leigh FoXXX” on keyboards and piano, and lastly, “Alamo Jones” on drums. FerreTT has released 2 full length studio albums., which include ‘Year of The Forest’ released in 2013 and the latest album released in 2017, ‘In Through the Out Door’. Both have been released independently. They are currently not signed to a label, but with the energy and passion felt within their music I believe labels will be knocking on their door soon enough. Continue reading

Review: ZAO – ‘Pyrrhic Victory’ [EP Stream]

 

‘Pyrrhic Victory’ the latest EP release (November 3rd, 2017) by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Metal band Zao, (Observer Recordings) is their latest outstanding showing of gritty, hostile sound that is helping create a name for themselves in the underground metal scene. The EP was recorded and mixed by Dave Hidek at Treelady Studios and The Church Recording Studio. This EP is the follow up to their 2016 album, ‘The Well-Intentioned Virus’. After being together for more than 18 years, they are still bringing heavy doses of abhorrence and animosity. Continue reading

Review: KAMELOT – ‘The Shadow Theory’ [Official Videos]

 

Strictly from their sound, it is almost hard to believe this symphonic power metal outfit comes from Tampa, Florida. Since 1991, founder and guitarist Thomas Youngblood has been the mastermind behind the entity that is Kamelot. A change of frontmen in 2011, however, reignited a flame for the band. Swedish singer, Tommy Karevik (Ayreon, Seventh Wonder) took the place of Roy Khan and has since elevated Kamelot to exponential heights. ‘The Shadow Theory’ is the twelfth album in their discography, released on Napalm Records and produced by Sascha Paeth who has been perfecting their sound since 1999’s The Fourth Legacy. Continue reading

Album Review: KOSMIK BOOGIE TRIBE – We’re Not Here to Fu*k Spiders

 

Kosmik Boogie Tribe

We’re Not Here to Fu*k Spiders

Rural Rebel Rock/Tiger Records

Release Date: April 6, 2018

The third release from Norwegian quintet Kosmik Boogie Tribe, We’re Not Here to Fuck Spiders, is an incendiary slab of no-bullshit, gutbucket rock n’ roll. True to its title, it’s not here to fuck around, it’s here to get the job done, and that job just so happens to be whooping your ass. Eight songs in a shade over a half-hour, and it barely slows down to take a breath from sonically punching you repeatedly in the face and gut. No time is wasted on current events or social commentary, or hackneyed relationship analyses or sad-sack treatises on man’s inhumanity to man; instead, the primary themes here seem to be getting fucked up and fucking shit up. Raw-boned and roughly hewn, We’re Not Here to Fuck Spiders is the sound of a band for whom making a record and making a racket are the same damn thing.

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Review: ABHORDIUM – ‘Omega Prayer’ [Album Stream]

‘Omega Prayer’ is the second full-length studio album from Finnish blackened death metal band, Abhordium, released on October 27th, 2017 and distributed by Plastic Head Distribution. A common issue with extreme metal albums such as this one is that the music can tend to suffer from lack of variety, causing many of the songs to sound similar to each other. Such is definitely not the case with ‘Omega Prayer.’ Each track on the record offers something uniquely different while never straying from its overall darkly chaotic and brutal atmosphere. Continue reading

Album Review: OCTOPUS – Supernatural Alliance [Song Stream]

Octopus

Supernatural Alliance

Rise Above Records

Release Date: March 30, 2018

Octopus began life in Detroit in 2008, largely as a recording project between vocalist Masha Marjieh and former Electric Six guitarist J Frezzato. After adding keyboardist/studio wizard Adam Cox a year later, the band recorded a few singles and cycled through a few rhythm sections before firmly securing the pocket with ex-Big Chief bassist Matt O’Brien and Seduce/Universal Temple of Divine Power drummer Todd Glass in 2012. The years of experience and familiarity clearly show through on their spellbinding debut full-length Supernatural Alliance (Rise Above); this band is locked in tight, and these ten songs are honed sharp enough to slice. It’s a slab of heavy-hitting hard rock, spiked liberally with equal doses of sci-fi and psychedelia, the perfect soundtrack to an imaginary big-budget flick about outlaw bikers in outer space.

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Album Review: MONSTER MAGNET – Mindf**ker [Song Stream]

Monster Magnet

Mindf**ker

Napalm Records

Release Date: March 23, 2018

Since their now-infamous 1989 demo recordings Forget About Life, I’m High on Dope and I’m Stoned, What Ya Gonna Do About It? found their way into the bloodstream of the heavy music community, nobody’s been able to pull off the whole “acid-sleaze space-rock” thing quite like New Jersey’s Monster Magnet. From the thick, lysergic swirl of Spine of God, to the revved-up MC5-meets-Hawkwind riffing of Dopes to Infinity, to the stoner-arena crossover hit Powertrip, Magnet mainman Dave Wyndorf has expertly piloted his sleek silver machine through an asteroid belt of lineup changes and health scares, substance abuse and public opinion, emerging as something of a stoner rock elder statesman. On Mindfucker, the band’s first album of original material since 2013’s Last Patrol, Wyndorf and his slam-bang gang of hellraisers throw down the gauntlet with a tough, terse set of trippy rockers that prove they’re still well in consideration for the title of Baddest Cats Around.

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Review: ZEKE – ‘Hellbender’ [Track Stream]

Pacific Northwest punk thrashers, Zeke are set to release ‘Hellbender’ via Relapse Records on March 30th, 2018 – the band’s first full-length LP in 14 years. Their energetic, high-octane sound on ‘Hellbender’ is equal parts Motörhead-style rock n’ roll/thrash and Circle Jerks’, West Coast-influenced hardcore punk. The band takes a noticeably blue-collar approach to the songwriting by stripping things down to just the bare essentials – no frills, no fluff, no gimmicks; just pure, in-your-face, guitar-driven ferocity. With the traditional three power chords per song punk model, blazing guitar solos, and highspeed kick-snare-kick-snare drumming, ‘Hellbender’ offers a concise 15-track, 20-minute asskicker of a record that leaves no opportunity for a dull moment. Continue reading

Review: WILL HAVEN – ‘Muerte’ [Album Stream]

Set to release their sixth full-length studio album, ‘Muerte,’ on March 23rd, 2018 are Sacramento, CA noise metal veterans, Will Haven. Bringing a sound that is often dark and depressive, but equally relenting in its groove and atmosphere is a style of metal that unapologetically showcases the ugliness in music. While not for the faint of heart, the aptly titled ‘Muerte’ (Spanish for death), combines thick, grooving basslines and rhythms; slow to mid-paced, often sludgey tempos; heavily downtuned, doomily dissonant, alt-metal riffing; agonizingly pained, screaming vocals; and hauntingly dramatic, atmospheric backdrops for a sound that is hypnotically unsettling. Its sonic indulgences are sure to please fans whose musical taste buds crave the most twisted of pleasures. Continue reading

Album Review: L.A. GUNS – Made in Milan [Song Stream]

L.A. Guns

Made in Milan

Frontiers Music s.r.l.

Release Date: March 23, 2018

Recorded April 30, 2017 at the Frontiers Rock Festival, Made in Milan documents a then freshly-reunited Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns leading their (finally and thankfully!) unified versions of L.A. Guns through a rip-roaring, rough-and-tumble set of crowd-pleasers and deeper cuts for the diehards. It’s a monument to the undeniable chemistry between the vocalist and the guitarist; they wasted an awful lot of time sniping and grousing over the past decade-plus, and from the powerful racket they conjured and captured that spring evening, it seems like they’re doing their damnedest to make up for lost time.

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