Astral Doors – Black Eyed Children Review
Traditionally, Astral Doors has never been my favorite of Nils Patrik Johansson’s projects, but with his abrupt departure from Civil War earlier this year, I guess it is now. Formed fifteen years ago as a …
Suffocation – Of The Dark Light Review
In his review of Suffocation’s previous album, 2013’s world-crushing Pinnacle Of Bedlam, my erstwhile compatriot Zach Duvall posited the half-in-jest idea of The Mullen-Hobbs Code, the qualitative phenomenon by which every odd-numbered Suffocation album is …
Seven Kingdoms – Decennium Review
Originally released on Nightmare Records back in January, Decennium proved itself worthy enough to score a re-release just a few short months later, now on power-metal “major” Napalm. In their ten-year career (hence this latest …
Lock Up – Demonization Review
On paper, Lock Up looks like a killer band. And it should be, in whichever of its four incarnations (so far) that you choose. It should add up to a sum greater than its parts, …
Diamonds & Rust – Exploring Metal Classics: Queensrÿche’s The Warning
I’ve always been an anachronism. I was born in 1977, and thanks to some older cousins, I got into metal in the dying days of the 1980s, mostly through records and bands already well established …
Looking For An Answer – Dios Carne Review
If there’s two things I know about Spain, it’s that the rain there falls mainly on the plain, and that Spanish death metal bands have a great way with that thick, oozing, rotten sound, and …
Music Over My Head – A King’s X Primer, Part 2
The first part of this two-piece primer covered King’s X’s golden era, the ten years between their debut and the loss of their major label deal. Of the six records they released during that decade, …
Music Over My Head – A King’s X Primer, Part 1
Generally speaking, artists are the sum of their influences. Narrow the scope of the influences and you narrow the scope of the art, and the artist will have a harder time separating his or her …