The word ‘kitchen’, preceded by an apostrophized‘s’ is not been unknown to appear on the end of a band’s name in recent years but been known not to show up on the moniker owned by such an unexplainable machine as these rowdy young men.

German Trio Slick’s Kitchen thrown every different crust of the contemporary rock loaf they can for some very appreciative birds to eat. Trying to be Blink 182, Kaiser Chiefs, Wildhearts, Andrew WK, Feeder, Hellacopters and Nickelback all in the space of one disc ,and then only six songs remains a tall order but one these lads carry out impeccably well even if they place vibes of about four of the aforementioned names in about each and every of these admittedly catchy numbers.

Modern dirt n’ Roll with attitude, it may well be new year’s eve as I sit here now scribbling this review but at least 2008 still had time to introduce one more sensational new band.

Sleaziness that's in your face straight from the 1st note right to the end and comes all the way from Italy. Reminds me Hardcore Superstar without the handclaps, Toilet Boys and a zillion other similar bands – it’s all good though.

Highlights have got to be ‘Jack The B*st*rd’ with the squawky Megaphone sound effects on the vocals (like Velvet Revolvers ex-front Scott Weiland); the rather excellent ‘Slippin’ Away’ that sees vocalist Freddie sing lower than in previous numbers.

There’s a killer cover of The Damned’s ‘Neat, Neat, Neat’ and the ballad ‘Touch’ is a great song too. I reckon he thinks he is Seb in the vocal dept on the acoustic live closer ‘Wooden Spoon’ and fires out a ton of high bum notes – pity about that – do it a key or 2 lower next time.

I like these guys but they are only let down by vocal clarity at times – apart from that it's good stuff.

This self-titled CD is on the verge of power metal, but not quite, there is something missing, although you would expect this type of metal to be of Swedish origin. The style is more of a melodic metal with shredding guitars, but with an influence of Yngwie Malmsteen, Rainbow, Impellitteri and Helloween.

This 11 track CD provides 50 minutes of good solid European metal which is a bit of a disappointment, although this style of metal is big in Sweden, Germany and other neighbouring countries, it’s not so big in the UK especially when it nearly all sounds very similar in style.

Although tracks such as ‘Fields of stars’ ‘For Ever and a day’, ‘The Rain’ and ‘Mountain Haze’ weren’t too bad there seamed to be lacking variation throughout the CD and on that note I found the CD becoming very boring.

How strange, you don’t hear anything from France for a while and then they all turn up at once. Sikh are a band from Nice who have a good solid metal feel to them, in fact I would say they are on the verge of the same style as Drowning Pool.

This band has a good future if they keep writing and producing metal music like this. We have melodic starts, thrashy middles with great choruses and a power that melts the national grid. The power that is produced throughout the CD, rolls through as if it’s on a lighting bolt. ‘The Quake’ is a great title for the first track as it sets the pace for the rest of the CD as we venture into ‘Halcyon Days’, ‘Hammering The Sun’, ‘Psychotro’ to finish off with ‘Slaves of the 70’s (wisky)’.

Overall give this one a good listen, if the likes of Drowning Pool is your kind of thing, you will enjoy every minute.

This is what good fast metal music is all about, SpeedTheory have taken the British metal scene by the balls and squeezed them hard.

Although there is only 6 tracks lasting under 30 minutes, 'Blood Money' is a raging water that rips the hell out of everything in its path, and still has the thirst to devour the planet of the filth we cover it in.

This British band will definitely leave their mark no matter where they are in the world and it’s a band that I feel will be around for some time to come, with their new twist to the British heavy metal scene.

From a bunch of lads from Newcastle upon Tyne, would of expected anger, violence, death and murder or even a band like Venom, but no, we get what’s going around the scene at the moment with the likes of Keiser Chiefs and Razorlight.

I would expect this CD not to pull any punches in the indie world of pop rock and I would not expect this band to be anymore than a support act.

After giving this CD several listens in the car I just couldn’t relate to it at all, I was bored from start to finish and I feel most people would feel the same way after several listens.

Girl-fronted hard rock acts have always been a proud speciality from the mainland and even though many seem to stop at ‘they all sound the same’ some including us chappies at Metalliville, see right in past rumour-driven obstacles as such.

Good thing we do or we’d have been accidentally denied access to one of the greatest releases of such type for nearly a decade Swedish four-piece Sister Sin do exactly as described with their relentless eighties -driven trad rock onslaught bringing to mind, all the major players from metal’s golden era, Crue and Motorhead being just two.

As always, the case withy female hard rock vocals, Sisters’ resident chanteuse Liv unleashes the might of her pipes with that expectably punk-ish edge but if you’ve queued up to hear something you can file alongside Lita, Warlock or Lee Aaron in your CD collection, you’re still best leaving this one peeping out, to remind you to play it more often than once a day.

’Beat the Street’, ’One Out Of Ten’, ’Breaking New Ground’, ’On Parade’, ’Make My Day’, ’Hostile Violent’ and ’all Systems Go’ are just cases of name-dropping with tiles here as all eleven are at least decent but most are absolute solid hard rockers, of the sort welcome on my woofers, any hour of the 24.

With my only disappointment being ‘Switchblade Serenade’ sadly turning out not to be some potentially corking rendition of the classic Spread Eagle belter, there is almost strictly little else to complain about with S.S.’s incredible debut full-lengther.

Forgive them or not, father, these guys are about to sin, and then some!

RECIOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE
Doro, Lana Lane, Wasp, Dokken, Vixen, Motley Crue.

Sacred Dawn are a very powerful traditional metal band that don’t overkill themselves with fast power metal riffs, but stay on a level that produces hard but steady rock that can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone.

The power that is exuberated from ‘Gears of the machine-a new beginning’ puts the band in the same league as Judas Priest, Cold, Drowning pool, Alice in Chains and Seether to name but a few.

‘Gears of the machine-a new beginning’ enters with a melodic guitar riff of ‘(worlds apart)-The desire’ that is then accompanied by pounding drums which builds up to a collection of fast power cords, which lays the foundation for the rest of the CD. With ripping tracks such as ‘Master of thought’, ‘Walls of Jericho’, ‘Time will tell (the man)’ and of course ‘Gears of the machine’. But I must admit I have never heard a thrashed up version of ‘Devil went down to Georgia’, which is absolutely marvellous and very entertaining.

Overall it was an exciting CD to listen to and one that will be played for months to come.

I’m not going to go too much into the live performance, as it’s Saxon live but without Biff Byford and a Karaoke pub singer in his place.

What I will talk about is the three studio tracks that put Saxon back on the map, if you are a big fan of Rammstein then ‘One Sour Krout’ is a must. This track releases so much energy you want to go on a death march through Europe. ‘Nursery Crimes’ and ‘Worlds Gone Crazy’ is a good step forward to promote good solid metal with its guitar licks and heavy pounding drums and angry vocals.

It’s a shame the rest of the CD isn’t like the ending but never mind, it gave me an good insight into Oliver/Dawson’s Saxon.

Due to the poor live set I will give the CD and if you are fortunate enough (or should that be unfortunate - lol) you may get to pick up the Bonus DVD.

Only prog rock acts would take their name from a popular kiddies game - well I’ve never heard of a thrash metal act called Hopscotch to date, I can safely say for the record.

Choosing to liken their sound to Marillion rather than Dream Theater, these guys do still have a distinctively Rudess-oriented sound to their ivory department and aren’t too different when it comes to song duration either.

The Fish-like range of the lead vocalist here is what twigs in the biggest way and thankfully in some cases kills potential monotony offered by tunes like ’Suddenly Te Rain’ and the 27-minute ’Brother Where You Bound’ which certainly outstays its welcome. Spock’s Beard seem to carry it off a lot better so it seems acceptable from others. The standard length cuts are mostly very good with ‘Chosen One’, ‘Moon Mountain’ and ‘Circle’s End’ liable most to keep the listener inspired but for those less fussy about the scene, I’d stick with the aforementioned giants for starters.

Good but not constant enough to merit essential listening. I think Simon would say ‘….mmmm. OK then….‘ to this one.

Mike Exley’s magnificent metal flying machine soars through the skies of planet metal with great ease once more, displaying their latest signing feat.

Please lets hear it everyone for the amazing, the incredible, the one and only Mr Mat Sinner everyone. Who not only busy wowing the European metal world with Primal Fear he has also by magic brought another even bigger old lion back into the tent.

Yep, you’ve guessed it, the band he leant his name to many a lifetime ago return to town to celebrate their 25th anniversary and what better a way to do it folks than with the most awesome musical creation he has probably ever conjured up.

Putting the circus act aside (I’m laughing my *rs* off, Dave) Sinner have indeed clocked up a quarter century in the trade in a bigger way than expected. Rather than opting fro some live or greatest hits effort just to remind people they once existed, MS has teamed up with old mainstay Henry Wolter alongside current men Klaus Sperling and Christof Leim to fix up a monster serving of classic traditional heavy metal of the very sort that was infallible at the time of their initial formation.

‘Crash…’ itself sees guitars act totally under the title’s dictation, the chorus turning out a little longer than expected but still a brill start, and ’Break The Silence’ brings up the rear in roaring form, also bringing present-day Swiss favourites Shakra to the conscience.

‘The Dog’ barks in a more mainstream direction with a good blues bend by Wolter on that solo line there, sharing a tune with one of the album’s top choruses to boot. ‘Heart Of Darkness’ is thev first truly German sounding moment of the record and a particularly strong stand-out point for that alone.

’Revolution’ is the bluesiest number within the album’s confines and leaves Mat’s power metal tendencies totally behind for a dance along moment instead. Resident anthem ’Unbreakable’ follows with an incendiary shred and another immortal hook that seems to remind me of a number Bodycount once did somewhere down the years.

‘Fist To Face’ a great Motorhead injected speeder of a metal song is given away on such a note by that title in more ways than the one while ‘Until It Hurts’ is pure perfect unspoilt modern-day Sinner as you would expect-and-hope to hear them do it. Another pair of the strongest cuts ensue next - uptempo AOR edged pop rocker ’Little Head’ is something only Mat Sinner can get away with when he pulls it off his way and it sits amongst the best he’s written, and to say that ’Connection’ is reminiscent of Thin Lizzy, (which it actually does on the promo paper) one would need to reset the world record books on the ‘understatements’ page.

‘Like A Rock’ closes things off in the most vital manner by being as Teutonically-toned as it gets YES- see those studded fists hit the sky here, everyone! And that means that now its finished, we can play this beauty again. Which I think I will a few times as well. A lot of groups this old have made many a bungled attempt at brining up past glories after years out of service but Mat Sinner seems to have done the best thing and not thought too hard about it - because they and us have learned that the greatest of things do tend to come to those who wait.

Sinner may have actually warmed up to this with their last two releases but the heat has just turned on unexpectedly higher this time - more than enough to light the 25 candles on their cake. Get those beers out as well guys - your party is going to be a long one and with this stunning album to your name, an extremely well earned double-celebration.

Six Minute Century is a power/prog metal combining heavy metal and classical orchestrations featuring melodious vocals, guitars, with heavy hitting bass and drums.

Although the band is from America, they do have that European power metal feel to them, which I do feel will go down very well in our neighbouring countries.

Time Capsule releases passion and power form the start of ‘Under the moonlight’ to ‘One mans dream’, through ‘Saved in time’ to finish off with ‘Seven seas’ with a mixture of power ballads ‘Zero Hour’ and ‘Guitar Concerto’ thrown in the middle to calm the seas before the wind makes its appearance again.

A very well produced CD that captures every note, which makes it a very clean and clinical sound to their performance.

For the uninformed -that was also yours truly as well in this case - Soulitude is a project of Spanish guitarist Jevo, known better for his duites as part of metal act Valhalla.

Familiar already with said outfit and their impressive though dangerously Maiden-alike vocal edge, being on his todd here has allowed him to experiment. Straight in, we notice there is something different going on as we ae bombarded by a gwoly thrash-oriented noise but his guitar sound points him out soon enough.

A little further in and hes’ doing the power metal thang once more and proceeds to mix it ande many other styles together, and there are a few quite Malmsteen-esque moments to enjoy around the ride. Good stuff.

Surprising then to find he’s giving this away free online - I wouldn’t.

If you love the early Sepultura era of Schizophrenia, Beneath the remains, Arise and Chaos AD, you virtually have Soundshok and then all of a sudden you get a Slayer guitar riff that creeps in from out of nowhere and bites your balls.

A brand new supergroup (can I call them that, well I just did – doh!) made up of established names in Rock – the brainchild of Ratt drummer, Bobby Blotzer and Alice Cooper Guitarist, Keri Kelli who brought in original Warrant Vocalist, Jani Lane & Ratt Bassist, Robbie Crane to complete the line-up.

So what do they sound like? Well they sort of a mix of all 3 bands they come from but with a modern twist to them and dare I say it, even a bit of 90’s Kiss as well. All are on top form, second to none musicianship from Robbie, Keri and Bobby with Jani back form where he belongs and looking really well again too, I’m delighted to say.

Some projects fall on their arse with only the line-up alone being impressive, but not in this case at all - luvvery, rockin’ zesty songs with beautiful harmony backing vocals and the sound production simply don’t come better than this – digitally dynamic yet really warm as well like vinyl used top be.

Highlights in no apparent order are the almost Sabbathy ‘Signs Of Life’; the opener ‘Dead Man Shoes’; the close to my heart ‘American Girl’ (cos I luv ‘em); the uplifting closer ‘Jimmy’ and the 80’s retro-ish ‘Tommorow Never Comes’.

I fully recommend this album to real rockers worldwide.

An unknown fun-time rock ‘n’ sleaze bunch of newcomings that deserve your time of day and night for that matter. They’ll hook you and f*ck your mind for defo – this is what’s its all about anyway ain’t it.

They formed as a school band in 2006 – now why don’t we get school bands of this standard in UK – f*ck emo – this is the real music. Imagine a European Buckcherry with the zest of the Quireboys, Status Quo & The Rolling Stones and that’s somewhere close.

Tight, slick, dirty and mouthwateringly good is the soundz from Shenaniganz – every song is dynamite from ‘Punk that Rocks’ to ‘The Frankey Commercial Song’. Highlights include ‘Andy Warhol’; ‘Pissing In The Wind’; & ‘Jesus Was A Rock ‘N’ Roller’ and he also rode a Harley.

Hope these guys hit the UK shores soon – we need it for sure.

The Quireboys man in solo mode makes your mouthwater with this release. It’s like a chilled out version of his dayjob that even features members of that band too.

He ain’t shortchanged us either as there’s 14 feel-good numbers including a cover of Slade’s ‘Everyday’ – nailed it as well! Other masterpieces include the retro mandolin country folk a la Ronnie Lane like ‘Won’t You Stick Around’ and the very tempting opener ‘Have a Drink with me’.

One of the best solo albums I ever heard from a famous frontman ever especially when you’ve got songs as good as the epic Southern Rocking ‘Lady And Her Daughter’; lovely duet in’So Far, So Good’ – is that Spike’s wife by any chance? And how could I not mention the country of ‘7/11 Roses’ that sounds like it was recorded in Nashville TN.

Spike points it right home and hits the bullseye with this album – be proud of this one boy, be proud.

Sleazy mother effers from over the pond – no not LA, USA but over the other pond – so a kind of young Hanoi Rocks in true sunset strip style.

Killer cookin’ cuts will guarantee boundless joy from those tabbies of yours especially opener ‘Back On The Bends’; the Pretty Boy Floyd like ‘Dirty Little Whore’ and also the closer ‘Ready To Rock’.

More of this sorta stuff – yes f*ck*n’ please.

Italian sleazy hot-rockin’ all-girl threesome that sandwiches together Kelly “Trash” Mendess on Vocals, Guitar & Harmonica; Chantal Holidays on Bass & Vocals with Boby “Bang” Beukers on Drums & Vocals.

It’s good passable stuff but at times Kelly could do with some training in the high ended vocal department as she struggles at times. That aside, there’s some great party-up-like-hell numbers like band named song ‘S.E.X. Department’, ‘Call Me Baby Call Me’; the great acoustic ‘Italian Cowboy’ and ‘Drive Me Insane’.

These chicks can rock.

I remember these dudes from a while ago when they released as I got the ‘Don’t Cry Wolf’ album on vinyl under an old line-up as ‘London’ – this to me is an introduction to where they are at now.

It’s like sleazy Alice Cooper meets WASP at times in party mode and gets real quirky at other points in the album – if that makes any sense – fun, fun, fun throughout the minutes when it blares out of your speakers. A very likeable band – love the honesty of the lyrics in ‘Friends like you’; does ‘Fear Of Flying’ sound like an old Blondie tune or what? ‘Another Lonely Day’ is a killer ballad and there appears a nice lyrical reference to ‘All the young dudes’ in the poppyness of ‘Dream Girl’.

Here’s a real turn up for the books – a cover that I’ve never heard the original of before, I have read about ‘Yesterday’s Hero’ by The Easybeats but this is the first time for me – wahay – I’m impressed. Must check out the original some time. There is one we all know though ‘Dream a little dream’ – made famous by Mama Cass – cool and close to the master as well – but with Bloiks singin’ instead.

The DVD is well… hmm… what can I say, like watching a mix of Bad News, Spinal Tap & elements of WASP in places – it’s filmed on amateur cam (or seems to be) and there’s the odd notes dropped here and there to say the least. It’s brilliant to see the band perform the old London classic ‘Public Enemy No. 1” with Billy Foxx on lead vocals – a song that Lizzie Grey co-wrote Nikki Sixx who needs no introduction.

Here’s a band that don’t take themselves at all seriously.

A band that’s rather obscure to say the very least – they had 3 studio albums out but vanished into thin air when Drummer, Mick Underwood joined the band that they were supporting on this night (the last nght of a 5 day) Tour - this being Gillan.

The vocalist has got a rather weird voice and to me sounds Rory Gallagher on a rough day crossed with Bryan Ferry & David Bowie trip with his froggy sound and almost poshness (well it appears that way anyway – but you never can tell).

Hardly the best thing I have heard from this era but I guess you can do worse as the backing band sound pretty damn good. Highlights include ‘Child Of the City’; ‘Voilent Love/Secret Damage’; the Gallagher meets Humble Pie & Family of ‘Down To You’.

Sorry to say it’s not much to write home about and rather skippable – after listening to this I totally agree that Mick Underwood made the right choice when he jumped ship from this art-rock or whatever you wanna call it and joined forces with the Deep Purple screamer.

Average.

Sleazin’ Rockin’ Bluesin’ Biker friendly band who you will warm to immediately – well I did anyway – my cuppa tea for sure.

Throaty voiced gravelly Britt on vocals who has a strange but interesting appeal who is backed up by Joel Proto (Guitar); Mike McShane (Guitar/Vocals) and Every song on this album deserves to be on here – imagine Zakk Wylde’s ‘Pride & Glory’ with a glint of LA sounds in them and you are getting somewhere to what The Substitutes are like – yep this good dudes.

Highlights on here include opener ‘Taken A Lifetime’; the humourously titled ‘Down On My Lady’; ‘In The City’ (the best one on here with it’s wailin’ slide guitar work and hot backing vocals; ‘God Is Cocaine’ – well it is in some parts of the USA for sure and to tie it in nicely, the throbbin’ ‘Hardcore California.

This band are nobody’s substitutes let me tell ya!

Well what can I say; it’s been twenty-three years since their debut EP ‘In The Sign Of Evil’ landed in our record shops and as a young lad in 1984 I can remember the EP coming out and being the best thing within the thrash/death metal scene since Venom’s ‘Black Metal’, Metallica’s ‘Kill ‘em All and Bathory ‘Bathory’.

“The Final Sign of Evil” has gone one better, Sodom have finally finished off the EP with 7 additional tracks to release a twelve track album, which is a must buy, for all you devoted metal heads. Although the original EP was a milestone within the music industry, selling over 150,000 copies world wide, I do feel it to be a shame that this album is a re-recording of the original EP, which has been produced with the original members of the band Chtis Dudek-drummer and Josef Dominic-guitarist.

I feel it may have been more rewarding for the hardcore fans to have had some unreleased tracks as a bonus surprise, but non the less it’s an album that is very enjoyable with such knuckle crunching tracks as ‘The Sin of Sodom’, to empty the wax out of your ears followed by ‘Blasphemer’, ‘Bloody Corpse’, ‘Sons of Hell’, ‘Where Angels Die’, ‘Outbreak Of Evil’ and ‘Defloration’ to name a few that shakes the cobweb’s from your head, which you thought was grey hair.

It’s time to wake up as this is the sound of Sodom at their evilest.

The ultimate boogie bands latest – they don’t take themselves seriously - well they can’t do with an album title like that – which is a play on Indiana Jones tied in with the fact that the runnin’ laugh that Quo only play 3 chords – well actually they play 5 or 6 – lol.

Being a fan since 1977, they play right into my palms and I have most of their albums. This one is very old-school but the only difference being that their original bass player don’t feature on the songs – but we’ve been used to that since 1984. I like the fact that the voices are nice n high in the mix – just the way it used to be in the heyday – up there with every word audible – unlike many artists these days.

They’ve pulled out the stops and presented us with 14 songs (that’s including the stereotypical 12-bar bonus track ‘I ain’t wasting my time’). Highlights include the single ‘Beginning Of The End’ – I hope it ain’t as you always need the Quo !!; the ballad ‘Electric Arena’ & the very Ma Kelly/2 Head sounder ‘Gravy Train’;

Other great songs include ‘You’re the one for me’ (that's very ‘Quo’/On The Level/Hello!’) – the real fans will know what I am talking about there and the acoustic well-worn voiced ‘Tongue Tied’ that’s very unexpected after a full electric album – ‘Livin On An Island/Rock ‘n’ Roll’ anyone – well I’m a taker for a start – ya can’t beat Quo like this for beauty and contrast.

A heavy metal outfit from Florida now on their 3rd album which took as many years to put together due to not having a fully fixed bassist and drummer – they got it sorted though and this is the result.

They’ve stuck to their guns with their uptempo Judas Priest-like style although other influences appear to have crept in a wee bit like King Diamond and Queensryche – some would say it’s cheesey, simply by looking at the titles – but that’s the way a lot of Metalheads like it. I mean, let’s face it – who wants to be serious all the time.

Highlights include the opener ‘Wings of Doom’; ‘Ghost Woman’ with it’s scary organ intro; the reggae-like come rockin’ (yes you heard that right) of ‘In The Shadows’; the intriguing instrumental ‘Alien Landscapes’ with it’s rewardious guitar solo that works well with those keyboard sounds and drums and ‘Peace On Earth’ with the harrowing intro.

Decent album.

More tasty European offerings in our midst, Scorch’s name may be the only English I encountered on the sleeve but this French metalcore foursome’s delivery in their native tongue puts not a single hole in my enjoyment of their debut long-player.

France and Hardcore don’t often get mentioned in the same sentence with the last gallic outfit of the genre known to us being the sadly defunct Kickback who emerged nearly a decade ago, so the fact that ‘A.G.’ is the bruiser it is, is probably their way of apology.

Stuck Mojo and Strife are the two established names that connect to my conscience the most, albeit in a chequered patter that weaves in and out of rap-metal and rage-core with alarming bludgeon, instrumentation pounding along with it in a more Metallica-edged manner, but flattening may a skull en route. Substance put firmly in front of speed, these guys execute their duty flawlessly in producing what a modern extreme metal album should sound like.

Scorch leave some serious marks with this disc - ones that don’t come off.

A band who are very dark ‘n’ thrashy metal band who mix in some blues and southern rock on this album – take the excellent ‘Covered In Blood Again’ and ‘Arizona’ as former and latter cracking examples.

Theres humour on here such as ‘Carl The Clown’ that comes complete with circus music, ‘Head’ about wanting just exactly that…. More tea vicar. Great version of Pantera’s ‘Walk’.

Many of the songs on here are obsession with death or dying with good ones being ‘Kill’ and ‘Until Death’. A happy bunch of geezers they are too who wear King Diamond like make-up in concert.

An album and band worth checking out for those heavier angry moments.

Hard as I find it to say considering the volume of impressive French talent coming our way of late, their line in almost one-dimensional deathcore struggles to gel although with a reasonable variation in speeds at not quite rare intervals, there are many worse bands out there.

The situation is brightened towards the end a fair bit with some generous use of keyboards and unusually lush for the type of metal within the disc so the day is saved – along with another half point but little else exists to inspire. Do NOT treat this as an incentive to avoid this album by any means but plenty other albums have given me a better reason to write home.

Definitely a take-or- leave affair here, I reckon.

Thrash, industrial and rap are the three key ingredients in their sound but someone’s gone and put all the bits in the wrong places here and ruined what could have been a much better tune.

Oops.....

Jake’s hooks reach out and grab you at all corners on top of the sort of lush sun-burned guitar sounds you expect to hear while playing pool in a bar downtown one lunchtime - in fact, the other geezer might craftily grab his cue again and sink every one of mine whilst waiting for me to finish listening to one of these lovely numbers for long enough to hum.

A more diverse offering, one reiterates, than you may be lead to think, especially towards the end of the running, there are no holes in the accessibility wall with this record. Where this chap appeared from I don’t know but from the volume of the crowd on the bonus live disc, he’s doing well on this side of the pond already.

And rightfully so.

Swede Thrashers Subcyde join that elite team i.e. those whose debut album takes ten years in the coming but it’s all just a case of getting the chemistry right, musically, in addition to the right label being around, to be interested.

While their label Last Entertainment have shone already with the discs from Machinery and Flagellation, these young men may had, as regarding the chemistry however tipped in a bit too much from the bottle that reads Sepulturarium carbonate - enough to be dangerous, (almost, legally speaking) at that. Their vocalist’s almost Cavalera-carbon print voice is only the icing on this still highly sweet cake however and despite the guitars having a stella resemblance to Sao Paolo’s finest at the prime, S.C. ‘s playing can after a track or two be told to differ.

Opting for upper mid tempo rhythms more than lightning-speed shredding, there is quite an Orange Goblin vibe along the way, but thrash and Death fans will still not be disappointed by any means. A predictable, and at the same time no so predictable album, this album is worth chasing. From a genre that will never die, (and it had better not even try) Subcyde uphold that immortal Nordic pride once more - how they manage it by sounding exactly like a Brazilian outfit baffles me.

But if you WERE actually trying to get a bad review out of me you’ve failed this time, lads.

It’s the curse of the CD sleeve with a blank inner side again – the perpertrators being Lion-signed Dutch outfit Sun Caged. In consolation it makes for a more pleasant surprise as ten prime lashings of melodic prog metal are ladled onto our plate and one of the genre’s most revered labels continue to redeem themselves after being away from Metalliville’s shores for so long.

Not relying exclusively on infinite length keyboard treks - though there are some – the guitar and vocal elements steal the scene with powerful gymnastic from both that bring most of the Scandinavian groups to mind as well as one or two from elsewhere round the world. Neither shorter numbers like ‘Painted Eyes’ and ‘Englebert The InchWorm’ - the only two numbers less than five minutes long here - or the obligatory epic durations of ‘Bloodlines’, ‘Departing Words’ or ‘Dialogue’ manage to bore with all ten songs multi-structured so well and adapting to the verse-chorus critiera pays all the better .

Relatively hot on the back of reviewing the blistering offering by fellow Netherlands newcomers Delphian (see elsewhere on the site), this one ups the ladder on Lion’s roster a little further. By no means on of the most original sounding albums, I have to be honest, sticking to what works makes for sweet listening al the same.

No extra sugar required here.

Solos are as we know effectively forbidden by the laws of fashion, which makes S.T’s defiantly generous utilisation of them through these ten mostly quite impressive tracks all the more appreciable. Hard as I find to say this, there are tunes that etch in too when you listen to these chaps – ‘Beyond The Eternal Illusion’, ‘Grevious’, ‘A Broken Dream’, ‘The Butcher’ and an interesting acoustic run of Slayer’s ‘Seasons In The Abyss’ the five I particularly listen out for the second time round.

Quite surprising to find they have only one guitarist but the muscular aggression of an extreme metal act at the top of the ladder is evident. Pity this stuff doesn’t grow on trees, nowadays, as it would be awkward if it stayed silent.

Good!

Like it were timetabled, another trainload of scream-when-you’re-winning anger-core antics chugs into Metalliville’s platform, this time all the way from.... Buckinghamshire?

Unlikely as pairings get and while in no way implying however that they’re actually losing when they sing, as there are a fair pipe or two audible inside frontman Josh Rumble, the growling intervals are wasted, and nearly hide a few decent hooks along the course of this six-track mini album, but the damage would have to be a lot worse for me to diss this one.

Versatile work from the two guitarists that takes in all the flavours of established scene-stealers but blended how they like it themsleves, turns their debut offering into something worth spinning.

True British and not without the odd bit of grit here and there either.

Europe’s no1 Bonfire-alikes bite back with teeth and leave a hell of a load of marks with these thirteen numbers. Frontman, Mark Fox’s Leissman-like rasp propels these numbers along as much a part of the team as the four chaps who surround him, and tunes like ‘Vertigo,’, ‘Inferno’, ‘Love Will Find A Way’, ‘The Other Side’ and ‘Look At Me’ sustain the higher octane hard rock onslaught of their previous records.

The guitarists rhythm lines continue to keep an on-off Metallica-ish edge from before but this seems to be a unproblematic factor in their formula as they do have quite a sizeable metal following on the mainland. They have recently played in 12 different countries supporting Stratovarious and have also opened for Iron Maiden, and while Bruce and the boys have since been back over here again, the following needs to be a bit larger to finance a Shakra tour on this side of the channel. If a few (...thousand) of you treat yourselves to a copy of this beauty however, that may still be likely.

Lovely!

Our boys are back with another class album of 10 cookin’ pedal to the metal stormers – Ok, so there’s 11 numbers on the album due to the inclusion of the single version of ‘If I was you’.

We don’t need no CH4 TV show to inform us who Saxon are – this band is a f*ck*n’ legend and here they do us proud with songs such as the opening ‘State of Grace’ (with it’s Accapella Monks introduction); the thunderous ‘Need for Speed’ & ‘Ashes to Ashes’; the fabulous riffin’ and a rockin’ ‘I’ve got to rock (to stay alive)’ that’s like old school styled Saxon – wahey !!

This is Biff, Paul, Doug, Nibbs and Nigel (nice one – he’s back!) at their best – ‘Lionheart’ was a killer album but this one beats it to the finishing line for sure – more of this, yes please !

A band that features Todd Jensen on lead vocals/bass who has worked alongside rock staples such as Alice Cooper & David Lee Roth with Greg Georgeson (Tommy TuTone) on guitar/vocals and writing roles together with David Wall (guitar) and drummer Grant Roholt.

This is tremendously encouraging hard rock which is great for radio (well should be but you know what commercial radio is like on the old wireless these days). It’s done, tried and tested stuff that has elements a lot of 80’s styles to be found in there – see opener rocking ‘All Right All Right’ all about being out on Saturday night or the ‘The Good Stuff’ with its Thunder like riff a la ‘Back Street Symphony’ with an American flavouring of bands like Warrant ‘n’ Firehouse; the power balladry of ‘The Best I Can’ that put me in mind of Mr. Big crossed with the sophistication of Queensryche.

There’s the happy rhythmic style of Enuff Znuff on ‘Heart on the line’ or the dirty grinding ‘Hard Love’ that is like so many artists of the day who have a show-stopping AC/DC riffery goin’ down with enough pzzazz to go with the clothes, hair and make-up.

Just over half an hours worth excellent rock – it’s quality not quantity.

Follow-up from the classic "Reign In Blood" I'd have to admit that when I first heard it years ago I didn't much care for it at all. They slowed down a helluva lot here but after many listens to I began to like it. At first, I didn't even think that Slayer would put out such a slower release but of course I was wrong on that part.

The title track intro ("South Of Heaven") is quite slow but still original sounding as are the vocals. Lombardo's drum display is good but as I mentioned it's much more of a "moderate" Slayer release. The songs to download would be "Silent Scream", "Ghosts Of War" and "Spill The Blood". A good cover on here is of Judas Priest's "Dissident Aggressor". Very well job Slayer did on this song.

The production to this release was decent everything mixed together pretty well thanks to Andy Wallace and Rick Rubin as producer. If you like Thrash Metal that's more mellow not entirely but overall then this release is for you.

Nothing Slayer has put out now and then has been better than "Reign In Blood". But "South Of Heaven" still a unique array of songs just not as aggressive as it's predecessor. Check out those tracks that I mentioned if you've never hear this release. I'd say it's still a classic in the genre of Thrash Metal.

Track listing:

"South of Heaven" (Lyrics: Araya) (Music: Hanneman) – 5:00
"Silent Scream" (Lyrics: Araya) (Music: Hanneman/King) – 3:13
"Live Undead" (Lyrics: Araya/King)(Music: Hanneman) – 3:58
"Behind The Crooked Cross" (Lyrics & Music: Hanneman) – 3:12
"Mandatory Suicide" (Lyrics: Araya) (Music: Hanneman/King) – 4:03
"Ghosts Of War" (Lyrics: King) (Music: Hanneman/King) – 4:00
"Read Between The Lies" (Lyrics: Araya/King) (Music: Hanneman) – 3:21
"Cleanse The Soul" (Lyrics: Araya/King) (Music: Hanneman) – 3:01
"Dissident Aggressor" (Judas Priest) – 2:34
"Spill The Blood" (Lyrics & Music: Hanneman) – 4:48

Band Lineup:

Tom Araya – Bass, Vocals
Jeff Hanneman – Lead guitars
Kerry King – Lead guitars
Dave Lombardo – Drums

Quite a gutsy debut each track on here deserves praise really since at the time Slayer was pretty new at the Thrash Metal genre. Of course the production sound could've been a bit better but overall the mixing was good.

Slayer's Satanic imagery in their beginning career in Thrash Metal was just a gimmick not to be taken literally in terms of the lyrics. The music is phenomenal for a debut kind of like Metallica's "Kill 'Em All" but in my opinion not as good as theirs. You'll find every track to be unique as did I especially when I first heard the album maybe a good 15 years ago.

Tom's vocals range from a hoarseness mixed with screams so it's not all just one monotonous bout of just heaviness or screams. Slayer being new with the music as I mentioned were also pretty new to the lead guitar playing. You'll still find Hanneman more technical on lead and King just a little bit sloppier.

Tracks to check out first and foremost would be "Black Magic", "Die By The Sword", and "The Antichrist". Those to me are their best tracks even though the others as I mentioned still rule! I would not get freaked out by the lyrical content as I said Slayer made note of it too that they are not Satanists and that the lyrics are a gimmick.

Over 30 minutes of some intense Thrash Metal. The mixing/production done by Slayer was decent not their best but still good. To me this is still a classic in the genre of Thrash Metal and deserves an honorary mention because it to me was entirely original music wise.

Track listing:

1. Evil Has No Boundaries
2. The Antichrist
3. Die By The Sword
4. Fight Till Death
5. Metal Storm/Face The Slayer
6. Black Magic
7. Tormentor
8. The Final Command
9. Crionics
10. Show No Mercy

Lineup:

Tom Araya – Bass/Vocals
Jeff Hanneman – Lead Guitars
Kerry King – Lead Guitars
Dave Lombardo – Drums

This still remains in my opinion to be the BEST Slayer release ever! Gutsy rhythm guitar frenzies and solos along with Tom Araya's screams plus Dave Lombardo's insane beats behind the drum set. The whole songwriting issue in regards to the anti-Christ was just a gimmick for Slayer the lyrics not to be taken literally (they are NOT Satanists).

Thrash Metal at it's best there isn't a track on here that doesn't simply rule! If you've never heard this album check out these songs "Angel Of Death", "Raining Blood" and "Jesus Saves" for starters. This release is one that you can play out and never get sick of (well as the case is for me). The guitars are lightning fast and solo guitar work is simply insane!

When this came out Slayer was viewed as a Satanic Thrash Metal act which was the persona it seemed like they wanted to be characterized as. But in reality the songwriting on this release is like I said just a gimmick. But the music is amazing! Both Hanneman and King show their talent as lead guitar player undoubtedly. Though when you open up the insert and it reads "Solo: King or Hanneman" it's because Jeff didn't want his solos to be confused with Kerry King's. Not to say that King lacks in this department but Jeff is a little more technical on lead.

I think that this is one of the best Thrash Metal albums ever to be released. It deserves honorary mention and to be listed as a sure Classic Thrash Metal release. No band before them was able to come up with such an amazing release at the time (1980's) even though Metallica of the 80's was also an outstanding Thrash Metal act before they went sour and abandoned their Thrash Metal Roots.

Suggested downloads before purchasing this release are again: "Angel Of Death", "Raining Blood" and "Jesus Saves". Prepare for some serious Thrash Metal played at amazing tempos!

Track listing:

1. Angel of Death
2. Piece By Piece
3. Necrophobic
4. Altar Of Sacrifice
5. Jesus Saves
6. Criminally Insane
7. Reborn
8. Epidemic
9. Postmortem
10. Raining Blood
11. Aggressive Perfector (1998 Reissue Bonus Track)
12. Criminally Insane (1998 Reissue Bonus Track)

It was about a mere month ago that I reviewed an impressive little four-track taster by this British outfit. My last sentence was that I hoped the album were was good if I were lucky enough to come by a copy. Ironically enough, it dropped through my door three weeks later, and yes, on having listened to it I can safely say these lads have made it out the other side.

‘Strain’ is a might piece of modern metal that is as nearly as predictable as it isn’t. The Iron Monkey-meets In-Flames screams of frontman P.C. (whatever the hell that stands for) are the only perpetuating elements of the fivesome’s mixture that combines commercial metal riffs of all corners together for a fearsome end result. You hear everything in the strings here - Pantera, Cathedral, Floodgate, Orange Goblin and Monster Magnet five reasons amongst many for anyone listening to grab a guitar and grind in time the way messrs Soudah and Chiswala once did and haven’t stopped since.

Seldom moments where I think I was listening to the same tune a second time, it’s the middle five numbers that primarily hijack my attention rather than the opener but with a major shortage of weak moments - unlike a lot of acts I hear that share this vocal style - Strain’s debut long-player is a prime chunk of pure brutal British steel to boot.

Nothing in the way of Judas Priest distinctively audible in their output, for anyone misled by that last bit, but for those who enjoy their extreme noise with an adequate dose of experimentalism thrown in layers amongst the anger factors, this is one strain you’re guaranteed to collapse under, big time.

Heavy Riff driven mighty monster songs that come from a band hailing from Oslo, Norway who sound like a cross between Fear Factory, Machine Head, Pantera & even elements of Type O Negative. This is thrash metal brought up to date – bombastic, loud and extremely addictive to the listener.

Every cut from ‘Cut From Stone’ is real stormer of number ranging from opener ‘More’ right through to the title track itself. ‘Distant Memory’ is an epic which starts off as an acoustic quiet ballad before turning into a metal onslaught and then quiets back to some acoustic guitar. Love the speedin’ old school thrash at 200 miles an hour (at times) of ‘Life Deprived’ that’s got some immensely good soloing on the quieter melodic moments of the song. ‘Under’ is a great pacey song that is very much in the doom mould of the metal realm – the sort of track that I can imagine Pete Steele of Type O Negative getting excited about. What an album ! What an album !

Susperia have recently been in the UK supporting WASP and will be back backing up the newly reformed Onslaught with Evile – believe me, on-stage they will definitely mean business.

You like Zodiac Mindwarp, Circus of Power or The Four Horsemen, then dig this as well, the latest & release from Switchblade – rock ‘n’ rollin’ whiskey soaked drawlin’ sounds with humour and plenty of sleaze to please y’all with.

Lead Vocalist, Ken Anthony kinda puts me in mind of Mark Manning meets Lemmy Kilmister with a smoked too many and done a ton of Jack ‘n’ Cokes that would usually kill the mere mortal sorta geezer.

Many a highlight you’ll find such as ‘Rocker’; ‘Show me all your stuff’; Bad Morning Blues’ and ‘Face Your God’ & ‘Cocksuckin Suzie’.

Should be more bands around like this!

A heavied up as hell new single from Saxon sees them going into the sad but true existence of Gun & Knife crime which has become a very worrying existence in the UK over the last 2 or 3 years.

It’s up to the max, putting all the equalizer lights to the top and hard-hitting. It comes in both Single and Album Version – the album version is a lot better – has an impressive intro. The song should have a good impact that ought to be used for an Anti-Gun & Anti-Knife advert by the Government.

‘If I was you, and you was me, would you live your life differently’ – no doubt they would – no-one wants to be on the receiving end that could lead to dead for a few quid.

Looking forward to the new album ‘The Inner Sanctum’ out 3rd March in the UK.

Beats the hell outta me why they sent us this – it’s like easy listening Bacharach influenced Nursery Rhymes – it’s as quirky and zany as f*ck – he’s from Canada. He’s got a weedy sounding voice too – very geeky – lol – unless that’s basically the idea for this release and he is actually a cooky monster vocalist for an underground grindcore band – lmao – I doubt that though.

Has this album been done for a joke or what?– the songs sound like they belong on Sesame Street ?!?! or the mad stuff that was featured on ‘This is Spinal Tap’ before they went Rock. Whatever !

Choose from catchy tunes and be prepared to hold a puzzle look on the face through out. Go on be a devil and play numbers like ‘Applecart’; ‘Small Country Airport’; ‘Fall Coloured Girl’ or ‘Gentle Giant’ if you make it as far as that. The wackiest CD we’ve ever received.

British Glammers that were previously known as The Wild Roses show us how it should be done - the songs I mean. I’ll let ‘em off for the bedroom sounding production work – the drums do sound rather cardboard boxy – but what the hell – it’s the songs that count and opener ‘Good Time Girl’ rocks with the best of them and is actually the best track on here.

They squawk, they rock and they mean it. Love the ‘Wow Wow’ backing vocals on ‘1, 2, Fell You’ – classic sexy track. And then theirs the Pussycatesque closer ‘Rattle My Bones’.

Classy seventies edged solos instill a punk feel to their pure rock n’ roll overdrive – just get that geetar on and get one foot kickin’ the sky, that’s all the advice you’ll ever want with this mean machine of an album No one would ever in their right mind guess that this lot were actually Scandinavian. A sure-fire blinder from the start to the finishing line.

Awesome.

The last recordings of a highly regarded guitarist that have been made available after some passionate work from his close friend John McCoy since Paul sadly passed away in August 2002 after a short illness.

The album was originally going to be under the Samson banner and titled ‘Brand New Day’ but with full agreement of the band members it was released as we get it now as a fitting tribute to such a great talented person. What a tremendously good album it is too with highlights including the opening metal splendour of ‘No Way Out’; where Billy Fleming shines out on the drums like a steamin’ powerhouse; the outstanding rocker ‘Brand New Day’ what an arrangement – such a positive outlook to the song as well.

The bass sounds amazing on the outstanding ‘Mean Woman’ (don’t know if it’s Ian Ellis or John McCoy though – credit to the basswork elsewhere as well) – it’s so heavy and clangy like a and vocalist Nicky Moore even reminds me of Leslie West on this hot number too. Other highlights include ‘It’s Going Wrong’; the melodic rock like ‘When Tomorrow Comes’ and the closing beautiful, atmospheric questioning ballad ‘Shooting for the moon’.

This is an excellent album and was well worth releasing.

Decent extreme metal from our side of the pond doesn’t come ten to a penny but these four young men know the ideal recipe to righten that potential embarrassment. Of the Get-beyond-a-guitar and growl format, it is indeed but being british, they’ve found time to put some …time into what they’re writing and you can actually enjoy the end results even if Aaron Sly and Ash Lewis’s guitars make some brain minglingly Bay Area like noises and frontman Aaron in particular replicates Rob Flynn’s works in more ways than the one.

Razor sharp rhythms and classic eighties metal solos dominate the duration of the album and there are hooks to listen out for too (in a thrash album - give over, Dave - Ed). A recommended introduction to another fine noisy new British scoop.

The speakers shall burn as well I’d think, when this one’s been spun.

Only the final track falls flat, the almost unlistenable sounding like Sparks drunkenly trying to sing Twisted Sister classic ‘Captain Howdy’ which is something of a pity as the guitar work is quite good.

Good effort overall lads, just do some adjustments on that one song before it comes out on an album.’