Metal Assault: Album Reviews

By Andrew Bansal

Dallas, Texas metal/hardcore/punk crossover band Power Trip was formed in 2008 but quickly gained widespread recognition following the 2013 release of their debut full-length ‘Manifest Decimation’, building a reputation as a sonically fierce entity on the recorded material and an even fiercer group of musicians on stage, presenting their live show to the right audiences on tours opening for Terror, Anthrax, Lamb Of God, Napalm Death and many others. In 2017, besides continuing to feature in killer tour packages, Power Trip are getting ready to destroy everything in their path with their sophomore release, ‘Nightmare Logic’. Continue reading “Album Review: Power Trip – Nightmare Logic”

By Ryan Falla

Australia is not one of the more popular cultures to find a deep attachment to the metal genre, the world’s supplier being most European nations and America. But it’s always fascinating to see the way cultures impact the art it gives birth to; from the stoner metal culture of America’s deep south to the power metal that encapsulates the medieval warrior culture of old Europe. What Vipassi brings out of Australia with their debut album ‘Sunyata’ is a mystifying trip into chaos through instrumental, extreme progressive metal. Continue reading “Album Review: Vipassi – Sunyata”

By Andrew Bansal

Swedish quintet Horisont completed their first decade as a band in 2016, and are marking the next chapter in their career with their fifth full-length and Century Media debut, ‘About Time’. This is a group highly revered in the European hard rock/heavy metal underground but still very obscure elsewhere, including North America. That’s about to change for the better, as the band’s newest offering is the most awe-inspiring piece of work to have  graced the rock/metal genre in a long, long time. Continue reading “Album Review: Horisont – About Time”

By Alex Distefano

It might be hard to imagine for some, but it has been 30 years since the metal gods, Judas Priest released their tenth studio album, ‘Turbo’. In 1986, Judas Priest was a major force in heavy metal, and highly revered among metalheads, many of whom today credit the band for paving the way for the genre. Continue reading “Album Review: Judas Priest – Turbo 30”

By Ryan Falla

After a seven-year period of sitting on the back-burner, Unearthly Trace finally releases their much anticipated fourth studio album with Relapse Records after signing in 2006. I can tell you right off the bat that this is something you’ll want to listen to, if not outright need to listen to it. Doom/sludge not a genre of metal known for pumping out consistent releases, and releasing a high quality record such as ‘Stalking the Ghost’ when major acts such as Electric Wizard and Sleep don’t come around with new material is key to continued success of the genre. Continue reading “Album Review: Unearthly Trance – Stalking the Ghost”

By Francisco Zamudio

Epic is a term reserved for times like this, when a band like Immolation writes songs with such apocalyptic feeling that the skies open up and demons and angels go to war. Through decades, Immolation has consistently demonstrated their unique brand of avant-garde death metal without any necessity of overly progressive or technical songwriting that can sometimes tune out some purists of the genre, and yet in many ways these veterans were ahead of the game to have that ability as part of their style. Now, nearly 30 years and 10 albums later, Immolation has once again unleashed a dark, pummeling and unrelenting creation in what is their third release though Nuclear Blast, ‘Atonement’. Continue reading “Album Review: Immolation – Atonement”