Metal Assault: Album Reviews

By Ryan Falla

Hailing from Columbus, Ohio; Lo-Pan aims to continue their charge to the forefront of the stoner/desert metal conversation with the release of the EP ‘In Tensions’. Fans of Lo-Pan will remember their last album, ‘Colossus’, as a melodically driven album powered by the vocal presence of Jeff Martin. The band continues the tradition of melodic and vocally focused stoner rock with the release of ‘In Tensions’, bringing a more traditional sound to the genre than one might expect. Continue reading “Lo-Pan – In Tensions EP”

By Andrew Bansal

Based out of Zurich, Switzerland, singer/songwriter Verena von Horsten has unveiled her second solo album ‘Alien Angel Super Death’, a completely solo effort in the truest sense, written, recorded and produced by von Horsten herself. Composed using piano, synths, drum machines, guitars, and most of all, the voice, ‘Alien Angel Super Death’ was expected to be a strong follow-up to the 2011 debut ‘Mother Tongue’. The new album promised an intriguing slab of heavy synth rock darkness, and does not fail to deliver. Continue reading “Verena von Horsten – Alien Angel Super Death”

By Andrew Bansal

Finnish power metal group Burning Point have been around since 1997, but formed a new identity when they were joined by former Battle Beast singer Nitte Valo in 2014. The 2015 self-titled release featuring a few new tracks and re-recorded versions of older songs proved that she was just as good of a fit for Burning Point as she was for Battle Beast, if not better. And now, the band is ready to release the follow-up effort, ‘The Blaze’, the first album of all new material with Valo at the helm. It was an exciting prospect for power metal fans, and the eventual outcome does not disappoint whatsoever. Continue reading “Burning Point – The Blaze”

By Doug Walker

Formed in 2007, The Drip describe themselves as grindcore. 2014 saw their debut EP ‘A Presentation of Gruesome Poetics’ via Relapse Records. The debut LP has been 10 years in the making, but it has finally arrived, and it’s here to tear your face off. Continue reading “The Drip – The Haunting Fear Of Inevitability”

By Doug Walker

Sepultura is quite an interesting band in that it consists of zero original members. As far as their rise to metal legend status goes, they still have two guys from the line-up that broke through. In the early ’90s, they were considered newcomers to the American metal scene, but exploded onto it with their unique take on progressive speed metal. The cultural element they incorporated into their sound set them apart from all of their peers, and gave them their place in the book of all things metal. I’ll leave the band politics that led them to where they are today out of it, because it doesn’t really matter when you listen to their 14th full-length studio offering ‘Machine Messiah’. Continue reading “Sepultura – Machine Messiah”

By Doug Walker

Firewind is a band built around the guitar. Guitarist Gus G, who you might know as the lead guitar player for Ozzy Osbourne, formed the band in 1998 as a demo project to use for a resume, more or less… and it became a full project several years later. The band has had a few line up changes over the years, mostly on drums, but still has the feel of an early second-wave power metal band. Their newest offering, ‘Immortals’, will not disappoint fans of power metal.
 Continue reading “Firewind – Immortals”