Metal Assault: Album Reviews

By Aniruddh “Andrew” Bansal

Based out of Mumbai, India, black metal band Solar Deity is a duo made up of Aditya Mehta on vocals, bass & guitar, and Yash Pathak on drums. Both of them are also members of Mumbai’s longstanding death metal outfit Exhumation. The Solar Deity debut album “In The Name Of Satan” was released online earlier this month, and the music on this release can be best described as straight-up black metal, quite different from what they’ve done so far on past Exhumation releases. This five-track, 17-minute onslaught is just a small taste of what this promising new band can deliver, and based on a few listens, I think it’s pretty safe to say that they’ve made a successful beginning to this project. Continue reading “Album Review: Solar Deity – In The Name Of Satan [9.5 out of 10]”

By Aniruddh “Andrew” Bansal

Today, April 17th 2012, marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Motörhead’s fifth studio album “Iron Fist”. For most fans, this is a special album, for more reasons than one. It was not only an excellent follow-up to the iconic “Ace Of Spades” album, but also ended up being the final album recorded by the classic lineup of Lemmy on bass & vocals, “Fast” Eddie Clarke on guitar, and Phil “Animal” Taylor on drums. Even though the current lineup has done wonders over the past two decades, the lineup that released those first five albums will always be etched strongly in the fans’ memory. I can only imagine how hard and challenging it must have been to come up with an album that would carry forward the legacy of past masterpieces such as “Motörhead”, “Bomber”, “Overkill” and “Ace Of Spades”. Despite the fact that “Iron Fist” was ‘badly produced’ by Lemmy’s own admission, the quality of the songwriting alone was more than sufficient to deem the album successful. Continue reading “Retrospective: Motörhead’s “Iron Fist” Three Decades Strong”

By Avinash Mittur

Thirty years ago on April 15, 1982, Anvil’s classic album, Metal On Metal, was released. This was the record where Anvil perfected their pioneering sound. It took the complex riffs and speed of Judas Priest, the aggression of punk rock, and the simplicity of AC/DC to form one of the earliest versions of thrash metal. Anvil’s first album, Hard ‘N Heavy hinted at this, but Metal On Metal was where the band’s songwriting truly hit its stride.

As so many metal fans now know, this wasn’t the album that broke Anvil big. It just never happened. This album was the one that influenced countless musicians throughout the eighties however. Robb Reiner’s double bass triplets could later be heard by countless thrash metal drummers, and his furious non-stop assault was among the first of its kind to be applied in such an aggressive fashion. Motorhead’s Overkill and Judas Priest’s Exciter may have been the first metal songs to prominently feature double bass within heavy metal, but 666 took was a whole new level of intensity and aggression. Continue reading “Retrospective: 30 Years Of Anvil’s “Metal On Metal””

By Aniruddh “Andrew” Bansal

Today, April 9th 2012 marks the tenth anniversary of Motörhead’s sixteenth studio album “Hammered”. This was their follow-up to the fairly successful “We Are Motörhead”. Even though they’ve had numerous lineup changes in the past, Motörhead became a well-settled entity in the late nineties as the trio of Lemmy, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee solidified itself as the 11th Motörhead lineup, and it quickly became apparent that this would be the lineup going forward. This was the fourth album released by the lineup, an album that saw limited success in terms of chart positions and sales, but despite that, it proved to be yet another tasteful offering for the rock ‘n roll purists to savor. Continue reading “Retrospective: Motörhead’s “Hammered” Completes A Decade”

By Avinash Mittur

In the seventies, the Scorpions were an obscure, yet trailblazing hard rock group that only those in the know truly appreciated. On March 29th, 1982 though, this all changed. The band released Blackout, their all time greatest record, and cemented themselves as one of hard rock’s all time greatest acts. Even though the band released more commercially successful albums afterwards, none ever truly achieved Blackout’s perfect balance of heavy riffs, blazing solos and endlessly catchy hooks. Continue reading “Retrospective: 30 Years Of Scorpions’ “Blackout””

By Andrew Bansal

Virginia-based crossover thrash heroes Municipal Waste have been doing their thing for more than a decade now, which is incredible in itself, because it seems like only yesterday when they released their debut full-length “Waste ‘Em All”. Based on the strength of their insane live performances and fun-filled music themed on topics like beer-drinking, partying, thrashing and mutation, the four-piece outfit has garnered quite a loyal and die-hard fan-following. Now, the band has signed to Nuclear Blast Records and are ready to begin life as a Nuclear Blast artist with “The Fatal Feast”, their label debut and fifth full-length album overall.  Continue reading “Album Review: Municipal Waste – The Fatal Feast [8.5 out of 10]”