Category: Album Reviews

According to Painted Doll co-founder, Dave Hill, “The Painted Doll record was a blast to make.”

That’s good to hear, because the Painted Doll record is a blast to listen to; a modern day Monkees-esque act with light-hearted, pop-driven rock in the vein of ’60s era bowl cuts and Ed Sullivan. The self-titled debut features a beach/pop rock atmosphere that calls back to the original era of rock without any irony or self-indulgence. It’s almost like Ghost without the overt, gimmick driven metal sheen laid atop the pop-rock foundation. Continue reading “Album Review: Painted Doll – Self-Titled”

The new split LP by two of Virginia’s heaviest doom/stoner metal acts, Windhand and Satan’s Satyrs, features 5 tracks of oozing, psychedelic goodness. Two tracks from ultra-doom outfit Windhand and three from the grunge addled metal/punk act Satan’s Satyrs make up this phenomenal release. Continue reading “Album Review: Windhand / Satan’s Satyrs Split”

The German four-piece Long Distance Calling adds their latest studio album ‘Boundless’ to their already impressive discography. While it’s easy to call the band a quartet of rockers, the truth is far more complicated. At the surface it may seem like your standard metal affair, war-like drums and a blaring bass set off the initial mood of ‘Boundless’. “Initial” is the best word for this situation, because the moods and feelings throughout this record are constantly shifting throughout different spectrums of emotion to bring forth an incredibly diverse piece of instrumental, atmospheric rock/metal. Continue reading “Album Review: Long Distance Calling – Boundless”

Scotland based doom band King Witch releases the follow-up to their debut EP with their debut full-length album, ‘Under the Mountain’. An incredible mixture of thrash metal with heavy doom undertones, King Witch delivers their own unique take on doom metal with this one. This record is very reminiscent of works such as ‘Among the Living’ by Anthrax and ‘Painkiller’ by Judas Priest. It’s a very dark ambiance that stays within its intense thrash roots while fusing doom undertones to the high-speed music. Continue reading “Album Review: King Witch – Under the Mountain”

By Ryan Falla

Damn, there hasn’t been a straight up classic heavy metal album of this quality in a good while. The new record, ‘Rise to Glory’, by Japanese metal veterans Loudness, is out. Loudness has been active since 1981, and when you pop on this record you’d think you were shifted back to the early ’80s. Rise to Glory is pure, unadulterated heavy metal; pangs of thrash, flavors of power, tastes of groove, ‘Rise to Glory’ is simply “heavy metal” in its purest form. Continue reading “Album Review: Loudness – Rise to Glory”

By Ryan Falla

Newly minted Ripple Records band Against The Grain has released their fifth album, ‘Cheated Death’, the first with their new label. Against the Grain already holds a deep discography, one which has established the band as heavy rock warriors. A smooth mixture of speed rock and groove tunes brings another successful record into the quickly growing discography of Against the Grain. Continue reading “Album Review: Against The Grain – Cheated Death”

By Ryan Falla

Another grand slam of an album to come out in the month of February; Wedge introduces their sophomoric effort ‘Killing Tongue’, the strikingly impressive follow-up to their incredible self-titled debut. This record hits all of the good tones from the ’60s and ’70s, there’s a ton of Hammond organ work, giving the band shades of Deep Purple within their eclectic tonalities. Continue reading “Album Review: Wedge – Killing Tongue”

By Andrew Bansal

Ventura, California’s Dungeons-and-Dragons-themed rock n’ roll group Gygax made a spectacular landing in the world of heavy music in early 2016 with their debut LP, cleverly christened ‘Critical Hits’. In the opinion of just about everyone who listened to it, it’s the finest debut full-length to have graced our favorite genre in a long time. Musically, with their Thin Lizzy-inspired hard rock/heavy metal, Gygax was carrying on from where two of the members’ previous band Gypsyhawk left, but combined with the lyrical theme and imagery, ended up creating a niche all of their own. Now, the ‘2nd Edition’ is ready for release, and it is an exciting time for heshers and nerds alike. After a debut of such sky-high calibre as that of ‘Critical Hits’, expectations were obviously high, but if you thought Gygax would not be able to match and better that effort, you were very wrong. Continue reading “Album Review: Gygax – 2nd Edition”

By Ryan Falla

Well, I’ve already found my favorite album of the year. Fu Machu has released their 12th studio album, ‘Clone of the Universe’, following their last release ‘Gigantoid’ from four years ago. Fu Manchu has established a status as “fuzz rock” pioneers, a succinct mixture of stoner metal and heavy grooves. Their latest release reminds us of why Fu Manchu has garnered this status as masters of their craft. Continue reading “Album Review: Fu Manchu – Clone of The Universe”

By Ryan Falla

John 5 and the Creatures recently released a new studio album, ‘Season of the Witch’, and the newly released live follow-up looks to be exciting as the latest studio release. The 16-track live record ‘It’s Alive!’ is an absolute blast. John 5 and the Creatures is a purely instrumental experience that hits all the right notes; the music doesn’t express the overt flamboyance that tends to follow guitar-virtuoso based experiences. There’s a thin plane of existence between showing off and musical integrity, and John 5 exists comfortably within that niche. Continue reading “Album Review: John 5 and the Creatures – It’s Alive!”