“Five Serpent’s Teeth” is a very energetic, powerful and heavy album. The band has written some very good songs in this album. Both the mid-tempo and the fast moments of the album are very good and the quality of the songwriting has reached very high levels. The vocals are very good and it seems that Matt Drake has worked a lot on them, the guitars are also killer in most of the album and you will find some very good riffs and solos in it , the drums are great and so is the bass. Almost all the songs in “Five Serpent’s Teeth” last more than 5 minutes but all of them are interesting. The influence of bands like Testament, Metallica and Exodus is clear in Evile’s music but that does not mean that Evile have copied these bands; they have put their own elements and their own style in the album and the result is a record that kicks ass! The sound of the album is clean and heavy. I would prefer the sound to be a bit more dirty and old-school, but this clean production also fits very well the music of the band.

Evile are here to stay. They managed to release another killer album; the 3rd in the row! Nothing seems able to stop them and I hope that they will continue the great work that they are doing.

I remember the shock that I had suffered when I first heard them. I remember searching for new bands in youtube and at some point I see a video that said” Diamond Plate – At The Mountains Of Madness”. I push the play button and wait to listen. I saw three fifteen year old children full energy playing better than many professionals. I had suffered a great shock, and however, a great riff was enough to make me astonished. How could it be possible for the voice to be so much clean? They made me love them immediately. I also listened to their other songs so that I could occupy if what I saw was genuine or an optical illusion. But of course it was true because these youngsters have power inside them .

Their first Ep entitled “Mountains Of Madness” was released in 2008 with and their second Ep entitled” Relativity” was released one year later. And here we are in August 2011, where Diamond Plate do their first full length step by releasing ”Generation Why?”, whose production is exceptional. The riffs on the album fall like heavy rain drops.! During the listening of the album you will listen to all their influences, that are including thrash titans, such as Exodus, Testament, Dark Angel (especially on drums) and make Diamond Plate be loveable to each listener. The rhythm section’s combination with the guitars makes them a strongly tied band .

Almost all their songs have this force that can make you obsessed, with high tempo and chaotically riffs. As far as the songs are concerned, on “Relativity” the melodies of Testament show a lot, on ”Waste Of Life “and “Empire Tomorrow” the Exodus sounding riffs are coming and going with some oriental scales and one most excellent orchestral solo, and finally the already all time ”At The Mountains Of Madness” which was also one from their first songs with included on their first EP. Diamond Plate created a great sum and they gain a place fairly to be characterized as one of the hopes of metal music for the future.

They surely have the possibility of developing in the future in something better and of gaining high objectives as band. What is needed in my opinion is a little attention in the compositions, their skills are remarkable already, but with more mature thought perhaps we will be talking very soon about even better stuff than this already very good album.

Revocation plays a mixture of Bay Area thrash metal and technical/progressive death metal, while occasionally incorporating other influences as well. This may sound all too weird, but it actually works pretty well. Tracks like “Cretin”, “Cradle Robber” and “Harlot” effectively combine Atheist like technical riffs over blastbeats and double bass with Megadeth like staccato riffs, gang choruses and rockish solos, while tracks like “No Funeral” and “Beloved Horrifier” are straight up thrash metal songs with less chaotic structure. The more progressive songs of the album like “Dissolution Ritual” and the title track feature jazzy passages reminiscent of Cynic along with fast technical death metal riffs and bluesy licks. These tracks represent Revocation’s sound at best, but their style goes beyond that sometimes. For example, “Conjuring the Cataclysm” features an acoustic intro, black metal style riffing and melodic backing vocals, “Fractal Entity” is a short instrumental with Gorguts like dissonant riffs, “Reprogrammed” shows some Meshuggah influence and “The Watchers”, which is the real oddity here, features Deep Purple like keyboards(!) and a horn section (!!). With all of these different styles mixed together, someone would assume that the whole thing would come out as total mess, band the band manages to mix all of these influences tastefully and without sounding forced, and each passage of the songs flows smoothly into one another. Also each member handles his instrument with much skill and precision, and their performance is very tight. Finally, the sound of the album is crystal clear, the guitars are crunchy and heavy, the vocals are vicious yet not over the top, the drums are perfectly heard and not too loud, and even the bass stands out a bit.

So overall this is a very solid and varied album that will please fans of both thrash and technical death metal, though purists may be turned off by the combination of these two genres and the albums ultra polished digital production. Also casual listeners maybe turned off by the more progressive and complicated songs of the album, especially the aforementioned “The Watchers”, which would sound overdone and downright weird. But these things could also work to the bands advantage, as fans of really complicated music will definitely love such unusual compositions. Anyway, this album has enough pros to outweigh any cons and “Chaos of Forms” was truly something fresh and interesting. With this release Revocation really show that they have a personal sound that distinguishes them from their peers, and proves that they are one the most promising bands of the modern thrash metal movement.

Pretty much nothing, as they always tended to be simple and pointful to their albums. I remember when I first encountered them on their second album ”Dead Soul”, with the video clip of ”Slave/Master” back then driving me nuts. A lethal Sepultura-like dose of punching, aggressive and hyper-speedy and groovy thrash metal what what came from the speakers. Since then, Criminal held their thrash basis as the main element of their music, but never managed to become the typical sounding thrash metal band. The groove always accompanied them and even some death metal parts in certain songs would enrich their sound and make them sound even better (or renewed, depends on how anyone sees it from his side). ”Akelarre” is no exception to the familiar Criminal Recipe and continues from where ”White Hell” left, with the only change lying to the departure of Rodrigo Contreras (the only faithful partner of Reisenegger all these years) and the arrival of new guitarist Omar Cascallar who seems to be a great fit to Reiseneggers riffs with his powerful contribution on the leads also.

The rest line up is the same since 2006, where the old fellow of Reisenegger from the old Pentagram days (meaning Pentagram from Chile, not the legendary doom band) Dan Biggin joined the band. Biggin also does the production on ”Akelarre”, making everything sound clear and well-played and the help of drummer Zac O’Neill (the longest lasting Criminal member except Reisenegger) is proved valuable, as his playing gives an extra boost to the whole 41 minutes of the album, knowing where to create more groove and when to burst out with double bass fillings everywhere needed. The album’s consistency is also another strong card, as thrashing lightnings such as ”Order From Chaos” or ”Feel The Void” fit perfect with songs like ”Tyrannicide” which takes the band to another sonic level of mid-tempo thrashing rage (but without forgetting where to smash everything in its wake). An album that flows rather quick and makes you feel it lasted a little less than half an hour. This can’t be nothing but positive I guess.

The album’s songs are almost a little more than four minutes in duration, without tiring the listener, except two, the marvellous ”The Power Of The Dog” and of course, the title track which in two minutes only sums up almost two decades of Criminal’s existence and makes you wonder why this band didn’t become more widely known. It feels like Criminal don’t care that much for publicity after all, as they have taken the lonely road of being faithful to their musical roots, without needing to adapt to today’s theories of how a band should sound like. It is for granted that once again most people will ignore them, but it is also certain that the few people continuing being close to them, will never get disappointed by the four-piece. I should point out the excellent guitar riffs, always heavy and clean-sounding (but not cheesy), serving the old school way with their playing. This is no modern stuff, it is only traditional thrash metal as it should always be, fast, furious, with room for the songs to breathe, without sounding a constant beating all the time.

I don’t know if the seventh album of Criminal proves to be the lucky one for them. Also, I don’t know if they will be able to go on unrestricted by the presence of their leader in Lock Up also. All I know is that I can always count on them for making very good to great albums and that they will always remain true to theirseleves, with the good sense of the word (because the word ‘true’ tends to have a negative meaning to the metal scene from a point and on). Just listen to songs like ”Vows Of Silence” which contain an extra death metal aura, but without losing their initial thrash basis. This is who Criminal were, are and will always be. It is a pity they are not more famous and acknowledged as one of the best bands in the genre the last years, but it’s good that they continue without really giving a shit about all these. Hopefully they will return in two years from now with another very good album, just like ”Akelarre” is. Until then, enjoy this witches’ Sabbath without fear and regrets. Another great album for 2011. What a great metal year!

Most of the songs in “Playground Of The Damned” are a very good combination of doom and epic metal. This album creates very strong epic feelings to the listener and it is an album that will take you to “it’s world” while you are listening to it; if you listen to this album carefully you will forget that you are in your house or wherever you may be, but you will feel like you are in the Manilla Road universe. It is a very doomy album but it is combined very good with the epic music, feeling, lyrics and atmosphere of Manilla Road.  The vocals are very good,  the rhythm section plays very tight and in a couple of times sounds killer and the guitars are also great; Mark Shelton is a guarantee! The songs “Art Of War” and “Fire Of Ashurbanipal” will travel you with their music, “Jackhammer” (this song has a great riff and, in general, it is one of my personal favourites of the record) and “Brethen Of the Hammer” will make you headbang and drink beers in the name of Mark Shelton, and the title track and “Into the Maelstorm” are also very good songs that I like them more every time I listen to them. I didn’t like a lot “Gindhouse” and “Abattoir de la Mort”, but they are not bad songs; I just think that they are a level below the other songs of the album. “Playground Of The Damned” is not an easy record to hear. You need to listen to it a couple of times in order to be able to aprecciate it and understand how good it is.

The production of the album is low budget but it is great. The old-school sound of the album fits perfectly with the music of Manilla Road and I think that if they had a very clean production, the album wouldn’t have sounded as good as it sounds now.

Overall, I would say that “Playground Of The Damned” is a very good album. You need to listen to it a couple of times in order to understand how good it actually is but it totally deserves this time and patience!

An importand change has occured to the band. In their previous releases Joel Grind used to play all the instruments in the studio (or hire some session musicians to help him), and then he hired a drummer and a bass player for the live performances. This album is the first that was recorded by a full band and more specifically, Nikki Bellmore played the drums and Phil Gnaast played the bass.

Hell breaks loose by the time you start listening to the album. 10 songs capable to make your adrenaline hit red with their raw power. Grind knows exactly how to create a record that will blow your head and this is proved once again. Those that have heard Toxic Holocaust before know more or less what they are going to hear since there are no big changes in the music of the band in this album. Pure and agressive thrash songs with a  great rotten sound and the full-of-hate vocals of Grind are what you will find here. The music if riff-based and be sure that you will find a lot of kick-ass riffs in “Conjure And Command’! Songs like “Bitch” (in which the band makes it clear that they are huge Sodom fans), “Judgement Awaits You”, and “Revelations”, are evidence that this band was not a flash and that they are here to stay, because those songs could easily fit in a “big” band’s record! There is also a song that makes the difference , “The Liars Are Burning”, that contains a lot of hard rock elements in it and it is definitely a very pleasant surprise to find. In some parts of the record you may also notice some small black metal elements which I think that they fit very good to the music. The mid-tempo moments are as good as the fast ones; the band must have worked a lot on this record.

“Conjure And Command” is a very good thrash metal record. It is pure, agressive and violent. Actually, I could describe it as an elbow in the teeth! Toxic Holocaust are in a great creative mood and they are not willing to slow down. My personal advice: Don’t listen to this album when you are very pissed off. People and objects around you will be in a great danger!

“Worship Music” is a good album, it contains some very good songs but it is not a great album. If we were talking about another band I would say that the album left me satisfied, but since we are talking about Anthrax, a band that is one of the first bands that come to your mind when talking about thrash metal and a band that has released records that wrote history, the expectations are always very high. I don’t mean that the album is bad, it is a good and interesting album that you can listen very easily. But I had higher expectation from it.

Let’s start from the beginning. Belladonna’s voice is in a great situation and he sings very good. The sound of the album is very good, clean and heavy. We all had understood this from the “Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t” song that the band uploaded before the release of the album and it is a killer song. The band also seems to be in a very good mood since almost all the tracks are full of energy. The album contains some other very good songs like “Judas Priest” (nice title!), “The Devil You Know”, and “In The End” (this song talks about Dimebag and Dio) that.are very interesting. The album has a couple of moments that will make you bang your head and that will make you enjoy the album. Something that I don’t like about “Worship Music” is that it is very modern. It’s sound and a lot of moments in the album are very modern and melodic. Many people may like this but this is definitely not what I want to hear when I am in the mood to listen to Anthrax! Moreover it contains some songs that should not have been included in the record like “Crawl”, “The Constant” and “Revolution Screams”. Those songs are a bit boring and they are not good enough to be included in an Anthrax record. There are also some moments in the record that seem uninspired to me. So, we are talking about a record that has it’s good and it’s not so good moments. But as I said before, since we are talking about Anthrax, I was expecting an album that would left me speechless. This album didn’t left me speechless.

I am sure that Anthrax can create a much better record in the future. I repeat, “Worship Music” is not a bad record, it has some very good songs, but it is not a good enough album for a band like Anthrax and after 8 years of waiting for it.

This time, they decided they should stick to forms not that fast, compared to ”Endgame”. From the first moments of ”Sudden Death”, until the ending of the album with ”13”, for about 58 minutes all elements that made Megadeth a super group are inside the album. Clever and sarcastic songs the way Mustaine is a master in writing, some ironic and mid tempo ones like ”We The People” or ”Guns, Drugs, & Money” and some more speedy ones like ”Public Enemy No. 1” or ”Never Dead”. So pretty much, the album catches up almost three decades of a very important career. The only one we could compare Dave Mustaine is only himself. And that’s what we’re going to do, as there is no meaning in trying to state about changes or safe moves by such a band. It’s a Megadeth review after all, who cares about all other bands of the Earth anyway?

”Thirteen” finds Megadeth with the best line-up they’ve had since the departure of Marty Friedman and Nick Menza the past twelve years. First of all we have the return of the prodigal son Dave Ellefson for the first time in a decade, since ”The World Needs A Hero” in 2001. This is a very important fact on its own, as Mustaine finds his old friend and longer lasting Megadeth member to date by his side. Also, Chris Broderick on the guitars and Shawn Drover on the drums fill perfect the rest two positions and the team plays still in a high level. The production is very clear and they all seem to be in shape. Mustaine’s vocals have always been a love or hate situation, he can’t change his voice in his fifty, so it’s up to you to decide whether or not he sounds good to you, to me it seems he’s done some improvement here, as much as he could do that at least.

Also, another fact we should mention is that for the first time, Mustaine uses songs he’s recorded in the past, three in number, with ”New World Order”, ”Millennium Of The Blind” and ”Black Swan” having been on other releases, mainly singles or being bonus tracks to deluxe editions of ”Youthanasia” (1994) and ”United Abominations” (2007). It’s kinda strange because it seems like Mega-Dave repeats himself, and knowing how much of a perfectionist he is, it makes me consider the album lacks consistency, adding the fact that some other songs were written for soundtracks or video games. Also, in some parts of the album, you feel like you could listen to something better, thirteen songs on one hand, not all of them perfect on the other hand. The album loses the comparison to ”Endgame” at least, very easily. It feels they could do better.

So, if you are into a good mixture of the 1992-2001 era of the band (without including ”Risk” of course), then ”Thirteen” is the right album for you. Megadeth don’t rediscover the wheel in this album and though it’s very fun in some parts, it also becomes a little tiring in some others. It’s not the best nor the worst album they’ve done and it’s not the best nor the worst album of 2011 for sure. The thing it’s that if we didn’t talk about Megadeth, we might not care at all. But since it’s one of the bands that personally I adore and owe a lot for putting me to the magic world of metal, I must not play the blind dog that follows its master and I have to raise my voice. Considering rumors that it could be their last album, it could be an honest goodbye. Until this is proved true, we have the hope of something better released in the future hopefully.

The previous Doomsword album, “My Name Will Live On” made many fans of the band wonder if the band has reached it’s peak, since we are talking about an album that left many people speechless. Well the band proves us that they didn’t relax, and achieved to create a record that has nothing to envy from their previous releases.

All the songs in this record have a great epic feeling and atmosphere. They have the ability to make you “live” the music and the lyrics; actually this album makes you think that you are in a battle and it’s songs are the music that gives you strength and courage in order to keep on fighting! “The Eternal Battle” does not contain any big changes nor any big surprises; it is a classic Doomsword record. However it is not an easy album to hear. You need to listen to it a couple of times in order to    understand how good it actually is. The album contains heavy and great riffs,  kick-ass rhythm section and the main characteristic of Doomsword, Deathmaster’s voice. Once again Deathmaster has done amazing work on the vocals, and his voice is able to create whatever atmosphere he wants in every song. Most of the songs are mid-tempo but some others are a bit faster.  The band must have worked a lot on this album because if you listen to it a couple of times, and you get it’s feeling, then you won’t bother to search for any limitations or bad moments. The production and the sound of the album are very good and suit perfect to the band’s music.

Summing up,  “The Eternal Battle” is a very good record from a true band that has never  disappointed it’s fans. I would suggest to every fan of the epic metal scene (and not only) to give this album a chance. You won’t lose. Hail Doomsword!

The new album took quite a long time to be released but it seemed that it was worked until the last second. This shows from the beginning, as the sound of the album is rather fresh, modern as much as it should be, without making the band sound cheesy and also, quite different compared to what we had got used to. It is the perfect chance for non followers to bury the band six feet under, and the perfect time for fans to love this band more than ever. It is most certain that this release will leave no person not dealing with it. We’re talking for one of the best bands of the last 20 years and as is sounds logic, all people not liking something, they always try to harm the strong ones. MH have proved that they deal with controversy more than great, don’t forget that such events almoste lead them to splitting up before the release of ”Through The Ashes Of Empires” in 2003. That was the second birth of the band and since then they deliver quality in each given occasion. Such as this one.

The album opens with ”I Am Hell (Sonata In C#)” and to be honest, it’s more than strange to listen to Robb Flynn singing in latin in a mellow way. Once the song develops, we have a great outburst and the first sample that the album is gonna grab you hard, unlikely to let you go for the next 49 minutes (which become 63 if you get the limited edition with the two excellent covers by Judas Priest and Rush). Flynn does his best vocal performance ever and the most mature for sure. Followed by his partners in crime in tremendous shape, he spits every lyric with certainty, while Phil Demmel helps him with the guitar work, and the phenomenal rhythm section of Adam Duce on bass and Dave McClain on drums (he really sounds out of control on the whole album) offer to their fans an album that despite being a little strange in the beginning, it is bound to become a grower to their hearts. In ten years, this album will be acknowledged as one that made metal music more interesting in general, I am more than sure about this.

As the album goes on, we have tracks like ”Be Still And Know” or ”This Is The End” that groove their way to your mind and could easily become your favourites from the album. The double bass break through interpretations of McClain will leave you speechless, while the guitar work closes its eye on ”The Blackening” sound, evolving it as much as possible. The good thing is that they didn’t try to repeat themselves in this process, after all we deal with the album that made them undoubtedly colossal to everybody’s eyes (even the haters’) and it would be more than naive and suicidal to do the same. Maybe that’s why they left ”Locust” leak first, to make sure they could break all doubt about this. And they certainly did. ”Locust” sounds much better if you listen to it together with the rest songs, because to be honest, I didn’t like it that much at first. Here, put in the right place, it surely works much better and might prove to be a true classic in the future.

”Darkness Within” follows the ”Descend The Shaded Of Night” process of writing, being a very emotional song (the acoustic version as a bonus kicks serious ass). The duo of ”Pearls Before The Swine” (the hidden diamond of the album) and the closer ”Who We Are” wave the middle finger of MH pointed to all those having something pointless to say about them. ”Unto The Locust” is different, it sounds promising and it will surely stand as one of the best albums of 2011 and the whole following decade. It is not the best album they have done, nor the best they could offer. I still miss the first two albums’ wrath, but I love the maturity they show since 2003. I must praise them for not making a second ”The Blackening” (they couldn’t do it anyway, but still I must point this out) and for keeping the level rather high. It is a little strange for me that this time they are not as perfect as I got used to in their beginning or their last two albums. But what counts is that they returned fresh and having something really useful to say. Those lucky to see them live in this tour, will suffer a lifetime shock. This is who they are! And will forever be! Let progress ring with a shotgun blast!