British Metal

Gloryhammer – Legends From Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex Review

By sentynel on June 3, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Napalm Records, Power Metal, Reviews, Power Metal, 134 comments

“If you missed the tongue-bathing AMG gave their last album, Gloryhammer are one of the best active Rhapsody-style epic power metal bands, and also a loving, self-aware parody of same. They’re founded first on quality and second on overly-amped up tropes—D-tier speculative fiction plot, non-native English speaker lyrics, etc.—to the precise point where they become obviously funny. It’s not so overdone that it becomes tiresome, and it works because of the attention to detail and cohesiveness of the whole: take a couple of elements away and you might wonder whether they were actually serious all along.” Get hammered.

Amulet – The Inevitable War Review

By Holdeneye on May 21, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Dissonance Productions, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Reviews, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, 94 comments

“A few weeks back, I received a cube-shaped item from Madam X. After spending the requisite time aligning the mirrors in my chamber of decoding, the sun’s light finally shone upon said box which opened to reveal a promo and the following message: “Steel thought you might enjoy this one.” With enormous shame do I remember the arrogance and ungratefulness I exhibited upon that day when I dispatched the coif-clad courier back to AMG HQ with said promo and some form of “Thanks, but I’m good.” While I thought I had moved on and gone about my business, over the following days an almost imperceptible sound began to grow into a still, small voice and finally erupted into a siren’s wail, drawing me to the edge of the promo bin upon my hands and knees. With all of my might, I screamed my repentance towards the sky — “I must have the Amulet!”” Don’t sass the Steel.

Bright Curse – Time of the Healer Review

By GardensTale on May 20, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Reviews, Ripple Music, Stoner Metal, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Metal, 36 comments

“I’ve never made it a secret that I’m a big fan of Pink Floyd. Nor am I alone in that adoration. The Brits had a huge influence on music in every genre, and their footsteps still impact artists across the globe. Their biggest crater is of course left in their home country, where Bright Curse sprang up over half a decade ago. With only vocalist Romain Daut remaining from the debut’s line-up, the young band has evidently been through some tumultuous times, but this hasn’t stopped Daut nor his three compatriots from hitting the studio and cranking out sophomore album Time of the Healer.” Floydcore.

Wheel – Moving Backwards Review

By GardensTale on April 14, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Finnish Metal, Odyssey Music Network, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Progressive Metal, 67 comments

“The astute reader may have noticed this review is, as the youngsters say, hella late. But to err is human, and even the lords who guard the jail cells above the skull pit are of our own kind, they may begrudgingly admit. So when I saw the spectacular Wheel open for Soen and immediately sought an explanation for why we hadn’t reviewed them, the voice through the trapdoor thundered in its brazen might: ‘Whoops.'” Mistakes were made.

Cracked Machine – The Call of the Void Review

By Huck N Roll on April 12, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Post-Rock, Psychedelic Rock, PsyKa Records, Reviews, Psychedelic Rock, 36 comments

“Back in the olde days, if a band took two years between releases they were considered to be “on sabbatical.” Nowadays, if a band puts out an album faster than every two years, we wonder why they’re rushing things. An album a year used to be the rule, and that’s a rule that Cracked Machine seem to be adhering to early in their career. The Call of the Void comes hot on the heels of the Wiltshire quartet’s 2018 debut, I, Cosmonaut. Maybe it’s easier to write post-rock songs with psychedelic overtones, or maybe these fellows just have a lot of ideas swimming around in their heads.” Grinders.

Final Coil – The World We Left Behind for Others Review

By Steel Druhm on April 10, 2019 in 2019, Alt-Metal, British Metal, Post-Rock, Reviews, WormHoleDeath Records, Alt-Metal, 59 comments

“I’ve never been much of a post and/or alt-rock guy, but the expertly crafted promo blurb for unsung U.K. act Final Coil captured my interest enough to review their 2017 debut, Persistence of Memory. It was an engaging little album too, mixing post-rock, restrained prog and grunge for a fairly unique sound. The album had its flaws, but I sensed a band that could go on to bigger things. Now a mere year and a half later, their sophomore effort The World We Left Behind for Others arrives with little fanfare, but that same sense of potential and promise.” What we leave and what we keep.

Latitudes – Part Island Review

By Kenstrosity on April 9, 2019 in 2019, Ambient Metal, Black Metal, British Metal, Debemur Morti, Doom Metal, Post-metal, Reviews, Ambient Metal, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Post-Metal, 49 comments

“I have historically shown more than a little apprehension towards the post-metal tag. At first, I felt it screamed pretension, a trait that tends to break my enjoyment of music if not kept in check. Lately, though, I’ve reassessed my opinion after finding deep enjoyment of bands often placed within the post-metal spectrum—Astronoid, Downfall of Gaia, and more recently, Latitudes.” No man is Part Island.

Sermon – Birth of the Marvellous Review

By Huck N Roll on March 22, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Progressive Metal, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Progressive Metal, 213 comments

“I’ve said it before: we love finding gems amongst the post-apocalyptic ruins of the promo bin. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it is glorious. Perhaps the name Lör rings a bell? How about The Reticent? Heck, we can throw King Goat in there as well. All examples of unknown acts whose music blew us away. It’s a big part of why we review albums, to be honest. Sure the 0.5 and 1.0 reviews can be entertaining, but we would much rather have people talking about (and buying) the music rather than the review. Which makes me pretty happy to say I’ve found my latest gem in Birth of the Marvellous.” You look…Marvellous!

Ty Morn – Istor Review

By sentynel on March 22, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Self-released, NWOBHM, Power Metal, 113 comments

“Another day, another record palmed off generously donated to me by Steel. In this case, I was convinced to give it a shot by the gorgeous cover art. Take a moment to admire it. It’s certainly not particularly brvtal, but it is very pretty. Despite the Viking art, though, the music doesn’t particularly draw on the tropes of Viking metal. This is classic power metal in the vein of Hammerfall, Dream Evil, and the like. Yet, sole permanent band member Aron Biale describes it as an homage to golden age metal.” Ear raid.

The Mute Gods – Atheists & Believers Review

By GardensTale on March 20, 2019 in 2019, British Metal, InsideOut, Progressive Rock, Reviews, Progressive Rock, 37 comments

“With some exceptions, in a rule-of-thumb sort of way, the ‘technical’ modifier means ‘this was harder to play’ while ‘progressive’ means ‘this was harder to write.’ As such, experience is highly valued among progressive musicians especially, and progressive supergroups seem more common than other genres. The Mute Gods is another one of those, consisting of Steven Wilson’s bassist Nick Beggs and drummer Marco Minnemann, who also performs guitars here, and keyboard player Roger King who played with Nick and Steve Hackett of Genesis fame.” Great expectations.