Ghost

By Fire and Sword – Glory Review

By Fire and Sword – Glory Review

By Steel Druhm on September 18, 2023 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, 57 comments

“When Steel sees a band calling themselves By Fire and Sword with an album bearing the simple title of Glory, grand visions of an armored titan hacking his way through demon hordes on a burning, blood-drenched battlefield come to me. Thusly brimming with barbaric bloodlust, your Beloved Lord of Viking Primates seized the full-length debut by these mysterious men from Boise, Idaho. But a funny thing happened as I girded my hairy loins and sharpened my remorseless war grinder. You see, By Fire and Sword aren’t about the kinds of glory attained by disdaining fortune and splitting skulls.” No one expects the Boise Inquisition!

Satan – Earth Infernal Review

Satan – Earth Infernal Review

By Steel Druhm on March 29, 2022 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, 83 comments

“Satan is the original Benjamin Button band. By this I mean the older they get, the better and more youthful sounding their output becomes. Part of the original NWoBHM phenomenon, their 1983 debut Court in the Act made the rounds at Casa Druhm back in the days of denim and high tops, but I was never especially taken with their sound, which felt like a less catchy version of Diamond Head or Angel Witch. I didn’t bother with their 1987 follow-up, Suspended Sentence, and I all but forgot about them as I got deeper into thrash and more extreme styles. Fast-forward 26 years to 2013 and they made a comeback with Life Sentence, and virtually nothing about them sounded the same.” Satan is real.

Luzifer – Iron Shackles Review

Luzifer – Iron Shackles Review

By Huck N Roll on March 28, 2022 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, 22 comments

“A question was posed on Twitter, the most reliable source of information in the world, earlier this year asking which up-and-coming band was going to be the Next Big Thing. Someone commented that Luzifer was that band, and seeing March promo just sitting there all forlorn, I grabbed it. I knew nothing about them, and there’s a good chance you, dear reader, did not either. Turns out this German trio is three-fifths of the speed metal band Vulture, and Iron Shackles is their first full-length release.” Zatan’s Returnz.

Ghost – IMPERA Review

Ghost – IMPERA Review

By Felagund on March 21, 2022 in Reviews, Occult Rock, 244 comments

“Ghost is a divisive band. Forget red states and blue states; don’t bother with Yankees or Red Sox; and I don’t want to hear whose side you take in the Montreal Screwjob debacle. There’s only one true rivalry, and the debate only grows more contentious with each new Papa. Indeed, the rift between Ghost adherents and their vehement detractors is a vast, otherworldly chasm, overflowing with hate-kindled magma and plumes of blackened self-righteousness. All that being said, I really like ’em.” Ghost in the cash machine.

Doctor Smoke – Dreamers and the Dead Review

Doctor Smoke – Dreamers and the Dead Review

By Steel Druhm on September 4, 2021 in Reviews, Hard Rock, Occult Rock, Stoner Rock, 30 comments

“Ghost created quite the marketable niche for themselves when they introduced the whole “faceless ghouls and demon Pope paying homage to Blue Oyster Cult and Mercyful Fate” schtick. It shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, but their notoriety speaks for itself. Other bands tried similar recipes with varying degrees of success but none came close to capturing the secret ingredients in Ghost’s unholy special sauce. Ohio-based Doctor Smoke aren’t trying to ape those nameless ghouls so much as borrow the best parts of their sound to season their own proprietary slurry composed of hair metal, hard rock, NWoBHM, and a vague Foo Fighters appreciation.” Smoky bones and Ghost loans.

Mama Doom – Ash Bone Skin N Stone Review

Mama Doom – Ash Bone Skin N Stone Review

By Felagund on July 24, 2021 in Reviews, Doom Metal, Heavy Metal, Occult Rock, 18 comments

“Occult rock has undergone something of a renaissance. Over the past few years, it would seem that a crop of Blue Öyster Cult devotees have taken a collective step outside of their salt circle and onto the lighted stage. Whether it’s the pop metal Satanism of Ghost, or the 70s-tinged stylings of groups like Lucifer, Blood Ceremony and Witch Mountain, occult rock with just the right amount of metallic edge has taken a very specific subset of the world by storm. So where does New York’s Mama Doom fit into the pentagramed paradigm?” I dismember mama.