Helloween

Helloween – My God-Given Right Review

By Steel Druhm on May 31, 2015 in 2015, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Power Metal, 38 comments

“Looking at the cover of the new Helloween album, it strikes me that these chaps made quite a career out of the whole “not taking ourselves too seriously” schtick. They’ve been at this for 30 years, eternally projecting the same jokey-hokey, fun-timey German thing while essentially creating the entire Euro-power genre singlehandedly. That intrinsic lack of seriousness permeated the music more over time, and the cutesy pumpkin monsters and cornball lyrics have at times been too much to bear, leading some (me) to take their music less and less seriously as the years went by.” Does anyone remember laughter? These cats do.

Blackwelder – Survival of the Fittest Review

By Steel Druhm on April 29, 2015 in 2015, American Metal, German Metal, GoldenCore Records, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 23 comments

“A new power metal super group? Oh joy! You know how we love super groups around here. This star studded lineup features vocal powerhouse Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear, ex-Gamma Ray) and his Primal Fear band mate Aquiles Priester on drums, rounded out by Bjorn Englen (Yngwie Malmsteen, Quiet Riot) on bass and the brutally unheralded Andrew Szucs on guitar.” Guitar-heavy power metal by a mostly unknown crew of power players and we’re supposed to call it a “super group”? Yes we are.

Kiske/Somerville – City of Heroes Review

By Steel Druhm on April 8, 2015 in 2015, Frontier Records, German Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Reviews, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, 52 comments

“Here we have another project band from Frontiers Records which appears to be trying to duplicate the success of the Russell Allen and Jorn Lande pairings. Like those albums, the music here is written by Magnus Karlsson, this time with the help of his Primal Fear band mate, Mat Sinner, and as usual, it walks the line between melodic power metal and radio-ready hard rock. Essentially, this is Allen/Lande with Michael Kiske and Amada Somerville standing in. How you feel about that will depend on the extent of your love for the former Helloween golden boy and the erstwhile queen of symphonic metal backing vocals (Avantasia, Aina, et al).” Do you need to take things down a notch and relax? This might help.

Angra – Secret Garden Review

By Angry Metal Guy on January 15, 2015 in 2015, Brazilian Metal, EarMusic records, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, 54 comments

“Angra needs no introduction. The band has been a power metal fixture since the early 1990s and are one of the biggest metal bands to ever breach the borders of their native Brazil. Still, the last decade(ish) has been rocky for these guys, and you might not be blamed for having thought they called it quits. Not only did half the band quit in the early-aughts to go and start Shaman, but they’ve had dust-ups with management and were put on hold—even having been mistakenly reported as split-up entirely. Hell, between 2010’s Aqua and the release of Secret Garden they lost both a singer—who was replaced by Rhapsody [of Fire]’s Fabio Lione—and got a new 23 year-old drummer to boot. Consistency has been hard to come by for Angra of late.” Mr. The Metal Guy takes on Angra’s newest record. Does he bite the cheese?

Things You Might Have Missed 2014: Mike LePond’s Silent Assassins

By Al Kikuras on December 19, 2014 in 2014, American Metal, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Things You Might Have Missed 2014, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, 5 comments

“Symphony X nerds rejoice! Then again, maybe you won’t. Symphony X bassist Mike LePond’s first solo effort was released in September of this year and those expecting LePond to stick to his primary band’s keyboard-laden progressive metal path may be sorely disappointed. If you are, get that geeky head out of your pale behind (if you can get up off it long enough between games of Skyrim)…” New Jersey knows metal, and Al Kikuras knows New Jersey.

Estate – Fantasia Review

By El Cuervo on December 1, 2014 in 2014, Mighty Music, Power Metal, Reviews, Russian Metal, Glam Metal, Power Metal, 15 comments

“Hailing all the way from sunny Russia, Estate are the proud bearers of good ol’ fashioned Europower. Fantasia, their début effort, is brimming with cheesy keys, up-tempo riffing and questionable English accents – the hallmarks of power greats such as Sonata Arctica and Helloween. Nonetheless, the musical term ‘fantasia’ implies a nonconformity to a specific style, and there are certainly a few curve balls here.” Starting with that Pan-tastic album cover!

Kaledon – Antillius: The King of the Light Review

By Steel Druhm on November 9, 2014 in 2014, Italian Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Scarlet Records, Power Metal, 5 comments

“After the medieval dumpster fire that was the last Kaledon album, you’d be justified in asking why your friendly neighborhood Steel Druhm is reviewing their latest platter of hobbit beshirted LARP guild metal. Call me a glutton for punishment, but a certain morbid curiosity drove me to give the promo a spin to see if there was any improvement from last time.” They say morbid curiosity killed the cat, so will Steel pay for his wonderings ways or can this band step up to the big leagues…of orc metal?

Gamma Ray – Empire of the Undead Review

By Steel Druhm on April 1, 2014 in 2014, EarMusic records, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 28 comments

“Wow, these guys have been around forever! Empire of the Undead is Gamma Ray’s eleventh freaking album, and we get it despite the fact their recording studio burned down and everything was lost, except the masters for this baby. So what do you get from a band so beloved and long in the tooth?” After so many albums, what are you expecting? Steel Druhm expects you to read this.

Iron Savior – Rise of the Hero Review

By Steel Druhm on February 27, 2014 in 2014, AFM Records, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, 25 comments

“Iron Savior is one of those “comfortable old shoe” kind of bands. Every album is essentially the same and the quality ratio is generally respectable. They were never much for shifting stylistic paradigms and it’s fair to call them the AC/DC of overblown sci-fi power metal, but as long as the music was good, it was all fine. Sure, their recent output hasn’t exactly rivaled their classic early period stuff, but they never dropped a total dud either and 2011s The Landing was plenty of fun in all it’s overproduced, studio-abusing bombast.” Those crazy Germans are back with more Gamma Ray-meets-Judas Priest power metal for the masses. Will this be your new metal savior? Steel Druhm opines.

Primal Fear – Delivering the Black Review

By Steel Druhm on January 15, 2014 in 2014, Frontiers Records, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Reviews, Heavy Metal, 10 comments

“Primal Fear never claimed to be innovators or trail blazers. They just want to rock their Judas Priest inspired, traditional metal shtick and write catchy, anthemic songs. They’ve been good at it too and certainly made a career of it, since Delivering the Black is album number ten for the Teutonic terrors. However, with their innate lack of innovative spirit, the risk of staleness becomes an ever present stalking horse, and some of their discography has suffered it’s awful sting…” Ready for more music Judas Priest could have/should have written after Painkiller? No matter how you answered, here it is!