Metallica

Newsted – Heavy Metal Music Review

Newsted – Heavy Metal Music Review

By Steel Druhm on August 2, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, American Metal, Chophouse Records, Heavy Metal, Reviews, 12 comments

“By now most of you are familiar with the dysfunctional soap opera that led Jason Newsted to jump ship from Metallica prior to their execrable St. Anger album. Anyone who watched the shockumentary Some Kind of Monster can see why he bailed and most probably wonder why he didn’t beat copious amounts of Danish ass and kick over the Hetfield Table™ on his way out the door. Since his exodus, Jason has shown himself to be a productive and versatile musician’s musician, recording with Voivod, playing with Ozzy Osbourne, keeping his Echobrain project running and finding time to launch his eponymous solo project Newsted.” Jason Newsted has this solo thing going on and finally released the debut album. Steel Druhm gives you the lowdown as Lars and James download it illegally out of spite.

Darkane – The Sinister Supremacy Review

Darkane – The Sinister Supremacy Review

By Steel Druhm on July 1, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Prophecy Productions, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 17 comments

“Darkane is a band is that has been somewhat overlooked over their fifteen plus year career despite some solid output. Born in the second wave of Swedish melodic death metal, they were strongly influenced by the likes of At the Gates, Dark Tranquility and Soilwork. They made their bones crafting, thrashy, technically impressive death with plenty of melody and references to the “Gothenburg sound” and albums like Rusted Angel, Expanding Senses and Layers of Lies were enjoyably intense assaults on the listener full of vicious riffs and harsh vocals, all sugar-coated with slick, technical prowess. Unfortunately for the band, their birth more or less coincided with the explosion of metalcore bands equally influenced by the Swedish melo-death sound and Darkane quickly got lost amid a sea of crappy core.” Can these melo-death mongrels re-establish themselves after a five year hiatus or is it too little too late in a genre that has began to dry up?

Havok – Unnatural Selection Review

Havok – Unnatural Selection Review

By Steel Druhm on June 16, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, American Metal, Candlelight, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Thrash Metal, 13 comments

“I couldn’t help it, I had to rescue this review from Mr. Fisting Himself and his mad, imperious rule of giving every rethrash album a 2.0. Why did I have to spare Havok from the dubious rating thrash heap you ask? Because these feisty youngsters strike me as the true vanguard of the rethrash movement and where they go, so goes the retro wave. While Havok brings little in the way of musical innovation to a static, fairly stale style, they’ve staved off tedium on prior albums like Time is Up through sheer youthful exuberance, grit and fancy musicianship.” Steel Druhm may be able to save Havok from Mr. Fisting, but can he save them from themselves?

Evile – Skull Review

Evile – Skull Review

By Steel Druhm on June 11, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, Earache Records, English Metal, Reviews, Thrash Metal, Thrash Metal, 3 comments

“Evile has always occupied a strange space in the re-thrash movement. They seem to be one of the big wigs in the scene, yet I hear far less buzz about them than many other retro acts. They are also one of the few bands to eschew the common Slayer, Exodus and Testament mimicking in favor of a much more traditional Metallica influence. Their sound generally exists in the phantom zone between the Master of Puppets and And Justice for All eras and the later works of long overlooked Wargasm.” That combo sounds like a can’t miss, right? When you’re talking about skull tank music, you can never be too sure, so you better find out where Steel Druhm stands on the Skull.

Interview with Mike Fleishmann of Vision of Disorder

Interview with Mike Fleishmann of Vision of Disorder

By Alex Franquelli on September 1, 2012 in 2012, Interviews, Nu Metal, 0 comments

Deep inside we knew we were still due something. From Bliss to Devastation kept on resurfacing from the depths of our dusty, imaginary shelves lost somewhere in our memory. The years following Vision of Disorder’s (VOD) split in 2002 saw them being held responsible (together with a bunch of other bands) for the birth and growth of nü metal; a genre which overstayed its welcome far longer than it took it to express itself in a constructive manner. If it wasn’t all bad, that was probably because the seeds had been sown by bands like Faith No More, Tool and Rage against the Machine… and Vision of Disorder.