Reviews: Power Paladin, Iron Slug, Tomorrows Outlook, Helgafell (Matt Bladen & Spike)

Power Paladin - Beyond The Reach Of Enchantment (ROAR)

Icelandic power metal band Power Paladin, need to do two things with their sophomore record Beyond The Reach Of Enchantment.

Number one: showing anyone who missed it why they scored a massive 9/10 from me with their debut album Magic Of Windfyre Steel. Number two: whether they can recapture that glorious fantasy power metal brilliance on this follow up.

Beyond The Reach Of Enchantment definitely shows their hand early with another conceptual saga where Dungeons & Dragons, Robert E. Howard, Frank Frazetta and anything that features swords and sorcery combines with that power metal purity of bands such as Rhapsody, Stratovarius, Hammerfall, Helloween and also DragonForce (Glade Lords Of Athel Loren).

So they begin with answering both questions in earnest, galloping bass and drums, light speed guitar harmonies, sweeping keys and soaring vocals this is power metal for the old school crowd, but Power Paladin refine it all with album two, as they bring speed/thrash metal explosivity on opener Sword Vigour and The Royal Road, the latter adding some Maiden gallops from the rhythm section.

Power Paladin are a band about majesty and might, creating fantasy worlds to explore with their music, the production crystalline so you can hear every moment and while debut had lots of youthful exuberance, this one is more refined, the maturity, they now have shining through, with the cinematic tones of Aegis Of Eternity and theatrical Camelot Rock City.

They also show their connections with Majestica's Tommy Johansson joining on the neoclassical intensity of The Arcane Tower, but the six piece don't need any additional help really as they have locked in their sound since the debut but refine it with album two. 

As Valediction closes Beyond The Reach Of Enchantment, with nine minute Blind Guardian-like epic, Power Paladin cement their style as classic power metal for a new generation. A well deserved 9/10

Iron Slug– Deceit And Misery (Independent) [Spike]

There is a specific, heavy-set joy in stumbling onto a band that has already built a fortress while you weren't looking. While Iron Slug has a back catalogue that I now realise needs urgent excavation, Deceit and Misery functions as a sudden, hostile takeover for the uninitiated. It is a record that plays out like a high-velocity speed date with the history of heavy metal, hitting on sludge, doom, and various darker corners of the underground in a way that feels curated rather than cluttered.

The experience starts with the brilliant intro to A Calming Turmoil, and immediately, the production choices stand out. The crash of the cymbals and the drums have this distant, unpolished quality, it sounds like the kit is being hammered in the room next door while the rest of the band is right in your face. It’s a raw, honest bit of atmosphere that leads directly into a sludgy, doomy drive of bass and guitars that doesn't just invite you in; it drags you down.

As the record moves into Love Retires Under Night and Graceless Bodies, the band’s ability to pivot between influences becomes their greatest weapon. One minute you’re caught in a slow-burn, tectonic crawl, and the next, a jagged, old-school death metal riff is cutting through the fog. It’s a grime-flecked balance between the slow-burn atmosphere and the sudden, jagged violence that rewards the listener for sticking with the downward momentum.

The middle stretch, Die The Same and Ritualistic Feeding, doubles down on the grit. There’s a physical weight to the rhythm section here, a bruised-rib honesty that avoids the high-gloss polish of modern metalcore in favour of something far more subterranean. The vocals are a guttural anchor amidst the noise, delivered with a level of conviction that suggests these aren't just "protest songs," but a documented reality of the grind.

There is a distinct, dirt-under-the-fingernails feeling to the way this record ends, a silence that carries the weight of the debris it just created. Iron Slug haven't just provided a heavy distraction; they've built a sonic environment where the physical impact of the riff is the only thing that matters. It’s a masterclass in the beauty of the collision, and it’s effectively sent me straight to the archives to uncover exactly what else I’ve been missing while they were busy making the floorboards groan. 8/10

Tomorrow's Outlook - Black Waves (Battlegod Productions/Sörvik Rock Music) [Matt Bladen]

Black Waves is Tomorrows Outlook third studio album of heavy power metal that takes from the US sound despite the band being from Norway.

In the for fans of section names like Crimson Glory, Iron Maiden and Bruce Dickinson are thrown around and those latter comparisons come from the vocals of Tony Johannessen who’s a dead ringer for the air raid siren. 

Whether it’s commanding the rampaging rockers such as Eventide or on the mid-pace stompers like Oceans Of Sadness, he’s got that Bruce bombast which is ideal for the conceptual nature of these songs written by bassist Andreas Stenseth and manager/songwriter Trond Nicolaisen, the ideas of folklore, costal tragedy and history all inspiring the lyrical side of the album.

So Black Waves is written by a bassist, featuring two guitarists, often in harmony and air raid siren voice, Iron Maiden is definitely going to be a big influence (Down Falls The Axe), so though is a band like Heaven’s Gate and that thrashier German scene.

So it’s no surprise that the album was mixed and mastered by Sascha Paeth to make sure that the guitars of Øystein K. Hanssen and Valentino Francavilla have that that dirtier street sound of Judas Priest on Silver Ghost and Wait For The Sun, as there’s swashbuckling on the title track and more power metal propulsion on Lament Of The Dammed as Owe Lingvall’s drumming gets a chance to gallop.

Black Waves is the first album from Tomorrows Outlook since 2018 and while their name suggests otherwise they are band who look to yesterday for inspiration, filling their third album with some classic heavy metal. 7/10

Helgafell – Chronicles (Naturmacht Productions) [Spike]

Anglo-Saxon history is a bloody, jagged mess of "blood and toil," and on Chronicles, Helgafell has attempted to convert that collective memory into four sprawling chapters of atmospheric black metal. It’s a concept album in the truest sense, digging into the battles and kings that defined the late Anglo-Saxon reign. However, as is often the case with one-man solo projects, there is a visible seam to the music, a sense that the record has been "constructed" layer by layer in a room rather than "delivered" by a living, breathing unit.

The experience begins with The Harrying Of The North, and the talent on display is undeniable. The guitars possess a cold, pagan-inflected melody that fits the "torch of remembrance" theme perfectly. But as the nearly seven-minute track unfolds, the transition between the atmospheric calms and the high-velocity black metal stabs feels a bit mechanical. You can almost feel the moment the track shifts from "Part A" to "Part B" on the monitor; it lacks that organic, unpredictable flow that usually comes from a full lineup feeding off each other's energy.

The Bandit Of The Marsh and The Council Of Folly continue this trend of technical dexterity meeting studio-mandated rigidity. There’s a lot to admire here, the drum programming is sophisticated and the layering of the synths adds a genuine sense of historical scale yet it feels a tad disjointed. It’s like looking at a meticulously built model of a cathedral; the detail is stunning, but you can’t help but notice the glue at the corners. It’s "constructed" noise, lacking the raw, bruised-rib honesty that usually defines this genre.

The record finds its most cohesive momentum during The Union Of Kings. It’s the final chapter of the Anglo-Saxon narrative, and it leans heavily into a more heroic, rhythmic strut. The production is high-fidelity, which is a credit to the one-man effort but it occasionally robs the sound of the "gristle" needed for a record about medieval warfare. It’s a clean, professional excavation that sounds more like a documented history than a visceral experience.

By the time the final notes of The Union Of Kings subside, the story is complete, but the emotional connection feels a bit fragmented. Helgafell has clearly put an immense amount of work into the research and the performance, yet Chronicles remains a record of brilliant, isolated parts that haven't quite fused into a singular soul. It’s an interesting, highly talented look at the English kingdom’s roots, but it left me wishing for a bit more blood on the strings and a bit less precision in the mix. 7/10

Reviews: Wildernesses, Only Human, Divine Chaos, Final Coil (Spike, Matt Bladen, Mark Young & Rich Piva)

Wildernesses – Growth (Independent) [Spike]

You don’t just put a record like Growth on; you let it leak into the room like a damp patch on a cellar wall. 

Hailing from a space somewhere between the reverb-drenched ghosts of 1991 and the tectonic weight of modern post-metal, Wildernesses have delivered a forty-minute document that understands a fundamental truth: the best noise is the kind you have to wait for. It’s a record of patience, pained storytelling, and a level of distortion that would make Jim Reid nod in grudging, feedback-soaked approval.

It starts with Sleepless, an instrumental that spends nearly two minutes doing absolutely nothing but building a cold, atmospheric dread. It’s a masterclass in the slow-burn, a hazy threshold of clean tones that feels like a long walk home in the rain before the cymbals finally crack and the floor drops out. 

When the distortion hits, it isn't just "loud"; it’s a shimmering, multi-layered wash that keeps its melodic soul even when the volume is redlining. It’s that specific Jesus And Mary Chain-style trick: burying the beauty so deep in the fuzz that you have to work to find it.

The real heart-punch arrives with Happy Hollow. As a lifelong disciple of the original shoegaze blueprint, hearing these vocals kick in is pure catharsis. 

There’s a pained, melodic clarity here, a direct descendant of the "ethereal-age" legacy that manages to sound fragile even while the rhythm section is trying to shake the teeth out of your gums. It gives tracks like [dread] and English Darkness a narrative weight that feels properly epic, turning the "atmospheric" tag into a vehicle for genuine, bruised-rib storytelling.

The middle of the record, Terrible Bloom and Maintenance, is where the post-rock engine really starts to smoke. These aren't just "jams"; they are expanding soundscapes. 

The production is exceptional, keeping the delicate, needle-fine guitar lines audible even when the low-end churn is at its most oppressive. It moves with a mechanical persistence on Maintenance, suggesting a band that knows exactly how to build a crescendo until the room feels too small to hold it.

As we move through the long-form desolation of Cassino and Four Hour Drive, the "weight of emotion" the band talks about becomes a physical presence. Four Hour Drive, in particular, captures that specific, road-weary exhaustion of a 3 AM transit, leading into the finale of Summertime, 1917.

When the final vibration eventually cuts out, you’re left with a silence that feels heavy and entirely earned. Wildernesses have spent this record measuring the depth of the void, proving that the most interesting thing about a wall of sound is the cracks you can see in it if you look close enough. 

It’s an honest, unvarnished account of the grind, a heavy, shimmering reminder that the best shoegaze is the kind that leaves you looking for the exit while you’re still enjoying the fall.

Personally, and it’s my review, I bloody love this. 10/10

Only Human - Planned Obsolescence (Season Of Mist) [Matt Bladen]

Denmark has quite a history with forward thinking prog bands, from the prog power of Pyramaze, to the industrial elements Mnemic and the modern sound from Vola, their prog metal scene isn’t vast but has always been very musically gifted and willing to break new ground.

Only Human are the latest to make their mark internationally with what they call “existential prog metal” inspired by TesseracT, Spiritbox, Bring Me The Horizon and countrymen Vola (early albums), this is as modern as it gets with huge emotional release coming from the clean/harsh vocal, power inside the cavernous riffs and melody and fragility from the atmospheric synths/keys (Sleep Descent).

Planned Obsolescence is a dystopian record that warns of humanities impending downfall as we are consistently forced to replace things are working due to incompatibilities that are deliberately written into the code, it ponders whether it is us who are really the product.

What I do always find humorous, I guess, with albums that deal with ideas like this, is that they are densely layered with electronics and try to emulate that synthetic feel as much as possible while warning you against the encroaching importance of technology, it's this conflict that makes the songs come alive as the skill here is to make it feel automated but with real humans doing the creative part.

Here with tracks such as Breach and Sleep Descent, Only Human, prove to be more than human as the electronic elements are particularly strong. Even a slower tracks like Death Cult and Techno Fascists have introspective ambience, a lingering sensation of the ominous that comes from the fight against losing our humanity.

With ethical technological dilemmas are big on Planned Obsolescence but the music driven by human passion and skill, resulting in cutting edge prog metal from Only Human. 9/10

Divine Chaos - Hate Reactor (Independent) [Mark Young]

A touch of Brit Metal!! Divine Chaos have returned with Hate Reactor, their follow up to The Way To Oblivion that dropped (as I am reliably told) back in 2020.

So, I’m adding Divine Chaos to a list of bands that show an incredible amount of promise in grasping what makes metal tick whilst managing muddy that message up. I’m getting ahead of myself, so lets take in the positives here (and there is a ton of them). 

It sounds tip-top, its clear, precise and you really get submerged within these super sharp guitar lines. Its aggressively played, harnessing a modern tone that allows them to also drop face-melting lead breaks at will. 

I’ll point you in the direction of Hate Reactor, the second track that is a great summation of this approach. Straight forward, down the middle rhythms and guttural vocals, you can’t go wrong with this. 

The lead break is excellent, and in all honesty if someone asked me for an example of what good sounds like, I’d set them here. In fact, they have such a handle on making the guitars the main focus, with the interplay, harmony lines everything sounding so on point its hard not to get carried away.

The downside is where they utilise cleans. They come in and add an unwanted sheen to things, so much so that it snaps me out of it. For me, they offer nothing and detract from the oft stunning work they have done on here. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so strongly about this before, possibly because of how strong the music is behind I am genuinely upset by it. 

I hate to be negative about anything, especially this. Again, this is a personal opinion, and on reflection when you weigh up the presence of the cleans against the guitar work that is in place here, the choice of ignoring it is yours to make.

As albums go, they have crafted a strong one in spite of my feelings towards the other style of singing. Of the 9 tracks here, only Condemned To The Void feels like a misstep and again that leans more into the aggravation I have with that clean singing. 

Elsewhere, each track has that quality that when transposed to the live arena will cause the crowd to well and truly go off. Playing these live will roughen them up, refine their edge but only slightly. On balance, they can be rightly proud of their efforts here. 7/10

Final Coil - 1994 (Nyctophobic Records) [Rich Piva]

Final Coil has had a wild ride on this blog. 

Polarizing would be a good word for it, but I gave their 2024 record, The World We Inherited, a pretty decent score as they nicely incorporate 90s alt stuff with some proggy and metal leanings with some synths added in too. Cool. 

The band now has decided to go “back to their roots” , mentioning bands that put out important records in that year as reference points: Alice In Chains, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, and Machine Head. 

I get all these reference points, I just wish they would stop mentioning Pink Floyd, for multiple reasons. Anyway, the four songs from this new EP are supposed to harken back to the days of flannel and whatnot. As someone who pillaged K-Mart’s racks to find a different flannel pattern, I will be the judge of that.

OK sure, it is raw and tuned down, so that’s cool. Instant Fix, the opener, sounds like a band from 1994, but maybe one of the ones that got signed to a major because every other one did and then no one liked it except for me, the band got dropped, and it wound up in the promo bin. This is a compliment. Remember The Vines? I get that too. That one is not so much a complement. Narcissist is a fun little 90s track with all of the self loathing a good kid of the early to mid 90s had. It sounds like a demo from the session where Dig recorded their self-titled debut. 

Playing Games gives me Liars Inc. vibes, which is a good thing, but the song is so raw it leans a little too much towards the demo side of the house, which is maybe what they were going for? I like the harmonized vocal effort and its unabashed tribute to the year the EP is named after. It is fun that they got the ex-drummer of 90s favourite Therapy? To perform on the EP, which adds some cred for sure. Speaking of, Woke kind of reminds me of Therapy? Just a bit. It is another fun and raw effort. A song called Woke from an EP called 1994 though?

You can tell Final Coil had fun with 1994. It is very raw and underdone, which is a 180 from their usual output, and is kind of refreshing. The four songs here are a nice tribute to a time the band obviously incorporated into their sound, without it being a boring covers record. Good job. 7/10

Reviews: Stonus, Mystfall, Fuzzing Nation, Sanctum Pyre (Matt Bladen)

Stonus - Space To Dive (Ripple Music)

Finally I get one from the internationally recognised leaders of all things riff, Ripple Music.

I couldn't let m'colleague Mr Piva get his hands on this big fat slice of Cypriot fuzz, so I snapped it up to see what the band had to offer on their second studio album. Their debut Ripple after previous records came via Electric Valley/Daredevil Records and Ouga Booga And The Mighty Oug, the label of Greek stoner rockers 1000mods. 

It's in with, bands like 1000mods and Planet Of Zeus that Stonus fall style wise, both previous touring partners, while there's also a lot of gratitude payed to Nightstalker and American Space Lord Mutha's Monster Magnet. Space To Dive then has to prove why Stonus were signed to such a prestigious label in the riff scene. 

They burst out of the speakers immediately with woozy, psych-drenched chugs that pull you into an album inspired by "the torus field — the visual representation of sound, energy, and atomic vibration", the connection between everything in the universe, the metaphor for this band who live in different countries but coexist as one entity within music. 

The connection between the band is obvious with a tracks like Follow Me and Psychactive Baby where the bottom end of drummer Kotsios Demetriades and bassist Alaa Albaharna give them hypnotic grooves of the Monster Magnet universe, the vocals of Kyriacos Frangoulis have that reverb drawl of Wyndorf. 

Colours has Pavlos Demetriou and Nikolas Frangoulis playing some biting riffs from the likes of Mastodon while In Loop brings dazed desert rock of Nightstalker, to the record with lots of space to lose yourself in the groove as it segues into the explorative Tangerine and the heavy doom of The Hermit. 

While I've mentioned their influences a lot Stonus manage to create a sound of their own inspired by the bands I've talked about, Stonus' debut for Ripple is a more diverse journey into psychedelic heaviness, so strap in and enjoy this cosmic ride through Ripple accredited riffs. 9/10

Mystfall - Embers Of A Dying World (Scarlet Records)

Embers Of The Dying World is the second album from Greek band Mystfall. Led by soprano Marialena Trikoglou, they very much fall into classic grandiose sound of symphonic metal originators Nightwish, Epica and Within Temptation. 

No 80's synths, pop influences or anything like that which comes into symphonic metal these days, Mystfall are all about Marialena's soaring operatic vocals, sweeping orchestral movements and power metal backing that brings galloping riffs. 

Embers Of A Dying World poses the question, what's left if we keep destroying the planet at the rate we are? The band explore these though the concept of an alternate world where dreams are alive and fighting nightmares, so someone has read Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.

I digress though as these emotionally resonant themes are released with the theatrical, cinematic sound of Mystfall as Aris Baris' guitars create the cutting riffs and escalating leads, as Dimitris Miglis' drums provide the pace locked in with Stelios Vrotsakis' bass who brings that often needed other element of traditional symphonic metal bands, the harsh male vocals. 

Embers Of A Dying World by Mystfall recalls that initial symphonic metal era and when every other band is trying to modernise, their time-honoured, classically driven sound needs to be appreciated. 8/10

Fuzzing Nation - Mother Truck (Octopus Rising/Argonauta Records) 

Another album of Greek fuzz this week with a journey to a Fuzzing Nation. 

Again let's get them out of the way early as Fuzzing Nation have influence from 1000mods, Planet Of Zeus, Nightstalker, with a look outside of Greece to the greasy riffs of Fu Manchu and bands born from that Sky Valley scene. 

They were formed in 2022 by Angel Ioannidis (vocals/guitar) and Steve Giannakos (bass) both of doom band Sorrows Path as ex-Innerwish drummer Terry Moros finishes the trio who have a lot experience behind them in the studio and on stage. 

Born from a spontaneous studio jam, that D.I.Y ethos of "play it how it feels" that's directed their two previous EPs, returns on their debut full length but they approach it with a conceptual edge of this album being a chase through the desert, part Smokey And The Bandit, part Vanishing Point through the wastelands of Mad Max. 

This big Mother Truck speeds through dunes of grooving riffs where the early desert rock pioneers meet the post punk throb of Blondie on The Elders Code and Sabbath goes punk for I Don't Believe. These detours to the juggernaut of fuzzy stoner riffs are welcome variation in a style that can become a little one note. 

Fuzzing Nation though keep you interested and your head bobbing on their debut, whether you can follow the story or not, the music tells its own with fuzz and fury. 8/10

Sanctum Pyre - He Who Remains (Steel Gallery Records)

Sanctum Pyre aren't as much a band as they are a studio project with international reach. Forged by a trio of musicians based in different parts of the world. 

However the fact that Battle Symphony's Nikos Tzouannis, writes all the music, orchestrations, lyrics, plays the keyboards, and produces it means that their worthy of inclusion here, it also helps that they are signed to Greek label Steel Gallery. 

Now it's not a solo effort as Nikos is joined by mysterious guitarist/bassist/drum programmer/mixer Mike G and vocalist Rob Lundgren who has sung for everyone and their mother, but when your voice is that good I'd hire him too. 

Sanctum Pyre is a band I'd call an epic metal band, one moment (The Hammer And The Cross) they've got the weapons in the air march of Manowar, then the next it's the anthemic tones of Sonata Arctica, the folk filled style of Blind Guardian and dramatic storytelling of Kamelot.

The latter especially when they take Middle Eastern routes on Daughter Of The Wind where Thomas Karam of Noor and Shlomit Lev of Orphaned Land join. The one criticism I will say is that they do seem to have just the one intro riff on about three or for of the songs, that sounds very similar but bands have made careers playing the same song repeatedly so it's not too much of an issue. 

He Who Remains combines a lot of different sounds from different bands into one fantasy influenced heavy metal record, swords held high this pyre burns brightly. 8/10

Reviews: Neurosis, Mclusky, Exodus, Gong (Rich Piva)

Neurosis - An Undying Love For A Burning World (Neurot Recordings)

Look, I am not going to sit here and write this pretending I am something more than a casual Neurosis fan. Have I enjoyed their work? Yes. Do they have some records that are post metal sludgy classics? Of course. A Sun That Never Sets for example. For me though, Neurosis has always been a mood band, which is probably why I never dove deep into the darkest depths of their catalog. 

Well it's a good thing that the world is in a mood because it is the perfect time for a new, surprise, Neurosis record, titled An Undying Love For A Burning World. What could be a better title for a record dropped in 2026? What record could sound more perfect for a Neurosis in 2026? Add ISIS vocalist and post metal legend Aaron Turner to the mix, and you have everyone screaming for An Undying Love For A Burning World as an album of the year candidate. They would be right.

First off, Turner fits in perfectly. I am not sure anyone else could have filled the role. Second, the vibe of this record is the vibe of humankind right now, put to music. There is still a tiny glimmer of hope under all the despair on An Undying Love For A Burning World, but there is a lot of bleakness on these eight songs. The intro, We Are Torn Wide Open, is 58 seconds of tone setting, which leads into the heavy tidal wave of Mirror Deep. Right away you hear the synergy with the band and their new singer, who completely understands the task at hand. 

Musically, the dissonance and the heavy to soft, quiet to loud is what this band is all about and is on full display here. The production of the record is perfect for what it is all about. Words are hard to pick to describe An Undying Love For A Burning World, but what I can say is the three track run of Blind, Seething And Scattered, and Untethered will be in the mix for some of the best parts of any record all year. 

Blind, with the riffs and doomy sludgyness, Seething And Scattered, with the synth and noises to go along with the great riff and killer vocals, and Untethered, which sounds wonderfully like its name while having just enough melody underneath the surface to keep you right with it. Only a handful of you will be excited when I say the last two songs are a total of 28 minutes, but like what I assume it was making this record, we all must sacrifice for the art, and the payoff is so very worth it.

Someone just throwing this record on with no context or background might not get it. They may say it’s too long, or too all over the place, or they don’t like growly vocals. But even for a casual fan like me, this record absolutely blew me away. I can only imagine how the Neurosis super-fans feel; having their band back in 2026, with Aaron Turner on vocals, and the result being An Undying Love For A Burning World. Breathtaking. 9/10

Mclusky - I Sure Am Getting Sick Of This Bowling Alley (Ipecac Records)

Mclusky is one of my favourite bands of all time. Given how they ended, I thought we would never hear another peep from them as that band. Not only did we get a peep, we got a pretty much perfect Mclusky album last year in the form of the aptly titled The World Is Still Here And So Are We. 

After 22 years the band was back and sounded like they never left. Surely we won’t have anything else new? We certainly do, as the embarrassment of riches for Mclusky fans continues with the mini album I Sure Am Getting Sick Of This Bowling Alley, which is such a Mclusky album title. This blast of Mclusky goodness is six songs in thirteen minutes that continues the top quality new material that the 2025 record was chock full of.

Of course the first line of the mini album opener, I Know Computer, is “Long hair, no skin?”. What else could it be? We get a driving bass line, trademark Mclusky guitar work, and Andrew Falkous being Andrew Falkous both vocally and lyrically. As A Dad could be on any of the other classic Mclusky records and should be a live staple going forward. In the piranha was another piranha. Indeed. Spock Culture has some fun background vocals as the bass drives the vocals and the rest of the track along perfectly, for another undoubtedly Mclusky track. 

Hi, We’re On Strike is protest song, Mclusky style. It’s simple math. The noise rock category they get thrown in sometimes gets some evidence from this one. Fan Learning Difficulties seems like a weird love letter to all the shit rock lovers out there. I hear you Falco. The closer, That Was My Brain On Elves, is pretty damn deep for a track with that title and is just Falco and guitar telling us all the meaning of life.

More new Mclusky, please. Keep it coming. Falco may be Getting Sick Of This Bowling Alley, but no Mclusky fan is sick of their new material in any shape or form. 9/10

Exodus - Goliath (Napalm Records)

Thrash bands from the 80s seem to want to prove they can still bring the heavy in 2026. This was true of Overkill a couple years ago, of Testament’s amazing new record last year (absolutely killer stuff), and now true of Goliath, the new record from thrash legends Exodus. While not trying to prove that they are as fast as everyone as they may have on their last record, the band certainly brings the heavy, and a lot of it, on the ten tracks for almost an hour of headbanging California thrash.

A couple of thighs to get out of the way. First, this record should have been shorter than its 55 minute run time. There is nothing bad on Goliath, it is just a lot for one sitting. It is a tad slick production-wise, but you can get past that given the performances and the songs. Rob Dukes is back on vocals, and he sounds great. Of course Gary Holt is Gary Holt, and he has not slowed down a bit on this record. You can tell that is true right off the bat on the opener, 3111, which is a straight up ripper. 

Hostis Humani Generis shows that the only true original member of Exodus, drummer Tom Hunting, is still a madman and can hang with anyone in the genre. The Changing Me sounds as close to Iron Maiden will ever sound and is a great old school thrasher. The slow burn title track is certainly an interesting choice, especially with Katie Jacoby adding violin to the mix. Other highlights for me include the circle pit madness of Beyond The Event Horizon, the mid tempo rocker Violence Works, and how the record closes with another ripper, The Dirtiest Of The Dozen.

A fine effort for the 2026 version of Exodus, indeed. I got to see the band live last year, and the songs on Goliath will fit right in a live set. I think fans of the band will be happy with this record and it fits nicely with their later period work. 7/10

Gong - Bright Spirit (Kscope)

Gong has been around since the late 1960s. This is not the same band as the original lineup. A quick glance and their wiki and it looks like there have been at least 100 people in the band, give or take. I am in no way a historian on Gong, but I can say I enjoyed some of their early stuff. The new record, Bright Spirit, did not give me the same tingly feelings the older stuff did.

Why? It is so cleanly produced it is like antiseptic. A song like The Wonderment was five minutes of going nowhere. The opener, Mantivule, made me anxious for some reason. Stars In Heaven was more on the psych pop side of things and is by far my favourite track on the record. Most of the record is a lot of proggy bits that really don’t connect with me.

I am sure there are better people to review this record, but as a Gong novice, nothing on Bright Spirit is bringing me into the fold. There is nothing here for me to grab onto or have a return listen to. It’s not bad, just not for me. A bit too sterile and a bit too safe for my liking. 5/10

Reviews: The Holeum, Goatsmoker, Imbrium, Astral Goat Dominion (Rick Eaglestone, Mark Young, Matt Bladen & Joe Gautieri)

The Holeum – Ensis (Lifeforce Records) [Rick Eaglestone]

The Holeum return with their third album Ensis via Lifeforce Records and if you haven’t been paying attention to what this band have been quietly building since their 2016 debut, now is absolutely the time to fix that. 

This is a record that resists any single genre tag – part Death Doom, part Post-Metal, part Progressive and part something that genuinely doesn’t have a name yet – and it is all the more essential for it.

Album opener The Fermi Paradox does exactly what the best openers do – it sets the terms and dares you to keep up. The conceptual framing is right there in the title: that vast, unresolved question of why, given the statistical near certainty of extra-terrestrial life, silence is all we’ve ever received back. 

Pablo Egido’s vocals carry that weight convincingly, ranging from low, cavernous growls to something that sounds less like singing and more like a transmission sent into the void with no expectation of reply. 

It’s patient, heavy, and completely uncompromising – a statement of intent that Cosmic Void Spheres then moves sharply on from, arriving with a density and emotional reach that makes the album’s full ambitions plain. 

The guitar interplay between Luis Albadalejo and Julián Velasco surfaces here with some of the album’s most overtly melodic passages, and when clean vocals appear alongside them, this is the moment Ensis first shows you that devastation and beauty are, in The Holeum’s vocabulary, simply the same thing from different angles.

Macrocosm + Microcosm is where this record starts to demonstrate what separates The Holeum from their contemporaries. The track moves from something intimate and fragile to something that feels continental in its weight, and Miguel A. Fernández’s drumming is the structural backbone holding it all together – this is a band thinking about architecture, not just impact. 

Spontaneous Synchronization follows and is perhaps the most rewarding track on the album on repeat listens. There is nothing accidental about how its elements cohere, even as they appear to be working against one another, and Paco Porcel’s bass sits at the centre of it providing gravity when everything else threatens to pull apart. The mood never fully resolves and that feels entirely deliberate – it is an unsettling listen in the best possible sense.

Hyperdimensional Physics leans hardest into the progressive side of The Holeum’s sound and is Ensis at its most compositionally ambitious – structural phases that would feel jarring from a lesser band feel completely earned here, each one growing logically out of what came before it. If you want to know what this band are genuinely capable of, go and put this one on loud. 

Esoteric Futuristic Visions then builds around Egido’s drone work to deliver something atmospherically distinct from anything else on the record – forward-facing and speculative, a sound that looks beyond the edge of the known rather than retreating into familiar territory. 

For a band, whose entire conceptual identity is rooted in the furthest reaches of the cosmos, this is where that vision feels most fully realised.

Ensis closes with Geometric Congruence Vortex, and it is a closer that earns every second of its runtime – the clean tones of its opening minutes give the listener room to process the journey the album has taken them on, and the gradual return of heavier elements feels less like repetition and more like the album quietly acknowledging everything it has been.

Overall Ensis is the record that the Holeum’s genre-defying blend of Doom, Post-Rock, Death, and Progressive metal is rendered with a cohesion and emotional devastation that their previous work was pointing towards but never quite reached. 7/10

Goatsmoker - E.R.I.S (VinylTroll Records) [Mark Young]

And to close out the week, how about some massive riffs? Here to satisfy that need is Copenhagen’s Goatsmoker who bring their latest sonic pummelling for your delight and delectation. 

I should qualify that statement that this is primarily for those who dine out on big, fat guitars, vocals that have been dragged out and jumped on and song lengths that test your power of endurance. If you are still onboard after that description then you will find 5 songs of doom perfection.

Cursed leads the 4 piece out to play and over 9 minutes gradually grind you to a pulp. This isn’t super polished, their own bio notes that imperfection is key for them, and I suppose that is the case when you hear discord that is brought down on later moments. It’s the sound of a band that writes music that excites them first and you second. 

I’d love to wax lyrical about it but there’s little point. This is doom for those affection for it is captured within the lengthy, repeating mantras that their songs offer. It’s something when they make the shortest song feel like it has been stretched out of form, which is what they do on Waiting. 

It has a background sound that is like air raid sirens wailing in the distance and its here that those imperfections come in. When it does change, its subtle, little increases in speed here and there without sounding out of place. What doesn’t change is the weight of these riffs, they are fuzzed out and in turn almost blissed out as they teeter on a knife edge without falling over. Gods Of Gunzilla is a prime example of this. Its drawn out, slow, measured to the point of collapse but is pulled back each time. 

Doom fans will be all over this, that is without a doubt because it takes all of the key maxims for what you expect this genre to offer and puts them on a plate for you. The trouble is that for those liking a faster or shorter style then this is likely to turn you off. Saying that, if you made it through Cursed then you know what you have let yourself in for.

Entropy Reigns In Silence is the penultimate song and is massive. Truly massive, possessed with more life than the preceding tracks, it’s a glacial tempo but one that continues moving forward at all times. I would suggest that the best way to experience this is with headphones, which enable you to immerse yourself within this song. It changes shape as it pushes forward to the end, reaching a crescendo that I didn’t think I’d hear with them. 

It is a quality song, one that others should look to when writing a ‘good’ doom song because it is a belter. Dakhma is almost an anti-climax after that but isn’t without its charms. Taking some of its cues from Entropy, its happy to wield its own form sonic destruction and close this 5-song cracker out. Look for the almost angelic vocals running through it as it wraps up.

I think in all honesty it’s has the capacity to held up as a statement release. Its doom in the style they want to play and its all the more honest for it. I couldn’t say that its essential for everyone, but then if we all like the same then it would be pretty boring. If you have a hankering for big guitars then check them out. 8/10

Imbrium - Singularity (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

If you like Evergrey then you'll like Imbrium. There I said it, this Leeds/London band take a lot of influence from the Swedish mastered with their dark melodic take on prog metal. 

Featuring former members of Dreamcatcher, Memoreve and The Defiled, their EP, Singularity brings together dark melodic metal and progressive composition, striking a balance been atmosphere and weight.

From beginning of Fade Away which moves between driving riffs and piano driven choruses, the chunky The Dark Is Home, through the guitar riff meets orchestrations of Reach Out and the stirring finale of Dark Singularity, the guitars all come with a down tuned heaviness but there's also and abundance of sympathetic keys and synths, with an emotional heft in the lyrics that lends itself to the introspective sound Imbrium create.

The band say that they create music "that’s designed to hit hard—sonically and emotionally" and Singularity does do that in the same way that Tom S Englund and co can. They'll make you headbang one song, then cry the next and Imbrium do something similar with their songs about pain and loss, sung with passionate vocals and played with technical precision that never lets virtuosity hinder the melodies.

An impressive EP from Imbrium, a must for any fans of Evergrey or bands that have an emotional side to their prog metal. 8/10

Astral Goat Dominion - Only Lucifer And Fuzz (Self Released) [Joe Guatieri]

Astral Goat Dominion are a two piece Doom Metal band from Italy consisting of guitarist and vocalist Sergio Khaosfuzz and bassist and programmer Marco Oniric. Today I’ll be covering their debut album Only Lucifer And Fuzz which was released on the 31st October, 2025.

Getting into the record after the introductory interlude, we have track two with Lucifer (Part I). The guitar and bass both act as an ocean covering the song, immediately reminding me of Come My Fanatics era, Electric Wizard but not as raw. I say that as the guitars are trying to envelop you but they can’t, sure the loud volume is there but all of the other elements at play suck the life out of the track.

The drum machine is far too studio ready sounding clean and shiny, it’s as if they used computer software and simply dragged and dropped the sample on top of everything else. Similarly with the organ sound which attempts to create a spooky atmosphere, is just completely out of place. It’s unfortunate as well that all of this happens alongside vocals that just drone on and on, it’s not hypnotic, it’s boring.

The album title track doesn’t get much better. It has a clear Kyuss influence but it’s far too fast for its own good. Then to confuse myself even more by 1:04, there is a full-blown Disco section where the bass starts playing bouncy octaves, it completely threw me out of the experience.

Getting deeper with track seven, Make The Sludge Doom Great Again, performs a sin. It’s trying to insight a Black Sabbath-esque sing-along, constantly trying to beg people to get out their lighters and wave along with the band and the venue stops the show for fear of a fire hazard. The vocal just falls flat on its face and there is nothing appealing about it, not even heaviness can save the day.

This is a debut album and man does it feel like it… At last count one or two good to interesting riffs but they still copy Electric Wizard and that’s the thing with this record, I would rather be listening to anything else. After the album finished on a streaming service that I refuse to mention, a Mephistopheles song came on and I was transported into a world that I wanted to be in, it was so night and day.

Overall, Astral Goat Dominion has sadly failed to impress me with Only Lucifer And Fuzz. The lack of a drummer and simple programming really hurts the record, resulting in something that sounds lifeless. Obviously the band are huge fans of Doom, Stoner and Sludge as a whole but they do things which we’ve all heard a thousand times before and they go nowhere. It’s like having a drunken conversation with a few friends and not acting on a thought as you know for a fact that it would be a bad idea, no matter how fun it seems. 2/10

Reviews: Via Doloris, NO/MÁS, Diatribes, Parallel Minds (Rick Eaglestone, Joe Guatieri, Mark Young & Matt Bladen)

Via Doloris – Guerre Et Paix (Season Of Mist) [Rick Eaglestone]

A debut album that arrives fully formed is a rare thing, and Guerre Et Paix, the first full-length from Via Doloris, is exactly that. Released via Season of Mist, this is the project of French multi-instrumentalist Gildas Le Pape – one man, seven compositions, and a vision so coherent and so committed that it is difficult to believe you are not listening to a band ten years into their career. 

The fact that session drums are handled by Frost of Satyricon and 1349 says something about the circles this record is moving in – but what it says even more loudly is that the songwriting underneath had to be strong enough to warrant that collaboration, and it absolutely is.

Shifting between French, English, and Norwegian across its seven compositions, Guerre Et Paix treats language itself as an instrument – each tongue carrying its own emotional gravity, its own weight, its own texture against the music. 

The artwork by Linnea Syversen lends the whole package a sacral, almost ritualistic quality that is entirely in keeping with what Le Pape has created sonically. This is an album that demands your full attention.

Opener Communion sets the tone with an atmospheric deliberateness that has genuine weight to it – this is not a record that rushes anywhere, and from the first moments Le Pape makes that clear. 

Frost’s drumming grounds everything in physical momentum without ever overwhelming the melodic intent, and as an opening statement it works precisely because it feels like an act of arrival rather than a warm-up. Un Franc Soleil, written in French, is the album at its most quietly devastating – a track built around absence as much as sound, and the most emotionally exposed moment on the record. If you’re not paying close attention, it might pass you by, and that would be a serious mistake.

Omnipresents is where the folk and pagan elements that run through this record become most audible – there is a timeless, almost ancestral quality to the arrangement here, and the contrast between its more aggressive passages and the moments of reflective calm is sharper than anywhere else on the album. It is a demonstration of real compositional maturity. 

For The Glory sits at the heart of Guerre Et Paix and is, for me, the album’s crowning moment – the track that most fully encapsulates what Via Doloris is and what this record is trying to do. It is the kind of track that keeps pulling you back, and the more time you spend with it the more you find in it. Hands down.

Ultime Tourment is the album’s centrepiece in terms of sheer ambition – ten minutes that justify every second of their runtime and then some. It builds with a patience that most bands simply don’t have the nerve for, and by the time it reaches its peak it has earned that intensity completely. Go and put this on loud and give it the room it needs. 

Visdommens Vei, I brings the Norwegian language into the record with full force, and the mid-track shift into something more luminous and folk-tinged is the kind of moment that makes you stop whatever you’re doing and just listen – it is a genuinely brave compositional choice, and it lands every time.

Visdommens Vei II closes the album at just over two minutes, and that brevity is exactly right – it doesn’t tie anything off neatly, it simply lets the weight of everything that has come before it settles. Guerre Et Paix has earned that ending.

Via Doloris have felt like black metal’s most carefully kept secret for long enough – with Guerre Et Paix that is emphatically no longer the case. Gildas Le Pape has delivered one of the most fully realised debut albums in the genre in recent memory, a record that is meticulous in its craft, uncompromising in its vision, and deeply, genuinely moving in its emotional honesty. 

The collaboration with Frost is not a gimmick or a draw – it is a demonstration of just how strong the songwriting here is, because without that foundation no session drummer in the world, however legendary, could have made this record what it is. This is black metal that has something real to say, and it says it with extraordinary grace.

“The album is about confronting the fractures within yourself – the war between what you are and what you want to become.” – Gildas Le Pape. 8/10

NO/MÁS - No Peace (Redefining Darkness Records) [Joe Guatieri]

NO/MÁS is a Grindcore band from Washington, D.C. They are a name known by quite a few weirdos out there like myself who follow extreme music and have a hatred of their sense of hearing. They’ve been around for a good while now, forming in 2017 and putting out several releases. 

Surprisingly enough with their album that I’m covering here No Peace, it’s only the second “full-length” that they have released with their previous effort coming out in 2022. Again it’s a band that I’ve been aware of but never listened to as I go to more Grindcore gigs then what I do listen to, I was excited to get into it!

The album is typically short at 22 minutes, providing a hammer on your head until you see stars in your peripheral vision. NO/MÁS travel across the world and take influence from some things that you might not expect. For one, there's a lot of Thrash Metal worship throughout the album, it’s like the band are screaming I love you Slayer! 

Take track six, Leech and you’ve got an odd-pairing of two sections that miraculously connect. You’ve got an obvious wink and nod to Raining Blood as they take a fun spin on that famous riff and then juxtapose it with a solo which is straight out of the F-Zero playbook.

No Peace sits much more within Metal than what it does with Hardcore as it’s more about pure destruction than it is speed. The blast beats are especially killer right the way through with such a clean and impactful drum sound, it doesn’t give you any time to breathe and proves what an incredible drummer Henry Everitt is. 

The bass also gets a lot of time to shine, at its best it sounds like you’re getting a beating by a steel pipe, the instrument reverberates throughout the room and is always present.

I want to point out track nine, Choke Point, it’s a whole fake out, at first it makes me think oh this is too familiar until it reaches its arms out and brings in great head banging grooves. It goes from a more Groove Metal passage and then in front of your very eyes, the song deconstructs itself and takes elements away, leaving Industrial Metal grit by the end, such a fabulous idea.

Overall, with No Peace, NO/MÁS wears their influences proudly on their sleeve and has a great grasp over subverting your expectations, making for plenty of fun moments. It might be aggressive and off-the-wall but at least for a Grindcore record it feels oddly welcoming, taking you by the hand and saying look we don’t want you to throw up all of the time, only some of it. 

The album is a laugh with some fantastic locked-in performances, it’s a night out that you remember fondly but still forget about at least half of what happened. 7/10

Diatribes - Degenerate (Brutal Records) [Mark Young]

A new player has entered the arena!! Diatribes, arriving from the fertile Brazilian underground with their debut release Degenerate. It basically nails its colour to the mast from the off, once you get past the introduction that Death’s Echo Chants sets in motion. 

The Witch, is effectively what extreme metal sounds like where you ignore current trends or themes and stay as close as possible to what you got into this in the first place. It also sets the tone for what is to follow and makes no apologies about that. Its all drums that mash and riffs that explode outwardly. 

In the respect of being hard, heavy, extreme all of the standard descriptions that can be applied are satisfied here and even more so on Hostility Within that takes a core arrangement and then hammers you with it. They know to keep these songs on the shorter side too, conscious of repeating the same message too many times. There's a definite Slayer/Exodus flavour on display too, which isn’t a bad thing really.

There is obviously a ying to this yang and that is the fact that despite these tracks doing what they are supposed to do, they flash by without embedding. If you asked me right now for a song that stood out for me, I’d go with Masquerade, only for that Mandatory Suicide homage as its starts. 

The songs are energetic and built for being played live, of this I’m absolutely certain because I don’t think that Diatribes have the word ‘slow’ in their vocab. Because of this need for constant aggression to be manifested in song, you need them to have variation In how they play out. Just using speed for speeds sake only goes so far.

Still, this is a minor thing really when you consider that they have come here to be aggressive, to bring tightly focused extreme metal back into play. For those who would like to believe that Grunge, Nu-Metal or any other movement didn’t happen then this is for them. 

Its as Old School as you could possibly get without directly copying those influences. I think we should applaud them because it is a strong debut that points to good things coming. 7/10

Parallel Minds - Cairn (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]

Let's go once again in to the epic progressive metal sound of French band Parallel Minds shall we?

Cairn is their fourth studio full length and again brings together thrash, death, power and prog metal which has seen them compared to Blind Guardian, Evergrey and Symphony X and while the latter is very much where Parallel Minds ply their trade, the two former appear throughout with Orishas and Bhopal taking Blind Guardian into some African music sounds as Togo musicians Arka’n Asrafokor and Silveira Lakoélé Atalawoè add their skillset.

It's an album of cinematic orchestrations, neo-classical guitar solos, blistering double kicks and vocals that can hit top end high notes, gutsy passionate mids and gravel throated growls. The influence of Devin Townsend too comes in just how eclectic it is musically, this variation of this album comes from the heart of this album being the symbol of the cairn, stone piles left by travellers along their path.

Cairn is a 61 minute concept album, so it's not a quick listen, but if you give it time you'll be rewarded but some brilliant performances, great songwriting and a full cast of guest artist that drive the concept this album tries to convey. There's Native American chants that frame Trail Of Tears before it blows up into Iron Maiden style twin harmonies.

More guests from the French scene join the album as Asylum Pyre, Muhurta, and Stone Horns, to really increase the grandeur of this fourth record as we travel across the world though the medium of intense modern prog metal. Grab your passport and make sure your seats are in the full and upright positions as this is journey through the existence of man and the experiences they leave behind.

A superb record but one that you need to make time for Cairn is a pillar of the prog metal scene. 8/10

Reviews: Angus McSix, Temple Of Void, The Gems, Night Thieves (Matt Bladen)

Angus McSix - Angus McSix And The All-Seeing Astral Eye (Napalm Records)

The most recent quest for Prince Angus McSix (Thomas Winkler) began after the Hammer Of Glory was destroyed and he took The Sword Of Power and embarked on a battle against Archdemon Seebulon (Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann of Orden Organ), however he was imprisoned in an ice with no memory of who he was before.

So the next chapter of the story now begins with Angus' brother, Adam McSix (Sam Nyman of Manimal) taking the lead character role, Angus still appears on the opening track, 6666, however from here this is the journey of Adam to save his brother alongside new party member The Dwarf (Jasmin Pabst) who joins on guitar alongside Amazon Thalestris (Thalia Belazecca of Primal Fear), Ork Zero (Gerit Lamm) on drums.

Seeb also plays guitars and produces the record to make sure this conceptual fantasy is as over the top as it can be. Telling a whole new story, the music doesn't change too much, packing in a lot of grandiose power metal with some thumping electronics (Starlight Stronghold) plenty of tasty guitar/keys playing and massive choruses sung brilliantly by Nyman who slots into the frontman role perfectly with his power and range.

To make this second chapter even more epic they even add a few guests to the record as Rhapsody Of Fire join for Adam McSix, Turmion Kätilöt bring industrial thunder to Techno Men crossing Manowar with Kraftwerk, Dig Down has some AOR choruses aided by acapella act Van Canto while there's a party atmosphere on The Power Of Metal where Freedom Call join the fun.

And that's the kicker of this whole thing, Angus McSix And The All-Seeing Astral Eye is just fun, tongue-in-cheek humour, epic compositions and technically gifted performances, the adventure continues and you should join asap. 8/10

Temple Of Void - The Crawl (Relapse Records)

Five albums in and Detroit band Temple Of Void feel like experimenting, not in a way that totally runs away from their uncompromising death-doom assault but by adding elements to make it more experimental and musically mature. It's something they've been doing throughout their existence slowly adding softness to their hardened extremity with synths and melodic passages that are most prominent on album five.

The Crawl is a way for these veterans of the Michigan scene to explore some of their non metal influences as they throw in a lot of grunge and post-punk dull their sledgehammer into a more precise tool. Temple Of Void are guitarist Alex Awn, drummer Jason Pearce, vocalist/guitarist Mike Erdody, and bassist Justin Malek and they tracked The Crawl was tracked in a single week in January, at Kurt Ballou’s GodCity Studio (High On Fire) in Salem, MA. Ballou and engineer Zach Weeks (Deafheaven).

They give the record a spontaneity and rawness, feeling like you're right their with them as they're playing as Brad Boatright's master locks in this rougher hue but allows the non metal moments to breathe too. With lyrics continuing on the theme of fear and psychology from their last album, Temple Of Void can soundtrack epic D&D campaigns with The Crawl, packed with thrills and spills, it's death-doom brutality they have mastered with invitations from their other musical infatuations. 8/10

The Gems - Year Of The Snake (Napalm Records)

Classic rock trio The Gems take a further step into modernity on their second album Year Of The Snake, moving outside of the AC/DC-like riffs of their debut with second full length Year Of The Snake. Blasting out of your speakers with the title track, it's another mammoth record of 14 songs and while there are some rare jewels here, but like it's predecessor there's still too much of it.

Granted the 14 tracks don't ease off the accelerator as Mona Lindgren's guitar/bass riffs peel off against the drumming of Emlee Johansson creating some loud, boisterous noise for singer Guernica Mancini's huge vocals to croon over, she's joined by Tommy Johansson of Majestica for an 80's sounding track, while there's still a lot of blues, a bit of glam stomping and a ballad or two that are all written for hard rock radio and live stages.

Year Of The Snake is solid second record from The Gems, shaking up their songwriting with a bit more variety and a swagger towards the mainstream, across these 14 songs. 7/10

Night Thieves - Metaxis (Self Released)

London band Night Thieves have been quite rapidly rising through the ranks of the UK scene and this has all been leading to the release of their hotly anticipated debut album Metaxis. It, like their 2024 EP is produced by Romesh Dodangoda, who gives it the huge modern sound he is so renowned for.

So what is Metaxis like? Well I'm glad you asked as Night Thieves managed to capture the current musical Zeitgeist with this debut record, crafting a full length that has musical inspiration from bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, Architects and Spirtbox.

There's some 90's alt rock tones on Running (Out Of Time), the atmospheric suite of In Between Pt 1/Pt2, the chorus driven crunch of Mycelia or the introspective balladry of See You On The Other Side which features Jessie Powell of Dream State.

Night Thieves combine heavy djenty grooves from Rick Hunter-Burns (bass) and percussive power from Ryan Delgyn (drums) with pulsating synths and cavernous riffs from Paul Andrew (guitar) and some sneering, gritty vocals for Jess Moyle, a potent cocktail that have been mixed properly to create this debut.

The result is a hooky, style of modern musical alchemy, Night Thieves are a stage honed, confident four-piece with strong creative senses, all of which is on display on Metaxis. 8/10

Reviews: Gaerea, Hanging Garden, Vreid, Monosphere (Spike & Matt Bladen)

Gaerea – Loss (Season of Mist) [Spike]

I’ve spent the better part of my time listening to this trying to figure out exactly what happened to the Gaerea I thought I knew. For years, this masked Portuguese collective was the gold standard for that specific brand of "anonymous" cathartic black metal, all soaring dissonance and high-velocity grief. 

But with Loss, it feels like the masks haven't just changed; the entire anatomy beneath them has morphed into something else entirely. It’s a record that seems to be in a constant, violent argument with its own heritage, trading the obsidian grit of the past for a sheen that feels uncomfortably close to modern metalcore.

The record opens with Luminary, and the shift is immediate. The production is massive, clinical, even, stripping away the atmospheric fog that used to make their music feel so immersive. It’s a technical, high-energy start, but there’s a melodic sensibility here that feels "off." 

By the time you hit Submerged and Hellbound, you realize the "black metal" tag is being held on by a very thin thread. The riffs have a rhythmic, bouncy quality to them that wouldn't feel out of place on a Parkway Drive record, which is a jarring pill to swallow if you were expecting a descent into the abyss.

One of the more frustrating aspects of the record is the sense that the band is trying to be three different things at once. Uncontrolled and Phoenix feature these soaring, almost anthem-like choruses that feel at odds with the "anonymous" persona. 

It’s "odd" is the only way to describe it, a band that used to thrive on mystery now seems desperate to be understood, leaning into a polished, theatrical sound that robs the aggression of its teeth.

The middle stretch, featuring Cyclone and the vowel-less LBRNTH, is where the "experience" really starts to feel disjointed. There is a lot of technical skill on display here, certainly, the drumming is a heart-attack pulse of precision but the songwriting feels fragmented. 

It’s a collection of modern metal tropes dressed up in black metal's clothing. For a band that used to excel at long-form storytelling, these tracks feel more like they’re chasing a specific "modern" vibe rather than building an atmosphere.

The finale, Nomad and Stardust, tries to bring back the epic scale, but by this point, the identity crisis has done its work. Stardust is a sprawling, melodic closer that leans heavily into the cinematic, yet it lacks the raw, bruised-rib honesty of their earlier work. It’s a beautiful sound, technically speaking, but it feels like it belongs to a completely different band, one that prefers the spotlight to the shadows.

Loss is going to be a divisive one. It’s a record of high production values and undeniable talent, but it’s also a record that feels like it’s lost its way. Gaerea have chosen to morph into a different beast, but in doing so, they’ve traded their unique, haunting voice for a sound that’s far more common. 

It’s an interesting experiment in genre-blending, certainly, but for those of us who liked the mystery, it feels like a step toward a much more predictable light. 7/10

Hanging Garden – Isle Of Bliss (Agonia Records) [Spike]

Nine albums in, most bands are content to paint the same atmospheric walls a slightly different shade of grey. Finland’s Hanging Garden, however, have used Isle Of Bliss to perform a bit of a structural demolition. 

Known for a brand of "dreamlike" melancholy that leaned heavily into synth-laden layers, this new full-length represents a sharper, more sinister pivot. It is a record of bare-bones compositions and a ferocious, "rawer" intent that proves the band is far more interested in the "death" part of their melodic death/doom heritage than they’ve been in years.

The shift is evident from the six-minute opener, To Outlive The Nine Ravens. While the sombre DNA is still there, the drum work has a physical, snapping presence that grounds the atmosphere. By the time you hit Eternal Trees Of Turquoise and the title track, Isle Of Bliss, the "shimmer" has been replaced by a much heavier approach.

The true highlight of this evolution is the vocal dynamic. While Riikka’s aetheric cleans remain a staple, Isle Of Bliss sees her weaponize her capability to scream. 

These death metal duets with Toni create a visceral friction on tracks like To The Gates Of Hel and The Death Upon Our Shoulders. It’s a stark, violent contrast that adds a layer of genuine peril to the compositions, making the transition between the "introspection of the core self" and the "ferocious side" feel entirely earned.

As the record moves through the rhythmic gloom of The Blights Nine and Arise, Black Sun, the landscapes shift from dense forests to the "eternal voids" of dying stars. The guitars of Her Waning Light are jagged and urgent, leading into the final, six-minute descent of Beneath The Fallen Sky.

Instead of a comfortable resolution, the record ends on a note of sustained, heavy-set tension. Hanging Garden haven't just made a darker album; they’ve found a way to make their melancholy sound dangerous again. It’s an honest, unvarnished look at the spaces between life and death, delivered with a level of professional craft that justifies their place at the top of the Finnish underground. 

It’s a heavy, dark-edged reminder that sometimes the most powerful noise is the one that invites the darkness in rather than trying to keep it at bay. 8/10

Vreid - The Skies Turn Black (Indie Recordings) [Matt Bladen]

After a five year gap Norwegian band Vreid return after a period of reflection where they questioned their direction and their future, after 30 years could they still carry on as they were? 

These doubts are bound to creep up now and again but Vreid have managed to overcome them and shape them into an album that is built on resilience and a renewed focus on who they are and what they want to play.

So with The Skies Turn Black Vreid still play black metal but with additional moments that make them a different beast all together. A track such as Kraken for example showcases their affinity for the dramatic and cinematic. A soundtrack for a film of the same name it's an ambient synth song with a slow propulsion that reflects the massive squid it's named for.

This embracing of slower movements is key to discovering new soundscapes for the band they embrace doom, hard rock and even prog on Loving The Dead where Agnete Kjølsrud from Djerv adds eternal and unworldly voices to a cut that could feature on Stranger Things as Echoes Of Life has Vreid going a bit Ghost.

Inspiration for the album came from all over but especially Ozzy Osbourne, heard in their arena ready choruses and theirs also some reliving of their early thrash moments on tracks such as Smile Of Hate, while the finale, The Earth Rumbles is a grooving, organ fuelled closer as Flammen reminds everyone that Vreid are a black metal band at their core.

A record that pulled Vreid back into being and sees them at their most creative, The Skies Turn Black is a welcome return. 8/10

Monosphere - Amnesia (Self-Released) [Matt Bladen]

It takes a certain kind of band to open for the mighty Between The Buried And Me however German band Monosphere have been doing just that recently.

So I'm sure you can guess their musical habits before even listening to a note, especially when you consider they have also supported Karnivool and The Ocean, they are prime fodder for the Euroblast/ArcTanGent/Radar Festival audience.

With complex arrangements, where intricate jazz (Allusion) and crushing metalcore, mix with ambient post-rock and blistering black metal (Nadir), to drag you into a realm of avant-garde but focussed intensity, where what popular is often visited but rarely full embraced. 

The band have been taking their own path since the pandemic put them on the path to create a debut album that was ripe with experimentation, their live activity resuming on the path to a sophomore album that brought more sophistication.

Each touring run gained them a bigger audience, with international shows and festival appearances, but with Amnesia they are taking all of the lessons they've learnt over the last few years and have crafted a record that is undeniably theirs, rejecting major labels in favour of self releasing a third album that they can have full control over.

This lack of inhibition and outside interference means that the piano powered dissonance on Idiomorph, builds into the technical brilliance of Zenith, both feel so different but flow naturally into one another. 

Lovers of BTBAM, The Ocean, Devin Townsend will find that Monosphere's Amnesia is an album they will want to remember. 9/10

A View From The Back Of The Room: Miss May I & Crystal Lake (Jack Norris)

Miss May I, Crystal Lake, Great American Ghost & Diesect, Club Academy, Manchester, 20.03.26



Heading down the steps into the dungeon that is Manchester’s Club Academy, you could feel it straight away. That buzz before a big night. I’ve been seeing Miss May I live since 2014 when they supported Halestorm at the Apollo, so being here now, camera in hand reviewing them, feels a bit surreal. Safe to say, I’m right in my element and more than ready for it.

Kicking things off were Australia’s Diesect, and fair play to them, They were already dealing with a rough situation. With their drummer out due to illness, stepping in at the last minute is Davier Perez from Great American Ghost, who had about an hour to learn the set. Honestly, you wouldn’t have known. He absolutely smashed it. Tight, heavy, no mistakes—just pure quality. The set might’ve been shorter, but it still hit hard and did exactly what it needed to do. Get the room warmed up for what was coming.

Next up, Great American Ghost took things up a level. Heavier, louder, and way more chaotic. The crowd started moving properly here—pits opening up, bodies flying about. Ethan Harrison was constantly at the barrier, getting right in people’s faces, pushing for more energy, more movement. It made the whole thing feel really close and intense. By the last track, he was telling the crowd to spin the room, and when that breakdown drops with him stood in the middle of the pit, it’s absolute carnage. Huge props to Davier Perez for playing back to back sets

Then Crystal Lake came in and just blew the place wide open. From the first second, it was chaos. The energy was ridiculous—non-stop movement, first crowd surfers of the night, and it only builds from there. Open Water turns into a sea of bodies as they call for as many surfers as possible, and the crowd delivers. Watch Me Burn is another standout. People screaming every word back, pits going off, just pure madness. There was even a moment where the lights drop out and it’s just camera flashes lighting the room. It looked insane and feels even better at the moment. Easily one of those sets you won’t forget.

Finally, Miss May I themselves hit the stage, and they didn't miss. Straight into it. Huge energy, massive sound, and the crowd was with them the whole way. Levi Benton was on top form, even grabbing a hat from someone in the crowd, sticking it on, and giving them a fist bump—little things like that just add to the whole vibe of the night. The setlist is stacked too, with tracks like Relentless Chaos and Hey Mister going off big time.

Everything about their set just clicks. Vocals were spot on across the board, the lighting looked incredible, and the pits never stopped. It was just constant energy from start to finish. Having seen them so many times over the years, I can honestly say this is the best I’ve seen them. Which says a lot.

Loud, chaotic, and exactly what you want from a metal show. Every band brought it, and Miss May I proved they’re still at the top of their game.

The gig of the year so far!! 10/10

Metal To The Masses South Wales Heat Rundown (By Matt Bladen)

So the Metal To The Masses South Wales heats are all done and dusted. You read all the interviews with this year's bands but we thought it was worth rounding up what happened before the Quarters kick off properly.

Things began super early this year with a slight change of venue from previous years as the East Side of the things were based at Green Rooms, a grassroots venue and practice room that is helping the new generation of talent to hone their skills.

For the first heat unfortunately veterans Catalysts had to pull out so that left us with the disgustingly youthful noise Syndicate, the modern metal slickness of Virtue In Vain and the classic rock sounds of Daytura. It was a hard fought Heat even though their was only the three bands playing.

The crowd were electric throughout getting involved with every set despite how eclectic the bands were. It was the arena ready heaviness of Virtue In Vain who took home the fan vote on the night while the judge vote went to the powerful vocals and hard rock swagger of Daytura.

Neither of these things should detract from how talented Syndicate are and with a bit of refinement they will be a force to be reckoned come 2027 for sure.

With one down it was over to the West Side for a post Valentine's Day love in.

Again held at the brilliant Bunkhouse Swansea, a community hub that is the heart and soul of Swansea's music scene. A venue defined by resilience their first heat saw some violence from Clarity As Arson, some traditional metal from Antique Curse, grooves from Thawn and modern melodic metal from House Of Hosts

Taking the judge vote was the outright aggression of Clarity As Arson who came back after a short hiatus to remind everyone what they do so well while it was House Of Hosts that stole the fans heart, with a massive backing in the local scene they stormed their way into the Quarters.

Both Antique Curse and Thawn offered something different, and while they came up short they are both acts with a lot of youth on their side and will only refine and define themselves from here.

The following weekend we had two Heats back to back. Over at Green Rooms there was another eclectic line up of Deathcore heaviness from Excursia, some vampiric rockong from Blood Red Lips, alt rock from Remain The Few and a bit more classic/thrash metal from Winter.

This time Blood Red Lips brought their nocturnal hordes to The Green Rooms and exsanguinated the fan vote from the room drop by drop, while it was Excursia who rumbled the skulls of the judges, taking their juggernaut into the Quarters.

As with every M2TM heat the quality is hard to beat and Winter brought youth and were entertaining to all the old school lovers in the room while Remain The Few definitely have a strong following with their proggy/punky/emo sound. Go check out both for yourself!

Back to the West and this one looked strong with electronic metalcore band Inscape coming back to life in Swansea, while Scratch One Grub brought some 2000's era heaviness. The always odd Grindhorse83 filled Swansea with psycho surf metal while Mould crawled their way out of the tarpits with sludge.

In the results side Inscape and Scratch One Grub unfortunately had to take the loss but that doesn't detract from their skills and live presence, both are very active, especially Inscape who have a unique sound in sometimes overwhelming genre pool. So catch them at any of their numerous gigs coming up to see what the fuss is about.

However I'm terms of results the crabs clacked their claws for the the absolute weirdness of Grindhorse83 who stole the fan vote like it's a golden Maguffin in a Tarantino movie while the judges absolutely loved having their ears abused by Mold who brought bowel shifting NOLA sludge to Swansea.

The train didn't stop and it was back at the WEST station for another three band bill as Blindburn had to withdraw just before the heat. With melodic hard rock grooves from Soul Fracture, electronic cinematics from Manumit and psych/doom from Pvriah.

The three band heats are always a little sadder as only one band is left behind and on this occasion it was Pvriah, who's psych/doom didn't quite hit the sweet spot but saw them gain a a new set of minds to melt.

Soul Fracture took the fan vote after getting Bunkhouse's hips shaking and heads nodding into the next round while the judges were drawn into the neon powered beatdowns of Manumit who will I assume do some kind of digital transporting into their Quarter.

Another week another weekend of M2TM goodness as it was the first Friday Heat at Green Rooms. This was strong one with returning finalists Exaust coming back to unleash the thrash in the pits, returning to M2TM too were the doom laden sounds of Risperidrone ready hurt your neck.

They were joined by two new bands as Paroxism brought and extreme metal assault while there was modern, emotive metal from Convoy, but unfortunately it was these two bands that didn't quite get to the next round, as again there are tweaks needed, so get out there and support them at gigs so they can come back bigger and better next year.

So then it was the other two bands that won the day, Risperidrone have gotten heavier and nastier since they last appeared here, clearly making a mark on the Green Rooms crowd as they took the fan vote while Exaust proved why they made it all the way to Day Of Wreckoning last year, having shifted their thrash sound a little but still rip your throat out.

A days breathing space and The Bunkhouse saw disgusting death from Virology, evil doom riffs from Hateful Dread, extreme aggression from Judasnail and a lot of youthful rocking from White Leather.

Another eclectic one and while it was Virology, who have some M2TM pedigree, but perhaps a two piece death metal comprised of vocals and bass was a step too far, and Judasnail who will continue to evolve and mature with their extreme metal, missed out on the next round.

This left the fan vote to fall to the satanic, fuzz laden viciousness of Hateful Dread, breaking a few eardrums and causing a few trips along the way. The judges on the otherhand though that the rocking of a band like White Leather was way beyond their years so have the nod to them

Finally then it was back once again to Green Rooms (not the renegade master) for last of this year's heat and there was a third withdrawal as Levels Of Violence pulled out with only a day or two spare. This left Treforest with the alt metal stylings of Avicide, the heavy low end doom of Damek and the newly metallic hardcore brutality of Disrupt The Continuum.

It's always a much tighter affair when there's only three bands and while Damek's Satanic Doom got the teeth rattling it was the youthful grooves and powerhouse voice of Avicide that got the fan vote as the judges decided that the newly retooled and voracious Disrupt The Continuum would be our last Quarter finalist.

There's so much talent on offer this year the next few rounds are going to be fun as everything culminates with Day Of Wreckoning, the M2TM South Wales Final that sees six bands play for a place at Bloodstock Festival in front of a huge audience. The event also brings a lot of guest acts along including a headline set by The Wildhearts.

Ticket for that are available here:

https://ticket247.co.uk/Event/517805

A View From The Back Of The Room: Froglord (Gregg Stockdale)

Froglord, Adfeilion & Grindhorse83, The Bunkhouse, Swansea, 14.03.26

The irony of the fact that Froglord’s first swamp ritual in Swansea takes place on one of the driest days in months wasn't lost on me. I had actually played a show with them back in 2023 (before they won Metal2TheMasses) and I was a fan ever since. Seeing them in my local venue was an opportunity too good to pass up, so I headed off on my lonesome to witness the spectacle.

I didn't arrive ridiculously early, but when I got to The Bunkhouse, there were only another three people there. It was with a sinking feeling that I began to pray to the Mystic Toad that Froglord’s first trip to Swansea wouldn't be a bust. Thankfully, as the clock ticked towards 8pm the venue started to fill up.

First up were Grindhorse83. An odd mix of Garage Punk, B-Movie soundtracks and Surf Rock. If you're a fan of The Cramps, The Mummies or Man Or Astroman, then you'll be right at home leaping like a loon to these guys. This was, in fact, only the second time I had seen them live, due to their uncanny knack of playing shows on the same night as me. As the saying goes though, better late than never.

Fronted by vocalist Mia Zadora, this rag tag bunch of musical misfits construct songs that are like the walls of Macchu Picchu. Big, odd shaped lumps of stuff that fit so tightly that you can't get a playing card between them. Whilst this seeming chaos is unfolding, Mia’s vocals switch from chanteuse to operatic to the embodiment of “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. 

She prowls the stage and commands the audience with great skill. This is no mean feat, as quite often nowadays the front person in the band seems to rely on phrases that are becoming tropes in the metal scene and are shouted whether there are enough people to “open the fucking pit up” there or not.

The set closer is a song entitled Top Down Hearse, which sees guitarist Michael Hiatt perform a whistle solo that would make Sergio Leone weep with joy. (Editors Note: whistling can only be performed with the cowboy hat) And as they lap up the adoration of the crowd you realise that this is only the first band of the night. Being the opener is the hardest spot on the lineup. You have to get the crowd going, usually just after they have arrived and are still only half a beer deep. 

Grindhorse83’s sound is so infectious and energetic that they have no difficulty in getting the crowd into the palm of their hand (or, claws I guess, IYKYK).

After the brightly lit, organised chaos of Grindhorse 83, the lights lower, ivy appears to sprout from the very walls and candles cast a mysterious, magical glow…

Next up are last year's Welsh winners of M2TM South Wales, Adfeilion. Clad in black robes, faces daubed with woad, and with a solitary lantern lighting the way, Adfeilion make their way through the audience and take to the smoke filled stage. 

Last summer, they really surprised everyone at the competition with their instrumental, folklore tinged pagan prog-folk. The songs themselves provide the soundtrack to a story that is told in-between tracks. This is quite a novel experience, and one that allows you to fully appreciate all facets of the story being told.

They were engaging before when I saw them last year, but now they seem to have developed a harder edge to them since Ben Baljak (from openers Grindhorse83) joined. They can now properly be called a metal band, with the mellow, synth driven folk ambience offset by some genuinely heavy riffing. On the previous times I've seen them, I don't remember synchronised head banging and strobe lighting, but maybe I'm misremembering.

This new aspect doesn't feel contrived at all. While the guys obviously love the mellower vibes, you can see they really love to get very loud and very heavy. I'm glad to see that they are developing as a band into something genuinely unique.

Finally, accompanied by the incessant piping of frogs, the swamp priests Froglord took to the stage. Immediately you can see why these guys have made a name for themselves in the Stoner/Doom scene, even scoring spots at Bloodstock and Desertfest. Their titanic slab-like riffs sound like glaciers calving into the ocean, and are the perfect counterpoint to vocalist Benjamin Oak’s energetic stage presence. Imagine Rob Zombie fronting Variation On A Theme era OM, and you'll be somewhere close. Call me lazy with my comparisons if you wish, it is what it is.

After being warmed up with the opening two bands, the crowd were a sea of nodding heads as everyone locked into the riffs. Highlights of the set for me were The Bog, and They Came From Saturn (which closed the set). They are my two favourite Froglord songs, and as I joyously sang along, it was great to see a band new to The Bunkhouse had not only a rammed live room, but that everyone loved them.

I may have been in “a relaxed mood” (I was definitely in “a relaxed mood”), but the lineup segued perfectly from opener to closer. All three bands are well worthy of any and all accolades they receive. The Bunkhouse showed, yet again, why it is such a great venue, and is a real treasure to the Swansea music scene. 10/10

A View From The Back Of The Room: Thrice (Tom Bladen & Alex Tobias)

Thrice & Lysistrata, Tramshed, Cardiff 13.03.26



Alex

Getting the night going were French trio Lysistrata (7), who came on to little fanfare and jumped straight into their set of grungy, post-hardcore. Drummer Ben Amos Cooper was main singer, meaning that Max Roy (bass) and Théo Guéneau (guitar) are free to be very active, bouncing and moving around the stage with a frantic pace.

According to our Editor (who's a bit of nerd) their name comes from the Aristophanes feminist play where the titular character convinces women will withhold sex until their warring men reach a peace agreement. Nothing witheld here though as Lysistrata put their all into every song, leaving them very little time for interaction which did mean that the crowd were a little less receptive, though that could also be because most were there for the headliners.

A good showing that featured one slower song in between their normal faster mathy style, just on the right side of techy to open a show like this with plenty of energy and melody.

Tom

Some bands age with a kind of rare defiance that goes beyond call backs and nostalgia, and Thrice (9) are a perfect example.

Walking into a very busy Tramshed in Cardiff for the opening show on the UK run of this tour felt genuinely brilliant, not just because a full room sets the tone before a note has even been played, but because it says something still really matters about a band like Thrice — nearly three decades on from forming in 1998, they still pull an exceptional following, and not one built purely on nostalgia either.

From the moment they got going, the thing that really stood out was just how tight everything felt. Thrice have always been a band built on control as much as intensity, and throughout the set the musicianship was exceptional, Dustin in particular was astonishing.

His voice has aged like fine wine, carrying weight and grit into the older material while still sounding powerful, clear and almost album-perfect across both the newer songs and long-standing favourites. That in itself is no small feat when you have a catalogue that covers so much ground stylistically, but there was never a point where he sounded like he was reaching for something that was no longer there. It was there, fully intact, and then some.

If I had one small gripe it would be that I could have done with a touch more gain on the rhythm guitar parts, just to give some of the heavier moments a little more bite, but in truth it did very little to take away from the overall sound. What came through far more strongly was how balanced the whole set was, both in performance and design.

The pacing was spot on. Earlier on, there was plenty there for the fans who wanted the big hitters — The Artist In The Ambulance, Paper Tigers and Stare At The Sun all landed exactly as you would hope, and the room absolutely responded in kind — but what worked especially well was how the set later allowed itself some breathing room.

Dropping into slower, more haunting tracks like Black Honey and Beyond The Pines gave the night a different shape rather than just chugging at one speed, and that balance meant the set served both the casual crowd and the die-hards really well (especially considering some of us OG's need a breather these days!)

It was wonderful to see the near capacity crowd fully engaged, and giving the band the kind of reception you would want for the first UK date of a run like this. It felt like the perfect way to kick off the tour on this side of the bridge, and if the rest of the UK stint gets anything close to this standard then they are in for something special.

An exceptional performance from a band who continue to prove why they have endured as long as they have. Hopefully not too long before they are back again either.

(And with The Illusion Of Safety hitting 25 next year... surely?)

A View From The Back Of The Room: Primal Fear (Debby Myatt & Tony Gaskin)

Primal Fear & Ronnie Romero, KK’s Steel Mill, 12.06.26



Back in Wolverhampton tonight we are expecting a masterclass of vocal verbosity with two of the best voices in metal on display.

First up was journeyman vocalist Ronnie Romero (9). Often cited as the Voice of Modern Rock, Romero has been hand picked by the likes of Blackmore and Schenker in the past, but more recently he’s been concentrating on his own material, especially his last album Backbone.

Songs like Chased By Shadows from the album Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters and title track from Backbone are gritty, heavy and melodic. Perfectly balanced for his soaring vocals, and of course he doesn't disappoint us with two Rainbow tracks (Stargazer, Kill The King) and a Deep Purple track (The Battle Rages On).

We always look forward to Ronnie passing through, and he hints that he will be back with a full headline show, something to look forward to!

By the time the Teutonic knights of power metal took to the stage, the room was buzzing.

Touring in support of their latest album Domination the band were on fire. Ralf Scheepers leads his cohort through a domineering set of pure power metal ferocity. His voice is unwavering, still powerful, you can see why he was once touted as a replacement for Rob Halford. The twin guitar assault is led by Magnus Karlsson and new addition Thalia Bellazecca, with long time compadre Mat Sinner on bass.

Not surprisingly the set was built around tracks from the new album, songs like Destroyer and The Hunter give you a hint of what this album is going to sound like. With five tracks from the new album played tonight there was plenty of room for fan favourites from all era’s, from the origins of the band Primal Fear to the present day. Deep cuts like Chainbreaker and Final Embrace lead us into the grand finale of the epic Running In The Dust. A real masterclass in pure European heavy metal delivered with flare and gusto.

All we need now is the Quest Fest team to book Primal Fear (10) for Quest Fest 2027!