Temic - Ceiba (Season Of Mist) [Matt Bladen]
Temic's debut album Terror Management Theory garnered a near perfect score from me when it was released in 2023, but that's with good reason as Temic is something of a prog supergroup.Founded by keyboardist Diego Tejeida and guitarist Eric Gillette, who were both in Mike Portnoy's Shattered Fortress at the time but have played with many other prog band including Haken and Devin Townsend, they recruited drummer Simen Sandnes and Norwegian Idol contestant Fredrik Klemp and Temic was born as a homage to epic, emotive prog metal.
Inspired by Dream Theater (See; Myself), Devin Townsend, Pain Of Salvation and on this follow up, acts such as Evergrey (Broken) and Leprous (Ceased To Be), the introspection of these bands permeating through this follow up record and it's focus on mortality, with songs about loss, pain, anger, fear, blame, silence and ultimately resilience.
This concept record travels into proggier territory than their debut, though it never allows the virtuosity to take over from the entertainment value, each member contributed to the album, including new bassist Miguel Pereira, who makes his mark with some top level bass prowess, adding a lower end technically to what is already a virtuoso group.
Ceiba has Temic, easing into themselves as a band, allowing for more emotional resonance to sit behind the musical brilliance, it's an hour of music that has the balance between loss and acceptance at its heart and continues to see Temic evolve into one of prog metals shining stars. 9/10
Sari Schorr - Running Wild (Provogue Records) [Keith Boswell]
Sari Schorr's third album Running Wild, drops October, throughout the album Schorr displays a gritty down-to-earth vocal style that is supported by a blend of jazzy rock themes with a soft metal undertone.
This current offering opens up with hard hitting and catchy Mr. In The Middle which builds upon the sound of her previous album Never Say Never 2018. The song really embodies this album for me providing the listener with a very bluesy arrangement complete with an almost intimate vocal which really hits the spot.
More of the same is delivered over the next few tracks without never being repetitive or letting the listener down in anyway with tracks such as Running Wild and Monday Morning. Dropping in intensity Schorr shows her vocal versatility with a toe tapping Man On Fire and Better Day. Variety is indeed very apparent with the way in which guitar riffs are blended to deliver further songs such as Elevate and Finding My Way.
All in all, a good piece of work from Sari Schorr with great vocals and musicality to match, is a decent listen and thoroughly recommended. 7/10
Speed Stroke - Damage Control (Scarlet Records) [Rob Spark]
Speed Stroke's fourth album is a hard-rock record with Mötley Crüe in its genes. The Italian band look the part, and the label pitches it as Scandinavian sleaze meets 80s street metal, "all killers, no fillers". The mix by Erik Mårtensson of Eclipse is excellent. The songs are a more mixed experience.
Glorious Breakdown is Crüe with double-kick drums clicking away like a Duracell bunny on amphetamine, but it's far too repetitive. Heart Of The City bored me to sleep, an album track from Europe. The title track uses a plane crash as a metaphor for panic, which suits the cover, but with its close harmonies and Top Gun feel it's generic pop rock. State Of Shock builds into guitar noise before the chorus drowns in backing vocals, though its solo took me back to 1988.
Italian Coglione opens in Italian ("Who is this person, sorry?") and is then achingly slow and drab. As someone with Sicilian heritage, I know coglione is far ruder than "idiot", and the song doesn't live up to its insult. In Flames keeps trying to go somewhere but has no ticket for the bus ride.
Blessed By Misery is where the album finds its feet. Guest vocalist Giorgia Colleluori sounds divine, the harmonies are lush and the shredding finally fits. It's a great song that grows with every listen. All For The Weak End is slower hair metal, Skid Row meets Mötley Crüe, and Crüe fans might like it. Its swipe at gurus and ice-bath hustle culture is the album's sharpest lyric. Walls, a song about vampires, bored me. I lived through the 80s and it was awful, and this made me regress, badly.
Then Chain Reaction surprises. I feared Diana Ross in the 80s, but got plain, honest rock music that had me shaking my head and tapping my foot. Where has this been all album? An amazing ending. The mix is excellent, but in places the production is 80s-generic, the stock rock-radio sheen of the era the band are chasing.
Damage Control sounds great but plays it too safe. A guest vocal that shines, a song that grows with each listen and a cracking finale lift it above generic, and Crüe devotees will find enough to enjoy. The polish is there; the songs now need to match it. 6/10
Axty - The Pain Made Me Who I Am (Napalm Records) [GC]
It’s been a good while since I reviewed anything, so thought it might be best to ease myself back in with something familiar, metalcore, the description nowadays could mean anything as the way the sound has changed and morphed over the years is mind boggling, I have to say most of it has been for the worst with the odd shinning light making you not want to completely give up on the genre, so, is Axty’s new album The Pain Made Me Who I Am an new high or a new low??
It all gets going with Pain Made Me, which is an overly long intro really, and from this I am not getting metalcore, I’m getting if Slipknot started their career now, they would probably sound like this type of vibe, lots of electronics and scratching and a few riffs thrown onto for no good reason and its bit of a shit start if I am honest?!
Sari Schorr's third album Running Wild, drops October, throughout the album Schorr displays a gritty down-to-earth vocal style that is supported by a blend of jazzy rock themes with a soft metal undertone.
This current offering opens up with hard hitting and catchy Mr. In The Middle which builds upon the sound of her previous album Never Say Never 2018. The song really embodies this album for me providing the listener with a very bluesy arrangement complete with an almost intimate vocal which really hits the spot.
More of the same is delivered over the next few tracks without never being repetitive or letting the listener down in anyway with tracks such as Running Wild and Monday Morning. Dropping in intensity Schorr shows her vocal versatility with a toe tapping Man On Fire and Better Day. Variety is indeed very apparent with the way in which guitar riffs are blended to deliver further songs such as Elevate and Finding My Way.
All in all, a good piece of work from Sari Schorr with great vocals and musicality to match, is a decent listen and thoroughly recommended. 7/10
Speed Stroke - Damage Control (Scarlet Records) [Rob Spark]
Speed Stroke's fourth album is a hard-rock record with Mötley Crüe in its genes. The Italian band look the part, and the label pitches it as Scandinavian sleaze meets 80s street metal, "all killers, no fillers". The mix by Erik Mårtensson of Eclipse is excellent. The songs are a more mixed experience.
Glorious Breakdown is Crüe with double-kick drums clicking away like a Duracell bunny on amphetamine, but it's far too repetitive. Heart Of The City bored me to sleep, an album track from Europe. The title track uses a plane crash as a metaphor for panic, which suits the cover, but with its close harmonies and Top Gun feel it's generic pop rock. State Of Shock builds into guitar noise before the chorus drowns in backing vocals, though its solo took me back to 1988.
Italian Coglione opens in Italian ("Who is this person, sorry?") and is then achingly slow and drab. As someone with Sicilian heritage, I know coglione is far ruder than "idiot", and the song doesn't live up to its insult. In Flames keeps trying to go somewhere but has no ticket for the bus ride.
Blessed By Misery is where the album finds its feet. Guest vocalist Giorgia Colleluori sounds divine, the harmonies are lush and the shredding finally fits. It's a great song that grows with every listen. All For The Weak End is slower hair metal, Skid Row meets Mötley Crüe, and Crüe fans might like it. Its swipe at gurus and ice-bath hustle culture is the album's sharpest lyric. Walls, a song about vampires, bored me. I lived through the 80s and it was awful, and this made me regress, badly.
Then Chain Reaction surprises. I feared Diana Ross in the 80s, but got plain, honest rock music that had me shaking my head and tapping my foot. Where has this been all album? An amazing ending. The mix is excellent, but in places the production is 80s-generic, the stock rock-radio sheen of the era the band are chasing.
Damage Control sounds great but plays it too safe. A guest vocal that shines, a song that grows with each listen and a cracking finale lift it above generic, and Crüe devotees will find enough to enjoy. The polish is there; the songs now need to match it. 6/10
Axty - The Pain Made Me Who I Am (Napalm Records) [GC]
It’s been a good while since I reviewed anything, so thought it might be best to ease myself back in with something familiar, metalcore, the description nowadays could mean anything as the way the sound has changed and morphed over the years is mind boggling, I have to say most of it has been for the worst with the odd shinning light making you not want to completely give up on the genre, so, is Axty’s new album The Pain Made Me Who I Am an new high or a new low??
It all gets going with Pain Made Me, which is an overly long intro really, and from this I am not getting metalcore, I’m getting if Slipknot started their career now, they would probably sound like this type of vibe, lots of electronics and scratching and a few riffs thrown onto for no good reason and its bit of a shit start if I am honest?!
Who I Am has the full on nu-metal bounce within the structure of the guitars and has scatty electronics and weird atmospherics that just aren’t very good to listen to at all, the one thing I do like are the vocals, they have all the necessary anger when needed and a beautiful harmony when singing clean, which he should do more often as its certainly the highlight so far.
Dismay does nothing different and sound like anything of any mid 00’s Roadrunner release you would care to think of, they try their best to be heavier that they are but it never really pays off, the lighter parts are always better and stand out a lot better for me. Selfish is really just a complete mess and just has no real body to it its just feels like a jumble of sounds mashed together and all fighting for the spotlight and nothing actually wins overall, certainly not my ears!
Everything Is Beautiful is just dull and uninspiring as ever and has no selling points or memorable hooks that make you want to go back to it, everything is flat and boring, this vocalist REALLY deserves better because he is 100% the best bit of this band, shame. All I Love drags me past halfway and I’m still yet to really pick anything noteworthy out of this collection of random noises apart from the clean vocals which are superb as ever on this track and if there was the music to back it up this review could be so much different, but there isn’t so what can I do?
Closer makes my eyes roll back so hard in my head they almost come out of my mouth, it has the hallmarks that made the second wave on nu-metal complete dogshit, stupid rapping, heavy electronics, scattergun vocals with chug chug guitars that have no feeling and then obligatory big verse that can’t save this mess, Fragile has me hanging on for dear life but not in a good way, in a more, is this still going and how many more track do I have to put up with sort of way!
Every track has had the same sort of sound just in frequently messier ways, this just does nothing for me, it all feels so painfully misguided and un-sincere. Break ushers in the losing acts of the album and guess what? You could pick any of the other tracks and struggle to tell the difference between them, the one tone sound of this record is wearing on my last nerve now, I’m not sure how you can record an album of 12 tracks and everyone sounds completely alike? SIGH!!
Of the last 3 tracks Nothing But Pain, With Me and End This, absoultley nothing changed, tired chugging guitars smashed together with noisy and annoying electronics and the pattern of the song always stays the same, chugg, noisy bit angry vocals, squeak squeak electro bit shout shout, quiet bit to lull you in, more chugg chugg, end.
I tried as long as I could but in the end The Pain Made Me Who I Am just wore me down, I didn’t like and of the music or how it was structured, the only saving grace were the vocals and even they wore off towards the end. If you liked nu-metal and think it has a place being revived in 2026 this is the record for you if you don’t, I wouldn’t bother with this. 3/10
I tried as long as I could but in the end The Pain Made Me Who I Am just wore me down, I didn’t like and of the music or how it was structured, the only saving grace were the vocals and even they wore off towards the end. If you liked nu-metal and think it has a place being revived in 2026 this is the record for you if you don’t, I wouldn’t bother with this. 3/10
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