Metal Reviews

I think Decapitated have dropped the album of their careers (so far) with Cancer Culture. @decapitatedband @nuclearblastrecordsFor me it encapsulates the power and technical mastery that drew me to the first release of theirs to cross my path and seize my attention, 2006’s Organic Hallucinosis.

Album review. Lord Belial - Rapture (Hammerheart Records) Release Date: 27 May 2022.This release is undoubtedly set to be the Black Metal highlight for 2022. @lordbelialband @hammerheartrecords666

Album Review - Michael Schenker Group – Universal, Atomic Fire.Universal sees 13 tracks and over 50 minutes of highly crafted melodic rock, featuring Schenker's fluid and unique guitar playing. @michaelschenkerrocks @atomicfirerecords

Brave Rival – Life's Machine album review. Release Date 6 May 2022.Every band dreams of writing and releasing the perfect debut. Very few achieve that, but Brave Rival have, and then some. Photo: Rob Blackham. @braverivalband @pmonkhouse1

Anvil – Impact Is Imminent (AFM Records). Album Review. Release Date: 20 May 2022.There is no band more dedicated to the Metal cause than Steve' Lips' Kudlow, Robb Reiner, and bassist Chris Robertson. @anvil.metal @lipsanvil @afm.records

Badged as traditional occult Heavy Metal, the US three-piece of JR Preston, Chris Reed, and Scott Michaels certainly bring an old school feel to their music. Their self-titled debut release firmly gazes upwards towards the Cirith Ungol, Judas Priest and Grand Magus camp.

Album Review: Icare release Charogne on Hummus Records. Charogne is a brutally romantic tribute to nineteenth-century French poet Charles Baudelaire.@hummusrecords #Icare

Album Review: Rammstein – Zeit (Universal). Rammstein are well and truly back, and Zeit is an album that sits very near the top of their catalogue.@rammsteinofficial @universal._.records

It may have been two decades since Infest, but Ego Trip shows the band are as hard-hitting, melodic and ferocious as ever before, their skills only getting more and more powerful as time goes by. @paparoach Words: @pmonkhouse1

Limited Edition Of One is a fascinating and frequently humorous insight into the mind of one of the 21st Century's most prolific and eclectic musicians, producers and songwriters.A great story of story of life inside the music business and success despite never being fashionable. @stevenwilsonhq @constablebooks @littlebrown @mick.wall7

The originality and heart that has been put into Dopamine make it a whole bigger experience than your average rock album. Thunder are now easily one of the best British hard rock bands of the past three decades. @thunderonline @bmguk

Robin Trower – No More Worlds To Conquer album review. Eleven tracks show once more that when it comes to quality, age is no barrier.This may be one of Trower's best works. It's that good. @robintroweruk @provogue_records

Walsall's Stone Broken are a wrecking ball of energy and will knock multiple lumps out of you.Revelation, out now on Spinefarm, is another huge leap in the right direction for Stone Broken. @stonebroken @spinefarmrecords @brian_boyle_72

Udo Dirkschneider, over his long career, has surely done it his way, and if anyone is supremely qualified to say yes, he did it his way, it is most definitely him.And doing it his way is exactly what he has done on every track. @u.d.o._official @official_dirkschneider @atomicfirerecords

William Irwin - Meaning of Metallica: Ride the Lyrics (ECW Press) - Release Date: 19 April 2022"For my money, there is no better lyricist in Metal… and frankly, I think he stands well in comparison to lyricists of any popular genre.." @metallica @metallicastpod

Bleed Divide is fast, furious, and at times impenetrable. Yet scratch the surface, and there is much to absorb and consume.It's a release of such massive power that you should be able to light whole cities from one play. @bodysnatcherfl @mnrk_heavy @hutchie224

Leader Of Down is the brainchild of former Motörhead guitarist Würzel and bass player Tim Atkinson.The new album The Screwtape Letters is an infectious listen guaranteed to get your hips moving. @rock_pixs @leaderofdown @cleopatrarecords

The eleven tracks on offer don't give you the full story of what went down in Exeter in September of last year.But it's still an exhilarating snapshot of one of rock's finest live acts. @weareinglorious Photo: @rock_pixs