Alien Weaponry - Te Rā (2025)

Alien Weaponry is a trash metal band from New Zealand singing in both English and Māori.  It's also one of my favourites. Their third studio album is now out and it's an absolute blast. If you like your metal direct, like a constant barrage of punches, with powerful riffs, this is your album. Perfect for fans of Sepultura and Gojira. 

Brainstorm - Plague of Rats (2025)

Brainstorm is a hard working heavy metal that's been around for a long time. Their new album Plague of Rats is eclectic but overall Brainstorm sticks to metal that is sharp, with an edge but not afraid of melodies. This is an incredibly solid heavy metal album that will have you head-banging and singing along.

Hamlet - Inmortal (2025)

Hamlet has been around since the late 80s. It's one of the greatest metal bands from Spain with a very solid discography. Their latest album Inmortal roars with the anger and fury of their late 90s output. A mix of hardcore, metal and groove metal, with occasional rapping. The songs in this album are direct punches in your face and the band shows it's still angry and hungry. Another great release from a seasoned band.

Eisbrecher - Kaltfront (2025)

Eisbrecher is one of the best German bands and one of my favourites in the neue deutsche harte genre. Their new album Kaltfront is another excellent release from the band with a perfect mix of hard sounds, darkness and electronic arrangements.

Fierce Deity - A Terrible Fate (2024)

Fierce Deity is a strange band and one that captured my attention right from the start with their first release, Power Wisdom Courage. The mix of power metal and stoner/doom music is quite unique and Fierce Deity make it work. The songs make an impact.

If you like your music dark, heavy and atmospheric but at the same time melodic, look no further. A Terrible Fate is an excellent album and I'm so excited to see this band continue to grow and develop their unique style.

Blind Guardian - Beyond the Red Mirror (2015)

 

Blind Guardian’s mix of power metal with a grunt, sprinkled with thrash elements, some symphonic tendencies, complex and intricate vocal lines and a great sense of the epic is unique and instantly recognisable.

Despite a lot of highs and a couple of lows in their discography, BG always deliver quality releases consistently. This is one of them. It may not have instant hits, but every song is excellent and perfectly executed. Another outstanding release from this veteran band.

The Birthday Massacre - Superstition (2014)

Another excellent album from this always consistent band. This album has more growls and more of an edge than their previous outing and it’s awesome to have them back.

Soen - Tellurian (2014)

Tellurian by Soen is an excellent prog-metal album. Comparisons to Tool will be inevitable, but Soen carve out their own style and the album is filled with powerful songs.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

While Heaven Wept - Suspended at Aphelion ( 2014)

Suspended at Aphelion is an outstanding epic album that takes you on a big journey. The songs follow each other smoothly and the album is best enjoyed as a whole. 

While Heaven Wept has managed to create an album with layers upon layers of greatness. An album that is subtle, complex and bold.

Rating: Heavy Rotation 

Black Moth - Condemned to Hope (2014)

Originating from Leeds in the UK, Condemned to Hope is Black Moth's second album and what an amazing album it is right from the start to the very end without ever faltering one bit. It's been an incredibly long time since I've heard a rock album as accessible, raw, intense and addictive as this. 

Black Moth's music is hard to define. The band successfully mixes sludge metal and doom elements with alternative/indie rock. The bass and drums create a solid base that gives the band depth and intensity. The guitars roar with a straight rock edge and Harriet's vocals tie everything up with a raw and honest voice that instantly hooks you in. 

I bumped into this band by accident and now I simply cannot stop listening to this incredible album. Condemned to Hope is an absolute treasure of an album, one that feels raw, honest and above all incredibly inspired. 

Highlights: The whole bloody album!

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Vanishing Point - Distant is the Sun (2014)

Originating from Melbourne, Australia, Vanishing Point are now a veteran band with this their fifth release and, after a long hiatus, they're back with Distant is the Sun, an excellent album that builds on their past sound and expands it to fuller, more epic music. Vanishing Point have always stood out to me as a band that right from the start sounded unique, like no other. They've evolved across albums, expanded their sound while staying true to themselves and Distant is the Sun is the next assured step in their discography.

The album opens with an intro that leads into King of Empty Promises, a song that mixes perfectly their classic mixture of melodic metal, with a little dose of power metal and progressive flourishes. It's obvious from the very start that the band has made an effort to incorporate a fuller orchestral sound with great arrangements that add texture to the songs, making this the most epic sounding Vanishing Point album to date.

The guitar work, as it should be expected from VP, is top notch. The guitar solos are perfectly measured and the progressive flourishes always keep the songs interesting. Silvio Massaro's vocals sounds as solid as ever, with a great mix of powerful high vocals, heightened by a good use of harmonies and a good deal of emotion in his voice.

I can't really say which songs stand out as every single one of them speaks to me in different ways, but at the moment, I would highlight the opener King of Empty Promises, the fast and hard hitting Circle of Fire (with guest vocals by Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica), the incredibly infectious When Truth Lies, the more expansive and classic VP sounding Pillars of Sand and the powerful Walls of Silence.

Vanishing Point's greatest achievement, to me, is that the band always sounds fresh, melodic, easy, catchy, but it's at the same time creative, full of twists and unafraid to take risks. Overall, Distant is the Sun is an outstanding album for fans of melodic, progressive and power metal. The songs are fresh and catchy but at the same time display enormous complexity and depth. It's too early to say this will be the metal album of the year for me but (though I would love to be surprised) it will be very hard to top this one.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Trivium - Vengeance Falls (2013)

Trivium is now a veteran band and this album shows that they mean business. While the metalcore elements are still present the band has left the style behind and present a new album that pushes them forward and into new territories.

Vengeance Falls is a great metal album and the band shows a more melodic and groovier side while still sounding incredibly epic. The production is brilliant, the guitar work is excellent and Heafy's vocals are better than ever. He has clearly evolved as a singer, with more tones and textures. 

The best thing about Vengeance Falls is that it sounds lean and epic at the same time. The songs are tight but not dressed down. Rather, Trivium has managed to expand their sound and keep all the best bits in one small package brimming with powerful metal. 

Overall, this is an absolute killer of an album.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Fates Warning - Darkness in a Different Light

Fates Warning is a band that's been around for lots of years. They've released great albums in the past and, thankfully, after a long silence they've released Darkness in a Different Light, demonstrating again that they're an excellent progressive metal.

The best thing in the album is that every song is memorable. The riffs are dark and heavy but perfectly balanced with clean melodic guitar lines. Acoustic guitars are used wisely. Also, Fates Warning manages to create progressive metal that is concise and to the point. Even the fourteen minute closing track feels like it has been well trimmed. 

The album opens with One Thousand Fires, hands down one of the highlights of an incredibly solid album. Other, personal, highlights include Into the Black and the epic Yet It Moves. But every song here is excellent.

I can't say that it's their best album. I don't want to get into that kind of argument but I'll certainly say that this is my favourite Fates Warning album by a mile. An outstanding metal album that I can't get enough of.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Alter Bridge - Fortress (2013)

Fortress is darker and heavier than their previous efforts but still remains true to the Alter Bridge sound. The band has released good albums before and, although I'm sure some will not agree, this time they've nailed a perfect album. 

There isn't much to say about it. This is a perfect hard rock, heavy metal album. Powerful riffs, memorable choruses, excellent guitar solos and outstanding vocals that show a big and emotive range. The songs tap into the classic style of the genre whilst still sounding contemporary and new. In many ways it feels like the band knew they had nothing else to prove and couldn't care less about conforming to musical styles; alternative rock, hard rock, metal, whatever!

The only criticism (if that) is that the album is too consistently good and no songs stand out. In fact, Cry of Achilles is such an incredible song that nothing else tops it. The album doesn't get better but it doesn't get worse either. Every single song here is a killer. My highlights would include, Cry of Achilles, Addicted to Pain (see the video below), Calm the Fire, Cry a River and Fortress.

This is an album that I can't stop listening to and I know I'll come back to again and again; an absolute delight.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

Ministry - From Beer to Eternity (2013)

Ministry are back again. The band seems to have more false endings than Peter Jackson's The Return of the King, but with an album like this, you will hear no complaint for me. From Beer to Eternity is quite simply the most varied album Jourgensen has put together under the Ministry name and it's superb.

The opening track Hail to His Majesty (Peasants) paves the way for what's to come. This is a more experimental Ministry that's not afraid to mix lots of elements in one song. Overall the album has a dirty sound, with dark sleaze grooves, electronica, incursions into reggae/dub and the pounding guitars that have become their trademark. 

It's hard to pick songs as the songs are very varied and this is an incredibly solid album. My personal favourites are, the Filth Pig era sounding Permawar, the angry brutal Fairly Unbalanced (a kick in the balls directed to Fox News) with The Horror as a dub-like epilogue, the surprising Lesson Unlearned and the two epics at the end (Thanx But No Thanx and Change of Luck) which make use of reggae and middle eastern sounds. 

Mike Scaccia, a long time guitarist for Ministry and according to Jourgensen the driving force behind the sessions that became this album, died three days after the recording sessions were done. It was left to Jourgensen to cobble the sessions together into a presentable form. I have to say that Mike Scaccia would be proud, this is Ministry at its best, unexpected, experimental, hard hitting and dirty.

Rating: Heavy Rotation

James La Brie - Impermanent Resonance (2013)

James LaBrie's  new solo album is a departure, a new chapter, where the famous Dream Theater singer is asserting himself into new territory. This album doesn't sound like Dream Theater at all, it leaves aside progressive metal and embraces short, catchy and pop infused modern metal songs with a healthy dose of heaviness and sparse harsh vocals.

Impermanent Resonance is the kind of album that will not change your life, and won't be remembered as a great album, but the good thing about it is that the song are beautifully catchy. The modern sounds and synths, the pop hooks and the vocal melodies by James LaBrie turn each song into a bright catchy (and often cheesy) experience that you just can't help but enjoy and sing along.

Personally, I prefer the heavier moments in the album when the guitars get more of a presence and the harsh vocals provided by drummer Peter Wildoer add to the music in a big way (see the video below to listen to excellent album opener Agony). 

Overall, this is a guilty sin of an album that I'm sure I will enjoy for a long time.

Rating: Good Vibrations

Lingua Mortis Orchestra featuring Rage - LMO (2013)

Behind the Lingua Mortis Orchestra is German metal band Rage, a band that remains largely unknown outside of Europe but has a long and powerful discography. Rage are seen as a German power metal band but they've never been content with doing just that and they've also made incursions into thrash, speed and progressive metal; amongst others. Not happy with that, Rage were also one of the first bands to produce an original album with an orchestra and doing so without compromising on guitars and heaviness. 

LMO is a continuation of the orchestral experiment they started back in 1996 and sees them once again in good form. The guitar riffs are powerful and heavy, the solos incredibly sharp and the rhythm section is as well oiled as you would expect from a veteran band like this. The orchestra and the band work together and mix seamlessly in a great mix of classical music and metal. The excellent (and long) opening track Cleansed by Fire (see the video below) is a great example of what to expect from this album. 

One of the problems with the album is the concept album nature of it. Unfortunately, some parts and songs lose steam. But there's plenty to like here and Rage demonstrate once again why they have always been one of the most loved German metal bands in Europe. Don't be fooled, this is an expansive album made to enjoy at home and there are plenty of killer tracks here.

Rating: Good Vibrations

A Pale Horse Named Death - Lay My Soul To Waste (2013)

The album's cover gives you a very good indication of what you will find here. The album is dark and gloomy, a good cross of the darker and harder shades of grunge music with doom metal. 

The riffs are strong and ominous, the vocals clean and mid-range (more in rock style than metal), the lyrical content deals with stories of love and deals with the devil and the use of sound effects, interludes and an organ give the album a great horror cinematic feel.


The album is deliberately dark and gloomy to great effect but it also has a couple of brighter moments with sleazy blues-rock Killer by Night and the playful Devil Came With a Smile. 

Overall this is a great dark rock/metal album.

Rating: Good Vibrations

Amorphis - Circle (2013)

Amorphis is one of those bands that has been around for a very long time, delivering consistently good albums and, somehow, managing to always remain underground. Circle is their 11th album and it shows what an accomplished band they are.

Their sound is epic and yet grounded. The melodic hooks and complexity of the songs demonstrate their musicianship and experience. 

The band's trademark sound mixes death and doom metal, with folk and progressive elements. This album is no different, but it contains more straight forward and accessible songs whilst still maintaining a powerful and heavy sound.

Circle is not mind blowing but it is consistently good. It's definitely a strong and accomplished album that seems more accessible than their previous efforts and will hopefully bring them new fans. I can think of few bands more deserving.

Rating: Good Vibrations

Rob Zombie - Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor (2013)

Rob Zombie is inspired these days. The new movie looks great and this album may just be his best solo effort yet. It's a very varied album that somehow manages to mix elements from all his eras; including White Zombie. 

The album is relentless, fun and it never lets you down. The worst part of it is that it feels short. That's my only criticism (and I guess that in a sense it's a positive). When the album finished it, I just had to start it again because it left me wanting more. I wanted to keep the party going.

It's early days, I need to listen to it more, but my gut feeling is that this is better than Hellbilly Deluxe (my favourite Rob Zombie album until now) and it can stand alongside White Zombie's La Sexorcisto and Astro Creep. 

An excellent album from start to end, an absolute blast.

Rating: Heavy Rotation