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81dB – A Blind Man’s Dream
Bakerteam 2013 Fervent reveries raving: Italian noise-makers let their hair loose and their imagination run wild. Given the abundance of folk-influenced metal it comes as a surprise that traditional...
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URUK-HAI –…And All The Magic & Might He Brought
W.A.R. Productions 2013 Wearing no steel that’s bright and true, J. R. R. Tolkien’s saga carries on down the path of immortality. Thirteen years into his literal journey, Austrian producer and...
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CELEB CAR CRASH – Ambush!
Antstreet 2013 A mental trap and a call for meditative measures turns into a humorous view of this world for Italian supergroup. When it comes to rotten things, singer Nicola Briganti is sort of a...
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MAD HATTER’S DEN – Welcome To The Den
Inverse 2013 As bonkers as it gets for a metal-sniffing specialty, Finnish sextet serve up a perfect six o’clock setup. A certain Lewis Carroll character wouldn’t approve of this band’s look, as he...
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OLIVER DAWSON SAXON – Blood And Thunder Live
Angel Air 2014 Two decades on since their reunion, original Brit metallers still have a bang. Guitarist Graham Oliver and bassist Steve Dawson have a lot to answer for when it comes to the sonics of...
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GRAND MASSIVE – 2
Daredevil 2015 Second installment in Bavarian band’s grinding canon: spot-on and tightly targeted. It takes some guts but, boiling since their 2009 mini-album, this quintet landed on a decision to...
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CORRUPTION – Devil’s Share
Metal Mind 2014 Giving the Horny One his due on their seventh studio son, Polish stoners rock the joint. Here’s a band who don’t pander to fads but plough their furrow deeper into the ground, and the...
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CYRAX – Reflections
Cyrax 2013 Band from Milan flexing their battle-hungry muscle and get on top of the game. Given the quotient of words “power” and “fight” on this ensemble’s debut, one would easily assume there’s a...
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ATKINS / MAY PROJECT – Anthology
Gonzo 2015 Thrilling descent into the gloom where British metal heroes hide. Is the issue of Al Atkins and Paul May’s selected works a sign of the end or it’s just a closure of their first trilogy?...
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THE ARISTOCRATS – Tres Caballeros
Boing! 2015 Going South but doing it right, international heavy jazzers zoom in on a hot location. Life’s been hectic for this trio who, in between their and Guthrie Govan and Marco Minnemann’s part...
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THOR – Unchained – Deluxe Edition
Mongol Horde 1983 / Cleopatra 2015 Hammer of the gods goes down on a muscular expansion of cult classic that adds paraphernalia to the molten metal. Musical heavyweights, towards the first decade of...
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THE MUGGS – Straight Up Boogaloo
Bellyache 2015 Devoured by heaviness, Detroit trio iron their blues and flatten it down. “When sadness fills my days, it’s time to turn away,” goes BLACK SABBATH’s “Tomorrow’s Dream” which THE MUGGS...
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O.D.D. – O.D.D.
O.D.D. 2015 Atlanta trio score a hat-trick of heavy statements – high on rootsiness and low on fat. Rising to the surface of Georgia’s fertile scene, this band are finally throwing the experience of...
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THUNDER RISING – Sole Freedom
Scarlet 2015 Wings of their own: hard rock ensemble from Italy in search of their real selves. Back in 2013, when this band roped in as a co-writer and singer, it was obviously a temporary situation...
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CYRAX – Pictures
Bakerteam 2015 Externalizing their images, Milano team verge into bold experimentation. Except for blues inflections, the muscle-flexing of 2013’s was staged in a traditional heavy environment. That...
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SAVAGE – 7 / Live ‘N Lethal
Minus2Zebra 2015 Lucky number triumph from original Brit metal fighters whose aces, and axes, are still high. After their return from a dozen-year hiatus in 2012, there’s been no rest for this quartet...
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MAGENTA – Songs For The Dead
Cleopatra 2015 Día de Muertos, Scandinavian way: bliss of immortality given weight and edge. Of different hue to their Welsh namesakes, these Norwegians have been mining the monochrome sadness for two...
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BE THE WOLF – Imago
Scarlet 2015 Turin trio hit the final stage of their turning and take off laughing out loud. Finally, a band who understand the entertaining factor of heavy metal! More so, there’s suspicion they...
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EMBASSY OF SILENCE – Verisimilitude
Inverse 2015 Finnish band make a valid point of prog metal’s ability to be fun. Although Scandinavian heaviness with regards to music tends to take a serious stance, this ensemble don’t bother with a...
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THOR – Metal Avenger
Cleopatra 2015 Space quest of a tireless warrior, with ambition abound and fellow combatants aplenty. Comic-book ambition has always been Jon Mikl’s forte, but this time combining muscle might with...
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