Reviews Archive
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Pain Confessor
Turmoil
By Simon Milburn | 10 January, 2005
Brutal surprise package of Swedish metal from Finland
Upon reading their bio, it would be easy to pass off Finland's Pain Confessor as another wanna be Gothenburg sound type band. Yes, I realize that Gothenburg is in Sweden and that ...
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Usurper
Cryptobeast
By Simon Milburn | 10 January, 2005
Bust out the spiked leather arm bands
Chicago's Usurper aren't the most original band around, although having said that, I think it's becoming increasingly more difficult to be original in the metal world nowadays. But I digress. Cry...
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Strapping Young Lad
For Those Aboot to Rock (DVD)
By Simon Milburn | 10 January, 2005
It's only rock 'n' roll but I like it
Of the many metal bands that are out there doing their thing, by comparison only a few will really make their mark. Of those who do, only a small subset will do so more than Canada's Strapping ...
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Napalm Death
Noise For Music's Sake
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
110% chuffed!
Who'd have thought that a band as extreme as England's Napalm Death would be only a year or so short of making the 20 year mark? It's fitting that their fostering label Earache release a two CD set that serves as a best ...
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Exodus
Tempo of the Damned
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Legendary thrashers return to form
Bay Area thrash legends Exodus released their last studio album Force Of Habit in 1992 and called it a day not long afterwards. But it took the death of original vocalist Paul Ballof in 2002 to real...
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Sepultura
Arise
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
From a pale grey sky...we shall ARISE!
The year is 1991. Metallica released their insanely successfully and pivotal self titled album and Nirvana turned grunge into the latest trend with the release of Nevermind. Sepultura - the bo...
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Mudvayne
All Access to All Things (DVD)
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Slipknot made waves a few years back as 9 masked guys with numbers for names. Not long after bursting onto the seen, Mudvayne did the same with masks replaced by ever changing and evolving painted face designs and foreign sounding names. The comparis...
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Caliban
The Opposite From Within
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
German metal core evolution
A shift in style is never an easy thing for fans to accept. From the outside looking in, it can be viewed as selling out, or going with the latest trend if the parallels exist. But giving bands the benefit...
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Nightwish
Once
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Return Of The Finns
Whilst it's probably more common nowadays than 10 years ago for metal bands to incorporate orchestral pieces as a part of their music, very few can say they've recorded with the session orchestra that performed Ho...
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Haunted, The
rEVOLVEr
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
The title says it all
The departure of a vocalist is always both a talking point and a turning point for any band that may undergo such a transformation. The announcement of the return of The Haunted's original vocalist, Peter Dolving...
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Chasm, The
The Spell of Retribution
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Back to the future
Many would say that whilst there are some shining lights in the sky of metal acts around today, that the market is overall saturated by many bands most of which lack the originality of the leaders of the subgenres ...
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Converge
You Fail Me
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Unlucky for some, but definitely lucky for these guys
Longevity is not something that is a prevailing trait amongst much of todays music industry as a whole however there are quite a few metal bands who manage to keep their head abov...
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Devolved
Calculated
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Local extreme metal let down by production
Devolved have quite the following both on our local scene and also around the rest of the nation. For some metal heads however, it's a case of you either like them or not. Since their incept...
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Shadows Fall
The War Within
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Winning the battle and the war
I think it's almost safe to say that the latest Shadows Fall album was one of the most anticipated releases of 2004. The presales figures alone tell the story of the rise of this Massachusetts based qui...
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Papa Roach
Getting Away With Murder
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Roaches that just won't go away
Papa Roach are one of those bands that were hot one day and almost forgotten the next. It seems only the diehard fans kept the support going for this quartet. 2000's Infest was a great album full of ca...
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Cradle of Filth
Nymphetamine
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Horror movie metal soundtrack
Moving on from Damnation And A Day, England's Cradle Of Filth have released it's follow up Nymphetamine this time avoiding the labour of a concept album. Moving from major label Sony to Roadrunner, the c...
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Mortiis
The Grudge
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Norwegian metal from the man with the pointy ears
What does a one man band do when said band gets a degree of success and has to start touring? The one man band evolves into a full scale lineup and that's just what Mortiis has had to...
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Candiria
What Doesn't Kill You
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
Only the strong survive
At one time or another, we've either told someone or been told by someone that 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. For some it's just a saying, whilst others may take it as gospel. There are some who o...
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Kittie
Until the End
By Simon Milburn | 08 January, 2005
How long shall we sing this song?
Kittie made a name for themselves landing a spot on the who's who of metal summer touring circus known as Ozzfest. This was all on the back of their debut album Spit written when the girls were only...
