TESLASimplicity Frontiers (2014)Rating: 9/10 Where would the world of hard rock be without the sumptuous sounds of Tesla? For such an underrated band, the California combo have sold almost 15 million records in the United States alone, releasing a batch of outstanding albums, including the superb 1986 debut, Mechanical Resonance, and the brilliant 1989 follow-up, […]
NIGHT RANGER – Rock Rock Never Stop Anthony Morgan June 2014 Night Ranger (l-r): Joel Hoekstra, Brad Gillis, Jack Blades, Kelly Keagy and Eric Levy Authoring compositions for June 2014 studio full-length High Road, vocalist / drummer Kelly Keagy, vocalist / bassist Jack Blades, and guitarist Brad Gillis – founding members of San Francisco, California-based […]
TESLA – Crossing Hearts Anthony Morgan June 2014 Tesla (l-r): Troy Luccketta, Dave Rude, Brian Wheat, Jeff Keith and Frank Hannon June 2014 outing Simplicity – the seventh studio record proper by Sacramento, California-based hard rock outfit Tesla – was cut at J Street Recorders in the band’s hometown, J Street Recorders being under the […]
NOCTEM CURSISNocturnal Frost Mortis Humanae Productions (2014)Rating: 8/10 Nocturnal Frost is the debut album from French black metallers Noctem Cursis. I’m familiar with this band from their 2011 EP Wrath Of Winter, which impressed me in parts. The band – which formed in 2010 – plays a chunky style of black metal which like, say, […]
MAYHEMEsoteric Warfare Season Of Mist (2014)Rating: 8.5/10 Boy does it seem an aeon or so ago that Mayhem’s 1987 debut EP Deathcrush was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. So much has happened since those dark times, and yet with 2000’s Grand Declaration Of War album I still admired the Norwegian band for their sheer arrogance […]
NIGHT RANGERHigh Road Frontiers (2014)Rating: 8.5/10 Considering just how prolific San Francisco hard rockers Night Ranger have been over the years, in my opinion they’ve always remained an underrated band. Since their formation in the late 70s, the band has released 11 studio albums (including High Road), seven live albums and five greatest hits packages. […]
EQUILIBRIUMErdentempel Nuclear Blast (2014)Rating: 6/10 Erdentempel is Equilibrium’s fourth full-length album and third for Nuclear Blast. These German folk metallers have made quite a name for themselves within their genre, but haven’t really broke beyond the barrier and spilled over into the lake of wider appeal. I first heard the band on their Nuclear Blast […]
NERVOCHAOSThe Art Of Vengeance Cogumelo (2014)Rating: 8/10 With its rather amateurish comic art cover I was expecting a rather comedic yet annoying revival thrash metal opus from the sound of Brazilian extreme metallers NervoChaos. Surprisingly, what we do get is a rather clamming, punishing slab of weighty death / thrash metal – The Art Of […]
DEAD DARK SLIDEI Am Dead EP Dead Games (2014)Rating: 6/10 Dead Dark Slide are “the future of metal”, so says the press release for this Floridian bunch of industrial-influenced goth rockers formed in 2013. I Am Dead is the work of four members – vocalist / guitarist Ryan Michalski, bassist Jim Dead, drummer Ed Eats […]
PŸLONHomo Homini Lupus Roxx (2014)Rating: 4/10 A seven-track affair, Homo Homini Lupus – the sixth full-length studio opus by Swiss Christian doom metal brigade Pÿlon – comes two years after the average The Harrowing Of Hell, and the quintet continues on its path of mediocre metal I’m afraid. Although I’m a huge fan of doom […]
