Oh boy, oh boy, it's time for Moonsorrow!

It's been almost two years since the last time I touched them and the absence only made the heart grow fonder. For today, the album in question is their third album, "Kivenkantaja", easily one of their best, if not their actual top album. At the time it managed to snag top 16 on Finland's charts and that's all I can really find on the background for this album.

Regardless, it's six tracks (though whoever added tracks ... read more

Like with "Rebel Diamonds", obligatory "last two tracks only" review.

I don't usually get compilation albums because I've heard all of the tracks there. So why bother even getting them to basically get a second copy of the same track for no valid reason? There are rare cases where the compilation album is just B-sides, demos and other interesting things; hell, even The Killers are familiar to this type due to releasing "Sawdust". But "Direct ... read more

Happy new year everyone!

2025 was a good year for my reviews, managing to crank out around 300, and this year I want to see if I can put out twice the amount. With the next release coming out next Friday, Alter Bridge's self-titled, I want to see if I can clear out this next 10-batch and the two reviews I've gotten in the meantime before then. Starting off comes Saltatio Mortis' second album, "Das Zweite Gesicht".

I feel the name's appropriate. While I consider ... read more

Recommended by @L0XTA directly into my shoutbox.

It's not often I get recommendations, much less by people that don't follow me or vice-versa. And yet, I was intrigued when L0XTA directly commented on my profile recommending me their own album. Labeled as jazz rap, a genre I enjoy though I could count with one hand the artists I like in that style (MF DOOM (which will be reviewed in the next batch), McKinley Dixon, Nujabes and Uyama Hiroto), I had to take a gander at it.

Before ... read more

Recommended by @Elynescence, as usual.

A little sidenote, while I was doing Behemoth's review the other day, I found out I can add the AOTY track ratings to albums, but it appears it's only able to add them if said album has at least one critic review and is an LP or an EP. I have noticed Demo albums do not get the option and neither do Box Sets or Live albums. The more you know. Maybe there's more requirements, but AOTY is never clear on their rules. Don't get me started ... read more

Recommended by @RemisReviews, three weeks ago.

With my 10 review batch complete, it's time to tackle the recommendations I've accrued the past month. Remi sent his new single my way weeks ago and I am a bit sad to come late to the party. But here I am, enjoying 'Mayflower', a track which further cements ReMark's sonic nomadic behavior. From EDM, to Trap, to Hardbass and now to a bit of progressive piano rock. Seven and a half minutes of wistfulness-turned-bitterness ... read more

Behemoth's second album and third overall release (not counting demos) "Grom" is the last of its kind. By 1996, the Poles had already a decent grasp on black metal and would shift their course towards blackened death in the next album. Of course, in the end the last pure black album they made was the EP "Bewitching The Pomerania", of which I reviewed as part of "And The Forests Dream Eternally'.

Like with the previous two releases, I don't really care ... read more

Looking back at my progressive metal graph, which I've discussed in previous Dream Theater and A Perfect Circle reviews, I keep thinking where would Rishloo fit? And then, it struck me; maybe instead of a line, it's more of a political compass type of four squares, where one end is heavy metal, doom, death and the other is the modern, alternative, stoner and whatnot. In this graph, the criminally underrated Seattle-based progressive metal band Rishloo would fit right next to Tool. But ... read more

If it wasn't clear already, Scott Stapp was the one ruining Creed.

Alter Bridge, essentially Creed but with Myles Kennedy in the vocals instead of Stapp, swings their hardest and heaviest in the fourth album, "Fortress". By 2013 when it came out, AB had been at it for 9 years, discounting the Creed experience. One could argue they had nothing to prove, as Myles Kennedy's incredible vocals and performances were already well-established in the realm of alternative / hard rock ... read more

It's been quite some time since I talked about Saliva, that hard rock band with slight nu metal roots. Past their horrid debut album and their forgettable latest album, you'd think there's not much to enjoy. Yet, the second release, "Every Six Seconds", released in 2001, is an album worth listening.

I haven't given much credit to Saliva as a whole. They've been at it for thirty years and in that time, I'd only consider three albums worth a damn in their ... read more

As we approach the end of 2025, one final album is left to review. Lord Of The Lost's second volume of "OPVS NOIR", a trilogy which started in August. While the first volume was alright, bar one or two weak tracks, the second volume tries its best to develop their more notable gothic sound.

Opening with 'The Fall From Grace', there's that symphonic gothic bombast you'd see on "Judas" and, if you stretch a bit the imagination on account of lack of ... read more

After the metalcore monument, cult classic, iconic album that is "The Poison", the Welsh metalcore crew worked hard for their second album. With less screaming but much more aggressiveness on the instrumentals, up tempos and a step towards thrash metal, "Scream Aim Fire" came out in 2008 to much of the same critical acclaim. Still, it doesn't live on as much as "The Poison" does. Now, this is the part where I tell you I'm reviewing the bonus tracks. This ... read more

I find it very funny Ningen Isu has a song with this album's name but it wasn't put here. My guess is they didn't want to have it three times in a row. But alas, approaching the second album and third overall release of Ningen Isu, "Sakura No Mori No Mankai No Shita" takes its name, much like the band's name, from a notable literary work; this time Sakaguchi Ango's 1947 iconic short story. Despite being a track shorter than the prior album, it's still the ... read more

I find curious among the first three non-demo, independent releases of Halestorm, this one is the only one that isn't on Spotify. Are they embarrassed? Certainly not, since they have "(Don't Mess With The) Time Man" public and that one fucking sucks. To be fair, "Breaking The Silence" isn't exactly much better.

Coming after a three year pause, this LP (I'm still unsure if it's an LP or an EP, can't find consistent sourcing) comprises seven of ... read more

Opeth, by and far one of my favorite Progressive and Death metal acts out there. A fan since I was young, grown on 'The Funeral Portrait' alongside Moonspell's 'Scorpion Flower', the Swedish group has always been a reference for my metal tastes. While I did have a large period where they were absent from my library, I rediscovered my love for them a decade ago, alongside Volbeat. And now, with their latest album "Last Will And Testament" being one of best ... read more

The second album of pop rock group Amor Electro comes two years after their debut and mostly builds on what "Cai O Carmo E A Trindade" offered. Stylized with a mirrored R, "Revolução" offers a bit more on the folkier department across 10 tracks, made 11 with my addition of the bonus track 'Mar Salgado', which was used as the intro music for the eponymous Portuguese TV drama.

The accordion on the opening 'Só É Fogo Se Queimar' ... read more

Rob Zombie's one of those heavy metal names memorable on account of our fathers and uncles who grew up with him. Verily, this is one of the flagship "dad rock" artists where each album is progressively worse. And yet, with a new album on the horizon, using the same old, classic logo the first two albums use and two pretty good singles, maybe Rob Zombie's trend of getting increasingly shitty is about to change. As dictated by the wheel, this is the time to talk about the very ... read more

I've been patiently waiting for a new release from Ningen Isu since this year started. Like clockwork, they've been putting out albums every two years and with the previous one releasing in 2023, this would be their year to do so. I am happy to find out I'm correct and the 24th studio album, "Mahoroba", is now out.

While they have released an album every two years since 2017, the runtimes have been steadily increasing and are on the 75 minute mark this time around. ... read more

The previous album asked a question: where do fear and weapons meet? Turns out it's in Ukraine.

After their third album swept the niche war-metal subgenre of blackened death, of which 1914 stormed open the doors for rising acts like Kanonenfieber, the Ukrainian group would find themselves facing the horrors of war in person. Maybe with this newfound inspiration, terrible but awe-inducing all the same, they would come out safe and release a fourth album that could knock everything past ... read more

Recommended by @Elynescence.

I've received this recommendation quite some time ago, but my snail's pace at reviewing coupled with the desire of finishing up my current batch put this album in the backburner. This is also why I haven't reviewed 1914's and Ningen Isu's newest albums, but that will be rectified immediately after this one. So, Suicide Commando is a 1986 electro-industrial solo project from Belgium's Johan Van Roy. Like with :wumpscut:, it's a ... read more