MorpheusKitami

Even at first glance, Gloomy Reflections seems odd for a band attached to the NWOTHM movement. One half is from longtime The Wizar'd guitarist and the other is an apparent mainstay of the Tasmania punk scene and dungeon synth artist. Why are these two people getting together to make...heavy metal/progressive rock?
As could be expected, these guys have an odd sound. While the music is clearly using modern production techniques and things you can only do with modern amps, it's still ... read more

As I write this, I have a list of random albums I go through, and this year I'm trying to get through 52 albums from 2025. I also occasionally have trouble with earwax blocking my hearing. When I first fired up this album, it sounded like I was having that trouble. I could feel it in my ears. I turned the CD off, then listened to something else to confirm that I was not in fact, going deaf or something.
While this is a one man black metal act, this does not necessarily register as the kind ... read more

Over the years Astral Doors has seemingly managed to obtain a small fanbase of people who find their style of power metal tinged heavy metal appealing. I mean, I assume so. I've never seen much praise for them. For my two cents, I've only ever listened to Jerusalem, and that felt like enough for me for a while.
Requiem of Time fits neatly into a modernized style of '80s heavy metal/hard rock. Modern recording techniques, but still classic songwriting. Dio is the most obvious ... read more

Budgie is such a weird band in historical context. While there have certainly been some metal songs at this point, they tend to trend towards the lighter side of things. Nobody really seemed to have the riffing and the heaviness Black Sabbath had. Budgie follows that format, albeit in comparison to Sabbath's strangeness, these guys feel more mundane.
To start with, vocalist Burke Shelley is a great deal more mundane as far as vocalists go. He's your basic hippy with a high-pitched ... read more