published March 2010

Aspera - Ripples (Inside Out/Century Media)

Europe prog rock meets American stadium rock as five young bucks from Norway release a debut album that is a mighty fine slice of the commercial end of the prog rock pie.

With influences like prog rockers Symphony X, Dream Theater and King Crimson but also the more commercial rock/pop bands like Bon Jovi and

Cathedral - The Guessing Game (Nuclear Blast/Riot)

Take one part classic Cathedral and one part experimental/progressive influence, mix them up and you get Cathedral's latest release.

Throughout their 20+ year career, Cathedral have delivered some of the finest doom & stoner rock/metal but have always seemed to evolve from album to album.

Fatal Smile - World Domination (Special Edition) (Soundpollution)

If you like your rock and roll soaked in bourbon, if you’re not afraid to admit that there ain’t nothing wrong with a chorus you can sing along to with gusto, if you’ve ever wondered what would have happened had Rob Halford and Nikki Six got together in a recording studio with a mirror full of cocaine, a case full of good scotch, an unlimited supply of hookers (of either/or) and all the time they wanted, then you need to hear this album.

A reissue of Swedish sleaze rockers Fatal Smile’s 2008 album World Domination with two bonus tracks: this is an album that any self-respecting, make-up wearing, stra

Mustasch - Self Titled (Nuclear Blast/Riot)

We aren't talking the furry things on men's upper lips, although there appear to be a number of them in this band: Sweden's favourite Heavy Metal band (at least according to the Swedish Grammy Awards!).

 

October File – Our Souls To You (Candlelight/Earsplit)

Forget the lunchbox goth of Marilyn Manson and the Boyd Rice lite that is Trent Reznor, October File have served up an album that is the real deal: an industrial/metal/punk hybrid that needs no gimmicks, no smoke and mirrors, and that is so good they’ve given it to us twice!

UK industrial/metal quartet October File have given fans a special treat with this their third album. Two discs for the price of one!

Blatherskite - Where the Wasteland Ends (Unsigned)

It recently occurred to me that I'm yet to give a positive review of an album on this site. This is my own fault in part, due to me reviewing whatever needs to be reviewed rather than just albums from bands I'm familiar with. Some would say it's also my own fault for having high standards, but I'd rather say it's the fault of most metal for being shit. I am pleased to announce, however, that I've finally got a good one.

Blatherskite's Where the Wasteland Ends is one of the best new albums I've heard from an Australian band in years, being the debut effort of a group of Sydney lads who cle

The Resurrection Sorrow - Hour of the Wolf (Midnight Dreams/Earsplit)

I don't normally bother addressing a band's press releases in my reviews, and that's because I rarely read them. But in the case of The Resurrection Sorrow's debut, Hour of the Wolf, not only did the press release come wrapped around the CD - making it kind of unavoidable - but it was one of the most astonishing pieces of tripe I've read in ages. Which forms a nice contrast with the boring old chug of the music.

The press release for Hour of the Wolf opens with a thinly veiled excuse for the band taking too long to get their shit together by talking about "holding for the right time to strike", an

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis (Season Of Mist/Riot)

Complexity? Yep. Insane and off the wall themes and composition? Yep. Melody? You bet. The Dillinger Escape Plan deliver this and more, all wrapped up in Option Paralysis.

The Dillinger Escape Plan is a unique musical entity in today's musical world, they create their own style of pure musical insanity which is a combination of some heavy riffage/noi

Cauldron Black Ram - Slubberdegullion (Weird Truth Productions/The Cave)

Adelaide death metallers Cauldron Black Ram return with a bottom-heavy, and well-managed, concept album that they ought to be proud of.