Many of you know Michael Amott from legendary bands Carcass and Arch Enemy. However, what many of you may not know is that around the time he founded Arch Enemy, he founded a very different project called Spiritual Beggars. Moreover, this project has been active ever since. Earth Blues, their eighth album, displays its influence right on the album title. So how does this fare? Is it a failure and should Amott stick with what we know him by? No. Not at all.
I am still surprised that metal is not an official exportation product from Sweden, they come out with a great band almost on a daily basis, and the boys of The Resistance are the living proof of that.
There is probably no one on this planet that has criticized Ghost more than I have. I think they’re incredibly overrated and that for all of their trying to capture old-school vibes, the music just isn’t good. I remember calling their first record the worst of that year and I still stand by that. However, because I am indeed harshly critical of Ghost, it was seen that I would be the one to write this review since I’m not so entranced by them. That said, I did take a totally non-biased listen to their newest opus (see what I did there?), entitled Infestissumam (which according to my handy dandy Google Translate, means “most hostile”). What did I think? Well, it’s miles better than their last record.
With more than 20 years of history as one of the bands that has defined the death metal genre with albums like Penetralia, The Forth Dimension and Into The Abyss. Hypocrisy returns to the spotlight with a new album called End Of Disclosure four years after their last piece A Taste Of Extreme Divinity.
More than 20 years is a long time for a band to be together let alone one that has been founders of a metal sub-genre like melodic death metal. Dark Tranquillity is that one band alongside At the Gates and In Flames (there are others also that have been essential to the sub-genre) created the so-called Gothenburg Metal scene. Where At the Gates have long been gone (at least recording wise) and In Flames has left behind the scene in favour of commercial success, Dark Tranquillity stayed true to the scene for the most part.
Talk about Spiritual Beggars is talking about a band that has championed their way into the stoner/sludge metal scene, and had made a name for themselves during the last 20 years. Their background includes members of Arch Enemy, and ex members of Firewind and Opeth. With that kind of musical experience the results are just astonishing.
Blasting drum beats, sharp guitar riffs, and one of the most ‘in your face’ voices out there. That is how I can describe the Swedish quartet Crucified Barbara that last Wednesday played at Joe’s Grotto in Phoenix, AZ as part of their first ever North American tour.
Voices From The Dark Tour 2013 features Marduk and Moonspell as a co-headliners supported by a well structured line up of opening bands like Inquisition, The Foreshadowing, and Death Wolf.
Sweden’s Death Wolf are back again with their second album II: Black Armoured Death. Technically speaking this would have been their fourth release, however their first two releases they went under another name Devils Whorehouse. Read more
For all you 80′s heavy metal fans out there who thought there aren’t any bands who can sound vintage and original brace yourself because bands like that do exist. A perfect example is Enforcer, they are killer heavy metal band that is young and full of energy (Olof Wikstrand -(Vocals/Guitars), Jonas Wikstrand - (Drums), Joseph Tholl - (Guitars), Tobias Lindkvist - (Bass).
