It’s no secret that Italian progressive and symphonic heavy metal bands grow on trees. That’s exactly the reason there are so many of them coming from the Mediterranean country. Kidding aside, for a symphonic heavy band to stand out is fairly difficult. The latest addition of My Refuge and their debut album are no exception. With the likes of Rhapsody (of fire), Angra and many more, lesser known bands, an album like My Refuge’s should be ‘A Matter Of Supremacy’.
Power-metal
Amberian Dawn – Innuendo
When I hopped onto this bands wagon last year, the release of Amberian Dawn’s latest addition ‘Magic Forest’ marked the first studio album with vocalist Päivi “Capri” Virkkunen. At that time I was impressed by the high quality of the music, of the vocals and of the production. Most of the music was pretty catchy and the listener could easily be carried away by the beauty of Capri and her voice. Let’s see if ‘Innuendo’ can reach the pretty high standards the band put for itself.
Powerwolf – Blessed & Possessed
Before reviewing the new Powerwolf album, I should state that I completely missed the bandwagon when it comes to this band. ‘Blessed & Possessed’ is their sixth album already and I’m ashamed to say that the latest addition is the only one that I’ve listened to. But once I dived into the record I found out that Powerwolf’s music is extremely addictive and absolutely worth your while.
Unleash The Archers – Time Stands Still
And here we go again! The new album by the Canadian powermetallers of Unleash The Archers is one of the records that I was gradually drilling into the ground, buried under layers of critique. One of the records that, while I was skeptical about almost everything, turned out to be quite entertaining! ‘Time Stands Still’ resulted into being quite the fun record.
Jaded Star – Memories From The Future
So many bands have joined the female fronted metal scene over the years. This results in a genre that demands the utmost best of its members and makes it unaffordable to make minor mistakes. Most of all the vocals have to be great, but also the music has to be original and interesting enough. What Jaded Star tries on their first album is very good, but is ‘Memories From The Future’ able to reach for the top?
Review: Eltharia – Innocent
We’ve got a first timer you guys! The French band Eltharia has asked us through our contact form if we could review their new album and who are we to deny each of us such a great chance. After quite a long time and some line-up changes, Eltharia finally release their second record: ‘Innocent’. Let’s see what they have in store for us!
Review: Fire Within – ‘Fire Within’
It’s always a pleasure to get to know new, inexperienced bands. The most fun new bands obviously come from your home country, because you can see them live, or stumble across them as they play somewhere were you accidentally show up.
From the southern part of The Netherlands, my native country, from the town of Middelburg, these four young Dutchmen released their self-titled debut on the first of November, 2014.