Sonata Arctica: Clear Cold Beyond (2024) Over the years there is no doubt that Sonata Arctica have released some really powerful melodic metal albums, but it is also true they have released some […]

Shawn Maxwell: J Town Suite (2023) On his twelfth album as band leader, Shawn Maxwell (alto & soprano saxophones, flute) takes us back to his hometown, Joliet, Illinois. It is not a very […]

Sebastian Bach: Child Within The Man (2024) I am not going to go over Sebastian Bach’s history, as he is quite a controversial figure in some ways, but no matter what anyone thinks about him t […]

Sarah Prodan: Little Bird (2023) One morning I was working through my emails and came across one from Play MPE informing me of an album by Sarah Prodan, someone I had not previously come […]

Riot V: Mean Streets (2024) Riot were a band who appeared in many ways to get more praise in the UK than they did in their home of New York, with both ‘Rock City’ and ‘Na […]

Randy Weinstein: HarmoniMonk (2024) Even before playing this album I was a little bit in love with it, as not only does it feature seven compositions by the mighty Thelonious Monk, but the […]

Radam Schwartz: Saxophone Quartet Music (2024) Given the title, one might expect Schwartz to be leading a saxophone quartet, and in some ways, one is correct but also very wrong. Schwartz is an […]

Pathology: Unholy Descent (2024) Pathology are back with their twelfth studio album, and their third with the same line-up of Dave Astor (drums), Daniel Richardson (guitars), Richard […]

Immortal Sÿnn: Hellspawn (2024) I must confess the reason I picked up this promo was due to the label these guys are signed to. I first came across HMR all the way back in 1981 when I […]

Locusts and Honey: Teach Me To Live That I Dread The Grave As Little As My Bed (2024) I have been reviewing music for more than 35 years now, which means I am offered a lot of material to write about, way more than I can ever work through […]

The HU: The HU Live At Glastonbury (2024) Over the years there have been a few bands who have seemingly shot out of nowhere with a strong tie-in with their own culture and then mixing that with […]

Korpiklaani: Rankarumpu (2024) This is the 12th studio album from Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani, or the 15th since Jonne Järvelä started on the musical journey which has seen a f […]

Kerry King: From Hell I Rise (2024) King needs no introduction whatsoever, and with the ending of Slayer there was no way he was just going to sit at home and retire gracefully, but instead […]

Jazz at the Ballroom: Flying High (2024) Here is another jazz album which caused me to have a smile on my face from beginning to end. My dad was into jazz, and I remember our first family car […]

Jake Hertzog: Longing to Meet You (2024) There are times when one comes across an album which is so perfectly curated and brought together that one feels there is no single leader of the band, […]

Eric Frazier: That Place (2024) Here we have the latest release from Brooklyn-based percussionist, drummer, vocalist, composer and bandleader Eric Frazier. His main instrument on this […]

Downcross: White Tower (2024) I get offered multiple albums every day, and the vast number of emails just get filed away, but for some reason I took a second look at this one. I had […]

Darkthrone: It Beckons Us All (2024) There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Darkthrone are one of the most important bands to ever come out of the black metal scene, and their early a […]

Carl Clements: A Different Light (2024) I have reviewed many albums released by Greydisc over the years but am sure this is the first one I have ever been asked to write about which does not […]

The Bruce Lofgren Group: Earthly and Cosmic Tales (2024) ’Earthly and Cosmic Tales’ is a program of eight Bruce Lofgren originals and two covers. This album represents a point of departure from previous Lof […]