In April 2015 I was lucky enough to witness one of the finest gigs ever to take place on the shores of Aotearoa, namely when Carcass supported Napalm Death, a gig which has gone on to legendary status for […]

Back in 2014 Sydney-based death metal act Daemon Pyre were formed out of the ashes of As Silence Breaks and immediately started to make a name for themselves as being both brutally heavy and incredibly melodic, […]

Geist & The Sacred Ensemble are described as a doom folk collective, and that seems pretty apt to me, especially if you add in the term post rock, as this is a band who appear to have taken Swans as a starting […]

Here we have the third album from North Dakota-based death/grind practitioners Gorgatron. They were formed as long ago as 2005, and three of the founder members are still with the band, but this is their first […]

Back in 1985 some guys together in Cleveland, Ohio, to form a band heavily inspired by the NWOBHM movement out of the UK. A year later they released their first demo tape, and then followed the usual pattern of […]

Atavist features Winterfylleth guitarist and vocalist, Chris Naughton, along with bassist Shane Ryan, drummer Callum Cox and vocalist Toby Bradshaw. They went on an extended hiatus after their second album, […]

I have no idea how long I have been in contact with Steve Mann at Backwater Records, but it has been quite a few years, and one thing that delights me is that he continuously strives to find great singers and give […]

Polish band Black Altar and Norwegian act Kirkebrann (which apparently means “church burning”) have both been releasing split albums in recent years, with the former not releasing an album of their own since 200 […]

Berit Hagen is best known as being a shredder, but here she has gone for a totally different approach where she accompanies herself on either acoustic guitar or piano. Here she can be found bringing together both […]

This 2016 album is a compilation of material stretching all the way back to her second EP ‘Battle for the Mind’, plus a few new songs and some with re-recorded guitars. Here Berit performs in a very different sty […]

Subtitled ‘The Classical Crossover Album’, this 2014 release finds Berit Hagen on electric guitar and Craig Ogden on classical, and they work their way through a series of pieces, showing that a classical aco […]

Originally released on Rhino Records in 2014, I came across this on a promotional music site I have been given access to (giving a music addict access to a major label promo site which contains albums going back […]

Here is the latest single from Auckland-based band Investigator who are based around the songs of Adrian Drew (guitar, vocals). Adrian paid his dues by playing acoustically wherever he could get a gig, but these […]

Here we have the third single from Wellington singer-songwriter Cathy Alexander, and this time around we see her working in a reggae style. Now to be fair this isn’t my favourite genre, and I would be hard p […]

Here we have the debut album by Texas Murder Crew, who actually started a few years ago as Everyone’s Last Breath, which they have now taken as the title of this release. Fans of guitarist Kevin Clark ( […]

This is the debut album by NYC-based The Third Kind, a hardcore/punk/thrash crossover unit comprised of drummer Brian Shonen (Bastard Clan, ex-Awkward Thought, On The Offense, Run Like Hell), bassist/vocalist […]

What we have here is the debut album by debut LP by Camden, New Jersey-based Underer – the solo project of avant-garde multi-instrumentalist and recording artist Nick Shellenberger (Cleric, Shardik). There is no d […]

After 37 years leading Poland’s top death/thrash band, Piotr Wiwczarek is showing no sign whatsoever of slowing down. Back with their sixteenth studio album, here is a band who are very polished indeed, perhaps t […]

A few months back I heard from Stéphane Maxime, who asked me if I wanted to hear the album by The Wicker Man. He has amended the name to The Wicker Man 73 because a Ukrainian band used “The Wicker Man” first and […]

There are going to be a great many people really pleased with this album, and to be honest I’m one of them, but there are also going to be quite a few disappointed and I’m one of those as well. The reason bei […]