When ‘In Sorte Diablo’ was released in 2007 none of us who had following the career of Dimmu Borgir to that point realised that in many ways it was not only the end of an era but the end for one of Norway’s greatest symphonic black metal acts. Since then they have...

Back in 1979 NWOBHM was in full swing in the UK, the year I became 16, so I was very much the target market and I was doing whatever I could to discover the music and soon had quite a collection of singles and albums from the likes of Samson, Raven, Iron Maiden,...

I have been reviewing Vanden Plas for more than quarter of a century, and while there are times when their albums are somewhat workmanlike, there are plenty of others where they are truly phenomenal. My first look at this release did cause me some surprise though, as...

I’d rather not think of myself as being so far behind on reviewing that this is for a Christmas record which should have been written about in 2023, but rather that I am eight months early for 2024. Here we find John Paul McGee (or should I say Dr. McGee given he is...

I’ve lost track of how many of Dave Brenner’s releases I have reviewed, but it must be most of them (at least in recent years) yet I still find myself stupidly excited when there is a new one to delve into. This 7-track release (currently available on Bandcamp for...

A few years ago I came across Grant Haua and I was blown away by the Maori bluesman who for me is the living epitome of the classic style. His last album, the mighty ‘Tahanga’ found Grant with his trusty acoustic as he recorded a livestream for Rolling Stone France....

Here we have the second single from Lazy Fifty’s forthcoming ‘Neighbour of the Beast’. Adrian Athy provides all vocals and music apart from drums which were provided by producer Greg Haver. Musically this is a Seventies style rocker with grumbling riffs and nice...

Two years on from their wonderful debut and Katharine Blake (Mediaeval Baebes, Miranda Sex Garden) and Michael York (Current 93, Coil, The Utopia Strong, Teleplasmiste) are back with their second album. Katharine provides Katharine Blake vocals, sopranino, descant and...

Here we have the seventh release in Troy’s 10/10/10 project of ten albums in ten different genres in ten years. This time credited to Tory Kingi & The Room Service, each album has a different credited band (although often the same musicians, this time it includes...

No-one can accuse guitarist Todd Mosby of skimping on the musicians on this album as he has brought in Prince bassist Rhonda Smith, woodwind player Tom Scott (Joni Mitchell, Quincy Jones, Frank Sinatra), drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (Herbie Hancock, Jeff Beck, Frank...