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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2026)
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Category Archives: PURE METAL (All posts)
Album review: AMORPHIS – Circle
Nuclear Blast – Out Now. When Pasi Koskinen left Progressive/Melodic/Folk metallers Amorphis back in 2004, after nine years of dedicated service, many of the band’s loyal fans, myself included, were left fearing the worst concerning the band’s future. The addition … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged amorphis
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Album review: ANTHRAX – Anthems E.P.
Nuclear Blast – Out Now. Experiencing a line-up change now and again is inevitable for most long-serving bands, but the way the members of the legendary Thrash Metal combo Anthrax have come and gone over the years has always caused … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged Anthrax
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Album review: SPIRITUAL BEGGARS – Earth Blues
Inside Out – Out Now. Michael Amott is better known as the guitarist, main songwriter and founding member of the Swedish Melodic Death Metal quintet Arch Enemy – a band that has been under the media spotlight for quite some … Continue reading
Album review: HYPOCRISY – End Of Disclosure
Nuclear Blast – Out Now. Peter Tagtgren is one of the busiest men in the music business. When not offering his production skills to artists like Destruction, Marduk, Overkill and Amorphis (to name a few) or when he’s not touring … Continue reading
Album review: MOSS – Horrible Night
Rise Above – Out Now. The Bass guitar and Doom Metal are two concepts that seem to go hand-in-hand and are inter-connected to such an extent that one simply can’t imagine the one without the other. Well, the Southampton-based trio … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Doom Metal, Horrible Night, Moss, Olly Pearson, review, Stoner
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Album review: VICIOUS RUMORS – Electric Punishment
SPV – Out Now. Thirty three years is a long time for any band, especially one that has survived the death of a frontman and the departure of enough members to fill two whole basketball teams, and then some. In … Continue reading
Album review: FLOTSAM AND JETSAM – Ugly Noise
Metal Blade – Out Now. The relationship between the Arisona-based Metallers Flotsam And Jetsan and Brian Slagel’s Metal Blade Records has been marked by many highs and lows over the last three decades and the last time that these two … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Erik A.K, Flotsam And Jetsam, issue, metal, review, Ugly Noise
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Album review: INTRONAUT – Habitual Levitations
Century Media – Out Now. When it comes to choosing which albums to review for our site, the parameters I have set are actually pretty straightforward and simple: the more diverse, demanding and unique a band is the more inclined … Continue reading
Album review: MANILLA ROAD – Mysterium
ZYX Music – Out Now. Good promotion, or lack of it, can make the difference between life and death for most bands, especially at times like these when the music market has become over-saturated with hundreds, if not thousands, of … Continue reading
Interview with MARK “THE SHARK” SHELTON (Manilla Road)
Throughout my relatively lengthy time as a music journalist I have often had to communicate online with artists who, for various reasons, I could not meet in person. I can say that Mark “The Shark” Shelton is one of the … Continue reading
Interview with OLLY PEARSON (Moss)
Finding a spot where you can hear yourself think so as to do an interview at the Underworld in Camden is a real challenge, but when the interviewee is as accommodating as Moss’ frontman Olly Pearson, then everything is possible. … Continue reading
Posted in INTERVIEWS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Interviews
Tagged interview, metal, moss.olly pearson
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Album review: HAMMERFORCE – Access Denied
Metalism Records ( Release date – Out now ) A bit of synth driven power metal from St Petersburg this time. Hammerforce formed back in 2006 and this is the band’s second album, the first being ‘Dice’ … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged Access Denied, album, CD, Hammerforce, power metal, prog, progressive, review, rock, Russia
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Interview with UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER (U.D.O), May 2013
Since first fronting the mighty Accept back in the early 80s, Udo Dirkschneider had to overcome many obstacles to present us all with his fine blend of classic-sounding, honest Heavy Metal. The most recent blow, the departure of both his … Continue reading
Album review: U.D.O – Steelhammer
AFM Records – [Release date 21.05.13] Udo Dirkschneider is a man who simply does not understand the meaning of slowing down. Even though he has recently witnessed the departure from the U.D.O ranks of his long-time friend and collaborator Stefan … Continue reading
Album Review: DAGOBA – Post Mortem Nihil Est
earMUSIC Don’t be fooled by the plinky piano and music hall humming on the intro to album opener ‘When Winter…’ Within seconds, Shawter unleashes a death roar to split brains and splinter souls. This is damn fine album, full of … Continue reading
Gig review: MOSS – Camden Underworld, London,15 May 2013
Support Acts: Purson & Black Magician Review by Yiannis (John) Stefanis Having just returned from a great holiday, involving great company, awesome food and top quality wine, I had to face the cold and rainy streets of London once more. … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Gig reviews
Tagged 15 May 2013, Black Magician, Camden Underworld, Doom, gig, London, metal, Moss, Purson, review
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Album review: DELAIN – Interlude
Interview edit: Charlotte Wessels of Delain, 1 May 2013 First broadcast on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, 5 May 2013 The full version of this interview is available as a podcast (You can sign up to receive alerts of podcast … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Charlotte Wessels, Delain, Interlude, metal, review, rock, symphonic
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Album review: TIME GRID – Life
Open Your Eyes Records [Release date: 21.01.13] Time Grid is French/Swiss prog metal band who have taken nearly a decade to realise their musical vision. ‘Life’ is by no means an unblemished slice of prog metal, but … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged Franco Swiss rock, keyboards, King Crimson, Laetitia Fontannaz, Life, Mathias Reusser, metal, Procol Harum, prog metal, progressive, Remi Pussier, review, rock, Steve Huber, synths, Time Grid
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Album review: CTHULHU RISE – 42
Musea Records This incredible heavy but inventive album may sometimes border on the cacophonous as it blasts away the cobwebs of complacency with monumental fractured riffs, but the underlying fast changing time signatures, unrelenting metal dirge (sludge metal anybody?) and … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged 42, Andy Prischenko, Captain Beefheart, Cthulhu Rise, Frank Zappa, free form jazz, HP Hovercraft, improv, Ivan Serdyuk, jazz, Jazz rock, Kiev rock bands, King Crimson, mathcore, metal, moog synthesizer, Musea records, prog, review, riffs, Robert Fripp, Stanislav Bobritskiy, Trout Mask Replica, Yury Demirskiy
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Interview with JARLE (Hvàll) KVALE from VREID (April 2013)
Norwegian Black Metal has come a long way since the early 90s, a sentiment that is definitely shared by Jarle (Hvàll) Kvale – bassist and leading Member of the Norwegian quartet Vreid. Having released a splendid album in “Welcome Farewell”, … Continue reading
Posted in INTERVIEWS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Interviews
Tagged 2013, April, Black Metal, interview, Jarle (Hvàll) Kvale, Vreid
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Gig review: HELLOWEEN – The Forum, Kentish Town, London, 16 April 2013
If you are a frequent visitor to our pages, especially our gig reviews section, you would have undoubtedly noticed that on the 15th of April, a day prior to the one featured in this review, I attended a magnificent Pain … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Gig reviews
Tagged 16 April 2013, Gamma Ray, gig, Helloween, Kai Hansen, Kentish Town Forum, London, metal, power, review, rock, Shadowside
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Gig review: IL NINO, SACRED MOTHER TONGUE, Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, 4 April 2013
It beckoned to be a good night, the advertised line up was very strong and the venue was a good one for the crowd. However it soon became apparent that the lineup had changed but no notification of this was … Continue reading
Album review: STONE SOUR – The House of Gold & Bones Part Two
Roadrunner Corey Taylor never seems to sleep as he is either penning books, comic books or music, in this case the rather good Stone Sour. If like me you’re no fan of Slipknot, Stone Sour are much more accessible and … Continue reading
Gig review: PAIN OF SALVATION – The Relentless Garage Islington, London,15 April 2013
Support Acts: Anneke van Giersbergen, Arstidir Review and photos by Yiannis (John) Stefanis At my age, venturing out on a Monday night to a gig can only be prompted by some pretty special events, among which I count the fact … Continue reading
Album review: THE RESISTANCE – Scars
earMUSIC [Release Date – 10.05.13] What is heavy music ? A One Direction fan may consider Bon Jovi heavy, whereas a Bon Jovi fan may consider Iron Maiden heavy. He or she in turn may consider Slayer heavy, but what about … Continue reading
