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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD/Bluray) 2025
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Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD/Bluray) 2026
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Upcoming: UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2025)
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Upcoming: UK & Ireland Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2026)
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Upcoming: Festivals UK & Europe (2026)
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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2025)
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Upcoming: European, USA & World Tour Dates and Gig Listing (2026)
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Category Archives: PURE METAL (All posts)
News: BIG BIG TRAIN, DIAMOND DOGS, NICK MASON (January 2022)
Alestorm begin work on their next album, ‘Seventh Rum Of A Seventh Rum’, which will be released on Napalm Records later this year. Arch Enemy will release their latest studio album, ‘Deceivers’, via Century Media Records on July 29. Big … Continue reading
Posted in Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Books, Festivals & Large Events, Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Gigs and Tour News, NEWS, PledgeMusic/Kickstarter Campaigns, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/News, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged AOR, Big Big Train, blues, Classic Rock Magazine, Diamond Dogs, folk, gigs, Melodic Rock Records, metal, news, Nick Mason, prog, re-issues, rock, tours
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Quick plays: BLACKLITE DISTRICT, NORTHTALE
BLACKLITE DISTRICT – 1990 AK19 Entertainment, LLC [Release date 31.12.21] Kyle Pfeiffer is better known by the name Blacklite District and has been releasing music since 2011. The album title gives a little clue to the sounds contained within, as the … Continue reading
Album review: MINISTRY – Bad Blood, The Mayan Albums, 2002-2005 (4 CDs)
Cherry Red [release date: 17.12.21] There are Industrial Metal bands and there is Ministry. After the breakthrough in 1983, Al Jourgensen’s minimalist metal-in-extremis became the benchmark for the genre pretty rapidly. You could argue that this 4 CD snapshot, originally … Continue reading
Album review : STAHLMANN – Quarz
AFM Records [release date: 10.12.21] 7th album from German band, Stahlmann. When Rammstein released their first album, in 1995, the German music press coined a new phrase, Neue Deutsch Harte. NDH became a cutting edge calling card for other bands … Continue reading
News: ELLES BAILEY, STONEDEAD, URIAH HEEP (December 2021)
Tim Arnold releases his new album, ‘Maybe Magic’, on January 7 via Bandcamp. Pretty Maids vocalist Ronnie Atkins releases his new solo album ‘Make It Count’ on march 18 via Frontiers. Elles Bailey has opened pre-orders for her next album, ‘Shining in … Continue reading
Posted in Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Books, Festivals & Large Events, Gigs and Tour News, NEWS, PledgeMusic/Kickstarter Campaigns, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/News, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged alternative, blues, blues rock, Elles Bailey, festivals, folk, gigs, indie, melodic rock, metal, news, pop, prog, rock, Stonedead, tours
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Album review: MANIMAL – Armageddon
AFM Records [Release date 3.12.21] Armageddon is Swedish Power Metal band, Manimal’s 6th release. What it lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in bravado and sheer power, with the rough edges sanded down by a bunch of resilient, tough … Continue reading
Album review: RHAPSODY OF FIRE – Glory For Salvation
AFM Records [Release date 26.11.21] Italian symphonic metal legends Rhapsody (for that is what they were originally called) return with their 13th studio album and is the second in the The Nephilim’s Empire Saga concept series, and follows on from … Continue reading
Album review : CORROSION OF CONFORMITY – Sleeping Martyr: 2000-2005 (3 CD digipack)
Cherry Red [Release date 26.11.21] The Sleeping Martyr digipak is a cleverly selected three album package from one of the world’s coolest metal bands, Corrosion Of Conformity. All three – America’s Volume Dealer (2000), Live Volume (2001) and In The … Continue reading
Album review: INSANIA – V Praeparatus Supervivet
Frontiers [Release date 12.11.21] Few bands get back together after a 14 year breakup, but that’s what Sweden’s Power Metal band, Insania have done. Twin vocalists, twin guitars, bubbling bass and ahhh… that double kick bass drum thump on the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts)
Tagged album, Frontiers, Helloween, Insania, Iron Maiden, power metal, review, Sweden
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Album review: BEAST IN BLACK – Dark Connection
Nuclear Blast [Release date 29.10.21] Beast In Black, the band that love to mix synths, Europop beats and their love of Anime into the more traditional power metal mix. This is the band’s third album with both of their previous … Continue reading
News: POWER QUEST, BEARDED THEORY, GIANT (November 2021)
Annihilator release their latest album, ‘Metal II’, on 18 February via earMUSIC. Asia are to release a 10CD boxset The Official Live Bootlegs Volume 1 through BMG Records on 26 November. There will also be a digital album featuring a … Continue reading
Posted in Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Books, Festivals & Large Events, Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, NEWS, PledgeMusic/Kickstarter Campaigns, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/News, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged alternative, Bearded Festival, blues, Buckcherry, Faster Pussycat, festivals, folk, Giant, gigs, indie, melodic rock, metal, news, pop, Power Quest, prog, rock, tours
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Album review: ORANGE GOBLIN – Rough and Ready, Live and Loud, 25 Years of British Rock and Heavy Metal
Dissonance/Cherry Red [Release date: 5.11.21] Counting back to 1995, Orange Goblin are a ten album band, whose latest live recording was available only as a digital release in 2020, due to the unforseen circumstance we call Covid. Now it’ll … Continue reading
Album review: BURNING POINT – Arsonist Of The Soul
AFM Records [Release date: 22.10.21] Finnish band, Burning Point have never found their way into the vanguard of European Power Metal. To their credit, despite being handicapped by lacklustre albums and personnel changes, they’ve kept moving forward. Now, five years … Continue reading
Album review: LORDS OF BLACK – Alchemy Of Souls II
Frontiers [Release date 15.10.21] Fifth album from metallers, Lords Of Black, the Ronnie Romero/ Tony Hernando band. They brand themselves as a “Progressive” Power Metal band. You can see strong hints of how this plays out when first viewing the … Continue reading
Album review: ALCATRAZZ – V
Silver Lining Music [Release date: 15.10.21] Now that Doogie White and Joe Stump are onboard, Alcatrazz have abandoned all that wimpy rock stuff, and mainlined themselves into the world of heavy metal, on this, their second album with Silver Lining. … Continue reading
News: RODNEY MATTHEWS, DEPECHE MODE, LILLIAN AXE (October 2021)
Bryan Adams releases his latest album, ‘So Happy It Hurts’, on March 11. Alter Bridge enter the studio next April to start work on their new album. Battle Beast release their new album, ‘Circus Of Doom’, on January 21 via … Continue reading
Album review: FICTION SYXX – Ghost Of My Fathers Past
MR Records [Release date 04.08.21 digital/28.09.21 physical] Here we have the third album from Fiction Syxx who have been pretty consistent in releasing a new album every couple of years since they started back in 2017. The band consists of … Continue reading
Album review: KK’S PRIEST – Sermons Of The Sinner
EX1 Records [Release date 01.10.21] Fans of the perennial metal gods Judas Priest have been lucky on the albums front in recent years. First we had two killer albums from Priest itself. Both 2014’s Redeemer of Souls (recorded after the … Continue reading
Album review: PARADOX – Heresy II, End Of A Legend
AFM Records [Release date: 24.09.21] German giants of Thrash, Paradox are well known within the genre. They have a sizeable coterie of discerning fans who’ve followed them since the band’s inception in 1986. Had their chosen genre been say, power … Continue reading
Album review: SAVATAGE – Sirens and Dungeons Are Calling (remasters)
ear-MUSIC [release date 3.09.21] We’re cranking the machine way back to 1982, and Savatage’s twin debuts, Sirens and Dungeons Are Calling, both independently released. The band, Jon and Criss Oliva, Keith Collins and Steve Wacholz recorded and mixed all the … Continue reading
Album review: IAN PARRY’s ROCK EMPORIUM – Brute Force
Metal Mind [release date 14.07.21] Singer/songwriter, Ian Parry has always been master of his own destiny, moving from project to project and label to label over the course of his 30 year career. He counts Hammerhead, Elegy, Ayreon and Vengeance … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/Album reviews
Tagged album, Allan Sorensen, Ayreon, Elegy, Hammerhead, Ian Parry, Kris Gildenlow, Lucas Sillito, Metal Mind, Neo Classical, Patrick Johansen, Patrick Rondat, review, Rock Emporium, symphonic metal, Vengeance
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Album review: BRAINSTORM – Wall Of Skulls
AFM Records [release date 17.09.21] Judging by this new release, Brainstorm turned the pandemic related lockdown to good advantage, in writing and recording Wall Of Skulls. It’s no more than an incremental step up from last album, Midnight Ghost, but … Continue reading
Album review: GAMMA RAY – 30 Years Live Anniversary
Ear Music/Edel [Release date 10.09.21] In 2020, it looked like this could become the new normal. A live gig without an audience. Kai Hansen’s Gamma Ray know what it is to play live…they’ve been doing it for 30 years. It becomes … Continue reading
Album review: OVERKILL – The Atlantic Years 1986-1994
BMG [Release date 29.10.21] New Jersey band Overkill, named after the Motorhead album/song, formed in 1980 and were part of the early US thrash scene. Nineteen studio albums, three live and three EPs later, there’s quite a legacy there. There … Continue reading
News: ANVIL, TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT, ALAN PARSONS (September 2021)
Abba release a new album ‘Voyage’ – their first in 40 years – on November 5. They have also announced a new live show, ‘Abba Voyage’, will open at the new 3,000 capacity Abba Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park … Continue reading
Posted in Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Books, Exhibitions, Festivals & Large Events, Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Gigs and Tour News, NEWS, PledgeMusic/Kickstarter Campaigns, PURE METAL (All posts), Pure Metal/News, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged Alan Parsons, albums, alternative, Americana, anvil, blues, country, festivals, folk, gigs, melodic rock, metal, New releases, news, pop, prog rock, RIP, rock, singles, Temperance Movement, tours
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