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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: CARDINAL BLACK – Sub 89, Reading, 15 November 2024
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Gig review: SUZI QUATRO – London Palladium, 13 November 2024
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Gig review: HRH XVII, Great Yarmouth, 7-9 November 2024
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Gig review: WHEN RIVERS MEET, CHANTEL MCGREGOR, XANDER AND THE PEACE PIRATES – Dingwalls, London, 7 November 2024
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Gig review: DEEP PURPLE – 02 Arena, London, 6 November 2024
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Gig review: ELLES BAILEY- Islington Assembly Hall, London, 2 November 2024
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Featured Album Reviews
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Album review: CATS IN SPACE – Cats Alive!
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Album review: HOUSE OF SHAKIRA – Sour Grapes
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Album review: SKINTRADE – The Show Must Go On
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Album review: ROBERT PLANT – Lullaby and…The Ceaseless Roar
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Album review: PICTUREHOUSE – How Do I Explain How This Came To Be?
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Album review: DANNY DANZI – Tribulations
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Features
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Tag Archives: AFM Records
Album review : VICTORY – The Circle Of Life
AFM Records [Release date : 13.09.24] Battle hardened bands like Victory know that treading the boards for 30+ years teaches you stuff. You learn to map new paths to the same destinations. In reality, there is no substitute for experience. … Continue reading
Album review : MISTER MISERY – III
AFM Records [Release date : 02.08.24] Looking like a reimagined Kiss in a Gothic horror movie, Mister Misery’s dress and music sense could not be more theatrical. Nor could it fit the music any better, and vice versa. On III, … Continue reading
Album review : KRYPTOS – Decimator
AFM Records [Release date : 05.07.24] On their magnificent seventh album now, Indian heavy metal band, Kryptos still have their eyes on the prize. It’s always tantalisingly out of reach for most bands. Few ever get their hands on it. … Continue reading
Album review : NIGHTMARE – Encrypted
AFM Records [Release date: 06.06.24] Formed in 1979, French Power Metal band, Nightmare have been worshipping the mighty riff for 11 albums now. Their 12th album, Encrypted, sees ex Songbird songbird, Barbara Mogore (a smart bit of recruitment by Yves … Continue reading
Single review : RHAPSODY OF FIRE – Brave New Hope
AFM Records [out now] Rhapsody Of Fire’s vocalist, Giacomo Voli sounds more like Brother Firetribe’s Pekka Heino every day. Or maybe it’s the other way round. Those expressive vocals, bringing a lyric to life, are hard to match. ‘Brave New … Continue reading
Album review: BLOODBOUND – Tales From The North
AFM Records [release date 7.07.23] Since the early nineties, Northern European Metal bands have progressively sought to explore and celebrate the history and impact of Viking Culture. “Viking Metal” has grown considerably since then. One of today’s key exponents is … Continue reading
Album review: ROSS THE BOSS – Legacy Of Blood, Fire And Steel
AFM Records [Release date 28.04.23] (LP, ref vinyl, gatefold sleeve) Guitarist Ross The Boss is best known as a founder member of both The Dictators and later Manowar, and has an extensive discography with both, as well as Shakin’ Street, … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged AFM Records, album, best of, Fire And Steel, guitarist, Legacy Of Blood, Manowar, power metal, review, Ross the Boss
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Album review: ELVENKING – Reader Of The Runes (part 2), Rapture
AFM Records [Release date 28.04.23] Heavy metal pirates, Elvenking, set sail again, boldly going where few bands dare to go. It’s no exaggeration to claim that this album is a unique heavy metal experience. Operatic, symphonic, folky, very lyrical, not … Continue reading
Single review: MORS PRINCIPIUM EST – The Lust Called Knowledge
AFM Records You have to confess that the emphasis is on the “Melodic” when Mors Prncipium Est are described as Melodic Death Metal. New album, ‘Liberate The Unborn Humanity’, which is an interesting proposition, is due out on 8 April … 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
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: 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: 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: LEAVES EYES – The Last Viking, Midsummer Version
AFM Records [release date: 17.09.21] Leaves Eyes’ latest release, The Last Viking, Midsummer Version, is a multi media concept album, a high impact audiovisual story. The “Last Viking” was Harald III of Norway, known as Harald Hardrada (Harald the Hard … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged 1066, AFM Records, album, Audiovisual, Celtic, DVD, England, folk metal, Harold Hardrada, Norway, review, symphonic rock, YouTube
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Single review: MANIMAL – Armageddon and The Inevitable End
AFM Records [Release date 06.08.21] ‘Armageddon‘ is the title track and third “single” release from forthcoming new album from Sweden’s Manimal. As the song title suggests, this video version has lots of footage of global warfare, nuclear of course, clearly … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Single and EP reviews
Tagged AFM Records, Armageddon, Manimal, melodic metal, power metal, review, singles
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Album review: SOCIAL DISORDER – Love 2 Be Hated
AFM Records [Release date 18.6.21] Social Disorder is not just another punk rock band, in fact despite its misleading name (and album title), it’s not a punk rock band at all. Love 2 Be Hated is pretty cool melodic metal, … Continue reading
EP review : RHAPSODY OF FIRE – I’ll Be Your Hero
AFM Records [Release date 04.06.21] There’s no band more adept at sucking us into their fantasy world of bombastic, exhuberant Metal than Champions League Melodic Metal band, Rhapsody Of Fire. This is one of those rarities we call an EP. … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALL POSTS, PURE METAL (All posts), Single and EP reviews
Tagged AFM Records, album, EP, melodic metal, power, review, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, symphonic
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Album review: BLOODBOUND – Creatures Of The Dark Realm
AFM Records [release date: 28.05.21] When Bloodbound’s principal songwriters, Fredrik Bergh and Tomas Olsson rerouted their musical artistry from the AOR of Street Talk to the land of Power Metal, they brought the underlying principles of hooky melodic rock with … Continue reading
Album review: ARION – Vultures Die Alone
AFM [release date: 9.04.21] Over the 10 years since their debut, Arion have swapped teenage Eurovision notoriety for cutting edge symphonic rock. Like other Power Metal bands, their music is emphatic, and heavy on the drama. They know how to … Continue reading
Album review: METALITE – A Virtual World
AFM Records [release date 26.03.21] Coming soon to a Melodic Metal dancefloor near you, Metalite and their third album, A Virtual World. Afficionados will already know the band incorporate elements of trance and electronica into their streamlined melodic metal variant. … Continue reading
Album review: ORDEN OGAN – Final Days
AFM Records [Release date 12.03.21] Orden Ogan might not be the band on everyone’s lips when Progressive or Power Metal is the subject of conversation. But they should be. And if their last album, Gunmen, didn’t put them there, Final … Continue reading
Album review: BONFIRE – Roots
AFM Records [Release date 26.02.21] Bonfire‘s continued popularity and success confounds critics, of the genre at least, if not the band. And you could hardly describe each new album as a reinvention. They have constantly returned to their home territory … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged AFM Records, album, Alexx Stahl, Bonfire, Double album, Hans Ziller, melodic hard rock, review, roots, unplugged
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Album review: EVERGREY – Escape Of The Phoenix
AFM Records [Release date 26.02.21] Evergrey, led by the formidably talented writer/producer/guitarist/vocalist, Tom Englund, are now on their 12th album. Escape Of The Phoenix once again revisits the band’s idea of adult contemporary metal. It’s a dark, sinewy sound, braced … Continue reading
Album review: IRON SAVIOR – Skycrest
AFM Records [Release date 04.12.20] Installed like a figurehead at the prow of European heavy metal, Piet Sielck’s Iron Savior proudly trail the story of this classic musical movement behind them. You could argue that along with Kai Hansen, Sielck … Continue reading
