Hermano ‘when the moon was high…’ (Ripple Music)

Hermano, fronted by John Garcia of Kyuss, were one of the coolest purveyors of stoner/desert rock in the Noughties. Their debut album, 2002’s ‘Only A Suggestion’, is a bona fide classic of the genre. Now they’re back with new album ‘when the moon was high…’, a mixture of unreleased live recordings, plus the first new studio music from the band since 2007’s final album ‘Into The Exam Room’.

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Astral Doors ‘The End Of It All’ (Metalville)

It’s been five long years since we last opened the Astral Doors and transported ourselves into the power metal Überverse of these Swedish genre veterans, a hiatus which perhaps inevitably had us questioning if it indeed was #TheEndOfItAll for this project fronted by powerhouse vocalist Nils Patrik Johansson. But, we need not have feared the worst as, while the various band members have been off doing different things over the past half a decade they have now reunited to celebrate their coming of age with this, their ninth studio album in their storied 21-year career.

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Dirtbag Republic ‘Bad Decisions’ (Self-Released)

Life is defined by it’s decisions, good, bad or indifferent. Well, while the band themselves may be declaring otherwise, following the career of this motley crüe of dirtbags (sic) from the dirty back alleys of Vancouver and listening to their heady brüe of seedy, sleazy rawk ‘n’f’n’ roll since they took Monk on a trip ‘Downtown Eastside’ back in 2017 is definitely one of the better ones the boss man has made in recent years – and continues to make on the basis of this rambunctious slice of rowdiness.

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Charlotte Wessels/Faunea – Utrecht, Tivoli Vredenburg – 4 October 2024

By now it’s clear that Jase W has been able to easily attend some really special shows this year just due to living in the Netherlands and today’s show over in Utrecht is another fine example of this. JW has been a fan of Charlotte Wessels’ work for a long time now due to randomly catching Delain at Sonisphere Festival in the ÜK many years ago. After the somewhat egregious dissolution of the Delain lineup and subsequent new formation, Charlotte has been striking out on her own and tonight’s event is the album release show of her latest, ‘The Obsession’.

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Forsaken Rite ‘The Forgotten West’ (Self-Released)

There’s something about Canada at the moment that is resulting in some pretty epic sounding metal becoming a national export. Perhaps it’s the combination of stark mountains and sprawling forests that breeds creativity, or maybe there’s just something in the Tim Horton’s coffee. Regardless of the reason, some of the bands to emerge out of Canada in recent years really do rival those in the well established European metal scene. So when a new Canadian folk metal EP dropped into the ÜRHQ inbox,Jonny B simply had to measure it up against the likes of Eluveitie and his other favourite Euro equivalents!

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