Author: UberAdmin

Lucynine – ‘Amor Venenat’ (Inverse Records)

Lucynine – ‘Amor Venenat’ (Inverse Records)

Posted by | Aug 4, 2020 | ,

This one is a bit out of left field. It took John B a little while to figure out what to make of what he was hearing. There is such a wide range of styles that all come into play throughout the album. You never feel totally grounded in what you are experiencing – but JB means that in a good way. Every layer adds depth and texture. While still feeling connected through the experience each track also feels very unique from one another. Kind of like when you are watching a TV show with very set characters but each episode is a self-contained story. Our man gets that kind of impression. Every track is in the same family but takes on its own style distinct from the rest. It makes for a really cool experience.

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Fortune – ‘The Gun’s Still Smokin’ – Live’ (Frontiers)

Fortune – ‘The Gun’s Still Smokin’ – Live’ (Frontiers)

Posted by | Aug 4, 2020 | ,

Monk must admit that, despite the band having been formed in the mid-Eighties, he was completely unfamiliar with LA melodic rockers Fortune before the second iteration of the late, much-lamented Rockingham festival back in 2016. Their couple of minor hits and self-titled album completely by-passed the boss man first time around: as he said at the time, maybe our chief pack mule had better things to do than listen to a bunch of Styx/Toto wannabes? To be equally honest, as he said in his review of that reunion performance, they didn’t do much to stir this particular hardened rock ‘n’ roller’s loins, with their straightforward classic AOR. But, 12 months later, they were back for a second successive year, as a result of which they were picked up by Frontiers Records for their second album, which finally surfaced in 2019 – a full 34 years after their debut release!

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Volturyon – ‘Xenogenesis’ (ViciSolum Productions)

Volturyon – ‘Xenogenesis’ (ViciSolum Productions)

Posted by | Aug 3, 2020 | ,

Sometimes you don’t need to change the world. Sometimes doing what you do best and doing it really well is exactly what is needed. Now, John B is not going to go off on his usual speech about being super unique or anything like that. It does not apply here really as this is pretty standard for death metal, but it is an excellent example of the genre. No nothing has been redefined, just delivered in an excellent way, and in that ‘Xenogenesis’ does stand out as a great album. Starting with a deep breath and then not letting up for the rest of the experience.

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Dun Ringill – ‘Library of Death’ (Argonauta Records)

Dun Ringill – ‘Library of Death’ (Argonauta Records)

Posted by | Aug 3, 2020 | ,

Anyone that knows Jonny B will know that that the big man with the impressive beard just can’t get enough of folk metal. If it’s the kind of music that makes him want to dance bollock naked in the middle of a forest and drink shed loads of beer, then you can guarantee that it will definitely be his scene. But, of course, folk metal isn’t all beer and dancing, in fact this is just the tip of the folk metal iceberg. If you dig a bit deeper into the genre you’ll find a wealth of music that takes strong influence from traditional folk music and tales from the native country to give what could be called a cultural experience – if that’s your kind of thing, that is…

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Shezmu – ‘À Travers Les Lambeaux’ (Krucyator Productions)

Shezmu – ‘À Travers Les Lambeaux’ (Krucyator Productions)

Posted by | Aug 3, 2020 | ,

Whenever a metal band professes to come from ‘the frozen fields of [wherever]’, an immediate association is made in the mind of most metalheads. Icy tundras; high pitched shrieks, an overload of blastbeats, Taylor Swift album covers… Well, maybe not the last, but its fair to say the general consensus points towards the notoriously frostbitten nethers of black metal. Not so with Montréal’s Shezmu, the death metal denizens taking a decidedly bleak and powerful headlong dive into extremity on their full-length debut ‘À Travers Les Lambeaux’.

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