Category: Album Reviews

Dragonforce – ‘Warp Speed Warriors’ (Napalm Records)

Power metal legends Dragonforce return with their bright and sweeping new album ‘Warp Speed Warriors’, released this past Friday. Video game influences twist around cinematic fantasy narratives in this fresh and innovative new album- Herman Li and Sam Totman’s breathtaking guitars rise around the shattering heights of Marc Hudson’s vocals in this self-contained adventure into the most unchartered and playful corners of thematic power metal. 

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Ashen Reach – ‘The Fear’ (Self-Released)

One of the beauties of this job (if you can call it that) is watching, and listening to, bands develop, evolve, grow and mature, as well as pushing themselves to not only their collective and individual limits but also beyond the generic boundaries by which they may be perceived to be confined. One such band are Liverpudlian quartet Ashen Reach, who have reached through the letterbox at ÜRHQ, taken the envelope that landed on the mat inside, ripped out its contents and replaced it with their own missive of strident intent… Monk picks up the pieces…

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The Moor – ‘Ombra’ (Inertial Music)

Now and again, an album comes along that slowly crawls its way into the deepest, innermost recesses of your aural psyche, casting a shadow that is immovable and impermeable, wrapping you in a darkness that is impenetrable but at the same time ushering you into a light that is both blinding and welcoming an enervating and redemptive new dawn. The appropriately titled ‘Ombra’ casts just such a shadow… as Monk explores…

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Ecclesia – ‘Ecclesia Militans’ (Aural Music)

Heavy metal has always had a fascination with the darker aspects of human history, and mysterious French troubadours Ecclesia are no exception, recalling and exploring the 12th Century Holy Inquisition in the most minute of details via an eight-year career that has spawned an EP and, now, two albums, this latest of which is a decent enough slice of conceptual doom-infused power metal, as Monk now extrapolates…

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Cory Wells – ‘Harboring The Hurt I’ve Caused’ (Pure Noise Records)

It can be difficult to admit that the problems in your life may be no one’s fault but your own, to own up to the damage that you have done and live with your mistakes every day, realizing that you’ve been blind, and then once you can finally confront  the fear that the end is certain, begin to settle into that reality. As much as we all hate to admit it, it’s a situation we all experience, and one which is at the heart of this second album from Cory Wells (not to be confused with the former Three Dog Night singer of the same name) – and one he addresses with the easy eloquence of an expert songwriter.

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Scott Stapp – ‘Higher Power’ (Napalm Records)

They say that what goes around comes around, and it could be argued that Scott Stapp’s career most certainly has come full circle, from sitting on top of the world with Creed, notching up chart-topping hit after chart-topping hit, before sinking to the depths of despair and virtual anonymity, watching his former bandmates go from strength to strength while he tried to pull himself out of the gutter and rebuild his former career, until finding himself in the situation he is today – once again energizing his ‘Higher Power’… a declarative album that sees him reinvigorated and rejuvenated and, yes, quite possibly at the height of his powers.

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Artificial Language – ‘Distant Glow’ (Self-Released)

Artificial Language are a band very close to Jase W’s heart following on from their pretty spectacular album full of busy riffs, epic choruses and stuff that generally really scratches that brain itch he has for intense melody in his metal. So finding out that there’s an EP due soon and he had the privilege of getting an early peek at it wasn’t something our man could pass off when he’s hoping they return back to this side of the Atlantic every day after seeing them at TechFest back in 2022.

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Dead Reynolds – ‘Animal’ (Self-Released)

Dead Reynolds are another of the new breed of up-and-coming artists not afraid to fuck with the pre-conceived generic formulae, in this case mixing and moulding stadium-style alt-rock sensibilities with snotty-nosed pop punk melodies, all the while taking unexpected off-road forays into territories such as those inhabited by EDM-infused industrialism, nu-metalcore and even infusing elements of gothic noir into a heady journey through multiple intertwining yet surprisingly complementary miens, as Monk now explains…

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Voidwalker – ‘The Slow Decay’ (Self-Released)

There is certainly nothing about this stunning six-track EP that suggests the career of Leicester-based progressive deathcore dealers Voidwalker will be living up to its title and going into a slow decay anytime soon. Far from it, as this is a hugely effective and sustainable collection from an act whose career is undoubtedly on an exponentially upward trajectory, and deservedly so on the basis of the evidence presented herein, as Monk now explains.

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No Worth Of Man – ‘What’s Your Damage?’ (Self-Released)

‘What’s Your Damage?’ ask Hampshire-based brutalists No Worth Of Man on the title of this, just their third EP in their eight-year career. Well, how about the complete and state of carnage in which these four tracks of unmitigated intensity have left my poor, previously unsuspecting eardrums? That’s Monk’s damage… but it’s a cost he’s happy to pay, and get his mate Dave The Builder (Bob’s second cousin once removed) to repair, just in time to dive straight back into the fray!

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