Onslaught will be a name well known to all fans of thrash metal worldwide and this Bristol based band is back with album number seven Generation Antichrist, a most irreverent but hard hitting thrash album intermingled with a fair amount of hardcore. The band history goes back to 1982 with a hiatus between 1991 and..
Nightmare – Aeternam (AFM Records)
Nightmare is a French metal band that was formed in 1979 as a power metal outfit and has had a really chequered history with there being a long break from 1987 when the band folded to 1999 when they returned but basically as a new band. They have had a fair number of musicians move..
U.D.O. and the Musikkorps der Bundeswehr – All For One (AFM Records)
U.D.O. is a German heavy metal band that was formed by the larger than life vocalist Udo Dirkschneider in 1987 after he left fellow German rock band Accept. Dirkschneider did subsequently return to Accept between 1992 and 1996 but that is another story completely. His new band has released many very high quality hard/power metal..
Vanishing Point – Dead Elysium (AFM Records)
Vanishing Point is an Australian progressive metal band that dates back to the early '90s and has previously released five excellent albums yet, sadly, there has been nothing but quiet since the great Distant Is The Sun which came out in 2014. Six long years have since passed but the good news is that Brisbane's..
Thundermother – Heat Wave (AFM Records)
In the main, hard and heavy rock has been almost exclusively the domain of the alpha male; this type of testosterone rock has always been loud, brash and, well, heavy and more often than not with larger than life singers and guitarists with nihilistic tendencies. It is also fair to say that there has been..
Redemption – Alive In Color (AFM Records)
Redemption is an American progressive metal band which formed around 20-years ago and just maybe it has slipped under the radar for some out there but the band is every bit as good as Queensryche, Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Symphony X so really does deserve to be considered in the same division as these..
Pyrogenesis – A Silent Soul Screams Loud (AFM Records)
Another German band, Pyogenesis has had a long and illustrious career during which it has flirted with various styles including death, gothic, punk and now alternative metal. Originally, from Stuttgart this is the ninth album of often eclectic rock from a band that delights in exploring and pushing boundaries A Silent Soul Screams Loud is..
Shakra – Mad World (AFM Records)
This Swiss hard rock band has been around now since the late '90s with Mad World being their twelfth album in what has been quite an interesting career. I’ve not followed their last couple of albums with 2011’s Back On Track being the last time I checked on them when they were on their third..
Firewind – Firewind (AFM Records)
The band Firewind was initially formed in 1998 as a showcase for the mercurial talents of Greek guitarist Konstantinos Karamitroudis (more commonly known as Gus G) but it took another three years for a real band to emerge with the debut, Between Heaven And Hell, being released a year later in 1992. Since then there..
Bonfire – Fistful Of Fire (AFM Records)
This remarkable German heavy rock band has been around since 1972 but was initially known as Cacumen until 1986 when they changed their name to Bonfire. This proved to be a masterstroke and since then, they have released many great rock albums and continued to raise their profile worldwide. For the uninitiated, Bonfire is a..