Bertus

Hey, yet another Motörhead studio album, in fact their 21^st to date, and yet again a powerhouse addition to an already impressive collection of material!

How he manages to combine them all is a riddle to me, but between his work as a producer and with his bands Casanova/Demon Drive, and Wolfpakk, Michael Voss has found the time to also write an record songs for a next Mad Max album. The career of this band spans some thirty years, although with lots of splits stops and restarts, but this does not show in this brand new album.

Down Among The Dead Men (question: named after the so-called The Lord Weird Slough Feg 2000-record, or the eighteenth-century John Dyer song; there are a couple of scriptures (i.e. books, novels, stories) too with this moniker, by the way) is a new project, which shamelessly can be labelled as ‘super-group’. Why? Because of the members. Down Among The Dead Men were formed by two extremely skilled and well-known Extreme Metal musicians (both of them wrote the music for this first album).

The Swiss band Crystal Ball is a power/heavy metal band that once again surfaces. Following a 6 year hiatus, a new album "Dawnbreaker" was finally released this year. Their sound can best be described as a blend of classic Heavy Metal, euro-Rock and melodic Power Metal. But this album reminds me the most of bands like Firewind, if that helps to compare them to something you know.

“Aeon Zen” are a UK progressive rock/metal band formed in 2008 with Rich Hinks original from start 2008 (guitar/vocals/bass/keyboards), other members from 2012; Andi Kravljaca (Vocals), Matt Shepherd (Guitar) and Steve Burton (Drums).

Ready, Set , Fall, an Italian band playing Swedish melodic death with American metalcore and a strong preference for agile variability. Five members: Marco Pochettino (drums), Giovanni Santolla (Bass/vocals), Christopher Volpi (vocals), Francesco Scaravelli (guitar) and Frank Mossa (guitar).

As the title of this US band implies, Strangelight are more than a little familiar with Ian McKaye’s Fugazi, I guess they spin at home quite some discs by Lungfish, Angst, Killdozer, Butthole Surfers, Naked Raygun, Jawbox, …as that's what they most closely resemble. The result is sometimes pretty interesting but here is one thing that bothers me. There are the vocals which annoy me, I wish they were more expressive, but this clear nasal tone has bored me to death.

Silent Voices is a Finnish progressive metal band formed in 1995. Current members: Timo Kauppinen (guitar), Pasi Kauppinen (bass), Jukka-Pekka Koivisto (drums), Hendrik Klingenberg (keyboards) and Teemu Koskela (vocals).

Seether is a South African post-grunge/alternative metal band founded in 1999. The band was originally formed under the name "Saron Gas" until renaming it to "Seether" in 2002. The first disc on Seether’s collection is comprised of all fifteen singles the band has released throughout the past eleven years. Tracks like ‘Gasoline,’ ‘Broken,’ ‘Remedy,’ ‘Fake It,’ ‘Rise Above This,’ ‘Country Song’ and ‘Tonight’ all turn up on the collection.

Satanic Malfunctions formed in the mid of the 80’s returning of the 22 years with a new album “Them”. With vocalist Kai, guitarist Yaga, bassist Ryan and drummer Ade they still plays aggressive and ultra-fast hardcore/punk mixed with grind/thrash frenzy, fueled by political lyrics.