CD

Audrey Horne

Fans of bands like Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, and others: Rejoice! Audrey Horne’s Youngblood is yet another fine example that hard rock is far from dead and gone.

Engraved Disillusion

Following experiences in other bands (I only have actual info on one of 'em, really – see further), singer Chris BoxPugsley and guitarists Marc Matthews & Toby Stewart (both play lead as well as rhythm guitar parts; the latter was in Awake By Design, but I doubt he contributed to the 2 full-length self-released albums of that band) came together in 2008 through their mutual love for and understanding of Melodic Death Metal.

Holy Dragons

Holy Dragons band was created on the 11th of September in 1992 and till 1997 existed under the name Axcess in Almaty, Kazakhstan.  In those beginning days of Holy Dragons, they were situated at Metal of the 80-ties and this influence still remains the main principal of the band.

Nar Mattaru

Nar Mattaru are a band from Chile, consisting of two members of the original line-up of Chilean cult-act Dominus, Francisco Bravo (b, g) and Andrés Gonzales (d) (later: Dominus Xul). A first official effort was done in 2009: the demo In The Black Spheres Of Time, featuring vocalist (read: throat) Carlos Artarys.

Nightwish

If you’d put this CD on, almost everybody that loves classical music, with hints of more modern music in it (because of the sporadic use of modern instruments) would tell you that this is fantastic music.  You wouldn’t even suspect this was written by a metal band.  As a matter of fact this music could even have been used as the soundtrack for some or another fantastic movie, like Lord Of The Rings for instance.

Shaped By Fate

This South Wales based 5-piece Metalcore act was founded in late 2001, has since released a demo, 2 EPs, and a preceding debut full-length, and have toured ll over the UK and Europe with the likes of Parkway Drive, Suicide Silence, The Chariot, Everytime I Die, Becoming The Archetype, Bury Your Dead, Raging Speedhorn, Funeral For A Friend, Crowbar, and many, many more...

Viza

At first I thought I was listening to a clone of System Of A Down, but I had to rethink my first opinion afterwards.  Viza is much more than a simple clone of aforementioned band.   While with System Of A Down I find it hard to listen to a complete album, this was not the case with Viza.

Majesty

It’s been seven years ago since the last ‘new’ album was released by this German band.  They did release a compilation and a DVD in that period however.

I’d almost forgotten about the existence of this band, but I was greatly pleased by this new effort.  It’s not innovative, but somehow it manages to mix epic power metal à la Manowar with classic heavy metal à la Judas Priest.  Now both of the aforementioned bands have always been high on my list of preferred bands, so imagine what a combination of both styles could do.

Drive Like Maria

Since I received both the single and the full album at the same moment, I found it a bit stupid to write two distinct reviews.

This is the second album by this Belgian/Dutch band, that I’d never heard of before.  To say they play hard rock wouldn’t do justice to their music.  This is much more than plain hard rock.  It’s more something in the vein of poppy stoner rock, with also hints of other genres hidden in the songs.

Venefica

This Melodic Rock/ Metal Czech quintet was founded in 2007, and as far as I know their line-up has always consisted of lead singer Ray, guitarists Jeff (also backing vocals) and Sasha, bassist/ backing singer Marian, and drummer Frankie.

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