1. Argus “Beyond The Martyrs” (Cruz Del Sur)
– Early days, but this could very well be their best one so far.
2. Atlantean Kodex “The White Goddess” (Cruz Del Sur)
– Right now, I prefer the debut, but as expected, this is high quality stuff. Continue reading
After three demos, Helsinki’s Ranger is ready for the next step. This autumn, the vinyl only mini-album “Knights Of Darkness” will be released by the Finnish record label, Ektro Records. Judging by their demo-material, this is going to be a totally ripping speed metal-affair with hints of both thrash as well as pure heavy metal. While we’re awaiting this release, Metal Squadron got in contact with three of the four members of the band, Dimi who takes care of vocals as well as bass, drummer Miko and guitarist Jaakko. Continue reading
Dean Tavernier is a musician I have the uttermost respect for. When “no one” cared for traditional metal back in the second half of the nineties, he was partly responsible for some cracking albums with Skullview. As I mentioned in the review of the new Stone Magnum-album, the Skullview-debut “Legends Of Valor”, contains some killer heavy metal, has a totally cult artwork and all the heavy metal- clichés one could dream of. A release that shaped my musical taste for years to come, and tempted me to dive deeper and deeper down in what has turned out to be a never ending hunt for obscure heavy metal. Continue reading
Seemingly out of nowhere Iron Kingdom from Canada was booked to be one of the opening bands at next year’s edition of Keep It True. I have to admit that I didn’t know the band before I heard of the booking, but as soon as I had checked a few tunes available online, I contacted their singer and guitarist Chris Osterman who was kind enough to send me both the brand new album “Gates Of Eternity” as well as 2011s debut “Curse Of The Voodoo Queen”. Continue reading
1. Stone Magnum ”From Time…To Eternity” (RIP)
– Solid songwriting, heavy riffs and a extremely good singer make a great doom metal-album. Great to see the RIP-logo as well. Love those old October 31 and Skullview-releases.
2. Hürlement “Terreur Et Torment” (Emanes Metal)
– Sold out when I wanted to buy it on CD at KIT, forgot about it until it was released on vinyl recently. I have a soft spot for pure HM sung in French!
I have a soft spot for female fronted heavy metal bands, or should I rather say I have a soft spot for great female fronted heavy metal bands? Just like I adore great heavy metal-acts fronted by a male singer. The difference is that the really good female fronted heavy metal-acts are few and far between. Only a couple of acts, I am talking about pure heavy metal-stuff now, have left an impression, and releases by bands like Masque, Malteze, Acid and Chastain will always have a place in my collection. Continue reading
You probably know the feeling just as well as I do, once in a while you can almost sense that the next album from a band will be massive. When I put away “Pathways Into Darkness” the second full length from Australia’s The Wizar’d released early in 2010, I kind of knew that the next record would be something really special. Continue reading
1. The Wizar’d “Ancient Tome of Arcane Knowledge (BBTAD)
– Killer, absolutely killer. What an album! Original songwriting and awesome guitar work.
2. Age Of Taurus ”Desperate Souls Of Tortured Times” (Rise Above)
– Clicked with me almost immediately. Had to get the demo as well.
It’s been a long and rough ride, but finally the first album from Italy’s Battle Ram is out. Released to coincide with the Keep It True festival in late April, my guess is that the My Graveyard-stand shifted quite a lot of copies of this album during the festival. Continue reading
I’ll prefer to start this feature by putting the cards on the table. It was Tim of Shadow Kingdom who suggested an article covering the whole career of the band and it was also he that established the contact with bass player, song writer, lyricist and founder John Gaffney which allowed me to do something different than just the usual feature focused on the latest release. That being said, the bigger labels also work like this, often offering selected media to do special features about their artists. Continue reading
I really enjoyed Visigoth’s “Final Spell”, released on tape a while ago, but the release uncovered one major problem: My cassette deck sucks! Although Iordan of Stormspell has talked about releasing it, “Final Spell” has so far not been made available on CD. Continue reading
As long as it lasts and as much as it’s worth, “Hiding Into Flames”, the third album from Mexican band Voltax, is a historic release. It’s historic because it’s the album with the highest score here at Metal Squadron since I started reviewing albums a few months back. Continue reading
1. Black Oath “Ov Qliphoth And Darkness” (I Hate)
– Dark, haunting and pretty unique doom metal. Brilliant!
2. Sinister Realm “World Of Evil” (Shadow Kingdom)
– I don’t get tired of this one. One of the albums of the year.
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Coming out of nowhere, Italy’s ASGARD appeared as one of the largest surprises of the last few years. Their debut album “The Seal Of Madness” struck like a bomb and when I first discovered how extremely good this album was, it took months before it left my stereo. Two years later and the five guys are back with their follow-up, “Outworld”. Continue reading
1. Sinister Realm ”World Of Evil” (Shadow Kingdom)
– On par with the first two. The title track and “Bell Strikes Fear” are eternal hymns.
2. Asgard “Outworld” (My Graveyard)
– Right now, I prefer the debut, but this has quality written all over it. Old school songwriting dressed in a modern production. Continue reading
PROCESSION is definitely one of the finest new doom metal bands out there. The heavy riffs, the majestic voice of singer Felipe, the beautiful solos, everything about this band is perfect. Especially the way the band sounds on the new album “To Reap Heavens Apart”. Taking nothing away from “Destroyers Of The Faith” which was an excellent album, but this new one is simply amazing. Continue reading
First, I might come off as a bit self-centered starting an article this way, but I promise, I’ll get to the point. Soon. After listening to mostly bigger bands, and especially the Noise Records-acts during the late eighties and early nineties, I slowly started digging into the underground stuff during the mid to late nineties. Continue reading
I really admire Steve Ramsey, I love his work in Satan as well as Pariah and Skyclad, and was really happy to finally get a chance to speak to him. The main reason is the release of the band’s comeback album “Life Sentence” of course, but I also got a chance to cover a few other aspects. So Steve, the first preview of the new album is out today. Have you gotten any interesting feedback yet? Continue reading
Well, what has come of this site? It’s all about the darker side of life at the moment. Some weeks ago I announced a pretty extensive Satan-feature is upcoming, and then Stian from a certain quintet of Norwegian doom rockers willingly responded to my questions in an attempt to catch up with the DEVIL after the release of the band’s second album, “Gather The Sinners”. An album that represents an improvement on their already more than decent debut. Enjoy this long interview! Continue reading
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