by Joe Mis Staff Writer If you are a fan of guitar rock and are looking for the “next big thing” you should seriously check out Destination Unknown by Ivan Mihaljevic & Side Effects. Hailing from Croatia, Mihaljevic is well respected by his music peers but not well know to the listening [...]
by Alissa Ordabai Staff Writer Syrian-born guitarist Luay Rifai pitches his new instrumental release as a concept album, but the wobbly concept of “the miracle of being alive” soon transpires to be just a peg to hang a bunch of disparate ideas on. Sounding more like a demo of a guitarist [...]
by Mark Allen Staff Writer This sophomore effort from Adelitas Way is a musical Frankenstein, created by culling parts from other bands. You can hear the slamming riffs of Saliva, the pop-rock hooks of Papa Roach, the slithering melodies of Seether, the thumping aggression of Three Days Grace…you [...]
by Derric Miller Staff Writer Weird. To hear the opening track “Patient Zero” on HammerFall’s new release, Infected, is just plain weird. Known for being one of the most galloping and triumphant composers in all of Power Metal, this somewhat new direction will take longtime fans by [...]
by Mark Allen Staff Writer Even stalwart defenders of modern hard rock reluctantly acknowledge that the market is as oversaturated as a sponge in a swimming pool, so when an album surfaces through the polluted sea of mediocrity that is good enough to carve a smile on the face of a stone sphinx, [...]
by Marc C. Staff Writer After seven years in the making, Shraphead’s Blind & Seduced is firing on all cylinders right out of the gate. Formed in August 2004 in Eidskog, Norway, founding members Mohamed Dyani and William Fossheim, later joined by singer Jo Johnsrud and in 2007 guitarist [...]
by Joe Mi Staff Writer Whisper Campaign is the full-length debut release from Salt Lake City-based prog rockers American Hollow. Blending genres from progressive rock to classic rock and metal and influences from acts as diverse as Pink Floyd, Tool, Led Zeppelin and King Crimson, American Hollow is [...]
by Mark Allen Staff Writer You don’t have to roam to the distant ends of the earth to find pure, undiluted melodic hard rock. Just look no further than FarCry, the band that dropped their critically-acclaimed debut back in 2009. The band’s second album, Optimism, is finally here and you can [...]
by Cyndi Jo Staff Writer After the simply dumb end of the world proclamation that never came on May 21, 2011, we are left to anticipate 2012 to be our demise. Well, if that’s the case, 2012 the second album from the Chilean metal band Ratzinger, which includes 10 killer tracks of thrash metal [...]
by Trevor Portz Staff Writer It’s unlikely that anyone who got into the burgeoning extreme metal scene in the late eighties/early nineties wasn’t, at the very least, aware of death/doomers Winter. While most bands were pushing the limits of speed and technicality, these New Yorkers lived up to [...]
