Reviews
Records the editors have actually sat with, scored out of ten. A high mark is an argument, not a favour, and the write-up has to earn it.
82 reviews
8.5
Madball
Not Your Kingdom
Ten rounds, no clinching, and the old fighter still hits first
Gareth Llewellyn
Jul 30, 2026
7.5
Malevolence
Where Only the Truth Is Spoken
Sheffield goes to Los Angeles and comes back sounding enormous.
Gareth Llewellyn
Jul 22, 2026
9.0
Vader
De Profundis
Thirty four minutes, nine songs, and a scene finally audible abroad.
Andrzej Sawicki
Jul 10, 2026
8.0
Blackbraid
Blackbraid III
A trilogy closed with a plateau instead of a summit.
Eirik Solvang
Jul 1, 2026
9.0
Killswitch Engage
The End of Heartache
The album that taught a whole genre how to write a chorus.
Jonah Pike
Jun 20, 2026
8.8
Paradise Lost
Gothic
The players were not ready. The sound was, and the sound won.
Ilse Brandt
Jun 11, 2026
7.5
Behemoth
The Shit ov God
Immaculate execution, undermined by a decision made in marketing.
Andrzej Sawicki
Jun 3, 2026
8.8
Blind Guardian
Nightfall in Middle-Earth
Eleven songs of genuine grandeur, and eleven fragments that are not songs.
Julien Vasseur
May 23, 2026
8.0
Sodom
The Arsonist
Analogue drums, four decades in, and nowhere to play it.
Declan Rourke
May 16, 2026
9.1
Godflesh
Streetcleaner
A drum machine, two men, and the end of metal's need for a drummer.
Curtis Vance
May 7, 2026
9.2
Emperor
In the Nightside Eclipse
The record that built the vocabulary, in a mix that half buries it.
Eirik Solvang
Apr 28, 2026
8.5
Whitechapel
Hymns in Dissonance
They put the clean singing away and remembered how to scare people.
Jonah Pike
Apr 21, 2026
8.8
Napalm Death
Scum
Two bands, one drummer, and the year music stopped being polite.
Gareth Llewellyn
Apr 9, 2026
7.0
Lacuna Coil
Sleepless Empire
Heavier, yes. The question nobody answers is what for.
Ilse Brandt
Apr 2, 2026
9.3
Morbid Angel
Altars of Madness
Thirty eight minutes that taught death metal how to play.
Rafael Quintero
Mar 24, 2026
9.0
Werewolves
Die for Us
Australia's most savage death metal band, Werewolves, returns with their fifth studio album, Die For Us. Known for their...
Andrzej Sawicki
Mar 18, 2026
8.0
The Obsessed
Gilded Sorrow
The Return of The ObsessedAfter a seven-year gap following Sacred, Wino returns with Gilded Sorrow, an album that merges...
Ilse Brandt
Mar 11, 2026
7.0
Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa
The Blossoming
Ætheria Conscientia’s third album, The Blossoming, is a testament to their startling creative abilities, spanning six ep...
Eirik Solvang
Jun 8, 2024
7.5
Darkthrone
It Beckons Us All.......
It Beckons Us All opens with "Howling Primitive Colonies," immediately immersing listeners in a dense, doom-laden atmosp...
Eirik Solvang
Jun 8, 2024
8.0
Evergrey
Theories of Emptiness
Swedish progressive metal titans Evergrey are set to release their fourteenth studio album, Theories of Emptiness, on Ju...
Julien Vasseur
Jun 8, 2024
9.5
Severe Torture
Torn from the Jaws of Death
Dutch death metal titans Severe Torture have returned with a vengeance on their latest album, Torn from the Jaws of Deat...
Rafael Quintero
Jun 6, 2024
6.0
Witherfall
Sounds of the Forgotten
Witherfall burst onto the metal scene in 2017 with their dramatic debut Nocturnes and Requiems, capturing the attention...
Declan Rourke
Jun 1, 2024
6.0
Rotting Christ
Pro Xristou
Rotting Christ, the name alone evokes an image of unfiltered death and blasphemy, a fitting description for the band tha...
Andrzej Sawicki
May 28, 2024
9.0
As the Sun Falls
Kaamos
The Finnish metal band As the Sun Falls is back with their latest album Kaamos, released less than a year after their pr...
Rafael Quintero
May 11, 2024