The über-talented Japanese heavy metal power trio, ASTERISM has finally crossed the Pacific ocean, for their first series of concerts states side. Billed as the band's "The 1st World Tour", the U.S. leg included the trio's live sets at SXSW (South by Southwest) conglomerate festival in Austin, Texas. Before returning home, ASTERISM performed one last show on U.S. soil, in Los Angeles, on Sunday, March 24th 2019. The explosive, instrumental heavy metal power trio, released th

Cincinnati metallers WAR CURSE to release new studio album, "Eradication", on May 10, 2019, via Svart Records. The Bay comes to Ohio! Thrash soldiers War Curse channel that iconic thrash sound on their second album, Eradication. But this isn’t a bunch of upstarts in someone’s garage worshiping their heroes - this is a group of seasoned vets whose callused hands and chords are a testament to their dedication to the craft. Each tune is jam-packed with heavy metal riffing,

Band: Iron Fire Title: Beyond The Void Label: Crime Records Country: Denmark Release date: March 8, 2019 Format reviewed: high-rate mp3 promo There is a fine line between power metal and traditional heavy metal. Sitting at the crossroad between epic heavy metal and speed metal, power metal saw a large number of permutations throughout the years. The Danes IRON FIRE have been crossing that line, both ways, numerous times since inception, over twenty years ago. The best selling

Band: Booze Control Title: Forgotten Lands Label: Gates of Hell Records Release date: February 22, 2019 Country: Germany Format reviewed: high-rate mp3 promo This is a classic heavy metal album! Not a dated album. Rather an album that if released thirty years ago, we would still talk about it, today. Building on an undisputedly clear connection with NWOBHM, BOOZE CONTROL advances the right amount of current production qualities, delivering an incredibly well written, recorded

EMIL'S DEEP UNDERGROUND RECOS (part V) HARD'n'HEAVY Edition Well, well, well ... what do you know ... a HARD'n'HEAVY edition of Straight Outta Catacombs! Unfortunately, nowadays the softer side of metal and hard rock doesn't seem to be very underground popular, for lack of a better word. In fact, after I started researching Bandcamp for new and excited bands and releases that fitted the style, it became rather evident. So after digging, no, scratch that, excavating for a whil

Band: Frenzy Title: Blind Justice Label: Underground Power Records Release date: February 4, 2019 Country: Spain Format reviewed: high-rate mp3 promo The comics of my childhood and early teen years were a bit different vis-à-vis nowadays virtual domination of visual arts, films in particular, with superheroes and villains lifted from the ever expending American comics industry or its Japanese manga counterpart. The heroes of my early comics didn’t have superpowers, but they w