Band: LORD OF LIGHT Title: Morningstar Label: No Remorse Country: Sweden Release date: March 13, 2020 (self-released digitally on 11/11/2019) Format reviewed: (high-rate) mp3 promo "Morningstar" was initially self-released in the late 2019 on digital platforms. Based on the accolades the album received from the fans, just weeks later found LORD OF LIGHT signing a multi-record agreement with the Greek label No Remorse Records. "Morningstar" will be released for the first time

Band: DEXTER WARD Title: III Label: No Remorse Country: Greece (Athens)/Italy (Venice) Release date: March 13, 2020 Format reviewed: (high-rate) mp3 promo When the stars align … your band gets to debut its’ new album at one of the most respected European metal festivals! The band: DEXTER WARD, the album: “III“, and the festival: the XV edition of Up The Hammers taking place in Athens, Greece, between March 12-14, 2020. (A/N: without any doubt a headbanger’s “wet-dream” lineup

Band: AMBUSH Title: Infidel Label: High Roller Records Country: Sweden Release date: March 13, 2020 Format reviewed: (high-rate) mp3 promo The traditional traits of heavy metal will maintain an important position among this year’s releases. The (more) traditional heavy metal has been already on an ascending trajectory for the last couple of years. Personally, I’m loving it! I don’t necessarily buy into the “nothing can reach the level of timeless classics” analogy - as I stro

Band: STALLION Title: Slaves Of Time Label: High Roller Records Country: Germany Release date: February 28, 2020 Format reviewed: (high-rate) mp3 promo STALLION keeps the mighty flame of traditional heavy metal burning high and bright with the release of their third full-length effort, on February 28, 2020. This album is a clear statement of to what placed the band into the higher tiers in a relatively short period of time. With new blood from the band's two new members, bass

Recommended Underground Titles - Part III In this new edition of N.W.O.U.H.M. Recommended Underground Titles I've made the decision to keep the number of titles at five: four full-lengths and one EP. In an effort to further exemplify heavy metal's current state-of-affairs, I choose five titles distinctively different from one another, crossing over boundaries, but still maintaining heavy metal as the common denominator. Please support the bands. Turn it up! 4 BAJO ZERO Abomin

Band: Bullet Title: Live Label: SPV/Steamhammer Country: Sweden Release date: July 5, 2019 Format reviewed: (double) vinyl LP It was about goddamn time a proper heavy metal double live album got released! As the time progressed, fewer and sparsely apart live albums graced the fans. Not all metal enthusiasts are content with live recordings. Personally, I prefer a solid recording of a band's most popular songs, in a live setting, rather than a "greatest hits/best of" compilati

DEMO & EP Recos - part I As I was putting together a new chapter of New Wave Of Underground Heavy Metal recommended titles, I've decided to set aside these five demo and EP releases, for this first edition of "N.W.O.U.H.M. Demo & EP Recos". For three of the bands these releases represent their audio debut on a record. Long gone are the days of poorly recorded demo tapes - all of the following material was professionally studio recorded and showcases the trajectory each of the

"Why is this new wave of heavy metal relatively ignored by the metal masses?" - a question that I recently asked and was discussed, with fellow distinguished metal enthusiasts on social media, to a certain extent. The question drew two distinctive main responses. K, my brother in metal, made the valid point that most of the seasoned audience have transitioned to more extreme metal realms, therefore, regarding the more traditional, or classic, if you wish, side of metal as "no

Recommended Underground Titles - Part II "If heavy metal bands ruled the world, we'd be a lot better off." Bruce Dickinson Heavy metal, in its purest of forms, was rather dimmed out in the most recent years, by the amount of releases from its more extreme and darker relatives. Fortunately, power metal has proudly carried the torch in the meantime. Furthermore, the last couple of years saw an increase in quality releases from newcomers and veterans alike, fact that lead me to

Recommended Underground Titles - Part I "Heavy metal is always going to be there. At its core, it's all about a primitive connection we all need to keep in our lives." Rob Halford Well known permutations in heavy metal occurred at every evolution step of the genre. As the timeline moved up, the influences became less traditional: newer acts finding influences not only from other metal styles, but also from outside the rock universe. Perhaps not an entirely new trend, but cert

Without doubt, in the last couple of years we have been witnessing the return to glory of metal. The last twenty-four months, or so, were an absolute orgy of new releases, representing well, all of the familiar styles and further crossing over into new trends and dimensions. Some may argue that metal has been making a comeback since the early days of this millennium. While that statement has a lot of truth to it, I argue that at no time, perhaps in the history of the genre, s