Album Review: Elysia

[Album: Lion Of Judas]
[Label: Ferret Music]

Sacramento-based deathcore mob Elysia have had to, by their own admission, do a lot of growing up. After starting the band as a fifteen-year-old high-school student, vocalist Zak Vargas has weathered storms of criticisms over the band’s lyrical content (accusations of homophobia and disgust, at the graphic nature of Vargas’ […]

Album Review: Unleashed

[Album: Hammer Battalion]
[Label: Steamhammer/SPV]

Swedish veterans Unleashed have been plying their trade for nearly 20 years; as such, you would expect that ‘Hammer Battalion’, their follow-up to 2006’s ‘Midvinterblot’, would be anything other than a tight, accomplished addition to their back catalogue of Viking death metal. And you’d be right; but in a music scene where […]

Album Review: Chokehold

[Album: The Sweet Sense of Genocide]
[Label: N/A]

Following the lead of the likes of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails in the use of the Internet as a music distribution tool are Oxfordshire-based Chokehold who, after failing to agree a more conventional distribution deal for their 2007-recorded album ‘The Sweet Sense of Genocide’, have decided to release […]

Album Review: Moonspell

[Album: Night Eternal]
[Label: Steamhammer]

Veteran Portuguese gothic metallers Moonspell’s latest opus, ‘Night Eternal’, suggests they been reminded of, and returned to, their black metal roots. Their previous release, ‘Under Satanae’, featured a clutch of re-recorded versions of their earliest work, and the black, brutal influence is obvious throughout.
Opener ‘At Tragic Heights’ sets the benchmark for […]

Interview: Moonsorrow

The epic metal of Finnish quintet Moonsorrow has gone mostly unnoticed by most folks in this neck of the woods but with the UK’s rediscovered taste for all things battle, viking and folk metal it seems to be the case no longer. Their new 68-minute monster EP, ‘Tulimyrsky’, reached the Sonic Dice offices recently so […]

Album Review: Greeley Estates

[Album: Go West Young Man, Let The Evil Go East]
[Label: Science/Ferret Music]

One thing that cannot be levelled at Arizona post-hardcore crew Greeley Estates is that they’re lazy. In the four years since they released their debut album, 2004’s ‘Outside of This’, the band have gone through plenty of band members, played hundreds of shows and […]

EP Review: Moonsorrow

[EP: Tulimyrsky]
[Label: Spikefarm Records]

It would seem that Moonsorrow are not keen on keeping things short and sweet. While ‘Tulimyrsky’ (which translates, rather ominously, into “firestorm”) is technically an EP, it clocks in at a monstrous 68 minutes, with the title track itself only a shade under half an hour in length. It is not an […]

Album Review: Epicurean

Album: A Consequence Of Design
Label: Metal Blade

Epicurean are a band that defy anyone to make assumptions. If one were to look solely at their biography, it would be forgivable to assume that half a dozen guys from Minneapolis would simply be yet another alpha-male pseudo-hardcore crew intent on eschewing melody for machismo. Listening to the […]

Album Review: Ashes Divide

Album: Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright
Label: Island Records

The shadow of Maynard James Keenan is one that looms heavily over Billy Howardel. The two have been intrinsically linked for many years. From meeting in a bar, Howardel went on to become guitar tech for Tool, before Maynard applied his inimitable vocal style to Billy’s music in […]