Author Andy Barker
After waxing lyrical about Metal Church re-uniting with vocalist Mike Howe on 2016’s excellent “XI” album, I’m personally overjoyed that they’ve returned with almost the same line up on “Damned If You Do”. With an added promise of further revisiting… Continue Reading →
Italy knows how to do Symphonic Power Metal. Since Rhapsody (Of Fire etc…) blazed a trail back in the mid 90’s it seemed to unleash a plethora of like-minded souls which has continued through to current times. There is generally… Continue Reading →
It’s almost 4 years to the day that I had the unreserved pleasure of reviewing Divine Ascension’s previous release “Liberator”, and damn fine piece of Symphonic Metal it was too. Four years is a long time between releases and although… Continue Reading →
So AFM sign a Swedish Power/Heavy Metal band. No big news there. AFM sign a Swedish Power/Heavy Metal band with 8 members – well that’s a bit more out of the ordinary…3 guitarists and 3 vocalists (with a bassist and… Continue Reading →
On the surface Saboter seem happy to offer themselves up as a no nonsense, heavy as you like Metal band. It’s a shrewd move in some ways, let people discover you for themselves and hear what they hear in their… Continue Reading →
I reckon so many reviews of this album are going to start along the lines of “What would you expect from a project between guitarist Jorn Viggo Lofstad of Prog/Power Metal band Pagan’s Mind and virtuoso power vocalist supreme Floor… Continue Reading →
It may come as a surprise to some, but Manticora have been a going concern for over 20 years. Their debut came out in 1999 and their Dark-tinged speed-driven Power Metal style spawned a further 5 albums over the following… Continue Reading →
I hold Riverside in very high esteem. By far one of the better acts within the progressive umbrella, I’ve been an admirer of the band since I stumbled across their debut back in 2003. I saw them rise in ability… Continue Reading →
Surely Brainstorm are a true example of a Metal band that found a style, pushed it to its ultimate and stuck with it, accumulating and keeping fans with every album. On the menu is always heavy, intense powerful Metal every… Continue Reading →
Sometimes association with past experiences can be misleading. A friend of mine lent me a CD by Dynazty a few years back when they were on Spinefarm – “I love this lot…and they sound like Dokken” he raved (not sure… Continue Reading →
It’s not the fault of the band in any way, but initially I felt a little misled by The Unity. The record/promotion company are really pushing the ‘two members of Gamma Ray’ angle, calling the band Power Metal and putting… Continue Reading →
It’s no secret to anyone who has read some of my reviews on Ave Noctum that I have a bit of a dislike of “Disney-style” ballads within the Symphonic/Melodic Metal genre…so why on earth did I volunteer to review an… Continue Reading →