Tag Archives: Album review

Artist: Votum Album Title: Ktonik Label: Inner Wound Recordings Year of Release: 2016 Is there anything more controversial in life than a band changing important personnel or changing their musical direction? The furore such a move causes each and every time would suggest not. And it is no different for Polish progressive rock band Votum.  Continue Reading »

Artist: Fleshgod Apocalypse Album Title: King Label: Nuclear Blast Year Of Release: 2016 You can’t beat a bit of unadulterated brutality. My life would be much the duller without some brutality in it. I’m not, of course, talking about physical violence here. After all, I’m the kind of coward that runs away at the first  Continue Reading »

Artist: Rikard Sjöblom Album Title: The Unbendable Sleep Label: Gungfly Productions Year Of Release: 2016 I must be honest from the outset and say that I have never been a big fan of Beardfish. I should be, but their particular brand of progressive music has never really clicked with me. Having admitted this, an eyebrow  Continue Reading »

Artist: Textures Album Title: Phenotype Label: Nuclear Blast Year Of Release: 2016 Textures hold a special place in my heart. I didn’t ‘discover’ them until the release of the outstanding fourth album ‘Dualism’ in 2011 but when I did, they made a huge impact upon me. Until that point, my opinion of djent music was  Continue Reading »

Artist: Serenity Album Title: Codex Atlanticus Label: Napalm Records Year Of Release: 2016 Over the course of their career, Austria’s Serenity have made themselves ever-more indispensable in my world, slowly gathering momentum with each release. And then, with the release of ‘War Of Ages’ in 2013, I became entirely comfortable and had no qualms in  Continue Reading »

Artist: Borknagar Album Title: Winter Thrice Label: Century Media Records Year Of Release: 2016 It’s only mid-January and already I’m confronted with an album that has well and truly put the cat amongst the proverbial pigeons. The enigmatic and evergreen Borknagar have released what I consider to be their magnum opus. ‘Winter Thrice’ is nothing  Continue Reading »

Artist: The Mute Gods Album Title: Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me Label: InsideOut Music Year Of Release: 2016 The Mute Gods is the moniker afforded to a new project that features a trio of well-known and revered names in the world of progressive rock music. The catalyst for the project is Nick Beggs,  Continue Reading »

Artist: Brainstorm Album Title: Scary Creatures Label: AFM Records Year Of Release: 2016 Brainstorm are a band with whom I’ve had a patchy history. I discovered the German band whilst on holiday on the Greek island of Corfu of all places. I stumbled upon a record store in the capital and, following the advice of  Continue Reading »

So, here we are. I’ve made it. One month and over 30,000 words later, my ‘Album Of The Year 2015’ Top 30 countdown comes to an end. It has been challenging, tiring and occasionally frustrating but well worth the effort. I have enjoyed the banter, the more serious conversations, the arguments and the positive comments  Continue Reading »

Well, here we are, into the final five places in my ‘Album of the Year 2015’ Top 30 countdown. Are you excited? I hope so. It has been a long journey to get to this point – late nights, early mornings and very little sleep in between. But it has been worth it, because it  Continue Reading »