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Tag Archives: folk

Silver Lake by Esa Holopainen – Album Review

Artist: Esa Holopainen Album Title: Silver Lake By Esa Holopainen Label: Nuclear Blast Date of Release: 28 May 2021 I don’t mind admitting that I’m a huge fan of Amorphis, and have been since before the Millennium, thanks to the amazing ‘Tuonela’ album. It still remains a personal favourite of mine, not just within the  Continue Reading »

Empyrium – Über den Sternen – Album Review

Artist: Empyrium Album Title: Über den Sternen Label: Prophecy Productions Date of Release: 26 February 2021 I have a soft spot for Empyrium, so much so that I splurged a great deal of money on the box set ‘A Retrospective…’ a few years ago. Starting out as more of a melodic black metal band, the  Continue Reading »

Atavistia – The Winter Way – Album Review

Artist: Atavistia Album Title: The Winter Way Label: Independent Release Date of Release: 29 May 2020 I have ‘Time I’ in my collection as any self-respecting fan of heavy metal should, but to be perfectly honest, theirs is not the brand of heavy metal that I tend to get carried away with. I love melodic  Continue Reading »

Kvaen – The Funeral Pyre – Album Review

Artist: Kvaen Album Title: The Funeral Pyre Label: Black Lion Records Date of Release: 28 February 2020 The black metal scene is littered, arguably more than any other, with one-man bands and projects. Many of them are absolute rubbish, the kind that only their mothers will like, or that can’t really be heard because they  Continue Reading »

Mariana Semkina – Sleepwalking – Album Review

Artist: Mariana Semkina Album Title: Sleepwalking Label: Kscope Date of Release: 14 February 2020 You may recognise the name, for Mariana Semkina (who has tweaked her real name, Marjana for this release) is one half of the duo that, alongside Gleb Kolyadin has created the rather intriguing and beautiful Iamthemorning, who have rightfully gained in  Continue Reading »

Album of the Year 2018 – Number 22

Welcome to the ninth chapter of 2018’s ‘Album of the Year’ series. Not even a third of the way through my list and already I have received some really heartening comments about the choices and the fact that some of you have discovered something that you originally missed out on earlier in the year for  Continue Reading »

The best of 2018 so far – Part 3

Welcome to day three of my half-year round-up of the best music released during the first six months of 2018. If you missed the previous parts of this mini-series, you can read them here: The best of 2018 so far – Part 1 The best of 2018 so far – Part 2 However, essentially, this  Continue Reading »

Amorphis – Queen Of Time – Album Review

Artist: Amorphis Album Title: Queen Of Time Label: Nuclear Blast Date of Release: 18 May 2018 Just when you think that a band has reached their peak, they come along and prove you wrong. The moral of the story therefore, is never think that a band can’t improve upon a superb release, because they can.  Continue Reading »

Ivar Bjørnson and Einar Selvik – Hugsjá – Album Review

Artist: Ivar Bjørnson and Einar Selvik Album Title: Hugsjá Label: Norse Music Date Of Release: 20 April 2018 A significant change of career and continued parental responsibilities means that I am still playing catch up with my reviews at this congested period of the year. As such, the album central to this review has already  Continue Reading »

Auri – Auri – Album Review

Artist: Auri Album Title: Auri Label: Nuclear Blast Date Of Release: 23 March 2018 In all honesty, my love of Nightwish has plummeted over the years to the point where I’ll take a casual listen now and again, but I no longer consider myself much of fan. And that’s coming from a position where I  Continue Reading »


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