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Monster is Kiss’ last studio album. Unless if they don’t decide to make a comeback. But I doubt it. Three years before Kiss releases the excellent album Sonic Boom. It was an album that I found to be unexpectedly good and had catchy melodies. The expectations for this album were thus high. Surely the guys (who may not be guys anymore, at least not Gene and Paul) could deliver an album of the same caliber...
Metal Pilgrim is essentially a YouTube channel that I have followed for a long time. Or at least that’s what I thought it was. I can tell you that it’s so much more. If it’s just this guy – Vlad Stadnyk, running the whole show is uncertain. I don’t know, but I think he’s at least the main part of the channel’s success. I want to include a disclaimer here since I don’t want to...
Virus of Violence is, as I understand it, the only full-length studio album by the Dutch band Desensitised. Of course, I never heard about them before. That makes the best kind of listening experience don’t you think? While doing a fast search there also seems to be an American band with the same name. This band allegedly changed its name to på Murder Syndicate in 2008. I haven’t heard anything about them either and I...
Melissa is the first album by Danish Heavy Metal band Mercyful Fate. They were in the foreground of the movement which would later be Black Metal—at least lyric-wise. If you compare this to the Norwegian Black Metal scene, Mercyful Fate seems pretty “un-extreme”. On the other hand, there’s no sound philosophy the same as that of Norwegian bands. Bot that Melissa sounds good, it’s not a well-produced album when you listen to it today. But...
Avenge the Fallen is the gazillionth album from Swedish Power Metal Band Hammerfall. Not really, of course, I think it’s their thirteenth album actually. You recognize yourself right away which is both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, you know what you get, but on the other hand, knowing what you get is a little bit boring. And with a bond like Hammerfall, who I place somewhere between mockery of the Power...
Metal Heart is the sixth studio album by German Heavy Metal Band Accept. I first got it around when it came out (yes, I’m that old) and I still have the Vinyl version somewhere. Back in the day, I loved it. I loved how classical music was incorporated into the songs and I had never heard that before. These days, I’m rather disappointed if there isn’t any kind of that classical touch on an Accept...
High Voltage was AC/DC’s first album released in Australia in 1975. It’s a bit confusing since an album with the same name was released internationally the following year. The tracks are not the same though. On the latter, parts of the original Australian T.N.T. album were also included. Or if we should be frank, most of it is from the T.N.T. album. This means that High Voltage in its original Australian Release features songs not...
Blackout is the German Hardrock group’s eighth studio album. It’s been with me for a long time. I first bought it when I was in my early teens on vinyl. I still have it but I haven’t listened to it for quite a while. My memory is not good, but the title track was just as good as I remembered it. Come to think of it. almost all of the songs on Blackout is really...
Powerzone is, if I understand it correctly, Chez Jane’s second album. It looks pretty hard if you dare to judge by the cover but It’s softer than it looks. There is certainly power both in the vocals and the guitar playing though. To me, the songs are good but not great, and I think that’s my curse and really not Chez’s fault. But power can mean different things. You know the Power Ballad formula. You...
Don’t Kill the Dark is Cobra Cult’s second album. They’re fronted by a female singer/guitarist, but I have a hard time hearing the gender of the singer. Now, that I know it, I can hear it, but before I thought it was just a typical Power Metal Vocalist. They usually sing in high pitches. Not that it matters a bit though. I think she does a great job. She fits the music well. It’s pretty...
Firehouse is the self-titled debut album of the American Hair Metal band with the same name (duh!). Looking at various pictures of the band today, there might not be so much hair though. I guess Pop Metal is a better word. It’s somewhat catchier melodies and more radio-friendly rock than classic Hardrock. But there’s not so much difference. But why am I telling you this? If you’re here reading about this band you already know...
Master of Reality is the third studio album by British pioneers Black Sabbath. It’s probably the “hardest” so far. There are still blues scales and stuff as it is most Hardrock acts even today. But I feel like there’s also a step toward what would become Heavy Metal on this album. Of course, we all perceive music differently depending on our experiences. Nowadays, Master of Reality isn’t particularly “hard”. But when it was released in...
