There is a glorious moment halfway through Sword of Damocles, where a lone guitar starts playing a solo and you find yourself saying, “this is a twin-solo if I ever heard one,” just before that second guitar joins the fray. It’s just before the song trots off in one of those Iron Maiden type gallops. Twilight of the Gods’ debut album Fire on the Mountain is full of moments like that. It’s Manowar versus viking style Bathory with a dash of Primordial here, and it’s brilliant. But let’s dive into the facts, before we start sprinkling superlatives. Continue reading
Author Archives: Ralph Plug
Running Wild – Resilient (2013)
Rolf Kasparek is the Tony Iommi of German power metal. When you buy a Running Wild album, you know you will be treated to some really catchy riffs, and it’s no different with Resilient, the fifteenth album by the Teutonic Buckaneers, and the second since the rebirth. Where 2012’s Shadowmaker sounded a bit hesitant and, frankly, lacklustre, Resilient presents us with a more fiery and upbeat collection of material.
[DVD Review] Clive Nolan – Alchemy Live (2013)
Clive Nolan.
There, chances are that I have your attention now.
You might remember the prog maestro from, oh, Arena, Pendragon, Shadowland, Caamora, Strangers on a Train, Casino and a number of solo efforts. You might also know him from the splendid Jabberwocky and The Hound of the Baskervilles, both in collaboration with fellow keyboard wizard Oliver Wakeman. He has just released his second rock musical Alchemy, and it flew by completely below my hard rock radar, just like Caamora’s She did back in 2008. Having enjoyed She immensely, though, my interest was piqued immediately when I heard of Alchemy, and the two cd’s spanning work hasn’t left my player ever since I bought it. It’s that good. It’s so good, in fact, that it makes Nolan’s 2008 musical sound like a mere dress rehearsal. And for everyone who missed Alchemy the first time round, here it is again, performed live on stage this time. Continue reading
Turisas – Turisas2013 (2013)
Your first thought upon having listened to Turisas2013 in its entirety for the first time, might very well be, “what the bloody hell just happened?” Then again, if you’re familiar with the Finnish folk metal band, chances are that it’s a feeling you have come to expect when listening to a Turisas album for the first time. I know I have, and I’m still flabbergasted whenever I first lay ears on what Mathias “Warlord “ Nygård and his band have in store for us. The only thing is, with Turisas2013 it started sooner than normal, with the announcement of the album title, which is, we can fairly say, crap. When the band released For Your Own Good as a streaming track in advance, however, I was quite ready and set for disappointment. Continue reading
Powerwolf – Preachers of the Night (2013)
After peaking at number one in Germany’s album charts, and having heard a few snippets here and there, I was quite curious as to how Powerwolf’s brand new album had turned out. I’ve been following the band since their sophomore effort Lupus Dei and was blown away by both Bible of the Beast and Blood of the Saints after that, so the prospect of a new Powerwolf album was already an exciting one. So, is it as good as the last two albums? Let’s find out. Continue reading
[Live Review] King Diamond at 013 Tilburg
It’s been a while since we last saw King Diamond in the Netherlands. Of course, the master of metallic horror has been out of the game for quite a while, following back pains and finally multiple heart attacks back in 2010. Last year though, King finally made a triumphant return to the stage, frequenting the bigger festivals out there and apparently making a huge impression. An appearance in a Dutch venue was also long overdue, and August 6th saw King finally return to the stage in the Lowlands (not counting the Belgian Graspop festival), in a quite fully packed 013 in Tilburg. Continue reading
Orphaned Land – All Is One (2013)
It took Orphaned Land eight years from El Norra Alila to get to 2004’s masterpiece Mabool. After that, they took another six years to arrive at The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR in 2010. When you do the math, you might come to think there is something off with this three year gap between ORWarriOR and the brand new album All Is One. I’m glad to announce that All Is One is a great album, although I definitely have some niggles about it. Let’s talk about those for a minute. Continue reading
[Live Review] Roger Waters – The Wall in Gelredome Arnhem (2013)
You’d be hard pressed to leave an integral performance of Pink Floyd’s The Wall and not be impressed. Not only by the music, which is of course excellent, but perhaps even more by the sheer spectacle of the show and the ultimately very left-wing, anti-war statement that it is, or at least has become over the years. Because The Wall, both as a concept (the idea of building a huge wall between the audience and the band famously sprouted when Waters spat a fan in the face out of annoyance) and a narrative, is as relevant today as it was back in 1979. Continue reading
Oliva – Raise the Curtain (2013)
Savatage is dead, long live Savatage! That´s about the gist of how I have been feeling on the subject for the past twelve years. After the quite passable (but not brilliant) Poets and Madmen, the curtain fell for the American band, which all but continued as the travelling Christmas troupe Trans-Siberian Orchestra, of which there are now two versions touring the United States in December, raking in the dough for messrs O’Neill (for many still the reason behind Savatage’s demise and Oliva. Continue reading
Liquid Casing – A Separate Divide (2013)
Somewhere in the murky depths between jazz, prog rock and post-punk, we find the Texan-based outfit Liquid Casing, who have just released their brand new effort A Separate Divide, a thought-provoking musical work about borders and illegal immigration. It’s a difficult topic to make a concept album about, and one deserving an intricate, well thought out sonic frame. Now, many things can be said about A Separate Divide, but an easy album, this is not. Continue reading
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