No Nonsense Metal Reviews

KREATOR  Live at The Forum, London 28th April    There are very few bands who can kick the door down of any venue, and start up a riot from the second the first songs intro begins. Kreator are one of those bands. And tonight, London is their battlefield.    With support from SSS and Xentrix, the crowd is sufficiently ready for the UK's rising stars and tonight's main support, Evile, takes the stage. Evile deliver a strong and crowd exciting set, featuring new material from their upcoming new release, Skull. Live favorites like "Cult" and "Thrasher" see the first flying bodies of the night.   There is no doubt that everyone in the room tonight is here for one, very good reason. Possibly the greatest band to emerge from Germany in the last two and a half decades, and one of the best Thrash-Metal bands of all time. That reason is Kreator.    They kick the crowd into a frenzy of flailing limbs and spilled drinks, with the opening song of their set,

SODOM: EPITOME OF TORTURE   Step aside America, looks like Germany's reign of Thrash has begun...   For the last two and a half decades, Germany has be producing barbaric slabs of Thrash unlike anything the rest of the world has seen. Strangely, the bands of the German Teutonic Three Of Thrash (Kreator, Destruction and Sodom) are often overlooked. Instead, most of the attention falls upon the American Big Four Of Thrash (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax). All three of the Teutonic bands have earned themselves prestigious supremacy in the Metal underground.    In more recent years, the Teutonic Three have been creating albums of unparalleled brilliance that exceed anything the American Big Four have released in that time. Albums such as Kreator's city leveling "Phantom Antichrist" and Destruction's "Spiritual Genocide", have turned those bands into Thrash royalty. Now the torch has been passed to Sodom. Now its Sodom's turn to join Kre

5 Of The Best THRASH METAL albums EVER . (Part 2)     There is no possible way that any mortal could choose just 5 Thrash albums to be crowned the best of all time. The idea inconceivable. Most loyal Metal-Heads would be unable to shorten such a list to less than three digits. This next list of 5 albums certainly wont contain all of the best Thrash albums, but it will contain some of them. So here goes, get your battle jackets and be prepared to throw the horns in the name of the greatest Sub-genre of them all.      1: METALLICA: ..AND JUSTICE FOR ALL    For some this is the last great Metallica album, for others its just another star in the bands prestigious catalogue. Whichever side of the fence you reside, ...And Justice For All  is largely heralded as one of the best albums of Metallica's career, And who can blame those who think it is? With classics like the monumental opener, " Blackened " and the tear-jerking " One ", what isn'

GHOST INFESTISSUMAM    If you've been searching for that perfect soundtrack to your casual late night Satan worship, then look no further! Ghost's second full length release provides groovy riffs, eerie electronic keyboards and the trademark, unhallowed vocals of Ghost's very own Papa Emeritus II. And what a storm of diabolical brilliance Infestissumam is.      Although the chillingly beautiful Infestissumam probably isn't being played very much inside the Vatican, it will certainly become a favorite among fans of the occult worldwide. After the critical success of the spectacular debut album, Opus Eponymous, Ghost have earned themselves a dedicated and expansive fan-base. This has undoubtedly put a lot of anticipation and expectation on Ghost, to produce another slice of Lucifer friendly perfection. Judging by the finished product, Papa Emeritus II and his band of Nameless Ghouls aren't remotely phased by worldwide expectancy. In fact, Infestissumam not on

  Bring Me The Horizon:  Sempiternal        You would have to be blind, deaf, without any form of respectable taste in music and to have not heard any of Sempiternal, to try and deny Bring Me The Horizon their very deserved victory and success.     Almost from the moment this revolutionary band was formed, they have divided people and opinions more than Marmite could ever dream too achieve. But that division ends here. It ends right now, with the release of the untouchable Sempiternal.     The diversity of sounds on the album is astounding. There are slower, clean sung tracks like the breathtaking opener "Can You Feel My Heart" and the equally impressive "And The Snakes Start To Sing". The deep rooted Metal-core strains are still present on Sempiternal and infact the scull battering heaviness on "The House Of Wolves" and the Linkin Park reminiscent "Empire (Let Them Sing)", is sure to be enough to earn the songs a spot on the bands alr

DEVICE: DEVICE     First things first. Device and Disturbed are two different bands and should be treated as such. Admittedly, they do share the same vocalist, of whom carries one of the most distinctive wails of any mortal man. So when approaching this magnificent creation, remember that one ingredient may be the same, but the product is completely different.      Device have clearly stumbled onto something with this self titled debut. Clearly they have discovered the secret to not just using huge, chugging, industrial riffs and battering drumming, but to also incorporate electronic effects and not be written off immediately by the more traditional Metal-Heads. The electronics blend in and intertwine with the other instrumental components immaculately. Another rather titanic element of Device is the legion of special guest appearances. Device boasts contributions from renowned vocalists including; M. Shadows, Serj Tankian, Lzzy Hale and Glenn Hughes. Other contributions are m

5 Of The Best THRASH METAL albums EVER.     There are certain bands that are universally loved by all Metal-Heads. Slayer, for example, are one of the best and most loved Metal acts of all time. The same goes for bands such as Metallica and Exodus. So why is it that virtually all Metal-Heads love these bands? For the answer to such a questions you don't need a crystal ball. The answer is quite simply. Its because those bands belong to a sub-genre of Metal, that bases its entire sound around the core principal of Metal music. That principal is Speed and rhythm.          Thrash-Metal has been about speed since the very first true Thrash albums were released in the early 1980's. That speed and precision is channeled into fast and furious riffs. Those riffs are backed by robotic drumming, in particular the thumping bass drum that sets the rhythm for the light speed riffs. That combination is of course very simple, but this concoction has resulted in some of the best b

Thy Art Is Murder: Hate   "Hate" demonstrates unprecedented aggression. If the latest release by Australian Death-Core crew, Thy Art Is Murder, had a safety warning it would read something like, "Warning. May cause burst eardrums, brain hemorrhages, broken necks, felonious aggression and shredded vocal chords".    The title "Hate" goes a long way to describing the sound of the album. Hate is often associated with anger and violence, which Thy Art Is Murder appear to be specialists in. This might be a young band, but with albums of this quality it wont be long before they are a world famous Metal establishment.     Death-core may be seen as one of the most repetitive and generic sub-genres, but that certainly doesn't mean that there isn't some truly amazing acts within those confines. Certain  elements of other successful Death-core outfits can be heard on Hate. Bands like Bleeding Through and Upon A Burning Body may have been an influence. E

Warbeast: Destroy    Looks like you'll need to go and grab your patch covered battle jacket and nail studded whristbands. Why? because Thrash is back.    You would be right in thinking that Thrash-metal never really went away. That being said, the sub-genre wasn't in the best of health around the turn of the millennium. With the wave of new blood bands such as Evile, Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust and Warbeast, Thrash-Metal is riding high once again. Warbeast's latest offering, Destroy, just emphasises the current strength of Metal.     If Destroy does represent the state and condition of our beloved Metal world, then clearly this world is stronger than it has ever been. Warbeast had set the bar very high for themselves with their debut, Krush the Enemy, but I ashore you that Destroy will not leave you disappointed. You may ask "can Warbeast really beat their own heavyweight hitters like We Are The Vultures and Self Will Run Riot?" and the answer is a

        Skeletal Remains:  Beyond The Flesh         This album just goes to show, size doesn't always matter. For a relativity small band such as Skeletal Remains, they have made a city leveling album. This albums sound is enormous. In fact Beyond The Flesh is so massive it could quite easily use the Eiffel tower as a toothpick.       With the thousands of Death-Metal bands in the world, you can sometimes wonder, "Will the new blood bands really make any impact?" or "Can there actually be any new significant Death-Metal albums?" Well Beyond The Flesh is guaranteed to quash those fears. This album may not sell as many copies as a new Slayer album would, or even a new Necrowretch album (Go check them out), but its a strong and promising start for  a young and exciting band.     The instrumentals are superb and perfectly presented by the albums surprisingly good production quality. Musically the album carries a strong sound, similar to bands such as Gorguts