Rammstein's first album was about what was to be expected from a bunch of Germans who happily grew up on everything from Skinny Puppy to Depeche Mode to Laibach and back again, not to mention plenty of skull-crushing metal straight up. Precisely brutal and often brilliantly arranged - the band aren't per se inventive, but they bring everything together to make something astonishingly radio-friendly out of something that isn't necessarily - Herzeleid in particular is the logical conclusion of KMFDM's self-referential electro-metal. The band freely invokes its own name throughout the way that group did in its songs - the final tune is called "Rammstein," to top it all off - and the riffs readily connect the dots between the older band's clipped guitar bursts and their even more compressed nu-metal equivalents…

Anyone familiar with the industrial metal band's dark sense of irony should take one look at the title of Rammstein's 2009 album Liebe Ist Für Alle Da ("Love Is There for Everyone") and conclude that this one is a mean monster. Combining the tightness and punch of their 1997 album, Sehnsucht, with the musicianship and elaborate textures of their later work, Liebe Ist Für Alle Da is a grand achievement, skillfully dividing its time between razor sharp metal rockers like "B********," or the opening theme song "Rammlied" and nostalgic cabaret pieces that conjure the spirits of Weil and Brecht at a goth club. The best of the latter is the naked and haunting closer "Roter Sand," but little touches of a sinister yesteryear are everywhere, like the fake vaudeville music in "Haifisch," or the soundtrack strings of "Wiener Blut," which are eventually overcome by a guitar-crunching juggernaut…

Taking three years to release their follow-up to Mutter is a good idea since Reise, Reise is more of the same - the same grit, the same growl, and the same dramatic, orchestra choruses. There's a bit more ingenuity in the production and a little more focus in the songs but not enough for the nonfaithful to pick up on. Unfortunately the lead single, "Mein Teil," is no "Du Hast," but the damning "Amerika" almost equals their breakthrough track. Whether or not Rammstein's label has the guts to release the band's acerbic "Coca-Cola/Sometimes War" view of the States as a single is another question, but it's the key track to the album, an album that has a couple more, minor surprises. The loose, bluesy guitar on "Los" adds some quirk to the band's stern, Teutonic palette, while the sinister "Stein Um Stein" creeps more than stomps in parts…

Rammstein's second album, Sehnsucht, finds the German metal band making a great leap forward. While the group still sounds a little unfocused in places, their blend of industrial noise, grinding metal guitars, and operatic vocals is staggeringly powerful. No other European metal band sounds like Rammstein, nor does any American metal group - this is powerful, gothic metal that is unlike anything else in late-'90s metal. Sehnsucht may be an acquired taste, but it's one worth acquiring.

With the first Rammstein album you hear, it's hard not to be slightly amazed by the sheer chutzpah of it all. The German lyrics, the prog rock tendencies, the classic metal guitars, and the ridiculous basso profundo vocals - you either fall for it, spurn it, or are utterly bemused by the extremeness of it all. Unless you're a fanatic, it wears a little thin the second time around. And for most listeners, Mutter, the group's third album and sequel to their inexplicable commercial breakthrough Sehnsucht, will be the second time around since it's their first release since becoming a high profile act. Thing is, if you've heard that record, you've pretty much heard Mutter, since all the trademarks are in place, without much noticeable variation. Yes, there are slight differences, chief of which is the cleaner production, which streamlines everything so the guitars don't seem as heavy, the songs not as epic, and the whole enterprise not as ridiculous…

Sleep Token continues right where they left off with Sundowning, showing overall improvement as a band. Much like the previous record, this album's sound is pulled in combatting directions, resulting in a band that has still failed to define their sound. Because of this, few songs stand out. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts though, as This Place Will Become Your Tomb offers enough aural goodness to be enjoyable start-to-finish.
Enigmatic British band Sleep Token combine post-rock, post-classical, and post-metal tropes with soulful indie pop vocals into a blend that sounds like nothing else. They released their innovative debut album, Sundowning, in 2019 and found mainstream success two years later with the U.K.-charting This Place Will Become Your Tomb. The anonymous, masked collective unveiled their third full-length effort, Take Me Back to Eden, in 2023…

Here it is, then - the latest pendulum swing from Architects. With their last two albums, For Those That Wish To Exist (2021) and the classic symptoms of a broken spirit (2022), the Brighton heroes did something no-one had expected of them: diverting from the musical and thematic heaviness of the records that had come before, paring down the technicality in order to do more with less, which, for them, presented a fresh challenge. And while For Those That Wish To Exist perfectly embodied that bigger and more bombastic idea, its follow-up saw its restless creators already pushing for new sounds and new ground, much of it less heavy and more deliberate in its catchiness, and proving somewhat divisive as a result. The Sky, The Earth & All Between is, in part, an album for those who feared Architects were gradually uncoupling from the colossal and the cacophonic…

Sleep Token have been causing a stir with their deeply emotional sound and theatrical appearance. Sundowning brings together the twelve tracks Sleep Token have released over the period from June to November. The anonymity surrounding the band members maintains an air of mystique around the group.
Sleep Token have created a very distinctive sound. The soaring vocals are instantly recognisable with such a unique tone and texture. Musically they combine heavy guitars with serene synth lines. The variety of their tracks shows the flexibility of their sound as they venture into the realms of different genres. But ultimately, their music remains easily identifiable…

The new solo triumph of guitar icon Mark Tremonti (Creed, Alter Bridge)!
After three decades, 18 full-length albums, and thousands of shows, Mark Tremonti continues to relentlessly push himself as a guitarist, a vocalist, and a songwriter, above all. This unstoppable drive has underscored his catalog earmarked by a GRAMMY Award, cumulative streams in the billions, and total sales of 60 million units worldwide across his inexhaustible output with Creed, Alter Bridge, and solo band Tremonti.
Mark Tremonti levels up all around on his 19th overall LP and sixth Tremonti full-length, The End Will Show Us How, out January 10, 2025 via Napalm Records…

The third album from idiosyncratic U.K. band Sleep Token completes the trilogy that began with their 2016 debut full-length, Sundowning, and presents the cleanest articulation to date of their part-metal, part-R&B, all-chaotic sound. One of the most interesting challenges Sleep Token presents is figuring out exactly how to listen to them. Over the course of a single song like "The Summoning," the band quickly zips from doomy downtuned metal riffs to choruses with passionate falsetto R&B crooning, then straight to a technical breakdown somewhere between djent and prog metal. Attuning one's listening to these rapid changes between violently disparate styles can be one of the most enjoyable things about trying to keep up with Take Me Back to Eden. It's never a guarantee that sections of pummeling drums and guitars won't be followed seconds later by fantastical synths or thick, sleazy funk grooves - all within the same song…