With the presence of brutal riffs and keyboards, Finland's Children of Bodom sounds at times like Fear Factory fronted by a hardcore screamer, especially on their 2005 release, Are You Dead Yet? The group's fifth studio album (which was co-produced by Children of Bodom and Mikko Karmila, the chap who produced their previous outing, 2003's Hate Crew Deathroll) shows the quintet plowing full steam ahead, as the venom continues to bubble to the surface throughout. But the group also has an unmistakable prog metal edge to boot, as the tricky interplay between guitarist Alexi Wildchild Laiho (who also doubles as vocalist) and keyboardist Janne Warmen on "Punch Me I Bleed" certainly brings to mind Dream Theater…

In 2020, Pain of Salvation have already shattered expectations with the release of their latest studio album "Panther", but Swedish progressive metal/rock innovators are not finished yet: celebrating the 20th anniversary of its original release, the third Pain Of Salvation album is resurrected in a completely remixed and remastered form as "The Perfect Element, Pt. I (Anniversary Mix 2020)".
Here, the group effectively melds strong compositions with pertinent injections of technical proficiency and shrewdly crafted rhythmic developments. However, in most instances, the musicians infuse raucous heavy metal type licks with '70s-style progressive rock, as they perhaps intimate the best of both idioms via resplendent imagery, driving beats, and crunching guitars along with a penchant for fabricating memorable melodies…

This 2011 budget-priced U.K. collection offers up a nice balance between Thin Lizzy’s radio hits ( "Boys Are Back in Town", "Whiskey in the Jar", "Killer on the Loose", "Dancin’ in the Moonlight") and overlooked gems like "Soldier of Fortune", "Opium Trail", and "King’s Vengeance". Twenty tracks strong, Waiting For An Alibi: The Collection holds its own against other single-disc overviews like 2004’s Greatest Hits and 2006’s Definitive Collection (2002’s exhaustive box set Vagabonds Kings Warriors and Angels still provides the most bang for the buck) and provides the perfect gateway for listeners looking to get their first fix of Ireland’s first heavy rockers.

What the Dead Men Say finds Trivium firing on all cylinders. Bent's double-kick drum attack and blastbeats have been fully integrated into the band's punishing amalgam of deathcore, prog metal, thrash, melodic death metal, and more. As evidenced by the pre-release tracks "IX" and "Scattering the Ashes," in a Spawn trailer for Mortal Kombat 11, Trivium revisited various sonic eras in their history while moving their music ever forward. The former cut is an instrumental that builds in grandiose intensity for two minutes then bleeds into the crushing title track. As furious as anything on TSATS, it also employs the mind-melting technical prowess Shogun boasted. "Catastrophist" commences as nearly radio-friendly with a hooky chorus before it shifts gears halfway through to become a meld of roaring vocals, twin guitar leads, and spiraling death metal riffs fueled by Bent's triple-time drumming…

British Heavy Metal legends, Saxon, return with a second ‘deep dish’ serving of the inspirations which have fed their immensely successful 40+ year career. Whether unveiling a sensational take on The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s “The Faith Healer” (in the process showing the direct lineage from teenage turntables to international glory), getting feral with The Animal’s “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place”, letting loose a high-octane take on Alice Cooper’s “From The Inside”, or laying down a ferocious tribute to KISS’ “Detroit Rock City”, More Inspirations is a joyous trip into the sounds which galvanized the Barnsley boys and continue to get spun on home stereos and tour buses.

'Undress Your Madness' is Pretty Maids' highly anticipated follow up to 2016's critically and commercially successful release 'Kingmaker', a record that continued the 'revitalized' path that the band set out upon with the now classic albums 'Pandemonium' (2010) and 'Motherland' (2013). The production is absolutely stellar thanks to Jacob Hansen (Volbeat), who has given the band a sound that not only reinvigorates them, but also incorporates the soundscapes of the past. Modern and classic at the same time.

Future World is the second album by the Danish hard rock/heavy metal band Pretty Maids. The album was released by CBS in 1987. The album charted at number 165 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. Future World was produced by Eddie Kramer, who was fired during the recording sessions because he fell asleep at the mixing console, according to guitarist Ken Hammer. The band then finished the album with engineer Chris Isca, who was credited as co-producer on the album. Mixing duties were shared between Metallica, Rainbow and Morbid Angel producer Flemming Rasmussen, and Kevin Elson, known for producing multiplatinum albums by Journey, Mr. Big and Europe.

With defiant determination rarely found in a metal band, THERION have always and exclusively done what they deemed right. Never did they stick to a successful formula, never did they release the same album twice, never did they give in to fickle friends like expectation, commercial aspects or trends. Which makes it all the more astounding that now, 35 years deep into their storied career, they actually do something every fan had hoped but never actually thought possible. Enter “Leviathan”, enter a trilogy focusing on all the trademark elements THERION are beloved by countless of metal fans around the globe. After the first part set hearts aflame in 2021, evoking goosebumps galore and reminiscing the glory days of the nineties, the symphonic metal grand-seigneurs continue their surprisingly fan-friendly path with their epic odyssey “Leviathan II”.

Four albums in and still whacked on speed, Finnish five-piece Children of Bodom continue with its highly entertaining, giddy, pogo-stick metal on Hate Crew Deathroll. Attitude-wise, CoB has become the Manowar of melodic death metal, willfully leaping off the cliff of over-the-top metaldom (not unlike Swedish supergroup Witchery) - which is refreshing, considering the poker-faced seriousness of most acts in the genre, and here, main Bodom-ite Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho keeps his tongue firmly in cheek while tearing through squirrelly cuts such as "Triple Corpse Hammerblow" and "Lil' Bloodred Ridin' Hood"…

Black metal with the happiest keyboards the genre has ever seen, yet still uncompromisingly brutal. "Children of Decadence" could be Emerson, Lake & Palmer, for the love of Beelzebub; such is the level of complexity and prominence of synthesizers. The frightening Finnish fivesome does a nice job of mixing up tempos on this, the band's third studio disc, and manages to keep up the intensity in spite of (or maybe because of) the aural auditory mood swings. You won't even recognize the bonus track cover "Hellion," and it doesn't even matter.

Arguably Megadeth's strongest effort and a classic of early thrash, Peace Sells combines a punkish political awareness with a dark, threatening, typically heavy metal world-view, preoccupied with evil, the occult, and the like. The anthemic title track and "Wake Up Dead" are the two major standouts, and there is also a cover of Willie Dixon's "I Ain't Superstitious," which takes on an air of supernaturally induced paranoia in the album's context. The lines between hell and earth are blurred throughout the album, and the crashing, complex music backs up Dave Mustaine's apocalyptic vision of life as damnation - his limited vocal style is used to great effect, growling and snarling in a barely intelligible fashion under all the complicated guitar work. Vital, necessary thrash.

Hatebreeder, the second release from Finland's Children of Bodom, is a louder, faster, and positively heavier release than the group's debut. Under normal circumstances, this type of evolution is a guaranteed upgrade for a metal band, but not all of Hatebreeder's elements are improvements on the blueprint established during Something Wild. Most noticeably, Alexi Laiho's black metal scream is more menacing and consistent, but this is a disputed topic among Scandinavian metal enthusiasts. Many listeners enjoy the music, but could do without the bloodcurdling vocal excess, while others consider it a critical element of any real metal statement. The value of so much throat splitting is subjective, but Laiho's refinement of the approach isn't…