Unleash the Archers – “Demons of the Astrowaste” (2011)

Independent Release

Review by Tony Cannella

Back in my formative metal years, I “discovered” many a great band because of their album cover art (that’s how I first got into Iron Maiden – Derek Riggs ruled) which – back then – was the first impression you would get from a band. Of course cool album cover art means nothing if the music on the album isn’t very good (and I’ve had those experiences as well). This brings me to the Canadian band Unleash the Archers. Their cover artwork immediately piqued my interest; fortunately the music contained on the CD came through big time – and then some, actually they exceeded all of my expectations – this band is a whole lot more than just cool cover art (although their artwork is excellent). On their latest release “Demons of the Astrowaste”, Unleash the Archers deliver over an hour’s worth of melodic power heavy metal, combined with thrash metal riffs and some intense Mark Janssen from Epica type screams courtesy of Brayden Dyzckowski (he also plays guitar). Continue reading »

Unleash the Archers – “Behold the Devastation” (2009)

Independent Release

Review by Tony Cannella

Canada’s Unleash the Archers formed in 2007. In 2009 they released their debut album “Behold the Devastation”. “Behold the Devastation” contains 8-songs and almost 40-minutes worth of music, which while okay is nowhere near as good as the band’s latest album “Demons of the Astrowaste”.

“Behold the Devastation” is pretty devastating, to say the least. The songs are faster paced than on their latest “Demons of the Astrowaste”. The screaming male vocals are more prevalent on this album, than their latest and it lacks the variety that UTA have displayed on their latest album. From the very first song “Eat What You Kill”, the band displays more of an aggressive thrash/death metal vibe. Continue reading »

Mark Jansen – Epica

Interview by Miriam C.

Although we haven’t still have had the chance to give a thorough listen to this fantastic (at least we presume so) album, we asked Epica‘s  Mark Jansen to introduce us this brand new opus called “The Quantum Enigma” in his own words. We’re sure of one thing:  TQE will be the breakout album for Epica. Discover something more about this new work in the following Q &R!

The first ideas emerged 2 years ago when we started writing songs for the album. When we had enough songs we sat together with producer Joost van den Broek and selected the best songs. Still a quite big amount of songs (18). After the selection we did rehearse those songs and jammed a bit in order to make them better. We worked very hard on the final details with the whole band and Joost, this effort resulted in improved compositions. We also worked on the sound of the bass, guitars and drums. We have tested several amps and tried out multiple combinations in order to find the best possible sound. Continue reading »

Se Delan – “The Fall” (2014)

Label: KScope

Review by Eetu Niskanen

Se Delan are a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist Justin Greaves and vocalist Belinda Kordic (Killing Mood). “The Fall” is Se Delan‘s debut album and it was released in April 2014.

“The Fall” is one of the most positive musical surprises I’ve encountered in a long while. The album sounds professional, quirky, addictive and very beautiful. I found myself drawn into Se Delan‘s dark world from the first notes of the intro track. I would describe the musical style as art rock, with influences from other styles. Many of these songs wouldn’t be out of place in a David Lynch movie. Continue reading »

Tuomas Holopainen – “The Life and Times of Scrooge” (2014)

Label: Nuclear Blast

Review by Tony Cannella

On his debut solo album, Nightwish keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen has created a concept album based around the graphic novel “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”! According to Mr. Holopainen this project was 14 years in the making and written during his downtime from Nightwish.

Granted Scrooge McDuck may not be a very metal topic to tackle, but “The Life and Times…” isn’t really a metal album… so there! “…Scrooge” features 10-songs and almost an hour worth of symphonic, classically influenced music with folk and cinematic influences as well – with the album artwork done by the book’s author Don Rosa. There are several guest musicians, including four singers: Alan Reid, Johanna Kurkela, Johanna Iivanainen & Tony Kakko. Continue reading »