Riot is the epitome of class, longevity and integrity: the New Yorkers play their high-class heavy metal with full fervour and have not let numerous strokes of fate - such as the death of guitarist Mark Reale, since when, out of respect, they are operating as Riot V - get them down. A lot of time has passed since the debut "Rock City" (1977), but Riot V is still around and now delights the fans with an absolute masterpiece. More than five years after "Armor Of Light" - which saw the band achieving chart success in numerous European countries for the first time ever - Riot V presents "Mean Streets". From the ferocious opener "Hail To The Warriors" to the hypnotic hymn "Feel The Fire" and the up-tempo hit "High Noon", up to the energetic title track, the band pulls out all the stops. Fast-paced, lively, melodic and heavy, "Mean Streets" is the full service for every heavy metal fan!

Reissued edition of Type O Negative third studio album including a bonus CD with seven tracks (although eight ones are listed in the packaging, one is missing) celebrating the 30th anniversary.
Bloody Kisses was Type O Negative's major step forward, maintaining the long, repetitive song structures of albums past, but adding more atmospheric synths and left-field Beatlesque pop melodies. The quantum leap in songwriting is what really drives the album, but it also coincides with a newfound sense of subtlety. Aside from a couple of smart-aleck rants, Peter Steele's dark, melodramatic songs address heartbreak and loneliness in what sounds at first like deadly serious overkill. But not far beneath the surface, he's also satirizing his own emotional excesses, and those of goth rock in general…

Despite all of the failed experiments and the revolving-door of vocalists throughout the '90s, Annihilator proves on Waking the Fury that they can at the very least write a solid, heavy collection of songs if pressured. No more humor-infused romps like "Brian Dance", no more overlong patience testers like "Hunter Killer"; everything is compact and lethality exudes from the band's determined approach. This becomes immediately apparent during the opener "Ultra-Motion", which detonates out of the gates courtesy of Waters' electrified picking hand and descending note clusters. Waters produced this album, lending a synthetic, artificial sheen to the guitars that remains one of the album's most memorable attributes. The guitar tone's awful reputation almost proceeds the music itself, akin to Overkill's W.F.O. and it's vehement bass tone.

German metalheads Rage had decided to disband after their disappointing second album, Execution Guaranteed; but it took band prime mover Peter "Peavey" Wagner less than a year to have second thoughts, so he proceeded to rebuild from the ground up. First by penning a new batch of quality songs, then by bringing in new musicians in guitarist Manni Schmidt and drummer Chris Efthimiades so as to reconfigure Rage from a quartet into a trio, making them "stronger, faster, better than they were before," as the saying goes. Sure enough, the resulting LP, 1988's exemplary Perfect Man, became the most successful and enduring of their career. With undeniable winners like "Wasteland," "Don't Fear the Winter," and the title track fueling its charge down the heavy metal autobahn, Perfect Man boasted a perfect combination of razor-sharp brutality and crisp production values…

This is a great album. It starts off in a pretty generic speed metal approach, but as the disc moves on it takes on a myriad of other styles. Those styles range from groove-oriented hard rocking tones to older straight metal and prog metal textures. Add to this above-average songwriting, killer performances, and great production, and you have a definite winner for fans of hard-edged rock music.

Before Type O Negative, there was really no such thing as goth metal. And the group that hails from the bowels of Brooklyn (not Transylvania, as some assume) is still at it, on their sixth studio album overall - and first for the SPV label - 2007's Dead Again. Unbelievably heavy sludge riffs are still a main ingredient, as well as singer Pete Steele's ongoing "Kill me, I'm in agony" lyrics, and vocals that sometimes sound quite Bela Lugosi-esque. The album-opening title track may very well be the most melodic song the band has ever recorded, but the Type O we all know and love is lurking right around the bend, especially on such tracks as "The Profits of Doom" (the album's original working title), "She Burned Me Down," and "An Ode to Locksmiths," the latter of which contains a guitar riff so Tony Iommi-esque that it sounds straight off of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath…

Marty Friedman's presence in the world of music, the world of guitar and Japanese pop culture is enigmatic, bizarre and downright inspiring. From his groundbreaking beginnings with Cacophony alongside the legendary Jason Becker to his pivotal role in Megadeth with his breathtaking range and unorthodox style, propelling Megadeth to the pinnacle of popularity with his breathtaking range and unorthodox melodic sensibilities, Marty has cemented his status as a unique guitar icon. With "Drama", Marty announces his latest solo album, on which he only slightly revisits the atmospheric elements of his celebrated album "Scenes" from 1992 and elevates them to a modern and exotic collection of extravagant and unmistakably emotional mini-symphonies…

With Criteria for a Black Widow, Jeff Waters reunites most of the original Annihilator lineup - including vocalist Randy Rampage and drummer Ray Hartmann - and keeps the '80s thrash-metal torch burning with surprising effectiveness. Having resolved various personal problems, and having scored a distribution deal in the U.S. for the first time since 1993, Waters sounds rejuvenated by the presence of his old bandmates, who turn in exciting performances. The lyrics aren't quite as personal as on some of the more recent Annihilator albums, but there's a sense of over-the-top fun instead, which makes it overall a triumphant return - no matter how far out of style Waters' favorite music might be.

Three full years after their last album, Type O Negative finally returned with World Coming Down, a record that might alienate some fans brought on board with October Rust but which actually stands with the best of their work. Many of the songs most closely resemble the dirgier parts of Bloody Kisses – still melodic, but not as immediately accessible, and taken at crawling tempos that would give Black Sabbath on downers a run for their money. So even if the songs do catch on after a couple of listens, they aren't as bright (relatively speaking, of course) as a great deal of October Rust, in terms of both music and subject matter. That's fine, because World Coming Down seems like more natural territory; even in spite of its many fine moments, October Rust felt like a move toward accessibility that worked in fits but didn't quite achieve everything it wanted to…

Although marketed as an Annihilator album, Remains is actually a full fledged solo album by band founder Jeff Waters. And while it’s true that both King of the Kill and Refresh the Demon were also largely created by Waters with minimal help from other musicians, Waters replaced drummer Randy Black with a drum machine for this album! Aside from minor contributions to two songs by John Bates & Dave Steele, everything you hear on this album is Jeff.
What he’s accomplished here is actually quite admirable and should be viewed for what it is - a solo album done almost Completely solo. Jeff takes this opportunity to experiment with his songwriting choices, but really doesn’t veer all that far from his signature sound…

Peter Steele predicted that the follow-up to Bloody Kisses would accentuate Type O Negative's melodic side, specifically for the purpose of making money. Steele's attempt at "pop-goth" actually works well for a while; his cynical take on goth rock's typical subject matter is in full swing over the first half of October Rust, and the band gleefully wallows in its stated commercialism by personally thanking the listener for purchasing the album at its start and finish. Unfortunately, the songwriting runs out of steam over the second half, and the cover choice (Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl") doesn't lend as much this time out; the overall entertainment value suffers as a result. October Rust comes off as a promising concept and a nice try, but lacks the consistency to fully realize the band's potential

Refresh the Demon is another experimental Annihilator record of the nineties that is all over the place in terms of quality and style. The only constant is Jeff Waters who once again plays all instruments except the drums and performs vocals. This album is comparable to the two predecessors King of the Kill and Set the World on Fire but there are two important differences. The first difference between the new output and the former ones is that the new release has a more rocking tone and sometimes drifts away from the band’s usual thrash and groove metal style which adds a refreshing note to the release. The other difference is that the experimental side of this release sounds a little bit more focused and less directionless than before which increases this release’s overall quality. Refresh the Demon might not be an extraordinary output but it’s an entertaining fun ride that convinces much more than the two confusing predecessors.

From the opening moments of "Know-Nothing Ingrate," which kicks off Killing for Revenge, it's immediately clear that Six Feet Under focused their energies into something that's as brutal, lyrically visceral and musically dazzling as one would hope for from the ground-breaking Tampa-bred death metal lineup on their 14th studio album.
Killing for Revenge, a gnarly beast of a record that's not for the faint-hearted, dishes up nightmare-inducing imagery courtesy of frontman Chris Barnes via the vocalist's trademark guttural vocals. Both the album title and darkly detailed red-hued album cover by artist Vince Locke are perfect containers for the brutality within…

Slayer left a big hole in the metal world with their break-up in 2019. But guitarist Kerry King knew that it wasn't the end for him.
From Hell I Rise is the debut album under the Kerry King banner and features other well-known musicians besides King. Its contributors include Mark Osegueda of Death Angel on vocals, former Vio-lence and Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel, Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders, and Slayer and former Testament, Forbidden and Exodus drummer Paul Bostaph.