01. Where Angels Die 03:44 02. Am I Blind 03:01 03. I’m The Crucifix 03:50 04. A Remission of Sins 03:43 05. Save Me 03:32 06. Lost Forever 03:30 07. For My Family And Satan 03:33 08. In Anger 04:06 09. End Of The Road 03:25 10. Stone By Stone 03:27 11. Moving On (Instrumental) 03:52

‘My life’s a fractured mirror and nothing is what it seems’ sing Sweden’s ‘Hellfuelled’ on their fourth full-length ‘Emission of Sins’. This is true; although they sound unbelievably like another artist, they’re not. Could have fucking hell-fooled me though (sorry).

As soon as ‘Where Angels Die’ springs into life, a stink of Down’s swampy blues-metal seeps from the riffs and fills the room. Promising. Then, however, Ozzy Osbourne’s voice comes wailing from out of nowhere, and perceptions change as the image of the Prince of Darkness singing these songs cements itself as a precedent in your head. By third track ‘I’m The Crucifix’, it gets ridiculously difficult to dismiss this comparison, at times being overwhelmed by the impression that this is an Ozzy B-sides compilation. Thankfully, these B-sides are pretty damn good.
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01. Don’t Stop the Sandman 02. We Will Kickstart Your Rhapsody 03. Crazy Girl 04. Voices in the Jungle 05. Here Comes the Fool You Wanted 06. Shook Me Like a Prayer 07. Straight to Rock City 08. Prayin’ for a Sweet Weekend 09. Heaven and Heaven 10. Breakin’ the Love 11. I Love Sugar on Me 12. Round and Separated 13. Dreaming of a Whole Lotta Breakfast

‘OHHHHH YERRR’ says I as the opening track ‘Dont Stop the Sandman’ flies through the speakers at 300mph, hitting the listener directly in the face. Rock Sugar, in my eyes, are a very comical band rather than metal. Can you really imagine Metal and Pop combining as one to make awesome music? Not really, but it works. You’ve got everything on this album - From Ozzy to Bon Jovi, Motley Crue to Queen and even KISS to Journey. You are sure to have one hell of a good party when listening to this album.

I am a true metal head/mosher, whatever you want to call it, but from the moment I put Reimaginator on I was truly blown away at how much fun and how party pop like it is. It’s true when I say that all the musicians in Rock Sugar can play their instruments, and can play them bloody good. The album is filled up with thirteen excellently constructed and well played tracks which get the listener jumping up down to the crazy metal beat-downs while singing like a drunk to pop hits. Absolutely EPIC!
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When Risen Prophecy were first interviewed on our show they were an out and out thrash act. So I was surprised when I popped this CD in and found that its largely British Heavy Metal inspired tracks.

There aren’t very many traditional acts of this kind around at the moment since its somewhat of a specialist niche, but if Risen Prophecy are looking to revive the genre they’re doing a very good job!

Risen Prophecy formed back in 2005 and released their first two track EP however this is all together quite a different beast. The album itself features 8 songs totalling an hour in running time.
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01. For Me 05:38 02. Burn Black Light 04:59 03. Reaching Down 06:20 04. What I Breathe 04:49 05. Forgiveness 03:38 06. Don’t Falter 06:17 07. Then Fall 05:39 08. Into The Ocean 03:14

A cursory squint at their Myspace reveals that Order of Voices state their intention to exist somewhere in the region of the cutting edge of British alternative rock. At present, it’s true that this edge isn’t particularly sharp, and has seen far more cutting days, but Order of Voices are seeking to change this; an ambitious goal, to say the least, but ambition is one of the band’s strong suits.

What Order of Voices provide is an epic sound, layer upon layer of melodies. They specialise in having a melodic chorus soaring over heavily distorted mid-tempo riffs. It’s very slickly performed and produced, the various guitar melodies slot together nicely and the drums keep everything ticking over, and the vocals are near enough pitch-perfect. Can you feel me building to a “but“? Because I am…
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01. Born to Kill 03:39 02. No Way but the Hard Way 03:34 03. Blonde, Bad and Beautiful 03:49 04. Raise the Flag 03:32 05. Bottom of the Well 04:29 06. White Line Fever 03:10 07. It Ain’t Over til it’s Over 03:17 08. Steel Town 03:08 09. Chewin’ the Fat 03:11 10. Armed and Dangerous 04:12 11. Overdrive 03:22 12. Back on the Bottle 03:50

Airbourne are just one of these bands that go out on the circuit to have fun and cause mayhem. Their first album ‘Runnin’ Wild’ was from start to finish one of the best rock albums I have heard in a long time. But then in 2010 the world was hit with another party anthem, fun loving album by Airbourne. Entitled ‘No Guts, No Glory’ its 13 amazing songs and best with a couple of pints of beer at which point anything can happen.
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01. Your Betrayal 04:51 02. Fever 03:57 03. The Last Fight 04:19 04. A Place Where You Belong 05:06 05. Pleasure And Pain 03:53 06. Alone 05:56 07. Breaking Out, Breaking Down 04:04 08. Bittersweet Memories 05:09 09. Dignity 04:29 10. Begging for Mercy 03:56 11. Pretty on the Outside 03:56

For those who say: Bullet for My Valentine. That’s not metal! I have only one thing to say. Screw you. Bullet for My Valentine’s 4th album ‘Fever’ hit the stores on the 26th of April. As a Bullet For My Valentine fan I have to say its an amazing step up from their last album Scream Aim Fire. Fever is back to Poison Era Mosh pit anthems and soaring guitar solo’s rather than all the messed up aggressive songs found on Scream Aim Fire. Bullet have definitely gone back to their pop metal roots, which is a shame as many people notice them through their amazing Scremo vocals on Classic tracks like ‘Tears dont Fall’ and ‘Suffocation under words of sorrow’.
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01. Peace on Earth 06:38 02. Living on the Outside 05:03 03. Los Angeloser 04:09 04. If I Can’t Have you 05:00 05. Love is Not Real 07:33 06. Like a Rose 03:16 07. Song of Madness 05:31 08. Did You Ever Love Somebody 04:01 09. California Isn’t Big Enough 04:43 10. Running Away from Me 03:54 11. Let’s Be in Love 05:11 12. If it Rains 03:56 13. Elvis in Vegas 06:01

Meat loaf has been giving us amazing albums since 1977. Some of these include: Bat out of hell, Dead ringer, Bad attitude, Welcome to the Neighborhood and Midnight at the Lost and Found. But now, straight from under the wings of the bat out of hell himself comes ‘Hang cool Teddy Bear’, Meat Loaf’s best sounding, most rocking album to date. With the catchy chorus’s from ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ combined with the musicianship elements from ‘Dead Ringer’. Hang Cool Teddy Bear is a must have for Meat Loaf fans who are triumphing the bands return.
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01. Satan Is Dead 04:15 02. Hell Knows 06:05 03. Rise! 04:31 04. The Pilot Of All Dreams 03:43 05. Magic and Technology 05:50 06. Calling Down The Rain 4:12 07. Caught In The Deadlights 04:43 08. I Walk Forever 04:50 09. Sleep In The Dark 04:46 10. Gone 07:08

I love Tarot. Ask anyone that knows me and they’ll tell you how much I love Marco Hietala. I even had the pleasure of interviewing him on our podcast.

Gravity of Light is Tarot’s eighth studio album and is to be released worldwide on the 8th of June. It’s first week of sales in Finland it charted at number two something that their previous album ‘Crows Fly Black’ never managed to do.

I really wanted to like this album but after listening to it almost solidly for a week now but I’m still not sure about it. There isn’t really anything wrong with the songs - they sound typically ‘Tarot’. If anything they remind me an awful lot of their earlier albums including Stigmata except gruffer and more developed than early Tarot.
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01. Sleep This Away 03:21 02. Trust No One 02:43 03. Dead Wrong 02:40 04. Doomed to Fail 03:15 05. Black Metal Bicycle 03:32 06. We Are the Undead 02:54 07. Scared to Death 03:22 08. Darkness 03:42 09. Snake Mountain 02:48 10. Make Amends 03:04 11. Fake Gold 02:52 12. Drive This Stake 02:41 13. Raised Right 04:46 14. Sabotage (Beastie Boys cover) 03:01

If I was going to sum up Cancer bats in one sentence it would say this: ‘Its the Past, Present and Future of Hardcore punk’. This can be seen on Cancer bats 3rd album Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones. Its all pure heaviness from its mind numbing distorted riffing from the guitar to quite a bit of screaming and whaling from Liam Cornier on Vocals. For those who are die hard Cancer bats fan’s it is definitely a necessity in your collection. But on the other hand for people who are just trying to get into the bats maybe Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones isn’t the best starting marker for you.
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01. Sex, Drugs & Heavy Metal 3:55 02. Heart Thief 3:42 03. Trust Your Instincts 3:07 04. Young, Dumb & Full of Fun 3:46 05. Dead Girl Walking 3:57 06. Down On You 3:33 07. Pussywhipped 4:35 08. Hunt You Down 3:43 09. Act Of God 4:17 10. Coming After You 3:12 11. Top Of The World 3:00 12. Sleaze Sells…But Who’s Buying? 2:08 13. Trick Or Mistreat 3:46 14. Sweet Transvestite 3:53

Ahh, that traditional call-to-arms that starts many a heavy metal song; shouting a one-liner about getting ready to go, turning up the sound, or how asses are about to be kicked. A select few are:

Venom - Bloodlust - ‘Come on, turn it up!’
Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right - ‘Kick it!’
Sweet - Ballroom Blitz - ‘Alright fellas, let’s go!’
Buckcherry - So Far - ‘Come on! Hurrrgh!’
Jackviper - Go Fuck Yourself - ‘Listen up, motherfucker!’
Steel Panther - The Shocker - ‘Are you ready, baby?’
Airbourne - Stand Up For Rock ‘N’ Roll - ‘Alright people, welcome to the show!’
Motorhead - Dead Men Tell No Tales - ‘This is it!’
John Loeffler - Pokerap - ‘Okay guys, we gotta rap some Pokemon… let’s get it on!’

And now we can add the opener from Spit Like This’ first full-length, ‘Sex, Drugs & Heavy Metal’ to the list, with it’s ‘Yeah, turn up the level!’ introduction. The band, named after an utterance from a spitting contest between vocalist Lord Zion and bassist Vikki Spit, get things off to a suitably rollicking, in-yer-face start on an album of which there is something very Rocky Horror about (it’s fitting that it closes with a rendition of ‘Sweet Transvestite’ from the film). There are loads of clichés and silly lines, but the charm and cheekiness of it still leaves a smile on the face.
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