Album Reviews
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ARMORED SAINTEmotion Factory ResetMetal Blade Records – 2026http://www.armoredsaint.com The announcement of the new ARMORED SAINT album was met with quite a bit of excitement on my part. ‘Emotion Factory Reset’, the band’s ninth studio album hit the ground running with the announcement as it included the releases lead track “Close to the Bone” as its…
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CROWN LANDSApocalypseInsideOut Music If you’re a fan of the RUSH’s classic ‘2112’ to ‘Moving Pictures’ period – and if you’re not, for shame – fellow Canadians CROWN LANDS should be right up your alley. The Oshawa, Ontario-based duo has the same penchant for combining progressive sprawl and instrumental dexterity, heady plotlines and thematics, crafty songwriting…
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VOIVODSymphoniqueCentury Media Minor falls!Major lifts!And lots of different strings and secret chords! They may not be the first band to bring hard rock/metal and classical music together in a casually live audience setting, but as far as their own 40+ year history of progressive sci-fi metal innovation is concerned, Quebec’s VOÏVOD are perhaps one of…
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INGESTEDDenigrationMetal Blade Records There are albums that feel like collections of songs, and then there are albums that feel like watching somebody slowly collapse in front of you while still trying to swing back at the world on the way down. INGESTED’s ‘Denigration’ lives firmly in that second category. This record is not just about…
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UADAInterwoven2026, Eisenwald UADA are one of the best USBM bands going at the moment, and there is no question about that. Their sound is one of reverence for the old styles but with a keen ear for the new – indeed, each new album is its own revelation. And now, ‘Interwoven.’ It isn’t a gimmick…
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DRACONIANIn Somnolent RuinNapalm Records Review By Lillith Kessenger ‘In Somnolent Ruin’ is very much a product of its environment, meant in the best way possible. Sweden and Eastern Europe are characterized by their roots in traditional gothic aesthetics, morbidity, and melodic riffs. DRACONIAN wields this heritage with knifepoint precision and holds you at that precipice…
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VOMITORYIn Death ThroesMetal Blade Records We’re nearly halfway through 2026 and already there have been a slew of great albums released this year. Also great is the consistency that some of these bands have kept up with, releasing great banger after great banger and such is the case with Sweden’s VOMITORY and their 10th release…
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AT THE GATESThe Ghost Of A Future DeadCentury Media Records The latest, and in all likelihood, last studio album from Swedish melodic death metal pioneers AT THE GATES is certainly a bittersweet effort. Recorded during frontman Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg’s battle with a rare cancer – adenoid cystic carcinoma, to be precise – it’s release comes…