A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Grade Scale adopted at MetalKings.com (starting from the lowest)

1 - Shite
2 - Could be worse
3 - Could be better
4 - Damn good
5 - Killer

2/5
ALICE COOPER
The Eyes of Alice Cooper
2003
Spitfire Records
a failed attempt to go back to the roots
Indeed I could hardly have imagined such a fuck up from none other than Alice Cooper himself. After the absolutely genius albums like Brutal Planet and Dragontown (I ain't kidding) - the two pieces that sounded both modern but at the same time were 200% cooperesque, that were inspiring from both musical and lyrical sides, which basically had no filler tracks, after all that Alice has somehow managed to stone the market with a piece of crap of such remarkable shittyness, that I really don't know where to start to tell you about it. In all honesty I cannot even begin to think what could have caused the King of Horror, who throughout his entire career has demonstrated practically flawless taste and amazing sense of quality could have screwed up that much. A perfectly horrible mould of failed attempts to go back to the 70ies and at that stay up-to-date (means "spice" the old stuff with skate-punk and emocore), plus a couple of ballads none of which however comes even close to the likes of "Only Women Bleed" and "Take It Like a Woman", feeble pop-like sound, in short it's fucked all over. Dammit, I still cannot believe how this could of happened! (Troll)

4/5
HUMANIMAL
Humanimal
2002
Z Records/CD-Maximum
hard rock
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

5/5
IRON MAIDEN
Best of the B-Sides
2002
EMI
NWOBHM
Well there's not really much to review here - any "Maiden" fan simply must have this double in their collection. B-sides off 21(!) singles collected all in one double release - what else do I have to explain? Here you will find live versions of well-known blockbusters, covers of renown and totally obscure bands, that once influenced Harris and Co., Blaze-era tracks as delivered by Bruce, and some totally off the wall things such as the "Nodding Donkey Blues" (a classic blues number Maiden performed during their secret warm-up club gigs when they appeared as The Nodding Donkeys) or "Roll Over Vic Vella" (a remake of "Roll Over Beethoven" devoted to their ex-tour manager, who used to work with the band in the beginning of their career), plus a 24-page inlay, excellent formatting, detailed information on each song, and a total of 134 minutes of playtime - excellent! (Troll)

4/5
KARMAKANIC
Entering the Spectra
2002
Regain Records/CD-Maximum
progressive metal
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

4-/5
MANIC DEPRESSION
Who deals the Pain
2003
Soyuz Music
thrash
I wouldn't know why but it happened so that thrash metal has become one of those genres that never quite regained its original positions. Everything: speed/power, death, grindcore, black, industrial - literally all genres have sooner or later returned giving birth to new talents and becoming widely spoken of. And only the good ole' thrash metal, no matter how hard it tried, over the past few years has only managed to squeeze out something like five bands the most famous of which is probably the Japanese-American combo Ritual Carnage. Of course there's also the Haunted but these guys do not play thrash metal proper. Then again, on the other, hand there is one other thing that needs to be noted: if you do stumble upon a new thrash metal formation you could basically count on the fact that these boys will at least know how to play well. Well, this principle is once again proven in the case of Moscow-based Manic Depression and their debut record released through Soyuz Music. The material can hardly be referred to as original and is most obviously inspired by the creations of such dinosaurs as Slayer and Kreator, but a) it's still very strong material; b) any "quotes" are mere quotes, and not ripoffs; c) and as for the musicianship - it's simply outrageously good. If you are longing for the golden days of Testament and Exodus - you've come to the right place. (Troll)

4/5
MORTUS
Leaving The Swamps
2003
CCP Records/CD-Maximum
Grunge/Angry/Gothic Metal
There isn't one single mediocre band in Austria. Each and everyone of them knit their musical material to such an intricate pattern that their albums could easily end up if not in the Red Book of rarities then at least decorate the starfish alley in Unholywood. Mortus here are no exception, and although they aren't as eccentric as say Haggard, the stylistic components here are still quite odd. The plot of the album is quite many-sided going from Nirgvana's urban melodism, the neurotics load of Korn-like rhythms, the drive of early Pantera, compositional and vocal sincerity of Darkseed or, if you please, early Paradise Lost. As a result what we get here is a an album that could easily be of interest for pretty much all of the fans of the aforementioned bands. (St. Ded)

5/5
OPUS ATLANTICA
Opus Atlantica
2002
Regain Records/CD-Maximum
progressive heavy metal
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

4/5
PONTUS NORGREN
Damage Done
2000
Z Records/CD-Maximum
hard rock
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

5/5
REPTILIAN
Thunderblaze
2002
Regain Records/CD-Maximum
power metal
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

4/5
SEVEN WISHES
Utopia
2001
Z Records/CD-Maximum
hard’n’heavy
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

4/5
S.I.N.
Somewhere into Nowhere
2003
MTM Music/CD-Maximum
AOR
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

5-/5
SHADOWCAST
Near Life Experience
2003
CCP Records/CD-Maximum
Grunge/Angry/Gothic Metal
I will not spend any time on telling you that I don't like pop music, I mean it's not my tastes that we are talking about. When I develop an evaluation, the whatever comparisons I come up with only come from within the same stylistic/genre ballpark, and thus I cannot deny the fact that the latest SC effort is entirely great. The combination created by the musicians is graced with both originality and undoubted taste. Compositionally it's fast-to-mid tempo numbers, with domineering electronics - such as the background, part of the drums, and effects. The guitars are moved sort of backwards which totally hides the heaviness despite all the attributes of early Industrial in presence. At the same time, it's not just pure beat and riffing, melodies are here as well. The vocals are more in the vein of late Paradise Lost and Moonspell, and sometimes even Bloodhound Gang and (if I'm not mistaken) Muse, and an occasional post-black scream. (St. Ded)

5-/5
SHIVA
Shiva
2002
Z Records/CD-Maximum
hard rock
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

5/5
TIME REQUIEM
Time Requiem
2002
Regain Records/CD-Maximum
progressive metal
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

3/5
THUNDER
Shooting at the Sun
2003
Frontiers Records/CD-Maximum
hard rock
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

3/5
UNION
Union
1998
Eagle Records/CD-Maximum
hard rock
translation to follow soon. stay tuned. (Dead Ripper)

5-/5
UNVEILED
Anti-God Behavior
2002
Woodcut Records/CD-Maximum
Black Metal
This peace of Mid-Nineties-Emperoresque epic is the debut of the Finland-based Catholicism supporters. The record is of high quality and very ambitious but as we strip the skin away, we can see that such an unpopular component of modern days as original musical thought is entirely missing. Well, of course with due effort, the band has all the chances to grow into something truly notable and worthy, but to achieve that they really need to look into themselves and try to dig out that something that would make the music click, not just the imagery and artwork-creativity. Even more so since some of the songs are really good: the occasional (unfortunately) use of clean vocals cause nothing but wild applause - a beautiful voice and beautiful parties… What is typical, is that these very songs with clean vocals, are pretty much the best music-wise too. On the whole the album is packed with rapid, sometimes melodic, secondhand-riffing, quality drumming, and very energetic screams. (St. Ded)