Review by Aaron P

Scorched is middle of the road for Overkill - you get what you expect with Bobby’s vocals to DDs bass to equal parts thrash and breakdowns. They don’t reinvent the wheel or do anything crazy, but that’s fine. The first half of the album is definitely stronger than the second.

This AILD album is angry, melodic and fast, which is what Tim does best with this arguably best lineup of musicians. Out the gate, Beyond Our Suffering sets the stage for a brutal metal assault. Anger and Apathy is another amazing, melodic track. Highly recommended!

It pains me to say this because I’m a huge Annihilator fan, but this album - with the exception of Psycho Ward, which is a contemporary classic Annihilator song with amazing guitar solos that Jeff grunts over and I LOVE it - is trash. Garbage. The vocals are horrible, the lyrics are the corniest they’ve ever been, and Jeff is going a lot of musical recycling of things we’ve heard him play before. I don’t ever expect Annihilator to reach the heights of Neverland, Alice or even the amazing Metal 2, but this is just a waste.

Delirious isn’t bad per se, but it’s just a much “lighter” album than I want and expect from 7C - it just doesn’t rock as hard as I would like. The songs are lighter, slower, and even the rocking tunes get hard enough (like When We Were Young). Fyhr sounds great, but not enough to save the lighter music.

7C’s Wonderland - to me - is their most melodic and accessible albums. They lean equally on the keys and guitars, which are balanced perfectly. The title track is AWESOME, and sets the tone for rest of the album. And as is to be expected, Fyhr’s vocals are ALWAYS fire!!

Truth be told, SS is merely an average Annihilator album; Jeff does what Jeff does, and that all you can expect. The guitars are great, the vocals are passable, and the composition is top. Standout tracks are actually the last two on the album. However, this set is worth it for the re-recorded tracks alone; they definitely breathe fresh air into the older songs. I don’t prefer them to the originals, but they are are great reinterpretation of some decades later

Somewhere between Fall of Ideals and Overcome, ATR appears like they desperately wanted to break into the mainstream because they started mixing in ballads and what I think they think epic singalong songs are supposed to like with metal songs full of blast beats and screaming. I appreciate the range but, it makes for an album that can’t find its footing or tone. Going from the melodic The Won’t Rnd Well to the double bass heavy and screamy No Knock is just weird; it’s not cohesive. It’s not BAD, but, this album isn’t a complete listening experience one can have beginning to end.

Work Of Art are a great Swedish AOR trio associated with better known bands like WET. This album is fairly intricate with some nice key changes and some blistering solos, but mostly straight-forward, so it is accessible to the masses. Big fan of Come Home and If I Could Fly

This is AILD's major label debut, and it is an important piece of metalcore history. While I wish it was more melodis with more screaming - it is extremely heavy with a lot of screaming - it certainly gets the job done. 94 Hours and Elegy are standout tracks. Metalcore fans will definitely enjoy this one.

This is a compilation of AILD's out-of-print Pluto Records albums: full-length, "Beneath The Encasing Of Ashes" and half of the split release with American Tragedy, as well as some re-recordings. The first two recordings are raw and early AILD, so they are NOT polished. The re-recordings are great, however.

Robin McAuley just doesn't age - he sounds as fresh as ever on SotE. The entire band is great, melodic and crafts some really great songs. Thy Will Be Done, Running Out of Time and Say Goodbye are AWESOME. Fans of Robin, melodic AOR and the better Frontiers catalogue will love this.

While 2021's Standing on the Edge is great, this mighy be a BIT better because the entire first side just hits really hard. But then on Side 2 "Stronger Than Before" hits you like a ton of bricks and When The Time has Come is so awesome too. Just pick this up - it has something for everyone!!

StormWarning is interesting because it is clearly on the heavier side of AOR (guitarist reminds me a bit of Jake E Lee, actually - especially on the opening track Eye of the Storm) BUT it is very synth heavy; many of the songs will feature the synth (especially just doing arpeggios) The vocals are soaring and melodic with lots of overdubbed harmonies. Eye of the Strom, Satellite Falling, Neon Skies, Soldiers of Love are standouts. Definitely worth your time.

For me, this is the album that put Sepultura on the map with this classic lineup. Schizo was decent, but this is just way more polished. Inner self is simply perfection.

This is a band who took its name from a fake comic book in The Lost Boys, fronted by a guy named Michael Vampire, with copious amounts of auto-tune and dance beats. They are truly a MySpace no band and I love them for it. Bury Me Alive and Immortal Love are standouts

FWAM is a mid-tier ATR album, more on the heavier side of things with a decent amount of screaming and fast drumming. And as always, the guitars are wonderful. However, the songs aren’t as strong as they could be. Yet, the best song on the album is the more radio-friendly Hold On. Fans of ATR will enjoy

Sable Hill’s Duality is a great, balanced and varied metalcore with equal parts harmony, grooves and brutality. As always, singing is kept to a minimum, but it’s here. Bringer, On My Own and Snake are standouts for me.

I’m a big fan of Seventh Star, in large part due to lead singer Christian Fehr. Etude is basically a more metal 7S and it’s REALLY good. It’s extremely guitar heavy and the solos are great. Highly recommended!

This is only seven songs long and a quick listen, but still fun none the less to hear these songs live and tweaked with little, different touches. I have no idea how much studio magic in post is on this album, but everyone sounds great and their musicianship shines through. Recommended for fans of the band!

I know Surgical Steel predates Arteries, but to me THIS is their true return to form PRE-Heartwork (which is my best album). I say “return to form” in terms of their Grindhouse roots - their melodicism on Heartwork is something special. This album just flows nicely, and The Extra Japanese track is silly. Very much recommended!