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  • Reissue of the band's first album.  Fantastic progressive power metal with a strong spiritual message. Normally I'm not a big fan of the one-man-band concept but composer/singer/multi-instrumentalist Matt Smith really blew me away with this first time effort. Elements of Savatage, Queensryche, Symphony X and even Kansas pop up. Long epic sweeping tracks with lots of power and melody. Matt's proves he's got the voice and the chops to go far. Highly recommended.
    $12.00
  • Nice stop gap release until their third album comes out. This features 3 tracks that were previously exclusive to Japan, 1 track from the upcoming album as well as an unreleased tune. There is also a video for "Time To Rock".
    $8.00
  • Latest release from the German kings of Cheese Metal. At the very least you can say these guys do it as well as any other band in the genre.
    $15.00
  • Napalm does it again...from the guys that brought you Tristania and The Sins Of Thy Beloved comes a band from Liechtenstein (!) called Elis. Formerly known as Erben Der Schpfung, this female fronted gothic metal band will hit the right spot for fans of The Gallery, Edenbridge and Delight. Lead vocalist Sabine Dnser has a gorgeous voice that is the perfect counterpoint to the crunchy guitar riffage. The keyboards lend a gentle, ornate classical texture and the occassional deep male growls are pretty inoccuous. Nicely produced with a hi-gloss sheen by Atrocity's Alex Krull.
    $12.00
  • "Australian progressive rock band WITHOUTEND delivers a debut album offering a very original interpretation of modern Progressive Metal/Rock. The album's main concept of change and consequences is conveyed through a blend of dark melodic progressive music with very dark and emotional lyrical content. The opening track "Again" is based on the idea of coming face to face with temptation and living with your consequences and sets the scene for the rest of the album. "In Transit", perhaps the most commercially accessible tracks on the album deals with the life changing aspects of moving on to a new chapter of ones life and looking at life as being a silent movie. "Analyse" and "I Still Remember" both explore the breakdown in relationships in response to major life changes. "Searching for Meaning" and "Descend" are based on a persons quest for answers and questioning people's beliefs while living/existing in artificial and predetermined surroundings. "Comfort Zone" deals with one's personal battle against their comfort zone. "Compulsion" closes the chapter opened by the opening track and tries to solve and understand ones compulsive desires. The idea behind the last track, "The Third Day" was to express the time heels all wounds/solves all problems concept in a ballad which closes the album." - Prog Archives
    $3.00
  • Cynthesis is a new band that reunites three of the original members of Zero Hour (Jasun and Troy Tipton, and Erik Rosvold) along with Enchant drummer Sean Flanagan.ReEvolution is the middle part of a dystopian trilogy begun with 2011’s DeEvolution. The central character, a shaman, is sent out to gather more slaves. He comes across a tribe and senses a light within them that triggers a distant memory of his past.  He realizes this is the original tribe he was taken from.  He brings them back to the city and encounters what was done to the population and sets them free.While Cynthesis maintains much of the Zero Hour tech metal influence, it also demonstrates the more melodic and atmospheric side of Jasun Tipton’s songwriting.  ReEvolution will appeal to fans of both progressive rock and metal.
    $13.00
  • DeEvolution tells the story of an elite group of leaders from a heavily industrialized city who find, brainwash and then exploit an indigenous tribe’s shaman, believing he would be the perfect supreme leader. By propping him up as possessing all the answers to societies ills the elites use him in order to gain and keep more control over the masses. They plan to influence the masses on several fronts: Religion, Media, Consumerism, and Government.Twin brothers, Jasun and Troy Tipton along with Erik Rosvold released two albums with the Progressive-Metal act Zero Hour. The band's second album "The Towers of Avarice" won sparkling reviews from nearly every metal magazine around the World and has achieved classic status among prog metal fans. Zero Hour successfully toured Europe and performed twice at Prog Power USA, the largest prog-metal music festival in the World. In 2003, fans were disappointed when Zero Hour parted ways with Erik Rosvold.In late 2007, Jasun began writing material for Cynthesis. As the music developed Jasun could only imagine one vocalist to really connect to the material. After one phone call both Jasun and Erik were very excited to work together again.The final piece of the puzzle was to find an amazing drummer. Jasun asked Troy what drummer he would like to work with. Without any hesitation Troy said, "Sean Flanegan is the guy". Sean is best known for his work with the Progressive Rock band, Enchant (Blink of an eye & Tug of War).Produced by Dino Alden, DeEvolution is the first of a projected series of albums from this reunited force of progressive metal.
    $8.00
  • New album from this Austrian symphonic metal band.  The band has been a bit of a revolving door with vocalists but Maxi Nil has settled in nicely.  The music is based in the traditional female fronted gothic style with clean male vocals trading leads back and forth.  This time around I hear more of a poppier, catchy sound - somewhat like the direction Delain is moving towards.  Highly recommended to fans of the genre (I wave my hand proudly).  Digipak edition with one bonus track.
    $16.00
  • "Home to koala bears, kangaroos, and vegemite sandwiches (thank you Men At Work for that reference), Australia also maintains a very healthy metal scene, especially in the power/progressive and extreme sub-genres. Black Majesty from Melbourne revels in melodic power metal with progressive tinges, establishing over the course of their four studio records a sound appealing to an older generation who love double-bass fury, kinetic dueling guitar work and multi-octave vocal prowess. The fifth platter Stargazer delivers more of the same, with no apologizing in their commitment to their cause.Guitarists Stevie Janevski and Hanny Mohamed waste no time unleashing their clean and electric riff knowledge, using a Masterplan-like template 15 seconds into “Falling” to crush your ears with power glory. It’s obvious that the musicians love to flash around happy Helloween cultural reference points - the speedier “Voice of Change” giving vocalist John Cavaliere ample chance to reside in his higher falsetto Dickinson-meets-Kiske zone. The band also know when to fluctuate their tempos- becoming more morose and theatrical on the militant “Symphony of Death” which begins ballad-ish before the Maiden and Iced Earth stomp prepares you for the impending battle cry.Recording at their own studio in Melbourne as well as with Masterplan’s Roland Grapow at his studio in Slovakia, the sound has a clarity that emphasizes strong melodies, hero worthy soloing, and a rhythm section up to the energy exchange challenge. The title cut even throws down a tip of the influence cap to Blind Guardian, who the band toured with on their Australian tour last year.Black Majesty has their own niche brand and performs their songs with a majestic grace that bleeds professionalism. Transforming Iron Maiden and Helloween at their creative peaks for a modern, 2012 audience, Stargazer should have no trouble settling in to those audiences’ record collections. " - Blistering.com
    $15.00
  • "Have we reached the verdict regarding our future? Was George Orwell right? Has the big brother been watching over without us know, as if we were citizens in a global silent dictatorship? And what about the social networks, are those enough to be considered as the beginning of a certain end to our healthy minds? Too many questions and plenty of answers, maybe some would be left in the air for sure. Possibly the only thing left is tell about it, warn the commonwealth of probably future's dangers and hazards. Under the veil of melodic Metal, the Bavarian POWERWORLD created various perceptions of the future to come. Several views have been seen in movies over the years, others have been preserved for impending use, maybe to write songs about. POWERWORLD created the next revolutionary hysteria of the cyber world with their brand new album, "Cybersteria", via SPV / Steamhammer Records. Nothing too innovative musically, but this album, as the previous before it, is enough to encourage the listener to appreciate the band's profound talents for their version of Heavy Metal."Cybersteria", as the band's new album, served also a cornerstone for the change the engulfed the group. In 2011, after suffering from a continuous illness and bad health, the band's previous vocalist, Andrew McDermott, died. David Reece, known from his single work with ACCEPT and a constant member of BANGALORE CHOIR, stepped in as a replacement. Yet for the reason of musical differences, the ex-JADED HEART Bluesy voice of Michael Bormann, took charge of the vocal recordings. Furthermore, Guitarists, Andreas Rippelmeier (HEAVENWARD) substituting for Barish Kepic, and Keyboards players, Marco Grasshoff coming in for Nils Neumann, were replaced for the recording, possibly as new band members under the leadership of bassist, Ilker Ersin. In comparison to the previous "Human Parasite", this has been quite an uplifting experience, as this unified group generated a decisive, partly intricate and complex, concoction of Euro melodic, but heavy duty, Heavy Metal in range of ACCEPT or VICTORY, Bluesy furbished Hard Rock of whether 70s DEEP PURPLE and 80s WHITESNAKE, aside to a variety of Power Metal attributes of STRATOVARIUS and darkened features of EVERGREY. Not what I would call an explicit musical skirmish, but surly this particular one is a fresh air in a cool summer night."Cybersteria" enabled smooth catchiness just as the previous release, yet the dimmer veil that hovered above of the Blues created an atmosphere of something that might resemble sorrowfulness and emotional distress. One might also notice fear, especially within the theme of the lyrics, and Bormann's raspy tone of Jorn meets Coverdale tone of voice seemed to be the right choice to go along with. The album's rising star, "Coast Of Tears", is an aching, hooking, slow to mid tempo rumpus of emotional distress, a slight murky, powerful riffing and impressive vocals, reminded me a bit of EVERGREY but with a bleak PURPLE aloofness. "Back On Me" seemed endless at first, but ended up being highly articulate and melodic. Similar to "Human Parasite", POWERWORLD remained modernly produced in terms of sound, but for songs such as this one, nothing sounded as better. "Not Bound To The Evil" and "Like A Shadow" drenched in 80s Metal boundaries. Andreas Rippelmeier seemed quite capable of writing past oriented riffing. There have been several signatures of the 80s throughout the album, but these songs took me back to the hey days more than the others. The latter being a catchy speedster with an amazing main riff, a mere classic with an incredible lead guitar line, but with an even better was the vocal line. There you have it, dripping with the right volume of Blues, along with an expressional version of melodic Heavy and Power Metal, the pristine hysteria is delivered and here for your receiving and understanding. " - Metal Temple
    $15.00
  • This is kind of a shocking release to turn up on Napalm Records. It looks as though they are joining the ranks of Nuclear Blast and Century Media in picking up progressive metal bands...and that can't really be a bad thing. Serenity hails from Austria. They've been kicking around for awhile but this is their debut release. The music is a mix of melodic and progressive metal with some power touches. Georg Neuhauser's vocals have a plaintive, emotional feel that suits the music quite well. They focus on melody but are smart enough to lure a prog head like me in with occassional instrumentals of the Dream Theater variety. Savatage, Vanden Plas, Threshold, DT - these guys have their bases covered. Solid debut. Highly recommended.
    $15.00
  • "Abnormal Thoughts Patterns is a new technical metal trio that comes onto the scene equipped with twenty-plus years of experience. Featuring Mike Guy on drums and twins Jasun and Troy Tipton on guitar and bass respectively, ATP is perhaps better known as the musical backbone of underrated prog metal purveyors Zero Hour. Apt comparisons between the Californian three-piece and acts such as Death and Animals as Leaders have been made, but when Abnormal Thought Patterns are at their most frenetic, they also share Blotted Science's aptitude for conjuring up aural insect swarms. Some of this stuff is guaranteed to make listeners' heads spin.Manipulation Through Anesthesia is ATP's debut full-length release, and it gets off to an excellent start, extending on the saga of the very first tracks they wrote, "Velocity and Acceleration" parts 1-4. These songs, numbered from 5 to 8, flow together as one connected work, clearly taking place in the same universe and containing shared motifs. It's 13 minutes of some of the finest instrumental metal out there. The album then takes a left turn in the form of "Calculating Patterns", a pleasant, jazzy cooldown. It is the first of several mellow tunes that demonstrate Abnormal Thought Patterns' diversity."Harmonic Oscillators", the album's most challenging cut in more ways than one, is also worth a mention. Here, the guys in Abnormal Thought Patterns lose themselves in mathemathics for the first and only time on the album. It's the type of song to make aspiring musicians seethe with envy and set their instrument of choice on fire, being a technical tour de force full of mindboggling time signatures and incredibly dexterous playing. It's also, again with the maths, the only 7+-minute song on an album where the average one clocks in at 4 minutes, and without changing the formular around much. For many, this all-out assault will no doubt be considered the highlight of the album. For others, it'll be a bit too much of a good thing.Speaking of the formular, ATP seems to have carved out a more than solid niche for itself already. Though the notes-per-minute count is oftentimes off the charts on Manipulation Under Anesthesia, the majority of its content manages to stay quite musical. The main event of their faster songs tend to be a heavy, hypnotic, repeated guitar riff, assisted by the always-very-audible bass humming surprisingly melodic tunes while the drums keep everything in place, usually prioritizing cymbal and snare patterns over flashy tom fills. On that note, the album is in no way lacking in heaviness or rhythmic depth despite foregoing the use of double kick drums. Quite an unusual feat in the shred-based instrumental metal environment.For anyone familiar with Zero Hour, it should come as no surprise that ATP succeeds in shredding with style. But there's a lot more to them than that. Abnormal Thought Patterns keep an excellent balance between all three instruments (which are occasionally joined by some light synth accompaniment), making sure there's always something worthwhile happening on several fronts, and they're able to impress even when venturing out of their comfort zone. Manipulation Through Anesthesia does lose a bit of steam towards the end, but is nonetheless an impressive album and a very promising debut." - Metal Revolution
    $15.00
  • Third album from this Greek melodic metal band. Like so many of the releases on LMP, these guys are pretty much indistinguishable from the next one. Nothing awful but nothing particularly wonderful either. OK move along...
    $13.00
  • "I've always been rather impressed Mastercastle, the Italian melodic metal band created by expert guitarist Pier Gonella and fronted by the powerful vocals of Giorgia Gueglio. They return with bassist Steve Vawamas and newcomer the respected drummer John Macaluso (Ark, Yngwie Malmsteen, and James LaBrie). The strength of the band has always been the ability to create great sounding melodic metal songs with a rock groove, besides merely showcasing Gonella's amazing fret work.That's what you get on their fourth album, On Fire. It's a worthy title: every song here will burn up your speakers with rocking melodic metal. That's not to say that Gonella doesn't get his turn. There's two instrumentals, The Final Battle and Almost A Fantasy, where he displays his significant guitar skills. And they're in the other songs as well.You'll note that the other songs have some metal or reference to metal in the title. Lyricist Gueglio intended to write a concept album around metal, metallurgy, and alchemy. But she discovered that the words turned more sentiment and emotion, "the passion of making music in a difficult world." Considering the strength and pure entertainment value of these songs, any band could use a bit more of her passion. The songs with that burning rock groove leap from speakers with huge melodies and vocal arrangements. Notable are Silver Eyes, Leaden Roads, Platinum, with Giorgia's most haunting vocals, and the hugely addictive Chains (watch and listen above). Leaning more to the heavy metal side of things are Titanium Wings and the speedy Quicksilver. It's all good: some of the best songs Mastercastle has ever written. On Fire is strongly recommended." - Danger Dog
    $13.00