Kaledon
Altor: The King’s Blacksmith
Scarlet Records
26 April 2013

by Daniel Cairns

There was once a time in my life where I thought power metal was absolutely worthless as a genre. I attended Bloodstock Open Air 2009 which was pretty power metal heavy, and the only fond memory I have of it is hearing some guy on speed in a stall selling shutter shades playing Stagger Lee by Nick Cave. It was the musical highlight of a festival largely full of fucking guff like Blind Guardian and Battlelore. I had a falafel wrap too, that was pretty nice.

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Altar Of Plagues
Teethed Glory And Injury
Candlelight Records
29 April 2013

by Rob McAuslan

“Impact” is a pleasingly kinetic word to actually say, one of the few that truly feels like the thing it’s trying to describe. The first syllable winds up to the plosive second, giving a real sense of the build and release involved in the whole process. It’s a word that Altar Of Plagues already undersand on multiple levels, with their two previous records landing them directly in the path of huge plaudits and reducing the attendees at their live appearances to stunned, rambling husks. Teethed Glory And Injury already promised to be a significant release for the first half of this year – and then people started to hear bits of it and that first syllable stretched itself to an impossible tension.

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The Catharsis
Romance
Speedowax / Enjoyment Records
22 April 2013

by Gavin Lloyd

Being a hardcore fan can have its fair share of hardships. Worrying that you might pull a muscle while hardcore dancing. The ever-growing pile of TDON and Purgatory Records t-shirts you have to wash and iron. Not to mention how exhausting listening to the likes of Brutality Will Prevail all the time is, and how hard enjoying a Cornetto on the beach is while listening to Bastions. If only there was something to listen to that was aggressive but didn’t leave you so emotionally drained…well, get ready to turn those tattooed frowns upside down kids, as The Catharsis are about to release their debut Romance, and it’s a whole lot of fun.

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Drowning Pool
Resilience
EMI
09 April 2013

by Tom Dare

It’s easy to be an elitist dickhead. You pre-order everything Profound Lore put out, pretend Nuclear War Now is your favourite label and never let anyone know that you secretly love that one song by SOiL everyone knows. But sometimes, much as you hate to admit it, something comes along that makes your narrow-minded viewpoint understandable. Right on cue: Drowning Pool.

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Earthtone9
IV
Self-released
8 April 2013

by Rob McAuslan

Ask a random selection of UK metal fans aged mid-20s and up which band they thought should have been massive at the turn of the century, and there’s a fair chance that Earthtone9 will be the answer you get. The Nottingham six-piece had a blend of accessible melody, progressive tendencies and sheet-metal fury that was rare at the time, and still proves hard to find now. Splitting in 2002, the band announced in 2010 that they’d be reforming to play a few shows…and then we even got a new EP a few months later…and now 11 years almost to the day since the release of their last EP, (finally!) a new Earthtone9 album has arrived.

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Flyleaf
New Horizons
Spinefarm Records
08 April 2013

by Tom Gibbons

On paper, Flyleaf are a massive success. The Texans have owned huge swathes of the American charts for years, and toured with some of your favorite bands. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why – their formula is a surefire winner. Imagine if Nickelback matador Chad Kroeger impregnated Avril Levigne multiple times, and Avril then gave birth to an angry Brady Bunch. It’s this formidable blueprint the has carried Flyleaf all the way to album number three – New Horizons.

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Volbeat
Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies
Spinefarm Records
08 April 2013

by David Keevill

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Terror
Live By The Code
Century Media
08 April 2013

by Rob McAuslan

The last decade or so has been punctuated by a stream of (more or less) reliably-decent Terror records, to the point where you could almost pick up a new one without bothering much about reading reviews. Is Live By The Code likely to be any different?

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Light Bearer
Silver Tongue
Halo of Flies
14 April 2013

by Ollie Connors

To say Light Bearer have lofty ambitions fortheir second full-length, Silver Tongue, would be an understatement of the most grievous proportions. Imagine a bookshelf; the bookends are resplendent; 24-carat gold, glittering diamonds, ornate curlicues, all that jazz. However sparkling these bookends are though, the only things between them are Frankie Boyle’s autobiography, a copy of Catcher In The Rye, and A Guide to Repairing Your 1984 Ford Escort.

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Nails
Abandon All Life
Southern Lord
01 April 2013

by Raziq Rauf

This album leaked a long time ago. It was the middle of February – six weeks before it was meant to be released to the public. The clamour to hear Abandon All Life was so tangible because this is one of the most anticipated releases in their corner of the metal world. Ever. Since they released Unsilent Death in 2010, the likes of Trap Them and All Pigs Must Die have come along and astounded listeners a couple of years ago with their Entombed-encrusted hardcore and Black Breath did it before and after that, turning into leaders of the field, but Nails are the ones that always embodied the purest feeling of futility that permeates the genre.

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