Reviewed: April 2001 Released: 1986, PolyGram RecordsRating: 5.0/5 Reviewer: CrashTest Classic Review of the Month!! When I was a sophomore in high school I used to eat lunch a couple times a week with a friend who would go to the record store every Wednesday night and buy a new…
Zero Hour – The Towers of Avarice
Reviewed: April 2001Released: 2001, Sensory RecordsRating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: CrashTest I discovered this band when I ordered the classic Symphony X album “Divine Wings of Tragedy” for a friend. When DWOT came, a promo fell out advertising a new release from an “extreme progressive metal” band by the name of Zero…
Savatage – Poets And Madmen
Reviewed: April 2001 Released: 2001, Nuclear BlastRating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: CrashTest Savatage is back with a vengeance my friends, and so is Jon’s voice! Yet another great album built around yet another engaging story. That’s right, another concept album from one of the few bands that can pull it off consistently.…
Vintersorg – Cosmic Genesis
Reviewed: April 2001 Released: 2001, Napalm/Scarecrow RecordsRating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: El Cid Vintersorg got to be known last year after their excellent Odenmarkens Son album, an amazing blend of black metal, thrash and Scandinavian folk. Vintersorg welcomes 2001 with a new offering by the name of Cosmic Genesis which pretty much…
Merendine Atomiche – The Holy Metal
Reviewed: April 2001Released: 2001, IndependentRating: 4.0/5 Reviewer: Waspman Formed in 1998, Merendine Atomiche was once a Metallica tribute band but in 2000 the guys in the band thankfully decided to ditch that gig and move on to playing original material. Let this band be a lesson to anyone who thinks…
Cerberus – One Man`s Fate
Reviewed: April 2001Released: 2000, IndependentRating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Waspman Cerberus caught my attention initially because they are a Dutch black metal band. I don’t know that many Dutch metal bands in general, never mind black metal ones! The next thing I noticed was that the band is extremely young; not a…
The Demonics – Demons On Wheels
Reviewed: April 2001Released: 2000, Man`s RuinRating: 4.0/5 Reviewer: Waspman DISCLAIMER: This CD is NOT metal. So why am I reviewing it you ask? Well, for two reasons. One, ‘cause EvilG sent it to me, and two, because it fucking rocks! The Demonics are a pure full-on rock band, and they…
Soulpreacher – Sonic Witchcraft
Reviewed: April 2001Released: 2000, Man`s RuinRating: 3.0/5 Reviewer: Waspman Wow, now I’m depressed. Soulpreacher are about as doomy a band as there can possibly be, slower and more crushing than anything that Cathedral could dream up these days. Now relax all you Cathedral fans, I didn’t say that they were…
Mass – Mass
Reviewed: April 2001Released: 2000, Man`s RuinRating: 1.5/5 Reviewer: Waspman What a fucking mess. There’s just no better way to describe this CD than that. I don’t even know how to describe the style of music that Mass plays. I don’t know what Mass was shooting for here on this disc,…
Afflitus – Afflitus (EP)
Reviewed: April 2001Released: 2000, IndependentRating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Waspman American black metal! Well, more to the point, black metal from NYC. While black metal is no longer anything new to North American shores, Afflitus immediately separates themselves from the pack by comparing their music to Opeth. Surely a band that compares…
W.A.S.P. – Unholy Terror
Reviewed: April 2001 Released: 2001, Metal-IsRating: 4.0/5 Reviewer: EvilG UNHOLY TERROR is the album that was promised to us when the PR machine was in full swing for their last album HELLDORADO(1999). This is the album that sounds like W.A.S.P. This is the album that you can play after spinning…
Susperia – Predominance
Reviewed: April 2001 Released: 2001, Nuclear Blast Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: EvilG A new blackened thrash metal band has reared its evil head from Norway. Although the band is new, it’s members will be known to many who are familiar with this scene. The two more known members of the band…
Savatage – Poets And Madmen
Reviewed: April 2001 Released: 2001, SPV / StemhammerRating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: EvilG Without getting too “newsy” – most of you know that lead vocalist Zachary Stevens left Savatage before POETS AND MADMEN. Instead of finding a replacement, original vocalist Jon Oliva decided to do all the vocals on the album. Of…
Steel Prophet – Book of the Dead
Reviewed: April 2001 Released: 2001, Nuclear BlastRating: 3.7/5 Reviewer: EvilG America’s Steel Prophet are like a well-kept secret, one that is slowly being passed around. Despite the fact that the band was founded back in the 80’s by guitarist Steve Kachinsky, they are just being recognized in some circles. Some…
Wraithen – Cult of the 11th Dawn
Reviewed: April 2001 Released: 2001, IndependentRating: 3.9/5 Reviewer: Michael De Los Muertos If you’re one of those metalheads who believes that true, brutal, extreme metal is a vanishing species nowadays, you ought to check out Wraithen. This excellent, ass-kicking demo – which crept out of the sewers of my own…