A little over a year ago, on a freezing night in Bavaria, I met a set of young lads, and we bonded over peppermint schnapps and power metal. Ever since, I have had the pleasure of watching their growth and evolution as musicians, culminating in their fantastic full length debut. It gives me great pride, diverging […]

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Lizzy Borden – Love you to Pieces 1985, Metal Blade Records There are days that you do your hair, put on your make-up, wear your most fabulous outfit and strut around like you own the earth, because damn, you just feel so good. Today was not one of those days. As I shook off what […]

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Psychotic Waltz – A Social Grace 1990, Rising Sun Productions Can it be that the sun has risen and set for over a fortnight into the new year? It seems that where others have been propelled forth into action with new purpose, I have already started sinking into old patterns – confusion, introspection, contemplation – […]

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Jason Tarpey of Eternal Champion kindly talks to us about hammers, hot steel, and good old American heavy metal… Hi Jason, 2016 has been a year of ups and downs. You and your mates in Eternal Champion have certainly given us one of the better highlights with The Armor of Ire. Thank you, it has […]

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Well, it’s finally over! 2016 – an interesting year of ups and downs , but I think we can all agree it was another fantastic year for traditional metal. Here is my own humble offering of my five favourite albums of the year. Wytch Hazel – Prelude, Bad Omen Records Bad Omen, I doff my […]

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Sacred Blade – Of the Sun + Moon 1986, Black Dragon Records Time has been galloping along at a remarkable pace. It seems like just yesterday that I was lamenting the last birthday of my 20s, and all of a sudden, bam – it’s big coat weather, and in a blur of bike rides, work […]

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Fates Warning – Awaken the Guardian 1986, Metal Blade Records So it happened more rapidly and with less pomp or excitement than I had imagined. Twenty-nine: despite the (not so) polite reminders of the soon to come big three-oh, I feel no older, and certainly no wiser. And somehow, as I begrudgingly accepted this, the […]

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