It is album number six for the Texan five piece. This band is probably my favourite band of the last decade and having written a review for every album since "Burn the Ships" this is the first review I have not begged them to come to the UK as they finally toured over here and twice in a year.
He may be one of the world’s best guitarists, but boy does he write some mind-numbing music. It’s no wonder that fans of the Swede are devoted, whilst the other camp would run a mile rather than listen to the virtuoso musician.
Sadly, I'd read, or heard, unintentionally, that this latest piece of work from Queens of the Stone Age sounded a bit like David Bowie. I wish I hadn't, because however hard you try not to listen to your own subconscious, once that thought's been planted, it's very difficult to unhear it.
The cowboys from the Deep South of the UK are back and they bring the fun, the heavy grass and some banging new tunes as well as a couple of live monsters.
Asia: a supergroup in every essence of the term. Mention them in the same breath as Yes, ELP, King Crimson and wonder what could a mere mortal like me say in a review?
Some bands spend their careers chasing reinvention, forever tinkering with the formula in search of a new audience or a fresh headline.
Two guitar legends, five decades of friendship and one album that’s been a long time coming. Sometimes the best things are worth waiting for, and `The Sea Of Emotion’, the first full studio album from guitar heavyweights Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, certainly falls into that category.
Motörhead were always a band whose truest home was the stage, and for much of their career their studio albums felt like snapshots of a live assault rather than carefully sculpted statements.
Virgin Radio started playing Nickelback’s ‘How You Remind Me’ back in the early 2000’s. I remember driving around with my works van, and Virgin Radio was the only radio station that just about scraped the surface of rock.
American Jetset return with a triumphant upbeat album that has an arena filling high octane sound.
Underrated metalcore powerhouses Butcher Babies released their sixth studio album, Nightbloom
At a recent event in London a fearsome battle of the bands was held in a league table of rock, The Beatles pitted against Metallica, AC/DC going toe to toe with Queen.
Some albums are born easy, and some are dragged into the world kicking and screaming, and Dusk… And Her Embrace belongs firmly in the second camp.
The world is being torn apart by billionaires, Tech Bros, AI and corrupt politicians. Barring the rise of the technology, it seems like nothing much has changed but there's always voices raised that stand against the tide and none more powerfully and consistently than Tom Morello.
There are albums that sell by the truckload and albums that quietly reroute a career, and Accident Of Birth belongs firmly in the second camp.
Thirteen albums in, and Amon Amarth still wake up every morning with Odin on the brain. That is not a complaint, or at least not entirely.