Metal/Hardcore Review | Lollipop Magazine

Turisas – Turisas2013 – Review

September 6, 2013

Their faces smeared with their trademark red and black face paint, the Finnish folk metal warriors of Turisas ride into battle again.

Devildriver – Winter Kills – Review

September 5, 2013

Devildriver’s best, 2007’s The Last Kind Words, wasn’t that different from great Devildriver records before and after it, but it trimmed all the fat.

Norma Jean – Wrongdoers – Review

August 30, 2013

This was always going to be a comedown album. After their career-defining moment, 2010’s Meridional, the smart money was that the follow-up would be pared-down.

James LaBrie – Impermanent Resonance – Review

August 23, 2013

Prog metal superstar vocalist James LaBrie – who’s going on 22+ years with Dream Theater – is back with his third solo album, Impermanent Resonance.

Revocation – Review

August 20, 2013

Unlike most “tech metal” bands, Boston’s Revocation actually have some great hooks and songs that stick with you.

Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn – Review

August 16, 2013

Distant, echoey vocal roar (punctuated by Gandalfian spoken bits), but there’re no real vocal dynamics like the latest Finntroll and Korpiklaani releases.

Battlecross – War of Will – Review

August 16, 2013

Thrash metal, pure and simple. Battlecross wastes no time ripping your face off with polka beats and riffs in thirds (Slayer, Dark Angel, everyone since).

Amon Amarth – Deceiver of the Gods – Review

August 15, 2013

Amon Amarth are the AC/DC of Viking death metal. They found and perfected a style, and they rarely deviate from it.

The Black Dahlia Murder – Everblack – Review

August 14, 2013

A chunky, reliable slab of Michigan death metal with a dark edge.

Children of Bodom – Halo of Blood – Review

August 13, 2013

I liked the glammified sounds used to spice up 2005’s Are You Dead Yet?, but most fans felt the opposite, so the next two COB albums dialed up the brutality.

Dark Tranquillity – Construct – Review

August 9, 2013

The classiest melodic death metal band: So crisp and perfectly arranged – with a hint of artful restraint. I imagine them headbanging in tuxes with tails.

Shade Empire – Omega Arcane – Review

August 8, 2013

Your pulse will race with blackened beats, your mighty death roar jones fixed, then fueled, and your secret lust for orchestrated, dark keyboards satiated.

Arsis – Unwelcome – Review

August 7, 2013

A killer slice of late-period Carcass worship with the playfulness and experimentation necessary to stand out from the pack in the tech metal swamp.

Killswitch Engage – Disarm The Descent – Review

August 6, 2013

Mass metalcore heavyweights return with silly-amazing guitarwork supporting hardcore roar and clean singing. Original singer Jesse Leach returns.

Beyond the Shore – Ghostwatcher – Review

August 1, 2013

As seems to be a theme with most modern-day deathcore/metalcore bands, it’s the kitchen-sink approach that Beyond the Shore favors.

Amon Amarth – Deceiver of the Gods – Review

July 26, 2013

Amon Amarth churn out solid album after solid album because they can replicate their style and excellent writing every time without sounding stale or tired.

Hypocrisy – End of Disclosure – Review

July 26, 2013

Never content to simply rely on heaviness to carry their death metal sound, the pros in Hypocrisy have always known it’s about the song above all.

Shai Hulud – Reach Beyond the Sun – Review

July 25, 2013

Shai Hulud (named after the sandworms in Dune) have been cranking out their awesome metal/hardcore hybrid for nearly 20 years, and they do their name proud.

Suffocation – Pinnacle Of Bedlam – Review

July 24, 2013

The title of their seventh full-length, Pinnacle of Bedlam, talks a good game, and without fail, they deliver on that swagger.

Nightfall – Cassiopeia – Review

July 23, 2013

Mediterranean metallers Nightfall continue to push their brand of accessible black metal. One would be hard pressed to consider them strict black metal nowadays.

Lightning Swords of Death – Baphometic Chaosium – Review

July 22, 2013

Baphometic Chaosium, the follow up to 2010’s The Extra Dimensional Wound, is just as harsh and unforgiving as we’d expect from Autrach and Roskva.

Starkill – Fires of Life – Review

July 4, 2013

Fresh outta high school, Chicago’s Starkill use fantasy artwork on the cover of their debut CD and title their songs things like “Sword, Spear, Blood, Fire.”

Nonexistence – Antarctica – Review

July 2, 2013

Seeing as Antarctica is a vast, harsh, desolate, ice cold expanse of misery, it’s amazing that it’s taken this long for it to get its due from the metal world.

Children of Bodom – Halo of Blood – Review

June 28, 2013

Hard-hitting, with a sense of melody and coarseness, this is the greatness we’ve come to expect from Children of Bodom.

Rotten Sound – Species At War – Review

June 26, 2013

First-rate grindcore from Finland. Raw meat slab designed to keep the wolves at bay between the band’s 2011 album Cursed and their next full-length.