Metal Blade Records – Page 45

Riot – Inishmore -Review

April 1, 1998

The ’80s are over and so are layered harmonies, classical guitar wanking, vocal warbling, and Whitesnake-sounding, lyrically-inane, hard rock posturing.

Hecate Enthroned – Upon Promeathean Shores – Review

April 1, 1998

Evil is eternal, screams of pain linger in the mind, and sweeping beauty and lurking death will never go out of style any more than they’ve ever been in style.

Skrew – Angel Seed XXIII – Review

March 1, 1998

Building from the ground up as a heavy band with a deep-rooted techno fetish, Skrew has remained true to their twisted roots.

Purged – Form of Release – Review

March 1, 1998

A young Aussie band of wanna-bes who borrow from Machine Head and a bunch of other heavy bands, yet somehow forget to take the interesting stuff.

Dark Funeral – The Secrets of the Black Arts – Review

March 1, 1998

In the hyperspeed drumming/blurred run-together riffs/screaming vocals semi-buried in the mix vein of non-keyboard black metal, Dark Funeral is dark and eerie.

Crisis – The Hollowing – Review

March 1, 1998

Vocally, Karyn Crisis shreds her innards, creating horrific imagery with tone, texture, timing, as well as with the words themselves.

Thought Industry – Black Umbrella – Review

September 1, 1997

You can fuck to it, drink to it, declare a point of grave creation, sit in exile under fist over lecture, or stare at a dark wall with a gun in your underwear.

Galactic Cowboys – The Horse That Bud Bought – Review

September 1, 1997

Somewhere in my intentionally-blurred memories of the late ’80s, I remember this kind of ploddingly melodic heavy metal/hard rock being popular.

Flotsam and Jetsam – High – Review

September 1, 1997

I can’t vouch for their return to form, nor the benefits to humanity if they did.

Fates Warning – A Pleasant Shade of Gray – Review

September 1, 1997

A Pleasant Shade of Gray is a crystallized dream, an atmospheric wonder filled with the tricky time changes only Fates or Rush could tackle successfully.