Δευτέρα 14 Σεπτεμβρίου 2026

REVIEW: LYRIEL – Paranoid Circus

 


LYRIEL – Paranoid Circus (2011)


AFM Records


Admittedly, female-fronted gothic metal has rarely been a genre that draws me in. Lyriel, however, proves to be the exception. What sets this German outfit apart from the crowded field is not simply the ethereal, ranging vocals of Jessica Thierjung — which recall a blend of Loreena McKennitt and Candice Night — but the way the band weaves genuine folk and Celtic instrumentation, courtesy of cello and violin, into their metal foundation, accented by symphonic flourishes. The result is dreamlike, almost narcotic, conjuring the sense of stepping into a fairy-tale world untouched by cynicism. Despite its title, "Paranoid Circus" plays out as something closer to thought-provoking and tranquil than unsettling.


For readers seeking a quicker reference point: picture a meeting point between Loreena McKennitt, Blackmore's Night, Nightwish and Falconer, and you'll have a fair idea of what awaits on this record.



Formed in 2003 in Gummersbach, Germany, Lyriel built their early reputation on the road, supporting acts such as Elis, Visions of Atlantis and Xandria — a connection reinforced by Thierjung's own guest appearance on Xandria's "India." "Paranoid Circus" is the band's third full-length, originally released in January 2010 through the UK-based Femme Metal Records before AFM Records picked it up for a 2011 reissue, complete with new artwork and two bonus tracks. The album carries a notable curiosity: German voice actor Simon Jäger — known for dubbing Heath Ledger and Matt Damon in German releases — appears as a guest, narrating an introduction and reading an excerpt from Hermann Hesse's short story "The Wolf." Critics at the time noted that while the record maintained the band's high musical standard, it favored atmosphere over the faster tempos of their earlier work — an observation that lines up with the dreamy, immersive quality that defines this listen.


Whatever prompted AFM Records to bring "Paranoid Circus" back into circulation, the reissue is a welcome one. This is a beautifully crafted record, and — traditional metal loyalist though I remain — I'd happily add it to my collection if the price is right. For devotees of this sound and of female-fronted metal in general, it is not one to overlook.


Nick Parastatidis


REVIEW: DIMMU BORGIR, Death Cult Armageddon

 


DIMMU BORGIR, Death Cult Armageddon (2003)


Nuclear Blast Records


Συμφωνική παγωμένη κόλαση


Το έκτο άλμπουμ των Νορβηγών Black Metalers, που από το 1998 εξελίσσονται σε Symphonic Black Metal συγκρότημα, ήρθε για να συμπληρώσει μια ακόμη μουσική τριλογία με τα Spiritual Black Dimensions (1999) και Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (2001), θεωρητικά τα πιο «εμπορικά» άλμπουμ τους.


Εδώ το νορβηγικό Black Metal συναντά και πάλι τη συμφωνική μουσική σε ποσοστό 70/30. Με την πάντα αποκρυφιστική πλευρά κυρίαρχη, τα «δρακουλιάρικα» πλήκτρα του Mustis, η χαρακτηριστική φωνή του Shagrath και οι κιθάρες των Silenoz και Galder μάς μεταφέρουν και πάλι στη σύγχρονη εποχή.


Ο μόνος μη Νορβηγός, ο ντράμερ Nicholas Barker (Cradle Of Filth), χαρίζει ρυθμούς που ακούγονται οικείοι, μαζί με τον μπασίστα ICS Vortex.


Στα δώδεκα κομμάτια του digipak, με το διαφορετικό εξώφυλλο — απ’ όσο ξέρω, υπάρχουν διαφορετικά εξώφυλλα για το συγκεκριμένο άλμπουμ — περιλαμβάνεται η διασκευή στο «Satan My Master» των Bathory. Ξεχωρίζουν τα «Allegiance», «Progenies of the Great Apocalypse», «Lepers Among Us», «For the World to Dictate Our Death», «Blood Hunger Doctrine», «Cataclysm Children», «Unorthodox Manifesto» και «Heavenly Perverse».


English:



Symphonic Frozen Hell


The sixth album by these Norwegian Black Metalers, who had been gradually evolving into a Symphonic Black Metal band since 1998, forms another musical trilogy alongside Spiritual Black Dimensions (1999) and Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (2001), theoretically their most “commercial” releases.


Once again, Norwegian Black Metal meets symphonic music here, roughly in a 70/30 balance. The occult side remains firmly in control, while Mustis’ “draconic” keyboards, Shagrath’s unmistakable vocals, and the guitars of Silenoz and Galder give the whole thing a distinctly modern edge.


The band’s only non-Norwegian member, drummer Nicholas Barker (Cradle Of Filth), provides a familiar-sounding rhythmic backbone alongside bassist ICS Vortex.


The twelve-track digipak edition, with its different cover — as far as I know, this album was released with several different covers — also includes a cover of Bathory’s “Satan My Master.” Among the highlights are “Allegiance,” “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse,” “Lepers Among Us,” “For the World to Dictate Our Death,” “Blood Hunger Doctrine,” “Cataclysm Children,” “Unorthodox Manifesto,” and “Heavenly Perverse.”


Τάκης "Ε-Μortal One" Γιώτης


Κυριακή 13 Σεπτεμβρίου 2026

REVIEW: SIX FEET UNDER, Commandment

 


SIX FEET UNDER, Commandment (2007)


Metal Blade Records


Εντολή βίαιου ενταφιασμού


Είναι, ρε παιδιά, κάτι μπάντες που πίστευαν από την αρχή σε αυτό που έκαναν. Ο Chris Barnes σαν άτομο και το project-συγκρότημα που ξεκίνησε τότε παράλληλα με τους Cannibal Corpse κι εξελίχθηκε στο σημαντικό αυτό Death Metal σχήμα με το πέρασμα του χρόνου, είναι ένα παράδειγμα τέτοιας περίπτωσης. Το έβδομο άλμπουμ τους σε πόσα, δεκαπέντε χρόνια; Αυτή η έντονη δραστηριότητα και παραγωγή σίγουρα δεν είναι τυχαίο γεγονός!


Ένα ακόμα τυπικά αιματοβαμμένο άλμπουμ, γεμάτο πτώματα, θάνατο, διαμελισμένα σώματα και λοιπές θεματικές από ταινίες τρόμου, είναι στο στερεοφωνικό. Τι άλλο θα ήταν δηλαδή; Χαρούμενα ζωάκια να βόσκουν χορτάρι σε ένα ηλιόλουστο δάσος; Ε, όχι βέβαια! Αισθητική μεταξύ Slayer κι Obituary, φωνή πιο βραχνή και μαζί πιο μπάσα κι από νεκραναστημένο ζόμπι που τραγουδάει άρια όπερας, κιθαριστικά ριφ σαν ξυράφια — όλα όσα περιμένει ο φίλος του παραδοσιακού, ανόθευτου Death Metal σχολής Florida δηλαδή.


Τίτλοι σαν τα Doomsday, Thou Shall Kill, Zombie Executioner, The Edge of the Hatchet, Bleed to Death, Resurrection of the Rotten, As the Blade Turns, In a Vacant Grave, Ghosts of the Undead, αν δε σας πείθουν για όλα τα παραπάνω, τι να πω; Ξαναπατήστε το play στο στερεοφωνικό, μπας και πάρετε μπροστά...


English:



Order of Violent Interment


There are, folks, some bands that believed in what they were doing right from the start. Chris Barnes as an artist, and the project-band that began back then alongside Cannibal Corpse and, over the years, evolved into this significant Death Metal act, is a prime example of exactly that. Their seventh album in what, fifteen years? That kind of sustained activity and output is certainly no accident!


Here's another typically blood-soaked release, packed with corpses, death, dismembered bodies, and the usual horror-movie fare, spinning on the stereo. What else would it be, really? Happy little animals grazing on grass in a sun-dappled forest? Not a chance! An aesthetic somewhere between Slayer and Obituary, vocals both hoarser and deeper than a resurrected zombie belting out an opera aria, guitar riffs sharp as razors — everything a fan of traditional, undiluted Florida-school Death Metal could ask for.


Titles like Doomsday, Thou Shall Kill, Zombie Executioner, The Edge of the Hatchet, Bleed to Death, Resurrection of the Rotten, As the Blade Turns, In a Vacant Grave, Ghosts of the Undead — if none of that convinces you of the above, what more can I say? Hit play on the stereo again, maybe it'll finally sink in...


Τάκης "Ε-Μortal One" Γιώτης


REVIEW: TOKYO BLADE — Thousand Men Strong

 


TOKYO BLADE — Thousand Men Strong (2011)


Fastball Music


Fifteen years after their last full-length effort, TOKYO BLADE return with a new studio album that reaffirms their standing as one of the founding acts of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The band first made its mark with two genuinely essential records, "Tokyo Blade" and "Night of the Blade", along with the EP "Midnight Rendez-vous" — releases that remain touchstones of the genre's early years. In the decades that followed, the band's sound drifted toward a more melodic, radio-friendly direction. "Thousand Men Strong" marks a deliberate return to those classic roots, delivering traditional heavy metal filtered through a thoroughly modern production.


That production carries real pedigree: it comes courtesy of the late Chris Tsangarides, the celebrated producer behind JUDAS PRIEST's landmark "Painkiller". Over a long career, Tsangarides also worked with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, THIN LIZZY, Y&T, FREE, BLACK SABBATH, Ian Gillan and ANVIL, among many others — a résumé that speaks for itself and lends this record an extra layer of credibility.



Musically, "Thousand Men Strong" delivers on that promise. Standout tracks include "Lunch-Case", "Forged in Hell's Fire" and "Condemned by Fire" [flagged: I read this as a likely typo for your original "Codemned to Fire" — let me know if you meant something else], each showcasing the band at their sharpest. The album also revisits the band's signature anthem "Night of the Blade" in a re-recorded form; while competently done, it's unlikely to displace the original in longtime fans' affections. New vocalist Nicolaj Ruhnow acquits himself well throughout, bringing solid presence to the material without overreaching.


In the end, "Thousand Men Strong" stands as a worthy comeback from a genuine NWOBHM pioneer. Fans of traditional heavy metal would do well to give it their attention.


Ioannis Kaskamanidis


Sternweh Releases Debut Album «Sehnflucht»

 


German atmospheric black metal and shoegaze project Sternweh has released its debut album, «Sehnflucht». The recording was tracked, mixed, and mastered in-house by the project's founder, Christian Witt.


Formed in Germany in 2025, Sternweh is an independent one-man project helmed by multi-instrumentalist Christian Witt, who is also known as a horror and fantasy author. The project receives occasional vocal contributions from Witt's wife, Yvonne.


Musically, «Sehnflucht» explores themes of cosmic longing, escapism, and emotional isolation, juxtaposing dense walls of guitar and anguished screamed vocals with fragile acoustic passages and clean singing. The album marks Sternweh's first full-length release since the project's formation.


Σάββατο 12 Σεπτεμβρίου 2026

REVIEW: QUEENSRŸCHE - Operation: Mindcrime

 


QUEENSRŸCHE - Operation: Mindcrime


EMI


A Masterpiece That Points Toward the Meaning of Life


In 1988, Queensrÿche released Operation: Mindcrime, a metal masterpiece with a progressive edge that remains one of the most cohesive concept albums in rock history. On the surface it is a noir thriller about Nikki, a disillusioned young man radicalized by the charismatic revolutionary Dr. X, trained as an assassin, and ultimately broken by betrayal, addiction, and the loss of the woman he loves. Listen closer, however, and the album reveals itself as a profound meditation on what it means to live a human life: the hunger for purpose, the seduction of ideology, the necessity of genuine connection, and the catastrophe that follows when we mistake possession or belonging for love.


At the heart of the story lies a devastating distinction that the psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm articulated with crystalline clarity in The Art of Loving. For Fromm, love is not merely one value among others—it is the meaning of life. True love, he insists, is an active practice of care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge directed toward the flourishing of another free being. It is the only adequate answer to the fundamental human problem of separateness. In contrast stands the far more common counterfeit: the passive, addictive fusion with an object, person, or idea that promises to fill the void of an empty self. True love expands the self; idolatrous “love” contracts it until nothing remains but the object of fixation.


Nikki’s trajectory is a textbook illustration of the second kind. First he is consumed by heroin, then by the revolutionary ideology of Dr. X and the shadowy organization—a literal Operation: Mindcrime. The language of the songs makes the substitution explicit: the needle becomes a lover, the cause a religion, and Sister Mary both savior and possession. In “Suite Sister Mary” we hear a man who no longer relates to the world; he is annexed by it. Ideology functions exactly as Fromm warned: it offers the illusion of meaning and belonging while demanding the surrender of critical thought and personal responsibility. The parallels to the totalitarian ideologies of the 20th century—particularly Nazism and Stalinism—are unmistakable. The result is total devastation: moral, psychological, and literal. When the ideology collapses and Mary is killed, Nikki is left with nothing but the echo of his own emptiness in a padded cell. “The revolution devours its own children,” as the saying goes. In “I Don’t Believe in Love,” his bitter rejection refers not to Fromm’s active, life-affirming love, but precisely to the possessive, idolatrous kind that has already destroyed him.



Yet the album does not leave us in despair. The tragedy is so complete precisely because it shows what is missing. True love—the kind Fromm describes as the very meaning of existence—appears only in glimpses and in its absence. Mary’s compassion for Nikki, her attempt to pull him back from the brink, carries the quiet weight of genuine care. Nikki’s final, shattered recognition of what he has destroyed hints at the possibility of awakening. Operation: Mindcrimetherefore teaches that the meaning of life is not found in the grand narrative we attach ourselves to, nor in the intensity of our identification with it, but in the challenging, ongoing practice of relating to other human beings as ends in themselves. Ideology promises transcendence and delivers annihilation; love promises nothing absolute and yet, as Fromm maintains, is what makes life worth living.


None of this philosophical depth would land with such force without the extraordinary compositional beauty and execution of the music itself. Geoff Tate’s voice is a dramatic instrument of rare range and control—capable of venomous sneer, fragile vulnerability, and operatic grandeur within a single phrase. The dual-guitar work of Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton is architectural rather than merely virtuosic: themes are introduced, inverted, layered, and resolved across the album with a stunning formal elegance. “Suite Sister Mary” stands as a miniopera of shifting moods and time signatures; “Eyes of a Stranger” closes the circle with a melodic and harmonic sophistication that still feels modern nearly four decades later. The rhythm section of Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Eddie Jackson (bass) provides both precision and human pulse, never allowing the complexity to become cold.


What elevates the record is the perfect marriage of form and content. The music does not merely soundtrack the story; it embodies the psychological states. The rigid, militaristic riffs of the indoctrination sequences give way to fluid, aching passages when real emotion breaks through. The production is spacious yet dense—almost cold in its clinical precision, creating a powerful contrast with the melodic and harmonic richness that allows every detail to serve the narrative. In an era of increasingly fragmented listening, Operation: Mindcrime remains a reminder that a work of art can still demand—and reward—complete attention.


Queensrÿche’s masterpiece endures because it refuses easy answers. It shows us how readily the human need for meaning can be hijacked by ideology, and how catastrophic that substitution becomes. At the same time, through the sheer beauty and integrity of its composition and performance, it affirms that the opposite path is possible: a life grounded not in fusion with an idea, but in the patient, courageous practice of true love—the very activity that, according to Erich Fromm, constitutes the meaning of life. In that tension—between the warning and the possibility—lies everything the album can teach us about what makes life worth living.


Ben Sollberger


REVIEW: U.D.O. — Leatherhead EP

 


U.D.O. — Leatherhead EP (2011)


AFM Records


There is an old saying, favoured by the English and Americans alike, that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Few artists prove that maxim quite as reliably — or as proudly — as Udo Dirkschneider. The diminutive German with the unmistakable rasp built his legend as the voice of Accept during what is widely regarded as that band's classic era, before striking out on his own in 1987 with U.D.O., the outfit that still bears his initials today. Nearly a quarter-century and more than a dozen albums later, he shows no interest whatsoever in retiring the formula that made him a metal institution — and the "Leatherhead" EP is proof.


Released through AFM Records as a four-track appetiser ahead of U.D.O.'s thirteenth studio album, "Rev-Raptor" (issued on 20 May 2011), the EP does exactly what a good teaser should: it tells longtime fans precisely what is coming, without giving away the whole meal. If mid-tempo, Accept-flavoured heavy metal with choruses built for shouting along is your idea of a good time, this EP delivers it in full.


The title track, "Leatherhead," is one of two songs here that also appear on "Rev-Raptor" itself, and its lineage is easy to hear — there are echoes of "Balls to the Wall" in its stomping, mid-paced gait. It is a perfectly solid opener, though not one that reinvents anything. Its official video, incidentally, was filmed in Nürnberg and later included as a bonus feature on the "Rev-Raptor" digipak edition.



Far more exciting is "Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers," the EP's second "Rev-Raptor" preview track, which carries a "Metal Heart"-style swagger and a chorus practically engineered for festival singalongs. This is, without question, the standout cut of the release — a song built for the stage, and my personal favourite of the four.


The remaining two tracks are archival treats rather than new material. "Free or Rebellion" and "Run" were both originally released on U.D.O.'s 2004 "Thundervision" DVD, and it's a welcome move to see them find a proper audio release here. "Free or Rebellion" is another rousing, sing-along anthem — the kind of song built to be played loud enough to test the patience of every neighbour on the street. "Run," meanwhile, is a power ballad of the sort U.D.O. has delivered throughout his career: pleasant enough, if not among the strongest examples of the style he's produced.


Rounding out the package are two video clips — one for "Leatherhead," the other for "Jingle Balls," a curious one-off U.D.O. recorded with Evil Disposition, a band assembled from staff at the EMP mail-order merchandise company.


Taken as a whole, "Leatherhead" is unlikely to go down as U.D.O.'s finest hour, but it was never meant to. As a stopgap between full-length albums, it is honest, unpretentious, and squarely aimed at the faithful — and on that measure, it succeeds. Fans of Dirkschneider's brand of unreconstructed heavy metal, this reviewer included, will find plenty here to enjoy while the countdown to "Rev-Raptor" continues.


Nick Parastatidis