Mayhem, ou…The True Mayhem. Como decidirem chamar. Um dos nomes mais sonantes dentro do mundo do metal e uma banda cuja infame história e legado musical fazem com que toda a comunidade que partilha um gosto pelos sons mais extremos pare para contemplar cada novo lançamento daquela que é, seguramente, considerada a maior lenda do black metal norueguês. Não propriamente a banda com a carreira mais prolífica durante os seus 34 anos de existência, contando no seu passado apenas com cinco álbuns e dois EPs...

A notícia de mais uma colaboração de Mike Patton com outros músicos de renome já não nos chega de surpresa. Já começa a ser praticamente hábito virmos a saber a um ritmo quase anual de outra aventura na qual o vocalista dos Faith No More está de novo envolvido. Depois de várias experiências com Fântomas, Peeping Tom, Tomahawk e Dead Cross, o anúncio muito recente do regresso da sua primeira banda, os Mr. Bungle...

As duas músicas que os Tool revelaram ao vivo nos últimos anos, “Descending” e “Invincible”, deram-nos uma previsão do que viria a ser futuramente revelado, ainda que não fosse no seu todo. Não era possível ainda ter uma noção de como seriam lacrados a produção, os arranjos e os efeitos envolventes, o tom das guitarras de Adam Jones, da bateria de Danny Carey e também as nuances vocais de Maynard James Keenan, mas era já certo que duas músicas de 10 minutos num disco cujo alinhamento contaria com apenas 7 músicas, levantavam já a suspeita de que não iríamos ouvir uma sonoridade radicalmente diferente...

In these past eight years, Metallica did just about everything. You name it, they’ve done it! First band to play in Antarctica? Check! Making a movie and lose a shitload of money on it? Check! Promoting their own festival? Check! Making that thing with Lou Reed? Check! Get reunited with Dave Mustaine and Jason Newsted, even if for a few minutes? Check! Play with the Big 4? Check! First metal act to headline Glastonbury? Check! Loads of live albums? Check! Tour everywhere, including probably your own backyard? Check! Well…they really did everything, except of course…recording a new album.

After eight years of inactivity, Worship Music saw Anthrax’s dormant beast body reawaken back in 2011 as the band solidified their return with classic vocalist Joey Belladonna. However, if “Worship” meant that the legendary New Jersey thrash outfit was still alive, their newest and second record after Belladonna’s return has now a totally different mission: World domination.

The release of a new Maiden record is always sure to stop the music world on its tracks. After the band announced that this was to be their first studio double record in 40 years and ever since singer Bruce Dickinson’s recent health struggles came to public knowledge, expectations for this record immediately went through the roof. Meeting those expectations, as The Book of Souls starts, Maiden made sure every listener feels like they’re not opening just another book, but a new revised chapter on the bible of how to do a flawless heavy metal record.

Being Slayer’s first record since Jeff Hanneman’s death in 2013, Repentless raised the question of whether the band was able to maintain their identity after losing what many considered to be their main creative force. This concern is only natural given that Hanneman crafted the majority of the band’s most iconic songs, and although King was responsible for writing most of ‘94’s tech-masterpiece, Divine Intervention, his creative input for the band has never been as strong or engaging ever since the release of that record...

Steven Wilson is undoubtedly one of the most relevant key figures in our current music scene. He’s had the most important role in effectively bridging the gap between old and new progressive generations, keeping the old ‘70s adventurous spirit alive, but never losing sight of the future at same time. Every single one of his works is a resounding and pleasant reaffirmation of this fact and whenever he releases something, you stop and listen. Simple as that.

As expected, Swedish proggers Beardfish once again delivered a new stunning record in the form of “4626 - Comfortzone”, which took the concept of a safe and risk free existence as its main motto. Either by going through heavy motions in numbers like “King”, dwelling into more pastoral moods on the three part “The One Inside” or by creating immersive epics such as “If We Must Be Apart”...

Whenever these chaps release a new record, you know their quality standards won’t drop. Napalm Death just don’t allow themselves to get stuck in the same old formulas. “Apex Predator/Easy Meat” keeps that tradition and consistency intact by managing to sound more diverse than “Utilitarian”. You’ll be hearing everything since Punk infused rhythms, slow dissonant crushing riffs and, of course...

If you take notice, there are only a handful of newer bands out there playing Thrash Metal at its highest level nowadays. That list becomes even shorter if you look at those very few bands that not only stay true to the ‘80s roots of the genre, but at the same time try to give it a spin and expand that sound further into other territories in order to create their own identity. From these select few, UK’s Sylosis have been getting a much increased and deserved visibility in the past few years...

This must be the second time in AC/DC’s history that a release is overshadowed by potential career threatening situations. The first time was most notoriously in 1979, when after Bon Scott’s death the Young Brothers thought about calling it a day, but the band soon after recruited ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson, and as we all know by now, bounced back from an awful tragedy to release what was possibly their most successful album to this day. Fast-forward to 2014, and after years of apparent stability...

To anyone who’s been following his career, it’s evident that Max Cavalera is no longer interested in emulating his old Sepultura and Soulfly styles. Instead his music has either been getting increasingly experimental with Soulfly or even more aggressive with Cavalera Conspiracy. Pandemonium is a reflection of Max and Igor Cavalera’s continuous path into increasingly heavier sounds and it can be considered the heaviest record that each of the brothers made collectively...

Anytime Thomas Gabriel Fisher decides to return with a new record, it usually generates a whole lot of buzz, because apart from having set so many classic metal milestones through Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, he still manages to remain as highly influential as he’s ever been through his most recent musical endeavor, Triptykon. You certainly can’t say that from a lot of musicians, and Tom “Warrior” may have just created in their second record “Melena Chasmata” what in the future might be a considered another bona fide classic...

Well, that this was going to be a fusion between Max Cavalera, Troy Sanders, Greg Puciato and (Mars Drummer)’ different musical fields we already knew, but to reassure all the skepticals who thought this wasn’t going to work, “Killer Be Killed” just might be considered a successful venture. If one is to describe its mish-mash of styles, one could say that Cavalera's songwriting seems to be the most prevalent and this could easily be a Soulfy album, as the songwriting formula seems to rely most of times on the skeleton...

The offspring of thrash revival bands seems to grow like mushrooms. These are divided into great acts who manage to update the original formula’s sound and others who just keep emulating their heroes' riffs over and over, in hope they get at least a small loyal following from their efforts. Fortunately for Nervosa, they’ve managed to enter the first category with their debut “Victim of Yourself”, but that isn’t to say that they don’t need to work a little bit harder to carve an identity of their own.

The release of this record is one of those happenings that, alike so many other things in life, tends to be great when it takes you by surprise. After Rick Wright’s death, it’s safe to assume that nobody really expected for the Pink Floyd machine to rise again and deliver a new studio record. The Endless River isn’t your typical Floyd album, and anyone expecting another The Division Bell or A Momentary Lapse of Reason might not be in the right frame of mind to fully appreciate the experience...

We all know by now that Machine Head’s last record Unto the Locust was good, but it wasn’t superb. More than anything, it prompted the following question: would Machine Head return to the glory of a career defining moments such as The Blackening and Ashes, and would new bassist Jared Anderson provide a new creative spark that could keep pushing the band forward? The answer arrived in Bloodstone & Diamonds, a record where Machine Head dutifully delivered. Bloodstone & Diamonds is a really solid

A little more than a year after the release of their magnificent comeback album, Carcass are now ready to close this chapter of their career by releasing the few remaining tracks of the “Surgical Steel” recording sessions on their new “Surgical Remission/Surplus Steel” EP. By now, most fans might already know that these aren’t exactly new tracks or hidden gems that the band kept so close to them up to this point. “Surgical/Surplus” is just a compilation of four different tracks which were already released and evenly distributed between all special editions of “Surgical Steel”, in a not so distant past.

Rumour goes around that this so highly anticipated return of At The Gates was due to the recent success that their brit counterparts Carcass had with the release of their latest opus “Surgical Steel”. The band was somewhat adamant to dismiss such ideas; nevertheless, if that’s true, we only have to thank Carcass for having given At the Gates the push they needed to fully consummate their return with “At War With Reality”.