There were a lot of heavy metal bands in the 1980s and there were a lot of pop bands too; there weren't many who combined the two styles as well as Def Leppard did. This is a statement that the simply titled The CD Collection, Vol. 1 proves over and over during the course of its playing time. Made up of the four albums the band released during the 1980s, a live show recorded in 1983 (which was issued as part of the deluxe edition of Pyromania), a disc of B-sides and rarities, and a mini-disc of the band's self-titled 1979 EP, the set is filled with razor-sharp riffs, hooky choruses, thudding backbeats, inferno-hot guitar soloing, keening vocal harmonies, and the inimitable yelp of singer Joe Elliott as it runs through their early career.

Fast 30 Jahre alt sind sie nun. Während die meisten Menschen in diesem Alter an Familiengründung, Karriere und Hausbau denken, machen OHRENFEINDT noch mal eben ein neues Album und begehen zeitgleich zum runden Bandjubiläum auch ein rundes Alben-Jubiläum:
Studioalbum Nr. 10 ist entstanden im Hertzwerk @ Chefrockstudios in Hamburg unter den bewährten Fittichen von Olman Viper, hört auf den freundlichen Namen "Wenn der Teufel anruft". Kaum eine Band in Deutschland ist über so viele Jahre mit einer so hohen Schlagzahl unterwegs gewesen. Dennoch haben die Drei von der Rockstelle noch lang nicht genug. OHRENFEINDT sind stolz auf ihre Falten und haben in 30 Jahren keinen einzigen Tag gefehlt. Mit der Rock'n'Roll-Patina eines alten V8-Ami-Schlittens ziehen sie unbeeindruckt ihre Bahn.

It is difficult to sum up in few words the history and influence in the history of rock music that an act like Nazareth has had. Having celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 2018 with the release of their 24th studio album, “Tattooed On My Brain”, the long-running UK hard rockers will enter their 54th year of existence in 2022 with the release of their 25th studio album, "Surviving The Law". The line-up for "Surviving The Law" is the same as the previous release, consisting of Jimmy Murrison (longest serving guitarist in the band’s history), Lee Agnew (drummer since Darrel Sweet’s death in 1999), Pete Agnew (founding member, on bass) and vocalist Carl Sentance.

Tool established themselves as one of America's most enduring and unpredictable acts with an ever-evolving brand of muscular but mind-altering sonics, a wry sense of humor, and a mystical aesthetic that attracted a cult-like following of devoted fans with just a handful of albums spread across decades. Their greatest breakthrough was to meld dark underground metal with the ambition of art rock, crafting multi-sectioned, layered songs as if they were classical composers. While embracing the artsy, they also paid musical homage to the relentlessly bleak visions of grindcore, death metal, and thrash. Even with their post-punk influences, they executed their music with the sound and feel of prog rock, alternating between long, detailed instrumental interludes and lyrical rants in their songs.

Italian dwarven power metal army Wind Rose returns to the forge with their new album, Trollslayer, out October 4, 2024 via Napalm Records! Exploding onto the scene with viral appearances on TikTok and amassing almost half a million followers on the platform, as well as almost a million monthly listeners, Wind Rose have solidified their reputation as a powerhouse in the modern power metal scene.
Everyone remembers Wind Rose’s breakout hit, “Diggy Diggy Hole“ from Wintersaga, which amassed over 50 million streams and views across platforms. Their subsequent album, Warfront, further cemented their popularity, debuting Top 10 on the US Current Hard Music Albums chart…

Ten years Serious Black, ten years of melodic Power Metal, with the license to create anthems: Since their founding in 2014 the band enthuses their fans not only with five studio albums by now but also at concerts and festival appearances around the globe. The decadal birthday Serious Black celebrates now, releasing their latest output: On September 27th, 2024, "Rise Of Akhenaton", their meanwhile 6th full length album, will be released via AFM Records.
Serious Black stylistically went back to their roots, but at the same time, due to the modern production by Lochert und Bob Katsionis, "Rise Of Akhenaton" sounds more diversified than ever. The interim focus on progressive directives has now changed to more catchy arrangements. Anno 2024, straight, classic Power Metal - the style the band once got to be known for - reigns again.

Metallica live at Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico City, MX, 29 September, 2024.

15th Anniversary Deluxe Limited Edition of Mastodon's fourth studio album, Crack the Skye, on 2CD. Disc 1 is the original album remastered while Disc 2, Crack the Skye: The Score, features instrumental versions of each track.
First off, a warning: the best way to encounter Mastodon's Crack the Skye for the first time is with headphones. Reported to be a mystical - if crunchy - concept record about Tsarist Russia, this is actually the most involved set of tracks, both in terms of music and production, the band has ever recorded. "Ambitious" is a word that regularly greets Mastodon - after all, they did an entire album based on Moby Dick - but until now, that adjective may have been an understatement. There is so much going on in these seven tracks that it's difficult to get it all in a listen or two (one of the reasons that close encounters of the headphone kind are recommended)…

Biopic The Dirt tells the story of Mötley Crüe's wild ride through their time as one of the most popular and most debaucherous bands of the metal years. During a blistering run that lasted the entirety of the '80s, the L.A. band sold millions of records, toured the world, and challenged death constantly with reckless behavior, substance abuse, and the kind of mayhem that sometimes seems like it only existed in the time when hair metal reigned. Some of these misadventures were collected in the 2001 book The Dirt, and the 2019 film adaptation of the book further dramatizes some of the group's already unbelievable antics, as well as getting into the music that made it all happen. The soundtrack to the film is made up entirely of music by Mötley Crüe, but in addition to 14 selections from their early catalog, they recorded four entirely new tracks in 2018 especially for inclusion in the film…

Legacy Magazine presents tribute to Motörhead. There are Sodom, Entombed, Destruction, Grave Digger, Onslaught and other bands.

Following the success of the blazing debut album ‘Emperor Rising‘, ‘Return Of The Heralds‘ delivers yet more fast melodic tunes living and prospering in the realm of traditional power-speed metal.
The new Krilloan record is once again a heartfelt homage to the “good ol’ times” of classic heavy metal and sword & sorcery entertainment that shaped them. Epic and fierce battle hymns about Conan the Barbarian, Elric of Melniboné, “Warhammer 40.000” and those never-ending days spent in a world beyond our own: this is the conceptual foundation of the Swedish band led by guitarist Klas Holmgren, with a clear focus on a well-crafted and always well-balanced song-writing as well.
One thing is for certain: you will never be bored listening to a Krilloan album!

1993 release captures the heavy metal masters live in action. The Heaven's Gate line-up features guitar virtuoso / producer extraordinaire Sascha Paeth. Heaven's Gate were a German power metal band formed in 1987 from the ashes of an earlier group named Steeltower, where vocalist Thomas Rettke and drummer Thorsten Mueller achieved little recognition despite putting in almost five years of work and releasing an album in 1984. They would be far more fortunate with Heaven's Gate (also featuring guitarists Bonny Bilski, Sascha Paeth, and bassist Manni Jordan), which capitalized on the late-'80s and early-'90s power metal craze with solid efforts like In Control (1989), Open the Gate and Watch (EP, 1990), Livin' in Hysteria (1991), More Hysteria (EP, 1992), and Hell for Sale (1992).

Rob Zombie The longtime frontman for '90s industrial superstars White Zombie, New England-bred multi-hyphenate Rob Zombie went on to forge a highly successful solo career and later branched off into the world of film. A lover of B-movie camp, horror nostalgia, and psychedelic imagery, his enduring 1998 debut Hellbilly Deluxe set him apart from contemporaries by balancing brutal metal power with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and sexiness that never took itself too seriously. Over the decades, he remained a fixture in the U.S. Top Ten, scoring additional hits with 2001's The Sinister Urge and 2006's Educated Horses.

An Aussie metalcore group with highly confessional lyrics and a melody-driven emo-tinged sound, the Amity Affliction emerged in 2008 with Severed Ties. They hit their stride in 2012 with the release of their third full-length effort, Chasing Ghosts, which like subsequent outings This Could Be Heartbreak (2016), Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them (2020), and Not Without My Ghosts (2023), soared to the top of the Australian charts, and found international success as well.

Helloween followed up their very popular self-titled mini-LP with 1986's even more accomplished Walls of Jericho, a disc that saw the quartet from Hamburg, Germany, outperforming expectations and quickly defining their sonic identity. The instrumental title track soon gives way to amazingly mature and complex compositions like "Ride the Sky," "Phantoms of Death," and the awesome "How Many Tears" (even more ambitious 13-minute epics would soon follow). And although these were heavily reliant on Iron Maiden for inspiration, it was Helloween's speed metal innovations that clearly helped make the songs so special and influential for future bands. Even the album's lyrically challenged, somewhat one-dimensional moments ("Warrior," "Metal Invaders") usually succeed, thanks to the group's uncontainable energy. On the downside, the album continued to expose Kai Hansen's limitations as a singer, but the band would soon remedy this disadvantage by bringing on teenage phenom Michael Kiske as lead vocalist.[The CD reissue of Walls of Jericho offers a complete recap of Helloween's first incarnation by combining it with their eponymous mini-LP and the Judas EP in chronological order.]