When it comes to many bands, there comes to a point where they run out of steam. With Korpiklaani, that is not the case. The first album they came out with was amazing with their iconic song; Wooden Pints. Ever since then, their albums only got better. With the release of Manala marks the 8th studio album. This album without a doubt is amazing….

Skálmöld is an Icelandic sextet that released it début last year via the Faeroese label Tutl, a label that unfortunately only distributes its releases over the Faeroe Islands and Iceland. The big Austrian label Napalm Records has now taken care of the band and has released Baldur worldwide. And that is nothing less than what Baldur deserves….

Directly from Croatia today we have Stribog, a very impressive Folk/Pagan Metal band. The band’s first full-length album “U Okovima Vjecnosti” showcases a perfect balance of aggressive Metal sections and ethereal Folk passages that not every band can pull off so gracefully. There is no shortage of epic songs in this album that have high replay value.

Folkearth is an extensive international collective; consequently they have an opulence of ideas. Every year they release one or two albums. ‘Sons Of The North’ is already the ninth album we receive to review. Unfortunately not all their albums are high quality stuff, but with this piece of work – released in April 2011 – they took a step forward in the right direction. Firstly it has a better production and secondly ‘Sons Of The North’ sounds much heavier….

This little gem fell from Odin’s mighty beard in the waning days of December and since that time of year is so hectic, this may have eluded the attention of many metal-minded folk. Steel Druhm simply cannot abide such a ruinous oversight. Why? Because the U.K.’s Forefather plays such a highly endearing mix of black, viking and folk metal with some power and NWOBHM tossed into the Anglo-Saxon stew….

What is impressive about “The Code Is Red…Long Live The Code” isn’t that it’s a ground breaking release, but that it’s a well executed punishing one and after umpteen releases, that’s really all that NAPALM DEATH needs to do.

Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. The word 'therion' comes from the Greek therion (θηρίον), meaning 'Beast,' i.e., that of the Christian Book of Revelation. However, the band's name is a homage to the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion. Beginning as a death metal band, they later turned to combining orchestral elements with their metal music, employing heavy use of choirs and classical musicians, not only as additions to but also as integral parts of the composition. Therion is the first metal band with fully live orchestra featured. It is also the band which originated, popularised and influenced the symphonic metal genre, cited as 'the most adventurous metal band at present'. Because of these extents they take in conducting their music, they have been dubbed as 'Opera Metal'.