Reviews by Simon Milburn

To most people, Canada means snow, ice hockey, maple leaves, mounties, Nickelback, Alanis Morrisette, and Bryan Adams. To metal heads, all bar the last three items in that list hold true. In addition to that, Canada also means Annihilator, Gorguts...

Merciless Death

Taken Beyond

By Simon Milburn | 09 June, 2016

I’m never really sure what to make of bands that share their name with a song from another, usually older, metal band. In some cases, things work out OK to varying degrees of success. Just for a minute think about the likes of Deep Purple, O...

Death

Scream Bloody Gore (Deluxe Reissue)

By Simon Milburn | 30 May, 2016

To be fair, Death is one of those bands who need no introduction. There’s nothing I can add that will elaborate on their diverse and highly regarded discography nor enhance the legacy left by mastermind Chuck Schuldiner. But, here I am, and ...

Devildriver

Trust No One

By Simon Milburn | 20 May, 2016

Hiatus. Ugh. That word… again!! Man, if that ain’t a word that’s thrown around by bands like a hot potato these days, I don’t know what is. A band comes along and releases a series of albums. Suddenly, a “hiatus&rdqu...

Apocalypse

Faithless

By Simon Milburn | 18 May, 2016

Well, it goes without saying that Divebomb would complete the mission with respect to Apocalypse reissues and they did just that. The Swiss group’s 1993 sophomore and final album, Faithless, has also been given the limited edition a...

October Tide

Winged Waltz

By Simon Milburn | 17 May, 2016

October Tide is, for many, probably a band that would go unnoticed. Formed by Katatonia alumi Fredrik Norrman and Jonas Renske in 1994, the band released their first two long players in Rain Without End (1997) and Grey Dawn (1999...

Apocalypse

Apocalypse (Deluxe Edition)

By Simon Milburn | 27 April, 2016

Taking a step back in time, compilation albums actually meant something. These days, in an era of ‘buy one track here, one track there, and rarely the whole album’, they really offer little value and even then they are nothing more tha...

Killswitch Engage

Incarnate

By Simon Milburn | 26 April, 2016

I’m sure many of you remember the “New Wave of American Heavy Metal” trend. There was a plethora of bands pushing that barrow including Lamb of God, Unearth, Shadows Fall and of course, Killswitch Engage. Now, it’s probably...

Karma to Burn

Mountain Czar

By Simon Milburn | 22 March, 2016

I’m old enough to remember when “stoner rock” was a new thing. I’m talking about being there when Kyuss released album after amazing album and being lucky enough to see them in concert support Metallica on their 1993 &ldquo...

Prong

X - No Absolutes

By Simon Milburn | 08 March, 2016

Whilst some acts such as Metallica feel the need to take their time when it comes to writing and releasing albums these days, others such as Revocation and Prong churn them out in almost rapid fire succession. The native New Yorkers, since 2012, h...

Anthrax

For All Kings

By Simon Milburn | 26 February, 2016

I must admit I’ve been sitting on this album for some time now. For All Kings, studio album number eleven for this long standing New York (U.S.A.) metal act, honestly didn’t sit well with me for the first little while. Of cour...

Megadeth

Dystopia

By Simon Milburn | 11 February, 2016

It’s funny that Megadeth are still one of those bands that I get excited about when I know there is a new release on the horizon. The rest of the big four as well as any of the other significant others of that ilk bring the same. You k...

Voivod

Post Society

By Simon Milburn | 10 February, 2016

It’s almost surreal to contemplate that Canada’s Voivod have been going at it - in various forms of course - for well over thirty years. They are one of the few acts not only with that kind of longevity but also who have really managed...

Lost Society

Braindead

By Simon Milburn | 09 February, 2016

When fellow TMF reviewer Simon Crawley covered Lost Society’s 2014 effort, Terror Hungry, I must admit I was a little late to the party. By the time I read his review and checked out the album enough for it to sink in, I was somewha...

Ektomorf

Aggressor

By Simon Milburn | 09 February, 2016

Ahhh Ektomorf, I know what you’re all about. If you’re not familiar with this Hungarian quartet, they are not just influenced by Roots-era Sepultura and early Soulfly, they live and breathe it. There’s more than a few ti...

Snail

Feral

By Simon Milburn | 19 October, 2015

For all of the underrated bands that have come and gone over the years - and no doubt that number is larger than many suspect - there’s always the odd stalwart that disappears from the scene for whatever reason before making a comeback. Some...

Harlott

Proliferation

By Simon Milburn | 15 October, 2015

For the uninitiated, a band with the name of Harlott suggests that they should be playing the classy clubs of the L.A. glam scene of the ‘80’s. You’d expect them to pop up as regulars at the Roxy and the Troubadour alongside Motl...

Five Finger Death Punch

Got Your Six

By Simon Milburn | 14 October, 2015

I kind of like to think that I get to listen to a lot of varied styles of metal doing what I do here. To a point, I think that’s true. As an example, I get to listen to thrash, death, black, sludge, stoner, grind, traditional, et cetera and ...

Slayer

Repentless

By Simon Milburn | 10 September, 2015

It pains me to say this about the last album that Jeff Hanneman wrote and recorded with Slayer, but how shitty was 2009’s World Painted Blood? Apart from the title track, I feel the same about the album now as I did when I reviewed ...

Ghost

Meliora

By Simon Milburn | 10 September, 2015

Album number three is rather important. Think about it. Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood, Among the Living. Those albums, and there are of course many more, set quite a high water mark when you think of it. Of course so...