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Jan 2, 2025 | 
sonicperspectives.com | Jonathan Smith
The unheard are the loudest. Though seemingly a bygone era, the days when marrying the extreme aggression and fervor of death metal with the melodic contours of 80s traditional metal was considered a novelty remain fresh in the minds of many.
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Dec 27, 2024 | 
sonicperspectives.com | Jonathan Smith
Arise, mighty skeleton hunters of the night!If the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal could be boiled down to a single mission statement, it would assumedly be to recapture the same lightning in a bottle that had occurred back in the 80s.
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Dec 14, 2024 | 
sonicperspectives.com | Jonathan Smith
Wrangling steeds of chrome and steel. Sometimes it takes the changing of a name and a brand new flock of musicians for a vision to come to full fruition, and that is the basic story behind the short-lived underground Polish heavy metal band Savager and the successor outfit led by vocalist Bartek Koniuszewski in Bladestorm that has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of the former.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
sonicperspectives.com | Jonathan Smith
The whip strikes outside the queen's realmSeattle's premier progressive heavy metal forefathers Queensrÿche have been on a colossal upsurge since the shakeup of their lineup and subsequent release of their 2013 eponymous studio album, rekindling the old flame that originally put them on the map in the 80s.
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Nov 15, 2024 | 
sonicperspectives.com | Jonathan Smith
Transparently dark and forbiddingSince the mid-1980s Chicago, Illinois has proven something of a dark horse entry within the greater North American death metal scene. Though arguably less prolific than the ones that sprang out of Tampa, Florida, and the New York area, it has proven a formidable and enduring player, spearheaded by the seminal works of Master, Death Strike, and a couple of other noteworthy projects tied to bassist/vocalist Paul Speckmann.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
sonicperspectives.com | Scott H. Medina |Jonathan Smith
The road to being an established solo artist continues. Although Randy McStine has been a member of several bands (e.g. , Minneman & McStine, In Continuum) and came to more recent widespread attention by being a member of Porcupine Tree's touring band, finding his way under his own name seems to be a priority.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
sonicperspectives.com | Scott H. Medina |Jonathan Smith |John Kokel
If you're looking for Autumnal prog-rock to fit the mood of the season, there's no better place to look than Sweden. Happily, 's unexpected reunion album has all that your heart needs. After disbanding in 2016, it didn't take too long after a global pandemic for the quartet to find their way back to one another. Rikard Sjöblom, David Zackrisson, Magnus Östgren, and Robert Hanse n seemingly continue right where they left off.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
sonicperspectives.com | Jonathan Smith |Scott H. Medina |John Kokel
Step into a new garden of sound. Some musical couplings seem destined even when they come with an age gap measured in decades, and the recently minted project dubbed Casandra's Crossing is arguably the most auspicious to come into being in years.
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Oct 17, 2024 | 
sonicperspectives.com | John Kokel |Scott H. Medina |Jonathan Smith
In the decidedly Eurocentric sphere of Symphonic Metal, there are always stars rising and stars falling, and yet there seem to be a handful who are such permanent fixtures, they could be the Belt of Orion. Primarily, the ones we tend to think of are Nightwish, Epica, and to some extent Kamelot, but the honorable mention spot should now be reserved for Switzerland's newcomer Ad Infinitum.
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Oct 7, 2024 | 
sonicperspectives.com | Scott H. Medina |Jonathan Smith
The term American Prog might seem somewhat of an oxymoron given the overarching status of international progressive rock legends. Still, amidst some of the bigger names like , , and Spock's Beard, plenty of American musicians have been inspired by the genre and end up writing their own intricate prog creations, often with impressive results. Bill Bressler came to our attention several years ago with his clever debut "Normal Boy", putting South Orange, New Jersey, on the map as a prog enclave.
