WMS

Smiths: Meat is Murder [CD]

Monroe Michael: I live too fast to die young -22 [Digipack / CD]

Less than three years after their triumphant, chart-storming comeback record (#1 in Sweden, #3 in Germany) Eyes Of Oblivion, Sweden's most consistently great rock outfit is back with another banger of an album. Overdriver was recorded at Strawberry Studio & The Honk Palace and is the first HELLACOPTERS album entirely produced by Nicke Andersson. As you might expect from a HELLACOPTERS album it's filled to the brim with roaring guitars and earth-shattering grooves, fist-raising energy and anthemic choruses, while keeping the variety richer than ever before. The striking cover for Overdriver was created by German illustrator Max Löffler.

Svein and Torbjørn introduce the True Electric album project with What Else Is There? (ft. Fever Ray) [True Electric], a pulsating, intense new version of the classic Röyksopp track from their 2005 album, The Understanding. A high-energy visualiser edit for the single, directed by regular Röyksopp collaborator Stian Andersen, was recorded on location at the band's 2023<br/>True Electric show in Athens featuring the live show in full kinetic flow.<br/><br/>True Electric gathers together 19 studio versions of the music from Röyksopp's True Electric tour in 2023, featuring previously unreleased track The "R" as well as newly-reworked versions of originals and remixes taken from their acclaimed catalogue. These include the celebrated Robyn collaboration Do It Again featuring Robyn (from the 2014 Röyksopp & Robyn EP Do It Again )<br/>and Running To The Sea featuring Susanne Sundfør (from the 2014 Röyksopp album The Inevitable End) as well as several tracks from their critically acclaimed Profound Mysteries creative universe that resulted in three albums released across 2022.<br/><br/>Speaking on the album, Svein and Torbjørn explain:<br/><br/>"True Electric" consists of recordings and renditions, meant to capture the essence of our live shows bearing the same name. The idea was to put an emphasis on the clubbier aspects of our music, as well as returning to our roots within the realms of electronic music."

Machine Head - fierce, relevant and unstoppable!<br/>Very few bands make it to their 11th album. Even fewer do so with the same fire and fury that defined their early years. <br/>But Machine Head isn't just any band. For over three decades, the personification of determination, Founder/Vocalist/Guitarist Robb Flynn, has led Machine Head on an uncompromising path - one fueled by defiance, reinvention, and a relentless pursuit of evolution.<br/><br/>Now, with 'UNATØNED', they've once again sharpened their sound into its most direct and impactful form to date. Determined to challenge himself, Flynn set strict songwriting parameters for 'UNATØNED,' shorter, more focused songs with a decidedly American feel, unconventional key changes, and shifting structures that break expectations. That self-imposed restraint resulted in a lean, unrelenting album that captures Machine Head at their most potent. The album drips with melancholy melodies, and yet hammers with bludgeoning riffs, soars with anthemic sing-a-longs of love-lost and sadness, to bellowing power and undeniable confidence.<br/><br/>'UNATØNED' is Machine Head proving once again that longevity in metal isn't about comfort - it's about taking risks, standing firm in conviction, and refusing to stagnate. <br/>Eleven albums deep, they remain as fierce, relevant, and unstoppable as ever.

Sabaton: The art of war re-armed 2010 [CD]

Never ones to take the restrained path, on their sixth studio album Memorial, Soen face down the ills and ways of current society with a crisp, wounded venom that betrays their pain, anger and frustrations. Each guitar carries a greater serrated edge, each melody a richer heart, each lyric a soul and spleen venting definitive proclamation. At the same time, Soen's unique blend of progression, aggression, and beauty shows more maturity than ever before.<br/><br/>The dovetail of melodic greatness and face-crushingly heavy guitars and rhythms on Memorial is glorious. There's the proud power-stride of "Sincere" and the sheer power of "Unbreakable", Martin Lopez's drums driving deep, the symphonic beauty of "Hollowed" (featuring guest vocals by Elisa), and the rousing roar of "Icon", with the trademark vocals of Joel Ekelöf as emotionally evocative as ever.<br/><br/>Throughout, Oleksii "Zlatoyar" Kobel's bass supplies a thick river of support, while Lars Enok Åhlund and Cody Lee Ford supply consistently dynamic, brilliant twin guitar work.<br/>Finishing with the beautiful, tragic, Pink Floyd-doused ballad "Vitals", Memorial is the result of brave, emotional, and evocative artists finding their best stride yet amidst global chaos and madness. Soen have been building up to this moment for years; now they're here, Memorial deserves universal acclaim as a truly inspired modern hard rock classic.