Written by Alex Mrkonjic

TRACK LISTING

Trouble
Fake
Top Of The World
Sham Pain
Blue On Black (Kenny Wayne Shepherd cover)
Fire In The Hole
I Refuse
It Doesn’t Matter
When The Seasons Change
Stuck In My Ways
Rock Bottom
Gone Away (The Offspring cover)
Bloody
Will The Sun Ever Rise
Bad Seed
Save Your Breath

Release Date:  May 18, 2018
Label:  Prospect Park Records
Website:  www.fivefingerdeathpunch.com
www.facebook.com/fivefingerdeathpunch
www.twitter.com/FFDP

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH IS:
Ivan Moody - Vocals    Zoltan Bathory - Rhythm guitars
Jason Hook - Lead guitars & backing vocals
​Jeremy Spencer - Drums    Chris Kael - Bass & backing vocals

Written by Xavier Cattarinich

TRACK LISTING

CD1 (Act I)

01. Turn From Heaven
02. Where Will You Go?
03. Through Dust, Through Rain
04. Signs Are Here
05. Never Again
06. Bring Her Home
07. The Solid Black Beyond
08. The Crowning Of Splendour
09. Morning Has Broken
10. Garden Of Peace
11. Our Destiny
12. Anthem
13. The Palace Ball
14. Jewels From Afar
15. Hail Caesar!
16. What Is Wrong?
17. Nothing But My Name

CD2 (Act II)

01. The Arrival Of Apollonius
02. Pledging Loyalty
03. Night Reborn
04. Dagger Of God
05. Temple Of New Jerusalem
06. The Lions Roar
07. Bringing The Gospel
08. Laudate Dominum
09. Remaining Silent
10. Behold Antichrist
11. Cursed By The Fallen
12. Resurrection
13. To Where I Weep
14. Astral Sophia
15. Thy Will Be Done!

CD3 (Act III)

01. Shoot Them Down!
02. Beneath The Starry Skies
03. Forgive Me
04. The Wasteland Of My Heart
05. Burning The Palace
06. Prelude To War
07. Day Of Wrath
08. Rise To War
09. Time Has Come/Final Battle
10. My Voyage Carries On
11. Striking Darkness
12. Seeds Of Time
13. To Shine Forever
14. Theme Of Antichrist

​Release Date:  February 9, 2018
Label:  Nuclear Blast Records
Website:  www.therion.se
www.facebook.com/therion

THERION IS:
​
Christofer Johnsson - Guitars, keyboards, programming, Hammond organ, orchestral arrangement
Sami Karppinen - Drums
Nalle "Grizzly" Påhlsson - Bass guitar
Thomas Vikström - Lead vocals
Christian Vidal - Guitars
Lori Lewis - Vocals

Back in 2001, Therion released Secret Of The Runes, a groundbreaking masterpiece in symphonic metal that both revitalized my then-waning passion for heavy metal, and also became the gold standard against which I judge all symphonic rock albums to this day.  Fast forward sixteen years to 2018, and Therion have released their most ambitious undertaking to date: Beloved Antichrist.

Beloved Antichrist is a 46-track rock opera inspired by nineteenth century Russian philosopher Vladímir Soloviev’s prophetic, if xenophobic, Short Tale Of The Anti-Christ (originally published in 1900), featuring a cast of thirty unique characters, fifteen soloists, and a run time exceeding three hours in length.  I must admit that I found it a tough album to review. Despite Secret Of The Runes being one of my all time favourite recordings, Beloved Antichrist is by far the most operatic of Therion’s studio works... and I have a complicated relationship with opera.  I grew up in a household with parents who listened to almost nothing but opera and classical music.  While I enjoyed most of the classical music, requiems, and cantatas to which they exposed me, I despised the majority of their beloved Italian operas.  I disliked the ear-piercing sopranos and what I perceived as a frequent inability by performers in all vocal ranges to achieve balance between technical proficiency and emotion (that’s just my broad opinion of the genre, of course, and fans of classical opera will disagree and would be justified in applying similar criticisms to heavy metal).  In hindsight, the ponderous works of Gluck and Wagner were (and remain) more to my taste than the uplifting oeuvres of the Italian masters—like Puccini and Verdi—that my folks preferred.

Written by Alex Stojanovic

TRACK LISTING

Diamond Baby
Mistreated (Deep Purple cover)
American High
I'm A Woman (Koko Taylor cover)
Miss Mercy
The Best Thing
Black Cat (Janet Jackson cover)
Hard Road (Stevie Wright cover)
In The Bedroom
Cut Way Back
You're No Good (Dee Dee Warwick cover)
My Babe (Little Walter cover)

Release Date:  April 27, 2018    Label:  Metalville Records
Website:  www.leeaaron.com
www.facebook.com/LeeAaronMusic

Written by Amina Abdelwahab

Being a metalcore and Bullet For My Valentine-esque connoisseur, I pinpointed What Lies Beyond’s sound instantly. Their band name told the story of their music, and their music mirrored their name – as did their new single, “Marilyn Rose Pt. 2”.  The song tells the story of the all-too-familiar end of a relationship, where time becomes irrelevant and love turns to hate at the slightest mishap (and of course with it comes pain, sadness and anger – a metal musician’s expressive bread and butter).  Pair that pain with an angsty riff, gruff vocals and saddened lyrics, and you’ve got a snapshot of What Lies Beyond’s newest track. 

While I was impressed by the Croatian-made band’s musicality and rhythm/lead guitar layering, I sought for more from vocalist Ivan Šipić.  His range came across as limited, which led to a nearly unidentifiable difference in melody from the verses and the choruses.  The mark of the metalcore, emo-infused genre is the catchiness of their songs (the sing-along nature of that genre makes for the release of the depicted emotion by the listener).  While I was urged to head-bang and itched to mosh, I did not get the urge to sing along – thus, What Lies Beyond may have missed the mark on the remember-ability of the song.  However, if you’re an ‘anything-core’ fan, you should give this band (and song) a listen.

Final Rating:  7/10

WHAT LIES BEYOND IS:
​
Ivan Šipić - Vocals
Filip Samardžić - Lead guitars & backing vocals
Ante Katinac - Rhythm guitars & backing vocals
Ante Topić - Bass & backing vocals
Marin Jakić - Drums