1993 release captures the heavy metal masters live in action. The Heaven's Gate line-up features guitar virtuoso / producer extraordinaire Sascha Paeth. Heaven's Gate were a German power metal band formed in 1987 from the ashes of an earlier group named Steeltower, where vocalist Thomas Rettke and drummer Thorsten Mueller achieved little recognition despite putting in almost five years of work and releasing an album in 1984. They would be far more fortunate with Heaven's Gate (also featuring guitarists Bonny Bilski, Sascha Paeth, and bassist Manni Jordan), which capitalized on the late-'80s and early-'90s power metal craze with solid efforts like In Control (1989), Open the Gate and Watch (EP, 1990), Livin' in Hysteria (1991), More Hysteria (EP, 1992), and Hell for Sale (1992).

Rob Zombie The longtime frontman for '90s industrial superstars White Zombie, New England-bred multi-hyphenate Rob Zombie went on to forge a highly successful solo career and later branched off into the world of film. A lover of B-movie camp, horror nostalgia, and psychedelic imagery, his enduring 1998 debut Hellbilly Deluxe set him apart from contemporaries by balancing brutal metal power with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and sexiness that never took itself too seriously. Over the decades, he remained a fixture in the U.S. Top Ten, scoring additional hits with 2001's The Sinister Urge and 2006's Educated Horses.

An Aussie metalcore group with highly confessional lyrics and a melody-driven emo-tinged sound, the Amity Affliction emerged in 2008 with Severed Ties. They hit their stride in 2012 with the release of their third full-length effort, Chasing Ghosts, which like subsequent outings This Could Be Heartbreak (2016), Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them (2020), and Not Without My Ghosts (2023), soared to the top of the Australian charts, and found international success as well.

Helloween followed up their very popular self-titled mini-LP with 1986's even more accomplished Walls of Jericho, a disc that saw the quartet from Hamburg, Germany, outperforming expectations and quickly defining their sonic identity. The instrumental title track soon gives way to amazingly mature and complex compositions like "Ride the Sky," "Phantoms of Death," and the awesome "How Many Tears" (even more ambitious 13-minute epics would soon follow). And although these were heavily reliant on Iron Maiden for inspiration, it was Helloween's speed metal innovations that clearly helped make the songs so special and influential for future bands. Even the album's lyrically challenged, somewhat one-dimensional moments ("Warrior," "Metal Invaders") usually succeed, thanks to the group's uncontainable energy. On the downside, the album continued to expose Kai Hansen's limitations as a singer, but the band would soon remedy this disadvantage by bringing on teenage phenom Michael Kiske as lead vocalist.[The CD reissue of Walls of Jericho offers a complete recap of Helloween's first incarnation by combining it with their eponymous mini-LP and the Judas EP in chronological order.]

With Destroy Erase Improve, Meshuggah shattered any preconceived notions about what death, thrash, and prog metal could be with one astoundingly accurate, calculated blow. The Swedish outfit managed to surpass their startlingly original, if relatively immature debut, Contradictions Collapse, with a record so pure in concept and execution, it borders on genius. Lyrical themes visualize the integration of machines with organisms as humanity's next logical evolutionary step, while the music backing it up is mind-bogglingly technical, polyrhythmic math metal - the work of highly skilled men with powerful instruments. While the idea looks unwieldy on paper, Meshuggah handles it with a balance of raw guts and sheer brainpower, weaving hardcore-style shouts amongst deceptively (and deviously) simple staccato guitar riffs and insanely precise drumming - often with all three components acting in different time signatures…

Malmsteen's playing on the follow-up to the epochal Rising Force is slightly more raw and aggressive, but the most notable difference is the addition of lyrics on many of the songs. By his own admission, Malmsteen isn't much of a lyricist, and his frequent use of occult and pagan imagery (demons, Vikings, and so on) isn't as effective at producing a dark, gothic mood as his compositions and guitar playing are. Still, those aspects of the album are vital and stimulating, making Marching Out a worthwhile listen.

Metallica live at Estadio GNP Seguros, Mexico City, MX, 20 September, 2024.

The 14th studio album from venerable German power metal outfit Helloween kicks off with the blistering "Nabatea," a typically ambitious, seven-minute epic concerning a kingdom of nomadic, Mediterranean, peace-loving folks swallowed up by the Roman Empire in AD 106. From there, truncated history lessons are put on the back burner in favor of a more traditional, Keeper of the Seven Keys-era Helloween approach, offering up immaculate blasts of impossibly tuneful, power/neo-classical metal with humor ("Asshole"), apocalyptic glee ("World of War"), and an unapologetic love for all things Iron Maiden ("Far from the Stars"). Brighter, broader, and a good deal lighter in tone than 2010's ominous 7 Sinners, Straight Out of Hell (definitely not Compton) finds Helloween resting on its laurels a bit, but should nonetheless please longtime fans with its huge, soaring choruses and reliably strong musicianship.

'Better Than Raw' is the eighth studio album by German power metal band Helloween. The album spawned the singles 'I Can' and 'Hey Lord!'. Now as part of the 40th anniversary of the band, this classic including four bonus tracks has now been remastered and the original artwork restored.

New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Demon were known for their shocking and elaborate performances (quite unique, considering the no-fuss, stripped-down philosophy characteristic of the movement), but never sounded as extreme as their name might suggest. Instead, they forged a mainstream hard rock/metal style, which, though it didn't stand out from the pack, has managed to keep them in business for several decades. Singer Dave Hill and guitarist Mal Spooner had already cut their teeth with various amateur acts in their native Staffordshire, England, by the time they decided to join forces and found Demon midway through 1980.

You know what lays ahead whenever you embark on listening to a new Kreator studio album, and 2009's Hordes of Chaos is certainly no different. And that isn't meant as a knock on the band - heck, Kreator should be commended for sticking to their guns and continuing on in the same "thrash-happy" style since pretty much their inception (without bowing down to musical trends). So, that said, you can make up your own "Kreator checklist": growled vocals and intense riffing (the album-opening title track), lightning-fast tempos ("Warcurse"), tasty dual-guitar work ("Destroy What Destroys You") - it's all represented here, folks. It's been nearly four long years since Mille Petrozza and friends issued an all-new studio album, and Hordes of Chaos should most definitely meet the needs of Kreator diehards worldwide.

German guitarist Axel Rudi Pell is one of heavy metal's masterminds, thanks to his spiraling playing techniques, which helped Pell remain a mainstay in the hard rock genre for decades. His first band, Steeler, kicked off a career in Europe during the early part of the '80s, issuing three albums (1984's Steeler, 1985's Rulin' the Earth, 1986's Strike Back) prior to 1987's Undercover Animal, which signaled the beginning of Pell's solo career. This professional jaunt allowed Pell to fully expose his riveting playing power and collaborations between he and other musicians.

Geezer Butler was incredibly busy in 1997. When he wasn't reunited with Ozzy Osbourne for a Black Sabbath tour, the longtime Sabbath bassist was fronting his own band, GZR – a thrash metal unit that doesn't hesitate to be brutally intense on Black Science. It's crystal clear that when Butler recorded this superb CD, the last thing on his mind was trying to emulate Sabbath. In fact, the band's sound is closer to Slayer than Sabbath, and the bonecrushing, ultra-heavy album is best described as thrash with elements of alternative rock and industrial noise.

"An album more than 10 years in the making." That's how former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach describes his new solo LP, Child Within The Man. The album features guest appearances from John 5 (Mötley Crüe, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson),Steve Stevens (Billy Idol) and Orianthi (Alice Cooper, Michael Jackson) - who all co-wrote their respective tracks with Bach - and two tracks co-written with Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy ("What Do I Got to Lose?" and "To Live Again"). Devin Bronson (guitars),Todd Kerns (bass) and Jeremy Colson (drums) round out the players on the album. Each of these musicians showcase serious chops that add a lot of virtuosic soloing to complement the catchy chorus hooks Bach is belting. This album is a success and we are happy to find a Sebastian Bach in great shape, surrounded by excellent musicians. A vigorous return that means you can pick up Child Within The Man without any apprehension and with immense pleasure.

On first listen, the sound on Obzen, Meshuggah's sixth full-length, is startling, not for its trademark rapid-fire key and tempo changes, or for the intricate, insanely knotty riffs that careened over 2002's Nothing or 2005's Catch Thirty-Three. Instead, it is the rampaging charge that leads off the set on "Combustion," a balls-out sprint that recalls the band's earlier catalog albums like Contradictions Collapse, Destroy Erase Improve, and even Chaosphere. Power, focus and attention to the bone-crushing power are at the center of Obzen. That said, it loses nothing in terms of the band's keen focus of musical or technical innovation or drummer Tomas Haake's songwriting. What it does leave behind is some of the mathy quick-change-for-the-sake-of-it annoyances that were more a show-off of athletic prowess than actual compositional tropes…