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Whichever tier of thrash metal you consigned Sacred Reich back in the 80's/90's they still had their moments. "Ignorance" & "Surf Nicaragura" did a great job of establishing the band, whereas "The American Way" just got a little too comfortable and accessible (the title track grates nowadays) for my ears. A couple more records better left forgotten about and then nothing for twenty three years. 2019 alone has now seen three releases from Phil Rind and co. A live EP, a split EP with Iron Reagan and now a full length. Notable addition to the ranks for the current throng of releases is former Machine Head sticksman, Dave McClean. Love or hate Machine Head, McClean is a more than capable drummer and his presence here is felt from the off with the opening and title track kicking things off with some real gusto. 'Divide & Conquer' and 'Salvation' muddle along nicely, never quite reaching any quality that would make my balls tingle but comfortable enough. The looming build to 'Manifest Reality' delivers a real punch when the song starts proper. Frenzied riffs and drums with shots of lead work to hold the interest. There's a problem already though (I know, I am such a fucking mood hoover). I don't like Phil's vocals. I never had if I am being honest. The aggression to them seems a little forced even when they are at their best on tracks like 'Manifest Reality'. When he tries to sing it just feels weak though ('Salvation') and tracks lose real punch. Give him a riffy number such as 'Killing Machine' and he is fine with the Reich engine (probably a poor choice of phrase) up in sixth gear. For every thrashy riff there's a fair share of rock edged, local bar act rhythm aplenty too. Let's not poo-poo proceedings though, because overall I actually enjoy "Awakening". It is stacked full of catchy riffs that are sticky on the old ears. Whilst not as raw as perhaps the - brilliant - artwork suggests with its black and white, tattoo flash sheet style design it is enjoyable enough. Yes, 'Death Valley' & 'Something to Believe' have no place here, saved only by Arnett and Radziwill's lead work but 'Revolution' is a fucking 80's thrash heyday throwback to the extent that if you turn the TV on during it you might catch a new episode of Cheers! 3/5

Holy Moses - Finished With The Dogs

Emperor - IX Equilibrium The last Emperor album i truly enjoyed before Ihsahn went all proggy and sophisticated on the last one. Although you already notice some of the influences on this album. There is some great song writing here but as with most Emperor albums it often borders on overkill with so much things going on in the mix. I enjoy the occasional Emperor album but they are also very tiring for the ears. Still very enjoyable album to listen to every once and while.

This is easily Black Sabbath's most overrated album, without a doubt, and it's one of the weaker albums that Ronnie James Dio appeared on. I used to think of this as a masterpiece and a 4.5/5 star album but after some relistens, it reeks of typical 80s' cheesiness and inconsistency. Now, I do think it's a good album, but not great, and just slightly above average. I mean, it is one of the better heavy metal albums to come out of the 1980s, but still not excellent. Side A is actually great and is the highlight of the album. The 4 songs are great, consistent, and awesome. "Neon Knights" kicks off the album with heavy and fast riffs and it's an energetic tune that I'm fond of. "Children of the Sea" is a psuedo-ballad that's typical of any album Dio appears on, and the lyrics are cheesy as shit but it's a great composition and pretty great. His vocals are great on that. "Lady Evil" is a memorable and catchy song with a legitimately groovy and thick riff, and although kind of cheesy it's pretty fun. Of course, the title track is the highlight of the album and one of the band's greatest songs. That song alone can make buying the album worth it. Iommi's heavy and smothering riff is iconic and great and overall, it's an amazing song that I've always loved. And Side B is lackluster in comparison. Now, a lot of the more commercially-driven metal albums that arose in the early 80s followed this pattern-they stack Side A, or the first half with CDs, with strong and remarkable songs and then they add a bunch of filler to Side B with maybe one or two songs with actual merit. It's not stacked like some other albums, where the first few songs and last song or two are very strong but the middle part of the album is unremarkable. The only song I enjoy off of this side is "Lonely Is the Word" and I don't love it. It's pretty good and overlooked in the band's mammoth discography but nothing too special. "Wishing Well", "Die Young" and "Walk Away" are lackluster filler with nothing remarkable about them. They're not memorable, they don't have interesting riffs or lyrical themes and they're just boring to sit through. Luckily it's only 13 minutes of those songs but still, the band missed the opportunity to create an interesting second side. Juxtaposing the title track with "Wishing Well" as you flip over the record is just offensive to that oh-so-amazing title track. So yes, overrated. I can definitely see why it's so acclaimed though. The first few songs kick off with great energy and make it seem fun, and once the audience starts to pay less attention to each individual track after "Heaven and Hell", they don't pay much attention and assume it's good. I mean, I've probably listened to this 15-20 times and used to love it and praise it as one of the band's greatest, but after paying attention it's pretty clear. Dio's vocals are great in this but vocals are never enough to carry a metal album. Iommi is a legendary guitarist but his guitar work isn't super impressive in this album, especially compared to his previous work. He lays down some good riffs, like on the title track, "Neon Knights" and "Lady Evil", but he doesn't really do many extraordinary solos or riffs outside those songs. This is one of the weaker albums Dio has been on. Dio's overlooked solo albums, outside of Holy Diver are more interesting and innovative than this, same with most of Rainbow's albums. I'll take Dream Evilor Long Live Rock 'n' Roll over this any day. Also, for Black Sabbath's albums, this is super inconsistent and only has one song that's actually a 5-star song-the title track, of course. I'm not super fond of Sabotage but hell, that had 2 or 3 masterpiece songs on it. So yeah, overrated, cheesy, lackluster, inconsistent. Mob Rules is better than this and it's very underappreciated. I would only listen to 4 songs off of this and that's it. 3 stars out of 5, rounded. On a 10 point scale, it would probably fall between 6 and 6.5. Note: this reviews come from my profile on RateYourMusic and was written February 28, 2018. Feel free to read my other reviews here.

Katatonia - 'Viva Emptiness' What a great album. Again, another release that didn't need to be remixed, remastered and swamped with additional keyboards. The 2003 version is great, barring the one or two tracks of filler.

I of course still prefer the original Sabbath recordings over the Brad Gillis stuff. But it´s commendable how close he sticks to Iommi´s sound on those live recordings. He could have easily made them his own, but instead he pays hommage to Iommi and didn´t change a note. I just there were more decent sound live recordings of the original Sabbath line up. "Past Lives" is the only live album so far that actually sounds listenable when it comes to the Ozzy era. As for Darkthrone i totally get what your saying. In the early days they were pioneers and they did some ground breaking stuff on those early releases. But nowadays they seem content on living off their well established name and just paying hommage to bands that have influenced them along the way. Nothing wrong with paying hommage but stuff like "Old Star" sounds more like some second tier Celcic Frost record. It´s more blatant copying then really being inspired by their sound. But i noticed this has been a problem with most of their albums which were written by Culto. He just strings some riffs together without any real coherency. Fenriz his approach to writing on the other hand is much more professional. But above all i guess they are just content with their status within the scene and let´s be honest... It´s not like they have anything left to prove at this point. I also bought the new Sarke album the other day with Culto on vocals. And i hate to say it but by this point i actually prefer the last two Sarke records over the last two Darkthrone records. Didn´t think i would ever feel that way.

I like them both. But Cronos will always be the voice of Venom to me.