Music Reviews

Metal and heavy music album reviews for those that wish to rock

Music Reviews

Metal and heavy music album reviews for those that wish to rock

HM Album Reviews

True Liberty

Give Me True Liberty or Give Me Death

Veteran Richmond, VA band True Liberty remain, for the most part, stalwart to the East Coast, early ’80s, oi hardcore punk on the mostly live fifth LP, Give Me...

HM Album Reviews

Rhema

Rhema

The hardcore scene has come a long way since its birth, not always for the better. One coupling that became popular was mixing ambient and hardcore/metal elements, and Rhema...

HM Album Reviews

Islander

Violence and Destruction

Islander’s Violence and Destruction reminds me of the first time I heard P.O.D.’s Fundamental Elements of Southtown or Deftones’ Around the Fur. It was “different,” like the moment when...

HM Album Reviews

Tedashii

Below Paradise

As mentioned in the interview in this month’s issue of HM, Tedashii’s newest album, Below Paradise, is a personal journal detailing the trials and thoughts he’s had in the...

HM Album Reviews

Miss May I

Rise of the Lion

The guts of Miss May I’s fourth studio effort, Rise of the Lion, is in its groove. Having built their house on a foundation of metalcore, vocalist Levi Benton...

HM Album Reviews

Liv

Be the Change

Whoever said “punk’s dead” has clearly not listened to Liv, a band so punk they refer to themselves as “South Bay Scums.” These California heavy-hitters recently released Be the...

HM Album Reviews

I, The Current

The Seeking

With a name like ‘I, The Current,’ I was expecting a full metalcore assault. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when you hear a lot of it, you just...

HM Album Reviews

Ethan Luck

Hard Seas

After his time with several different bands (drummer for Relient K, guitarist for Demon Hunter), photographer-turned-solo-artist Ethan Luck has provided us with his third EP of raw, rock tunes....

HM Album Reviews

Lion of Judah

Lion of Judah

Let’s get something straight early on – the Texas-based Lion of Judah knows what they’re about from an ideological standpoint. They are a Christian hardcore band, and it’s not...

HM Album Reviews

Various Artists

Passion: Take it All

I hate to reduce it to this, but for a long time I’ve felt that contemporary and modern praise and worship music just mirrors Coldplay. I don’t think it’s...

HM Album Reviews

Comrades

Safekeeper

In the current era of throwback-genre popularity, the emergence of grungy-’90s is welcome. At one point, though, it gave way to radio rock and, what would dominate the 2000s,...

HM Album Reviews

KB

100%

Florida hip-hop artist KB came on the scene in 2011 with his mixtape, Who is KB? Now, four years later, he’s back with his follow-up, the EP 100%. With...

HM Album Reviews

The Used

Imaginary Enemy

What do you do when someone asks you to review the newest album from The Used? You grab your Beats and get to work. And speaking of beets, depending...

HM Album Reviews

Memphis May Fire

Unconditional

Memphis May Fire has cultivated quite the following over the years, and they’ve improved in sound, production and lyrical content with each record. What’s most striking about their latest...

HM Album Reviews

The Overseer

Rest and Let Go

There’s something about wearing your influences on your sleeve. I was in a band once. I remember writing songs and saying things like, “We’ll have a Meshuggah riff here,...

HM Album Reviews

Apparitions

Part 2: The Inferno

Apparitions’ new EP, Part 2: The Inferno — a “put together” EP of B-sides and “other” songs — falls somewhere between metalcore and modern post-hardcore (think Saosin, not Hot...

HM Album Reviews

Saints and Poets

Walk on Water

Nebraska is home to two specific things: the invention of Kool-Aid, and the six-piece Christian/metalcore group Saints and Poets. While they describe themselves as “six young men from different...

HM Album Reviews

Demon Hunter

Extremist

Being a Christian on a stage, you will, at some point, face the same quandary: just because you have a louder voice, you become a figurehead, whether you like...

HM Album Reviews

Fit for a King

Descendants (Redux)

For the most part, reissues tend to be an excuse for a label to put out the same album twice, a ploy to get fans to buy a record...

HM Album Reviews

Jesus Culture

Reconstructed, Vol. 1

Jesus Culture, the Bethel Church worship group based out of Redding, California, has been around for almost as long as Hillsong, and they’ve made nearly the same impact around...

HM Album Reviews

A Sight to See

The Arrival

These days, most metalcore bands seem to have an “–er” complex. The drums have to be faster, the guitars chuggier, the vocals crazier. A Sight to See has taken...

HM Album Reviews

Sumerlin

Runaways

Christian radio rock has been dominated by Red, Switchfoot, Thousand Foot Krutch and Pillar for years, but there is always room at the top for new acts, and Sumerlin...

HM Album Reviews

Michael Sweet

I'm Not Your Suicide

Stryper front man and lead guitarist Michael Sweet has his biography, “Honestly,” releasing soon (plug: co-written by former HM Owner Doug Van pelt), and to accompany it, he has...

HM Album Reviews

Ambassadors of Shalom

Abdicate Self

This group is an energetic, garage-band with a rock and roll heart. Their message is serious, honest and solid. They cover Nothing But The Blood of Jesus in a...

HM Album Reviews

Dead Words

Hey Rockers

After leaving their former label, the Dallas, Texas-based Dead Words has landed on their feet. There isn’t a lot of material on Hey Rockers, but the band’s punk heart...

HM Album Reviews

Embers in Ashes

Killers and Thieves

Bright guitars, and crisp drums flow through the speakers as if you just took a bite of a juicy apple — not too bitter and not too sweet —...

HM Album Reviews

Comeback Kid

Die Knowing

When you start a band playing hardcore and punk music, you need to do it correctly; otherwise, you will fall by the wayside, blending in with the crowd and...

HM Album Reviews

With Increase

Death is Inevitable

The Florida-based melodic hardcore band has truly released a hardcore album, with gravely, shouted-out vocals and lots of dirty but flowing riffs with seemingly little post-recording production, which keeps...

HM Album Reviews

Beware the Neverending

Times of War

With their second album, Beware the Neverending have written a good metalcore album with a great sense of groove. Having taken their sound and stripped it down to focus...

HM Album Reviews

The Dust of Men

What the Morning Shows

Music is all about feeling something. Whether the instruments pull your heart into a specific rhythm, the lyrics spark a connection, the nostalgically whimsical emotions from your past come...

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