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

Vagabonds

I Don't Know What to Do Now

Blood and Ink Records has a new member on their roster, Vagabonds, a single-member group from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their debut full-length album release, I Don’t Know What to...

HM Album Reviews

Deathbreaker

Disconnect

It’s no secret that the standards of heavy music have been rising for the last decade or so. With the surge in DIY metal, it’s harder and harder for...

HM Album Reviews

Papa Roach

Crooked Teeth

It’s been 12 years since Papa Roach’s single “Scars” hit the airwaves, and 17 since they crashed onto the scene with the nu-metal all-timer, “Last Resort.” Somewhere between ’93...

HM Album Reviews

Conveyer

No Future

The author G.K. Chesterton once said, “There’s a lot of difference between listening and hearing.” Never is this more true than with music, an art that can be felt...

HM Album Reviews

Death Therapy

The Storm Before the Calm

Solid State Records arguably houses the strongest forces in metal music, boasting a roster including Silent Planet, Underoath, Norma Jean, August Burns Red, Haste the Day… It’s a strong track...

HM Album Reviews

Matty Mullins

Unstoppable

Matty Mullins (pictured fronting Memphis May Fire) photographed by Brooke Long Photography for HM Magazine Fiery, redheaded, tattooed, and renown frontman for Dallas based metalcore band Memphis May Fire...

HM Album Reviews

Poison Headache

Poison Headache

It’s been nearly a year since former As I Lay Dying and Wovenwar guitarist Phil Sgrosso teamed up with buddies Andy Kutka and Kyle Rosa to create Poison Headache, a...

HM Album Reviews

Aaron Sprinkle

Real Life

Aaron Sprinkle has been an inherent part of the alt-Christian music scene, having contributed to it as much as a producer as an artist. He has fronted three successful bands (one...

HM Album Reviews

Church Tongue

Heart Failure

Indianapolis hardcore band Church Tongue has burst on to the scene with a heart-stopping debut album. Heart Failure sounds downright filthy on first listen, its bombastic, grimy hardcore seeping through...

HM Album Reviews

Theocracy

Ghost Ship

Theocracy’s fourth album, Ghost Ship, is probably the band’s most ambitious work to date. What started as a solo effort for lead singer Matt Smith has evolved into a...

HM Album Reviews

Hands

New Heaven / New Earth

I must admit, I was caught by surprise when Facedown Records alumnus Hands announced their reunion and an upcoming performance at the label’s annual showcase, Facedown Fest. This spring’s...

HM Album Reviews

Final Surrender

Nothing but Void

It’s been nearly four years since progressive metalcore trio Final Surrender released their debut album, Empty Graves. Again releasing through Rottweiler Records, they’ve marked their return with an EP...

HM Album Reviews

Becoming Saints

Oh, the Suffering

Hard riffs, harsh vocals, carefully placed melody, and contentious (but inspiring) lyrics are factors expected from the metalcore formula. They are all accounted for on Becoming Saints’ freshman LP,...

HM Album Reviews

Holy Gold

Feral Children

Some albums just leave you speechless, and Holy Gold’s debut EP, Feral Children, will do exactly that. This powerful collective (with history, weight and pedigree behind all the band’s...

HM Album Reviews

Those Who Fear

State of Mind

The mind is powerful. It’s the genesis of actions and words, governing character and impacting daily life, bridging our thoughts and decisions, creating a world of good and evil....

HM Book Reviews

Mike Hranica

Three Dots and the Guilt Machine

Have you ever wondered how people would respond if they could actually read your mind? If you’re like me, the silence of internal quandary feels safe and is generally...

HM Album Reviews

Zao

The Well-Intentioned Virus

Zao has returned after what felt like an eternal absence. Seven years have passed since the West Virginia metal pioneers released the well-received Awake; it’s easily been the longest...

HM Album Reviews

Memphis May Fire

This Light I hold

It’s rare to see a band hold true to their identity throughout five studio albums. Especially so after multiple member changes. After a year of writing and recording new...

HM Album Reviews

The Pretty Reckless

Who You Selling For

Unless you’ve actively avoided pop culture for some time, you’re familiar with the innocent-blonde-actress-from-Gossip-Girl who happens to be the wildly-talented-rockstar-frontwoman Taylor Momsen. The band she fronts, The Pretty Reckless,...

HM Album Reviews

Wolves at the Gate

Types and Shadows

When a band’s sophomore album drops, the fans can comfortably approach the music with a certain sense of expectation. By the third LP, the band’s sound is typically established,...

HM Album Reviews

Glasslands

Pariah

It’s no secret that artists are peddlers of varied passions. Musicians in particular are guilty of being in pursuit of simultaneous primary, side, and experimental projects, living out the...

HM Album Reviews

Wovenwar

Honor is Dead

The band's sound and message is best served hot, firing on all cylinders and blasting with their unique combination of aggressively catchy metal. Capitalizing on their surprisingly melodic 2014...

HM Album Reviews

Poured Out

To the Point of Death

The newest member of the Facedown Records family, Poured Out, have released a killer full-length debut. The band, evoking ’90s-era hardcore, brings raw to a new level on To...

HM Album Reviews

Fit for a King

Deathgrip

Are you ready to die? Is anyone, really? The 89 rock music fans mercilessly slaughtered by ISIL terrorists on November 13, 2015 at the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, France,...

HM Album Reviews

Dire

Volume I

While Volume I successfully gives listeners an idea of what to expect from Dire in the future, the best is surely yet to come with this band. A strong...

HM Book Reviews

Mattie Montgomery

Lovely Things in Ugly Places

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like to ascend to international success as a musician, you’re going to want to read Lovely Things in Ugly Places. Penned by...

HM Album Reviews

Crowder

American Prodigal

If there’s anything tenured worship artist David Crowder is known for, it’s for doing things differently. For many years, Crowder and his band connected the world to God through...

HM Album Reviews

Norma Jean

Polar Similar

From the crunching, devastating tone of the first track, “I. The Planet,” it’s obvious that Atlanta-based metal heavyweights Norma Jean is far from done with their career. Bands with...

HM Album Reviews

Sunndrug

Exit Wounds

Birthed from the members of Spitfire and Norma Jean, the Virginia-based Sunndrug has released their debut album, Exit Wounds, and it will leave you with a new respect for...

HM Album Reviews

Comrades

Lone/Grey

Since their debut album Safekeeper two years ago, Comrades has come a long, long way — physically and musically. Known for touring the country in an old-school Volkswagon and...

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