Samson - Mr. Rock and Roll: Live 1981-2000
Review by Gary Hill
This new four CD box set assembles a number of live releases. While it's credited as Samson, technically not all of it is that band.
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Satan - Life Sentence
Review by Mike Korn
Where would heavy metal be without Satan? No, not the guy with horns and the Van Dyke, but rather the band hailing from Newcastle, England.
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Satan's Host - Virgin Sails
Review by Mike Korn
"Black metal" is a term of nebulous meaning that is usually applied to any dark and Satanically-themed metal band.
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Satyricon - Volcano
Review by Mike Korn
This has taken a while to get a proper release in the States, but better late than never. "Volcano" is an album that takes some effort to appreciate, but if you take that effort, you may be able to understand why Satyricon is one of the top black metal bands in Europe, if not the world.
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Savatage - Poets and Madmen
Review by Gary Hill
In the battle for best hard rocking album of 2001 Savatage may well have fired the winning shot with this one. Indeed, this is arguably one of the greatest prog metal albums of all time, taking its place with Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime and Paradox by Royal Hunt.
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Savatage - Gutter Ballet
Review by Mike Korn
Very few bands have ever tasted the adversity that Savatage has. Nor have many stuck by their guns through the shifting tides of the music industry the way these Floridians have.
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Saxon - Killing Ground
Review by Mike Korn
With their 20th (yes, 20th!) album, England's Saxon have surely proven their endurance and longevity. After some mighty lean years in the 90's, the veteran metal band is enjoying a resurgence of sorts and "Killing Ground" should do nothing to hurt their reputation.
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Saxon - Metalhead
Review by Mike Korn
I can attest personally to the fact that Saxon is one of the best live heavy metal bands on the planet, having just seen them demolish The Attic with UDO in tow. These dudes have been plying their trade for many years and never have they wavered from their desire to provide pure, unadulterated metal.
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Saxon - Lionheart
Review by Mike Korn
The lineage of British heavy metal bands is a long and noble one, replete with legendary names like Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Black Sabbath and many more. Surely Saxon has distinguished itself well enough over the last 25 years or so to join this metallic Round Table.
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Saxon - Unplugged and Strung Up + Heavy Metal Thunder
Review by Gary Hill
This double disc set is an unusual one.
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Saxon - Thunderbolt
Review by Greg Olma
Saxon is more than just a band. At this point, they are an institution that started in 1979 with the birth of NWOBHM and has consistently toured and put out records ever since.
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Saxon - Power & The Glory
Review by Greg Olma
I have been a longtime fan of Saxon and followed their rise since 1980. My first record was Wheels Of Steel, and I have never hated one of their releases.
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Saxon - Strong Arm of the Law
Review by Greg Olma
Saxon was very prolific in the early days as this was their second release in 1980. They released Wheels of Steel four months prior to this record, and both are considered classics.
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Scarlet Anger - Freak Show
Review by Gary Hill
I have to say that the form of extreme metal we get with this set isn’t usually my type of thing.
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Michael Schenker - Rock Machine (vinyl picture disc)
Review by Gary Hill
While I know Michael Schenker is generally considered a heavy metal artist, I think most times he's more hard rock.
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Scorpions - Blackout (Hybrid Multichannel SACD)
Review by Gary Hill
This classic Scorpions album is getting reissued in this very special edition.
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Scorpions - Virgin Killer (vinyl)
Review by Gary Hill
I have to say that, as much as I like the more popular later era of the Scorpions, I prefer the Uli Jon Roth stuff.
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Scorpions - Return to Forever
Review by Gary Hill
This is kind of an intriguing album. Some of these songs are new.
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Scorpions - Love Drive
Review by Gary Hill
I know that for many people the post Uli Jon Roth era of Scorpions is the best. Personally, I've always preferred the earlier stuff.
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Scorpions - Animal Magnetism
Review by Greg Olma
The Scorpions never really managed to make a dent in the American market until 1979’s Lovedrive. Once they were able to tour the US, and the NWOBHM hit, the stars started to align for their path to success.
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Scream 3 Days - Rhesus Negative
Review by Gary Hill
This band is described as melodic death metal. Well, I have to say that whatever you call them, they rock.
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Seven Witches - Xiled To Infinity And One
Review by Mike Korn
There's a lot of hot air being expelled by bands claiming they are "true" heavy metal these days. In most cases, hot air is all that it is.
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Shadow Gallery - Carved In Stone
Review by Gary Hill
As prog metal goes, Shadow Gallery in many cases comes the closest to crossing the line into pure prog. With Carved In Stone they created a work that foreshadowed great things to come from the group.
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Shadow Gallery - Tyranny
Review by Gary Hill
This progressive metal CD, the third from the band, is a concept album that tells a tale which could certainly make a fine film. The music here is well written and performed.
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Shadow Keep - The Corruption Within
Review by Mike Korn
Shadow Keep are a traditional power metal band from England that I had not heard of before. Well, I think we'll be hearing more from them because "The Corruption Within" is a polished and powerful debut that should please all fans of classy heavy metal.
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Shadows Fall - The Art of Balance
Review by Mike Korn
In the zine biz, you hear a lot about bands who are supposed to be the "future of heavy metal". If I had a buck for every time I heard that, I could buy myself my own harem of Japanese geisha girls.
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Signal 13 - Destination Unknown
Review by Gary Hill
This EP showcases a cool band. While the lead vocals are of the female variety (Vicky Starr), I actually only realized that on one song. This is an edgy, old-school hard rocking release in terms of the vocal presence.
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Silent Force - Infatuator
Review by Mike Korn
Bands like Silent Force sure put a lot of pressure on the listener. On the one hand, the music that's found on their second release "Infatuator" offers nothing that hasn't been heard many times before.
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Sinheresy - Event Horizon
Review by Gary Hill
This album from Italian melodic metallers Sinheresy is a work of art.
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Six Feet Under - Haunted
Review by Mike Korn
When lead vocalist Chris Barnes abruptly left Cannibal Corpse, the band he had guided for so long, it sent shockwaves through the world of death metal, the world that Chris and Cannibal Corpse had helped to create.
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Sixty Watt Shaman - Seed of Decades
Review by Mike Korn
Sixty Watt Shaman really had me going for a while. They had me thinking that this was going to be one of the best heavy blues rock records ever, but they blew their wad.
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Skid Row - United World Rebellion: Chapter One
Review by Gary Hill
I’ve never been a fan of Skid Row.
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Skindred - Babylon
Review by Gary Hill
I have a definite interest in music that breaks down barriers and creates a unique hybrid of established musical formats. Such a sound is what makes up Skindred's Babylon.
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Skold - Dies Irae
Review by Gary Hill
I previously reviewed another set from this act and said that it had a tendency to be samey. Well, I don't think that's the case this time around.
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Skull - No Bones About It
Review by Gary Hill
This is quite a cool set. It has the original 1991 album from Skull on the first CD, along with some demos for bonus tracks on that disc.
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Skull - Skull II: Now More Than Ever
Review by Gary Hill
Perhaps Skull's biggest claim to fame is the fact that Bob Kulick was the guitarist for the band. I've reviewed another new archival release from them in this same issue.
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The Skull - For Those Which Are Asleep
Review by Mike Korn
This has been a long time coming. The Skull continues the legacy begun by Chicago’s doom metal masters Trouble thirty years ago.
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Skyward - Skyward
Review by Gary Hill
While not everything here is metal, I'd consider this outfit to be a metal band.
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Slayer - God Hates Us All
Review by Mike Korn
The very essence of musical misanthropy, Slayer have tread their own blood-soaked path for close to two decades now. During that time, they've seen the rise of trends like grunge rock, death metal, black metal and rap metal but have allowed little of that to affect them.
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Slough Feg - Atavism
Review by Mike Korn
Right now, Slough Feg is the best pure heavy metal band in America. That's a mighty bold statement to make, but one listen to "Atavism" will back it up.
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Neal Smith - Halloween - 10th Anniversary Edition - Best of KillSmith 2008-2018
Review by Gary Hill
This is a new compilation disc from Neal Smith. The music here is raw and quite industrial in nature.
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Sodom - M-16
Review by Mike Korn
I don't know what the Krauts are putting in their beer these days, but it seems to have resulted in some amazing thrash metal albums being released. The proud members of the G.O.G. (German Old Guard) are on a rampage and tearing eardrums apart with their best releases in years.
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Soen - Memorial
Review by Gary Hill
This band was formed by former Opeth drummer Martin Lopez after he left that band.
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Soil - Restoration
Review by Gary Hill
This album from nu-metal band Soil is solid from start to finish. There is a good mix of sounds, yet everything fits together nicely.
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Sonic Fuel - Karma (digital single)
Review by Gary Hill
I previously reviewed another single from this act. I liked that tune a lot and considered it to fall under the category of hard rock or alternative rock.
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Soulfly - Prophecy
Review by Gary Hill
I would guess that even the most fervent supporter of modern metal would have to admit that, like most genres, there are a lot of bands who sound like one another. There are far fewer bands with a truly unique sound. Soulfly is definitely such an outfit.
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Southview - The Chaos of Ecstasy
Review by Gary Hill
With an abundance of new bands playing all the newer styles of heavy metal it's refreshing to hear a band cranking out "true metal" these days. You will hear a little thrash here, but no nu metal or rap metal is anywhere to be found.
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Space Odyssey - The Astral Episode
Review by Gary Hill
There is a lot to be said for expectations. Somehow I had heard that this project by Richard Andersson (of Royal Hunt fame) was a more progressive rock oriented endeavor than that band.
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Spellbook - Deadly Charms
Review by Gary Hill
In a lot of ways this new disc feels like a lot of 1970s hard rock. It's got a lot more metal in the mix, though.
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Spiders & Snakes - Year of the Snake
Review by Gary Hill
A lot of times we put things featuring progressive rock artists under prog, even when they don’t fit that banner based on the music.
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Starbreaker - Starbreaker
Review by Greg Olma
I have to admit, I was never really much of a TNT fan. They had all of the right elements (great vocals, shredding guitar, etc.) but somehow I found them to be ordinary - not bad mind you, just ordinary.
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Jack Starr's Burning Starr - Metal Generation 1985-2017
Review by Gary Hill
This is an impressive box set that serves as a great way to start a collection of this important artist. It has over nine-hours of music across seven CDs.
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Jack Starr - Jack Starr's Guardians of the Flame-Under A Savage Sky
Review by Mike Korn
Mr. Jack Starr has been plying his trade in the heavy metal business for well over 20 years so there's no way the man can be called a bandwagon jumper. Heavy music is in his blood.
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Static-X - Machine
Review by Mike Korn
Amongst the flood of mostly mediocre and derivative nu-metal bands that have poured forth in the last few years, Static-X stands out. This is a group that has carved out its own identity and whose style has become recognizably unique.
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Station - Perspective
Review by Gary Hill
Perhaps this doesn't fit under heavy metal. It has enough of the hair metal kind of sound and arena pop metal concept for me to land it there.
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STIMULI - They Are
Review by Gary Hill
This album was actually released last year, but there is a new promo push as they've just released a new video. The disc perhaps doesn't fit under metal, but in terms of nu-metal, I'd say it does.
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Stormwitch - Stronger Than Heaven
Review by Gary Hill
Here we have a new edition of an album from 1986. This includes four bonus live tracks.
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Stormwitch - The Beauty and The Beast
Review by Gary Hill
The second disc from German band Stormwitch that I'm reviewing in this issue, this, like that other one, is a remastered edition. .
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Stratovarius - Destiny
Review by Gary Hill
A sub-segment of prog metal seems to seek to merge classical and metal styles into one format. Among the bands that work in that genre, Stratovarius and Royal Hunt seem to be the best.
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Stygian Crown - Funeral For A King
Review by Gary Hill
I'm a sucker for good doom metal. So, this set is definitely my kind of thing.
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Superjoint Ritual - A Lethal Dose of American Hatred
Review by Josh Turner
A Lethal Dose of American Hatred is Loud AND FAST. If you are into that sort of music, you will really like this album.
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Superscream - The Engine Cries
Review by Gary Hill
These guys at times skirt the boundary between progressive rock and metal. Overall, though, they land on the metal side of that equation.
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Symetria - Symetria
Review by Gary Hill
If you have a craving for old school heavy metal, this might be just the meal for you. This New Jersey based band delivers the real steel.
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Symphony X - The Odyssey
Review by Mike Korn
Here is a band that has finally gotten progressive metal right. They've reached that elusive point where muscle and melody intertwine, without one overwhelming the other.
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