Rough Trade Benelux.

15 years on the road, and still going strong, that’s what sums up the career of Primal Fear.  So far they’ve released 9 studio albums, two live albums, and a ‘Best Of’.

If you ask me, Heart was at their height in the late 80ies, early nineties, when they got massive radio airplay, not only stateside, but even in Europe.  They scored massive hits at that time,like ‘Alone’, ‘These Dreams’ and other songs.

I put this CD on without reading the accompanying info.  And my first impression was :am I listening to some Ozzy Osbourne tribute band, or a band that’s trying to clone his sound ?  So I started reading the info, and it soon became clear to me as to the why and how of this sound.

Conan a stoner/doom metal group, founded in Liverpool, UK in the year 2006. They can permit everything like the openings sentence of their bio on the site: “Conan are as heavy as interplanetary thunder amplified through the roaring black hole anus of Azathoth”. Yes you can expect everything. Members are: Phil Coumbe (Bass, Vocals), Paul O'Neill (Drums) and Jon Davis (Guitars, Vocals).

Ring Of Fire, featuring former Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist Mark Boals is back with a new album after a hiatus of 9 years.  As a matter of fact this is the band’s fourth studio album. As the title might suggest, the album tries to tell the story of the siege of Leningrad during the second world war, a siege that started in September 1941, and only ended in January 1994, and costed thousands of lives on both sides.

Nervosa yes a Female trash metal band from Rio de Janeriro,Brazil founded in 2010. Counting 3 members: Prika Amaral (Guitars, Backing Vocals ), Fernanda Lira (Bass, Vocals) and Pitchu Ferraz (Drums). In a press release, "the all-female thrash metal combo pushes the pedal to the metal and offers the listener high-speed riffs, furious drumming and raging leads. The songs have a brutal and raw energy and are crowned by murderous hooks and the aggressive vocals by bassist Fernanda Lira."

Young Greek act Satan’s Wrath (line-up: founding members Stamos K on guitars and vocalist Tas Danazoglou, with guitar player V, bassist Costa and drummer Nathan Perrier) return with Aeons Of Satan’s Reign, after last year’s Galloping Blasphemy, an album that I did appreciate a lot for its simplicity and honesty (and fun!). Aeons Of Satan’s Reign has duration of 42:28 minutes and continues the path once created via higher mentioned 2012’s debut.

Rivers Of Nihil are a pretty young quintet (current line-up: Adam Biggs, Jake Dieffenbach, Jon Kunz, Ron Nelson and Brody Uttley) from Pennsylvania, formed in 2009.

Not exactly a newcomer, this Chicago (Illinois) based Powerviolence/ Sludge Metal hybrid quartet, as they've been around since 2004, albeit in different incarnations!

Van Canto a German A cappella Metal band? Never heard about them…they chose this name because it sound almost the same as Van Halen! Formed in 2006 present members are: Dennis "Sly" Schunke (lead vocals), Inga Scharf (lead vocals), Ross Thompson (higher rakkatakka vocals), Stefan Schmidt (lower rakkatakka vocals, solo rakkatakka vocals), Ingo "Ike" Sterzinger (bass vocals) and Bastian Emig (drums).