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Golem are a pretty ‘old’ band from Germany, formed in 1989 as a Grind-combo, and despite limited activities, they never broken up officially (so, still active???).

Being part of the Concreteweb-team is both a blessing and a curse. At the one hand, I have the opportunity to listen to tens of excellent recordings each week (imagine, I’m still working fulltime too, and have a family to take care of), but sometimes our chief editor f*cks me by giving me stuff that is way beneath my intelligence. Brings me to this album, done by a label I always am careful with. Buil2Kill released some stuff I could appreciate a little, but most of their roster is not really my cup of poisonous tea.

Swiss act Exit was formed in 1995 by the Haller-brothers Martin and Stefan, Marcus Frei, Beni Sax and Thomas Kunz. In the earliest years, Exit did perform live a lot, but it took until 2001 before they finally released a first album (Bis Ans Ende Aller Tage); which, by the way, was received very positively in the Alpine countries.

A band that has enjoyed as much worldwide success and acclaim as EPICA should have every right to rest on their laurels and stick to the proverbial "winning formula". And yet, as their fans across the globe are well aware, EPICA has never been a band to play it safe, and they've never made the same album twice. EPICA has earned its reputation as one of the foremost symphonic metal bands by repeatedly shattering expectations and pushing the very limits in the genre.

Devil You Know is a metalcore supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 2012. Current members are: Howard Jones – vocals, Francesco Artusato – guitar, John Sankey – drums, Roy Lev-Ari – guitar and Ryan Wombacher – bass.

Crown Of Asteria are a solo-outfit by Meghan Wood, who formed this project in 2011. There seem to be some releases before, like a first full length in 2013 (called North), as well as a split with another excellent solo-project, Twilight Fauna, and after listening to this album a couple of times, I will certainly search for etc. etc. etc.

I can, and will, be very short about this newest Axegressor-album. I was not that enthusiastic with their former albums (Command and Next, both released via Dethrone). These Finns won’t convince me either this time, even though this third full length (they did have a self-released mini-album as well in the past) sounds slightly more professional than before.

Wormreich, hailing from the East of the United American States of Milk and Honey and stuff (???), were formed in 2009. The band (at that moment a duo: Chris ‘Obsidiam Vulk’ Pyle and Ian ‘Nazgul Vathron’ McKinney) self-released the album Edictum DCLXVI in 2011.

The Dutch band Winter Of Sin (hailing from the city of Groningen) was formed at the end of last century by Ricardo ‘Schmerz’ Gelok (also active in Gheestenland and previously in bands like Krematorium IV, Finsternis, Windsmear or Hagel; Ricardo also owns the small yet highly interesting Dutch Death / Black-label Non Serviam Records) and Dirk ‘Schrat’ Barelds (ex-Katafalk / Cantara

What you cannot say is that in its existence Winger has been a prolific band.  Between 1988  and now they’ve released only six studio albums.    Nevertheless they had their fair share of fans, which might not sound as a wonder, since musically these guys have always stood their ground.  OK, not all albums were that good, but they do have a few memorable songs.