Lacuna Coil's sixth studio album, Dark Adrenaline, is their best work to date. Not that their previous albums are bad at all. This one is just better.

Dark Adrenaline has all the slick production of Shallow Life (though it rocks harder), the heaviness of Karmacode (though it's on the whole prettier), and the dreamy, ethereal qualities of everything up to and including Comalies (though it has better production than any of those).

The songs themselves have the same internalized observations that the band has used throughout their career (including "My Spirit", which was written about Peter Steele, may he rest in peace).

There is one unfortunate low point, and that is the cover of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion". As a fan of both the original and (if you couldn't tell) Lacuna Coil, this would seem to be a match made in Heaven. As it stands, the song is less than the sum of its parts, and while it is by no means horrible, it interrupts the flow of an otherwise near-perfectly flowing album.

All in all, I have to give the album four-and-a-half stars, brought down only by the cover. Without that, I would have given it full marks.

Atavism - n. - 1. The reappearance in an individual of characteristics of some remote ancestor that have been absent in intervening generations. 2. Reversion to an earlier type. 3. A 2005 album by Slough Feg.

Atavism is the first release by San Francisco-based band Slough Feg after dropping the "Lord Weird" portion from the front of their name (a move motivated by simplicity, not a change in style or anything) and a move to Italian label Cruz del Sur (from Dragonheart). The album is an aggressive balance of chugging, bouncing riffage, searing solos, the occasional acoustic bit, and lyrics derived from Irish and Greek myths, space-based science fiction, as well as singer/guitarist Mike Scalzi's own philosophical musings, all spiced with a dash of inspiration from Irish folk and rock.

Yes, the songs are a bit ridiculous. Slough Feg as a band does not take itself too seriously, much like the great metal musicians of a bygone age.

Honestly, I am hard-pressed to find any failing on this album. It is never boring, every song unfolds organically, and in general, it just plain rocks. Five stars, and highly recommended for any fan of old-school metal.

Let's get this out of the way. The metal purists out there are going to howl about this album, saying it's "not real metal", or some other such nonsense.

There... now onto the actual review.

The City Sleeps is, quite simply, amazing. From the opening riffs of Corridors to the closing, with stops in some of the most haunting and beautiful music I have ever heard, this is definitely a ride worth taking.

To be honest, it is largely a symphonic prog album, but it has enough metal bits, in the form of riffage and solos to be included on this site.

Touchstone have, on this album, earned a solid five stars, purists be damned.

Life of Agony surfaced from the same musical scene (early 1990's Brooklyn) that birthed Biohazard and Type O Negative (with whom they shared a drummer, Sal Abruscato). Fittingly, the sound on their debut album, River Runs Red, is somewhere between the two bands, with the hardcore ethos of BH and the general mood of Type O Negative at their most self-deprecating (though in a much more serious vein).

Fair warning time: if you're looking for music that is at all happy, seek life elsewhere. This is far from that. What this is, is a slice of hard life, filtered through hardcore-derived metal. That being said, it is crushingly beautiful (or beautifully crushing, take your pick).

The album does contain a few well-placed "hell yeah" moments (in the vein of tough-guy brotherhood type stuff, very hardcore-style), which keep this from being a monotone of depression and anger.

To be honest, there is only really one thing that detracts a slight bit from this album, and that's the skits (the tracks named after days of the week). They serve as a framing device (and, ultimately, a finale) for the album, and they're not horrible. I just find them a bit extraneous for my tastes.

All in all, a firm addition to any metalhead's collection. Four and one-half well earned stars.

There can be no argument. This IS metal, or rather, metal as it was supposed to be.

The formula for Seven Witches seems to be fairly simple. Just take equal parts Priest and Maiden, add a dash of other raw NWoBHM and old-school thrash (of the Anthraxian bent), and serve heated over the fires of Hell. At the hands of these technical (but not sterile, no, never sterile) wizards, this recipe will, indeed, satisfy any fan of classic metal.

This is my first exposure to this band (a fact that fills this one with utter shame), even though they've been at it since 1998. That being said, this one will be investigating their back catalog at my earliest convenience.

All in all, I cannot recommend this album enough for anyone who, like me, enjoys the sonic textures of classic metal done right.