Back catalogue: Metal

Review: Los Angeles glam metal superstars, Warrant, had their biggest success with this Cherry Pie album. It's the band's second full-length and it contains two of their biggest top 40 charting singles. Both the title track and the cheeky anthem, 'I Saw Red', catapulted their name into the 80s-turned-90s rock stratosphere, while the somewhat infantile humour, braggadocios attitude, and hidden intrigue of deeper cuts such as, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', would signal the more abstract lyricism and clever song-writing tropes that would be more fleshed out and fully realised by the time 1992's seminal, 'Dog Eat Dog', arrived. This reissue comes on nice heavyweight vinyl.

Review: Huge guitar solos, a not-so-subtle hint of seduction and romance, rousing choruses and an attitude that screams: "I'm gonna make that heavy metal hand signal every five or six minutes." Warrant may not be the first name on everyone's lips when it comes to the heyday big room, sexually charged glam metal, but when all is said and done they did pretty well during their seven years in the game.
Emerging from the Los Angeles scene of the mid-late-1980s, a city that has a lot to answer for in these musical ends, by the time they packed up their Fenders and called time more than 10million albums had been sold, with the double-platinum Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich the real gem of the lot. Dog Eat Dog came along a little later, in 1992, and by this point the group had really got into gear. Don't expect the same tangible hunger and impact as the inaugural effort, then, but in many ways this is far more complete example of what they were gunning for.

Review: The debut full-length from Los Angeles glam metal superstars, Warrant, is the perfect time capsule of late eighties sunset strip era rock of a bygone leather-chapped age. 'Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich', boasted the hit singles, 'Heaven', 'Down Boys', and, 'Sometimes She Cries'; all still heralded as some of the group's most essential cuts to date. Noted for its pushed back release due to vocalist Jani Lane suffering a nervous breakdown upon catching his best friend and girlfriend "entangled", an encounter detailed in lyrical form on the band's single, 'I Saw Red', which would feature on the following year's sophomore effort, 'Cherry Pie'; there's still no ignoring or denying the infectious cheese, stadium-sized riffs and endlessly catchy hooks that still prop up this debut as a (not so) timeless classic of its stature.

Review: The second full-length from New Jersey thrash metal outfit Whiplash arrived courtesy of Roadrunner in 1987, a mere year after their breakneck paced debut 'Power & Pain'. At this point in the late 80s the scene already had genre classics such as Metallica's 'Master Of Puppets' and Slayer's 'Reign In Blood' to contend with, making it a free for all of pummeling thrash acts doing their utmost to not get lost in the ether. While some often cite 1989's 'Insult To Injury' as the total showcasing of their prowess, Ticket To Mayhem is testament (no pun intended) to the myriad of vital bands that kept the thrash movement pulsing beneath the major heights and laurels of a select few, with Whiplash finally receiving the praise and credence they had initially earned so many decades prior.

Review: The highly anticipated eighth full-length from Dutch symphonic metal legends Within Temptation comes four arduous years since the release of 2019's overlooked Resist. Hindered by global lockdown due to the COVID pandemic putting up barriers and blocks in the midst of the prolific collective's recording process, singles have been slowly drip-fed to the masses over the past few years with anthemic closer 'Entertain You' first being unveiled all the way back in the summer of 2020. In fact, more than half of the album's tracklist has already been released as several cuts were originally intended to serve as standalone singles, but purists can finally breathe a sigh of relief and rejoice at locking down the entire collection in its purest form with the official release of the somewhat aptly titled Bleed Out.