Hard Rock Reviews

As much as I like to call myself and this site Kevy Metal, my journey into music actually began with hard rock. Seventies and nineties hardrock – plus contemporary bands inspired by these styles – are still a significant part of what I listen to, and therefore, Album of the Week reviews on hard rock bands are published frequently. You can find all of them right here. Overlaps with my heavy metal reviews inevitably exist.

Looking for something specific, but can’t find it by browsing the reviews? Searching by artist name or release title using the search bar might bring up some Album of the Week reviews I have written before I started tagging my reviews properly.

  • EP of the Week 34.5-2024: Lovebites – Lovebites EP II

    Just over seven years ago, ‘The Lovebites EP’ was released. Despite the history that some of the band members had in a couple of underground bands that gigged fairly frequently – Destrose most notably – it was the first introduction for many people to the music of the band that…

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  • Album of the Week 33-2024: Horcas – El Diablo

    For veteran heavy metal acts, there isn’t much incentive to release something that is better than good enough to keep them touring for a couple more years. Not sure if it works quite the same in Horcas’ native Argentina, but it seems like it does. That is exactly why any…

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  • Album of the Week 28-2024: SkyEye – New Horizons

    While the power metal scene in Western Europe is growing staler by the minute, with so much pop music with distorted guitars dominating the festival bills, there are fortunately plenty of other places to look for good bands. Slovenia’s SkyEye, for instance, has found a nice niche for itself with…

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  • Album of the Week 24-2024: Black Country Communion – V

    Supergroups rarely make it past two or three albums. The fact that Black Country Communion has seems to imply that there is some genuine chemistry between these musicians. And while I think the band peaked on their first two albums, at least their new album ‘V’ has a bit of…

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  • Album of the Week 22-2024: Slash – Orgy of the Damned

    While I consider Slash to be one of the least bluesy guitarists to come out of the Los Angeles rock ‘n’ roll scene of the late eighties, the influence was undeniably there. Releasing a blues tribute in the shape of ‘Orgy of the Damned’ isn’t without precedent either. He toured…

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  • Album of the Week 17-2024: Navarone – Coda

    While I don’t want to make a habit out of reviewing live albums here, sometimes a release pops up that is notable enough to warrant it. ‘Coda’, after all, is the registration of the final concert Navarone, arguably my favorite Dutch rock band, ever played. And a mammoth set it…

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  • Album of the Week 13-2024: Blaze Bayley – Circle of Stone

    Blaze Bayley’s post-Iron Maiden career has been one of ups and downs, though artistically certainly more ups than downs. He has consistently been able to find musicians who provide him with music that appears to be tailor-made for his deep voice, the last decade or so finding those partners in…

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  • Album of the Week 11-2024: The Black Crowes – Happiness Bastards

    For a while, it seemed like tensions between the Robinson brothers had risen to a point where there would never be another Black Crowes album. Despite being a big fan of the band, I was fine with that personally, especially because guitarist Rich Robinson’s The Magpie Salute was far more…

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  • Album of the Week 09-2024: Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project

    It has gotten to the point where I am looking forward to a Bruce Dickinson solo album more than a new Iron Maiden album. ‘The Mandrake Project’ is his first in nearly twenty years, although he reportedly started working on it fourteen years ago. While Dickinson probably never will be…

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