Articles by Reinier de Vries

About Reinier de Vries
Once a metal head, always a metalhead. My parents thought it would only be a period, but they were wrong. I quit to explain the beauty of metal music to others that are not into metal, because it is something you can't tell in words... It is like explaining to a teetotaller why a cold beer is so nice on a hot day... I started with bands like Accept, Metal Church, Iron Maiden and Metallica in the eighties and I think I will still listen to them when I'm stone deaf and old...
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Album Reviews

Headless Crown

30th March 2018 Reinier de Vries

One of the last reviews I did in the year 2015 was the debut Time For Revolution of this Swiss band Headless Crown. I was very enthusiastic about their debut. Music with influences of Accept, Iron Maiden, [Read »]

Album Reviews

Shadowkeep – Shadowkeep

30th March 2018 Reinier de Vries

Fans of Shadowkeep had to wait 10 years for the predecessor of The Hourglass Effect. Singer Richie Wicks is no longer there and it is almost a band tradition that there is a new singer in the [Read »]

Album Reviews

Godslave – Reborn Again

18th March 2018 Reinier de Vries

Teutonic thrash with some Bay Area influences, nothing more, nothing less. Well executed however with lots of variety, in tempos and in style. Different styles of bands form the base of the songs. ‘Into the [Read »]
Album Reviews

Extremities – Gaia

21st February 2018 Reinier de Vries

Surprise surprise, a package landed on my doorstep with 3 promo cd’s in it. All Painted Bass Records releases and 2 of them are worth reviewing for sure. The other band isn’t metal or rock [Read »]
Album Reviews

Angra – Omni

18th February 2018 Reinier de Vries

The ninth album of Brasilian power/progressive metal band Angra is the first EOTYL (end of the year list) material. Personally I find this one of their top 4 albums. There are a lot of fast [Read »]
Album Reviews

Heavatar – Opus II – The Annihilation

14th February 2018 Reinier de Vries

Stefan Schmidt (Van Canto) is the mastermind behind this classical power metal band Heavatar. Adding influences of Chopin, Beethoven and Mozart to metal music isn’t new of course. Especially guitar virtuosi like Yngwie Malmsteen and several [Read »]
Album Reviews

Loudness – Rise To Glory

10th February 2018 Reinier de Vries

The Law of Devil’s Land and Dissilusion are still my favorite Loudness albums. Especially ‘Crazy Doctor’ and the magnificant intro ‘Exploder’ followed by ‘Dream Fantasy’ were my favorite songs. Singer Minoru Niihara had such an accent that [Read »]
Album Reviews

Manigance – Machine Nation

3rd February 2018 Reinier de Vries

Manigance has everything a good melodic but progressive power metal band should have. Excellent guitar pieces of Francois and Bruno, strong written songs, nice melodies, a tight rhytmn section and a good powerful singer. They even [Read »]
Album Reviews

Armortura – Armortura

31st January 2018 Reinier de Vries

Is it possible that this is already the thrash/speed metal debut album of this year? It is a good month already for the thrash lovers. Besides the new Accuser album you also must pick up [Read »]