KK Downing retires!

It is with great sadness that I bring the news that K.K. Downing has retired from Judas Priest. The news comes on the Eve before the bands farewell "Epitaph" Tour! The band are to continue with Lauren Harris guitarist Richie Faulkner and wish Downing the best!

Blunt Force Trauma - Cavalera Conspiracy

The Cavalera brothers are back with their new album Blunt Force Trauma. It is easy for us to get hung up on Sepultura and constantly moan about why the band hasn't gone and reformed but as Max said in an interview recently that this is as close as it gets.

Blunt Force Trauma is a brilliant album with musical tastes varying from very melodic guitar solo's to huge chunky riffs. Warlord is the opening track to the album and after hearing this you just want more ... good job because theirs 1o more fantastic tracks. Killing Inside for me coins the whole album, its such an epic song with (as previously mentioned) some of the hugest riffs but a great melodic solo and awesome breakdown. Other songs such as Thrasher and I Speak Hate are somewhat repetitive and can actually be quite irritating. However this is a minor issue as the album also features many great tracks such as Rasputin and the title track Blunt Force Trauma. The musicianship on Blunt Force Trauma really is what Sepultura could have been today if Max and Igor hadn't left just with a more thrashy feel and more melodic sections. If you like Sepultura and just wish it was a tad heavier and faster then this is definitely for you.

Apart from a couple of the tracks being slightly annoying there is nothing you can fault this album for. It has a great mix and the songs are top notch apart from the ones mentioned above. Overall this a great metal album and is certainly one for the metal collection!

Blunt Force Trauma - Cavalera Conspiracy 8/10