Krokus
DIRTY DYNAMITE

There's been several incarnations of Krokus, at least as I hear it. There's been multiple versions of the band, so much so that I think that there hasn't been a single member that's been along for the entire ride of the band. They have had a metal period, a hard rock period, a hair metal period, and a blues rock (spelled AC/DC) period. While they have had some really bad albums from time to time though, they have never fully lost their edge or their ability to be, ultimately, a solid band. On the heals of their highly successful album HOODOO, Krokus has taken the more blues rock sound from that album and furthered it with their latest, DIRTY DYNAMITE. While certainly not the best thing they've ever done, DIRTY DYNAMITE is a fun, bluesy album chock full of solid songs. While it's almost certainly not going to attract any new audience, it's definitely not going to push anyone that's been following along away.

Saxon
SACRIFICE

There's just a feeling of anticipation for the majestic when you hear that a new Saxon release is forthcoming. You know each and every time that these English rockers are going to deliver something that just sounds big, triumphant and awesome. Sure, they have had their albums that weren't that good. But overall, they are one of those bands who's disappointing albums are not so bad that you would ever write them off completely.

Helloween
STRAIGHT OUT OF HELL

When you history is as long as stoic as a band like Helloween's, people tend to come into each release with a series of expectations. They also tend to judge anything new they release by comparison to the rest of the catalog instead of as a standalone release. Certainly, that's justified. For me, I first remember discovering Helloween when I was stationed in Korea. They used to play their videos in a bar called the "MTV Club" in Itaewon, Korea. I watched for a year as videos for "I Want Out" and "Halloween" played over and over in this club. I remember buying KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS: PART 1 in some bootleg shop in Seoul, and literally wearing that tape out in only a few months. From that point on, I've never missed a release of a disc by Helloween, and I've compared every release to KEYS 1. Some have been hit and some have been miss, but all have pretty much maintained the core sound of the band. Even changes in core members hasn't derailed Helloween...at least to my ears.

Black Veil Brides
WRETCHED AND DIVINE

The Black Veil Brides have certainly come from out of nowhere to capture the Hot Topic community of modern metalheads. There's no denying their success. Ultimately, they are a fairly average band, even if they make efforts to fuse both modern elements and some old school into their music to create what I'll call "hybrid rock". They blew up with SET THE WORLD ON FIRE, and their REBELS EP was well received as well. That said though, the band is clearly at a crossroads for their career where they can emerge as superstars or fall back to the pack. Or, after listening to WRETCHED AND DIVINE, they can probably stay exactly where they are.

Cryptopsy
THE BEST OF US BLEED

As a fan of both death metal and Cryptopsy, I have to question why this band, or any other death metal band for that matter, would even bother with a greatest hits release that is fleshed out with live tracks and demos. Especially a band with years on them like Cryptopsy. I wonder specifically about the demo inclusion for any band like this. Let's face it, as a fan of death metal over the last 20 years, we've all learned to accept some pretty demo sounding music in these types of band's actual releases. To say the least, so many great death metal albums had terrible sound to begin with, so hearing songs even more poorly recorded or before they were fleshed out really has no appeal to me. Additionally, Cryptopsy is one such band that's had some dodgy sounding material in the past, so hearing this music contrasted against a few new recordings really points that out as well.