Roadrunner Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Coheed and Cambria are often heralded to be some of the best rock music storytellers in the world. This much hyped new album Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind goes some way to backing that up and was produced by the band's own Claudio Sanchez and Zakk Cervini. Early singles got a great reception from fans and critics and showcased what to expect from the full album - thrashing heavy metal-infused riffs with vast in scale melodic vocals that are this band's signature style.

Review: Upon the strange reception received by the creatively uncertain, '.5: The Gray Chapter', many wondered where the Iowa collective would set their sights to next. Processing the lingering grief of losing their bassist, Paul Gray, proved a major undertaking that many naturally assumed would be the final output from the 9, but 2019's, 'We Are Not Your Kind', proved to be a malodorous mission statement, reminding all just how and why Slipknot are one of the biggest metal acts in history. With utterly intense cuts such as 'Nero Forte' and 'Unsainted', this sixth full-length proved to be the revitalised rebirth many anticipated from its predecessor, while foreshadowing a creative future seemingly impossible a few years prior.

Review: With reissues of their entire back catalogue of full-lengths dropping throughout 2022, it was all but hinted that Iowa's masked metal entity were hard at work behind the scenes. 'The End, So Far' will serve as the seventh Slipknot album, set to capitalise on the momentous rebirth of 2019's, 'We Are Not Your Kind', which marked a ferocious return to form after the mainstream success of 'All Hope Is Gone', and the sonic uncertainty that meandered through '.5: The Gray Chapter.' Now fully comfortable and adapted to their current line-up, cuts like the simultaneously pummelling yet anthemic, 'The Dying Song (Time to Sing)', or the deranged, 'The Chapeltown Rag', seem to be indicative of an utterly new era for the 9.

Review: Taken from the New York City date of Slipknot's fourth full-length tour in support of All Hope Is Gone, Live At MSG delivers an encapsulation of what would serve as one of the final live runs from the original 9-man collective. Recorded in Madison Square Garden on February 5, 2009, the setlist features an onslaught of every integral cut from the band's back catalogue up to that point, including 'Wait & Bleed', 'Spit It Out', 'People = Shit', 'Left Behind', 'Before I Forget', and 'Psychosocial', to name just a handful. Before the untimely passing of bassist Paul Gray and drummer Joey Jordison, as well as the questionable turnover and revolving door nature that has plagued the line-up in the last decade, this collection transcends standard live album definition, rather serving as a time capsule of one of the final statements from the core line-up many will forever consider as the definitive Slipknot.

Review: The influence of Type O Negative continues to be felt long after Peter Steele's death signalled the end of the band. The goth metal band have a generous number of high points in their career, and 2003 album Life Is Killing Me is surely one of them. Drawing on his personal struggles at the time, Steele created a powerful statement draped in the grandiose style of rock he had cultivated since the band's debut. As well as the single 'I Don't Wanna Be Me', there was a cover of the song 'Angry Inch' and the opening track 'Thir13teen', a piece of music from classic TV show The Munsters. Two decades on from its original release, this is the first time the album has been released on vinyl, presented as a triple black and green pressing in a trifold sleeve.