Tim Bolitho-Jones

Screenshot from when I interviewed Joakim from Sabaton

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Music journalist and Copywriter

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Distorted Sound Magazine •

Judicator: A Picture Of Fading Light

In some respects, The Majesty Of Decay is familiar ground for JUDICATOR. The latest album from the American quartet is an hour of elaborate power metal with a progressive edge. The songs are long, intricate blasts of riffage, choral vocals and creative musicianship, all structured around a single theme. They’ve done this before; they’ve written epic records about Byzantine Emperors and the rise of Napoleon, so long-term followers might not immediately notice a difference.

But there is a reason
Distorted Sound Magazine •

ALBUM REVIEW: Thus Always To Tyrants - Arrayan Path

Even by power metal standards, Thus Always To Tyrants is really nerdy. The ninth album by veteran four-piece ARRAYAN PATH is a huge concept record that may be the most challenging the genre has produced this year. It’s based on the life of Evagoras I, the ancient ruler of Salamis and is a dense, intimidating piece of work. This is an album that speaks of pitched battles between massed ranks of spearmen, pre-Christian heroes and epic deeds.

And just like a tightly packed, Hoplite shield wall, it
Distorted Sound Magazine •

LIVE REVIEW: Powerwolf @ The Roundhouse, London

For years, conventional wisdom dictated that the UK wasn’t interested in power metal. Bands that could headline festivals in Germany were rarely mentioned in our magazines, and if you wanted to see someone like BLIND GUARDIAN live, you’d have to go abroad to do it. Judging by the frankly insane queue that forms outside The Roundhouse tonight though, those days are long gone. A line of black-clad headbangers stretches right down to Camden market and there’s a tangible excitement in the cold night
Distorted Sound Magazine •

ALBUM REVIEW: The Atheist - Jamie Lenman

JAMIE LENMAN has had a remarkable career. The former REUBEN frontman is a long way from being a household name, but his fans absolutely adore him. He’s one of the last flag wavers for Britain’s alternative rock scene of the early 2000s and a fixture of the UK underground. Some of his peers (i.e. BIFFY CLYRO) might have sold more records and gone on to headline bigger stages, but you could make a convincing argument that our Jamie is more loved.

And his latest album, his fourth since returning a
Distorted Sound Magazine •

ALBUM REVIEW: Iconic - Obsidious

Progressive-death metallers OBSIDIOUS may be relative newcomers to the world of tech-death, but they’ve got some serious pedigree. Comprising three ex-members of OBSCURA, they deal in a highly elaborate style of song-writing that isn’t far removed from their previous band. Iconic is a confident, well-crafted debut and it’s packed full of dense, multi-layered songs that take multiple listens to truly appreciate.

The comparisons to OBSCURA are inevitable, but the most notable difference is in the
Distorted Sound Magazine •

ALBUM REVIEW: Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (reissue) - Dimmu Borgir

It’s easy to forget how terrifying Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia was when it first came out. Back in 2001, DIMMU BORGIR’s first masterpiece helped them escape the black metal underground and was often compared to CRADLE OF FILTH. But where Dani Filth’s lads were clearly having fun, DIMMU BORGIR felt like the real deal. They took their blasphemous symphonies seriously and the album art was straight out of Clive Barker’s nightmares. It was as if hell itself had belched them out into the mortal
Distorted Sound Magazine •

ALBUM REVIEW: Final Days - Orden Ogan And Friends

If you’re even remotely interested in power metal and haven’t checked out ORDEN OGAN yet, rectify that immediately. Since 2008, the Teutonic five-piece have dished out a constant stream of high-quality albums and established themselves as one of the genre’s leading lights. They write choruses so infectious they could make your limbs turn green and fall off, have riffs beyond counting and some surprisingly chunky mosh parts as well. Like POWERWOLF and SABATON? You will adore these boys. They are
Distorted Sound Magazine •

ALBUM REVIEW: Exist Immortal - Exist Immortal

Is it finally time to give EXIST IMMORTAL their due? The five-piece have been churning out progressive-minded metalcore for years and won some major kudos with their three-part Triptych release in 2021. Those EPs were impressive, but this new full-length is really quite special. Since their early days as part of the burgeoning tech-metal scene, they’ve evolved and now resemble the successors to bands like SCAR SYMMETRY and MUTINY WITHIN. They deal in songs that are catchy as hell but have genuin
Distorted Sound Magazine •

ALBUM REVIEW: Øf Kingdøm And Crøwn - Machine Head

In some respects, it doesn’t matter what rating we give the new MACHINE HEAD album; they’ve been critic-proof for decades. Even during the career-low of the post-Supercharger years, their fanbase refused to abandon them and they kept selling out venues. We could give them an absolute verbal-kicking and they’d still pack Brixton Academy to the rafters.

However, even the most loyal Headcase would have to admit that we’re well overdue a good album. 2007’s The Blackening was a game-changing masterp
Distorted Sound Magazine •

Harbinger: A Letter Soaked In Agony

In the past decade, Nottingham’s UK Tech-Fest has become a fixture of the UK metal scene. Focusing primarily on progressive and tech metal, it has worked as a proving ground for a lot of upcoming British bands. They’ve put fresh-faced youngsters on stage alongside established acts like LEPROUS and VILDHJARTA and worked as a launch pad for several careers. London lads HARBINGER are a classic example. The five-piece have trod the boards at UK Tech-Fest so many times they’re practically the house b
Distorted Sound Magazine •

Evergrey: Call Out The Dark

“I think ‘try to do everything as good as you can.’ I know that’s simple advice but it’s not easy to do,” says Rikard Zander, when asked what guidance he’d give his younger self. “I’ve been in the band twenty years and I’ve not done my best every time. I would try to convince myself to do as well as I can each time.” Rikard has spent the past two decades as the keyboard player for Swedish prog/power metal masters EVERGREY. He’s appeared on ten studio albums, played countless live shows and been
Distorted Sound Magazine •

ALBUM REVIEW: Warfront - Wind Rose

When you think about it, WIND ROSE’s gimmick shouldn’t work. By all logic, a ‘Dwarven metal band’ theme falls apart as soon as people realise they’re, you know, regular-sized guys. Thankfully though, metalheads are generally quite good at suspending disbelief and WIND ROSE have survived long enough to deliver their fifth album. It’s a belter too; Warfront is good old-fashioned power metal, full of cinematic flourishes, hearty choruses and fist-clenching anthems. They may be best known for their
Distorted Sound Magazine •

Jungle Rot: Genocidal Imperium

JUNGLE ROT are a band who’ve been around a lot longer than you’d expect. In the past decade, they’ve released a string of lean death metal albums and built a reputation as reliable purveyors of violence. They’ve been on a creative roll since 2013’s Terror Regime and could easily be mistaken for being a comparatively new band. It’s a surprise then to find out they’ve actually been going since the mid-nineties.

From the way frontman Dave Matrise tells us from his home in Wisconsin, the band’s ear
Distorted Sound Magazine •

ALBUM REVIEW: The Price Of Dreaming - Hollow Front

There’s a certain, intangible sadness to The Price Of Dreaming. The latest album from Grand Rapids sluggers HOLLOW FRONT is metalcore at its most earnest. Even when you can’t decipher the lyrics, there’s a wealth of emotion that screams bitterness and heartbreak. It makes the album a gut-wrenching listen, but it is a good one nonetheless. And the openness and fragility are just enough to make it stand apart from legions of identikit bands.

Make no mistake; while they might bring a hefty dose of
Distorted Sound Magazine •

Sabaton: Artists Of War

Milunka Savić is the most decorated female soldier in history and her life story reads like a movie. She is also the subject of Lady Of The Dark, a song on the latest album from SABATON. She grew up in a tiny village in Serbia and her early years were unremarkable, but things took a dramatic turn during the First Balkan War. When her brother was called up for military service, the young Milunka cut her hair short, disguised herself as a man and joined the army in her sibling’s place.

She was so
Distorted Sound Magazine •

HammerFall: Too Old To Die Young

“Grunge was the pandemic of the nineties!” laughs HAMMERFALL singer Joacim Cans, looking back on the state of metal during the band’s formative years. He’s joining us in a Skype call to discuss their brand new album, Hammer Of Dawn, and he’s in a reflective mood. You can tell he’s not entirely serious from his tone of voice, but he’s right about one thing; traditional metal was in a bad state when the Swedish five-piece first got together to write music. The airwaves of the early-to-mid nineties

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