Heavy Metal Resource Reviews-Savatage, Motionless In White, Godsmack, Nestor, & Anthrax

Index

Had this album on preorder from the time it was announced. We have been in an absolute drought when it comes to Savatage. This particular recording was taken from the 'Gutter Ballet' tour in 1990 and shows the band in fine form. The album has been updated in terms of sound and packs a lot of punch. Obviously the track selection is going to be from 'Gutter Ballet' backwards. There is some very good metal music from the band in those years and the songs they chose for the tour were excellent. The performance sounded great and you get a feel for the band as a whole at the time and their personality. I personally never got to see the band live, but did meet them after Criss' passing. Getting this live album from the tour of one of my favorite albums by the band is a gift. A video companion would have been so cool, but this is an excellent lice album!

Release Date: September 18, 2026

Motionless In White has been around for awhile now, but I just started dipping into their music pool in the last few years. I really dig their vibe. Definitely more appealing to fans of modern rock and metal as well as metalcore. With this new album the band is celebrating their 20th anniversary and have given the listener quite a bit of variety. You have some very heavy stuff that will appeal to long time fans, but you also get some electronic elements added in as well as songs with slightly more depth. Some of my personal favorites include 'R.I.P.', 'Blood Rave', 'Count Back From Zero', and 'Love At First Bite'. The cover of 'Sunglasses At Night' was very cool and pretty faithfully done as well. I have spent a lot of time with this album, much more than what I usually do before reviewing. I know it well and feel that this is my personal favorite by the band. Great!

Release Date: July 17, 2026

I had been meaning to get to this one, but time had gotten away from me. I haven't seen the band live outside of home video with the exception of seeing Sully back in his Strip Mind days. This show was special. Shannon and Tony played their last show with the band and that is this set. I love the fact that the band released this as a CD and Blu-ray package. Quality here is quite good. Always loved the drum battle and that part did not disappoint. You could tell that this was an emotional show for the band. Even at that, the energy was really good and the track selection was exactly as you would expect it. I have gone back to the band's previous live DVD's in the past and will definitely be going back to this as well. I am glad to see they still tour with some replacement members as the band has a great catalog. Very cool live offering in my opinion!

Release Date: May 1, 2026

Nestor is such a great band and interesting as well. I have enjoyed their couple of studio albums and am always amazed at the sheer quality of the songwriting and performances. The band originally formed in 1989 but went on hiatus somewhere around 1995 and returned around 2021 I believe. As far as live sound, these guys sound really good. Even though, like the rest of us, they have gotten older, they really sound tight and performances are quite good. I have become a pretty big fan of the band and was very excited to see the announcement of this album. The set comes with CD and Blu-ray which is nice. The only couple of oddities are no menu on the disc, it plays like a CD. Also, the video portion is a bit shorter with some songs missing that were on the CD. Those points aside, I feel this is a must own for fans of 80's melodic hard rock!

Release Date: August 14, 2026

It's hard to believe that bands that I listened to as a teen are still releasing music. It has been around a decade since 'For All Kings', but the band is still active. I have been on the ride with this band since 'Fistful Of Metal'. I did something different with this album. I decided to go back to 'For All Kings' and re-familiarize so I could compare. The new album is definitely solid and there are similarities to the previous album. There are some differences as well albeit slight. 'Cursum Perficio' continues the sound that the band has been carrying for the last couple of records. Plenty of intensity, but there is also a bit of a progressive element as well. Definitely not a progressive record obviously, just some elements here and there in structure. Not sure if the band will be releasing a new studio record after this one. If not, they will definitely go out with a loud bang!

Release Date: September 18, 2026