Maximum Metal Rating Legend
5 Excellent - Masterpiece. A classic.
4.5-4 Great - Almost perfect records but there's probably a lacking.
3.5 Good - Most of the record is good, but there may be some filler.
3 Average - Some good songs, some bad ones at about a half/half ratio.
2.5-2 Fair - Worth a listen, but best obtained by collectors.
1.5-1 Bad - Major problems with music, lyrics, production, etc.
0 Terrible - Waste of your life and time.

Note: Reviews are graded from 0-5, anything higher or not showing is from our old style. Scores, however, do not reveal the important features. The written review that accompanies the ratings is the best source of information regarding the music on our site. Reviewing is opinionated, not a qualitative science, so scores are personal to the reviewer and could reflect anything from being technically brilliant to gloriously cheesy fun.

Demos and independent releases get some slack since the bands are often spent broke supporting themselves and trying to improve. Major releases usually have big financial backing, so they may be judged by a heavier hand. All scores can be eventually adjusted up or down by comparison of subsequent releases by the same band. We attempt to keep biases out of reviews and be advocates of the consumer without the undo influence of any band, label, management, promoter, etc.

The best way to determine how much you may like certain music is to listen to it yourself.
Band
Astral Doors
Title
Black Eyed Children
Type
LP/EP
Company
Metalville
YOR
2017
Style
Power
4/24/2017 - Review by: Eric Compton
Firm traditional metal from Sweden that pulls no punches
'Black Eyed Children' is probably the best Astral Doors album since 2007's 'New Revelation'. I found the last two offerings, 'Jerusalem' and 'Notes from the Shadows', inadequate in terms of well-crafted songs that possessed long term staying power. Coincidentally, those releases featured one guitarist after the departure of Martin Haglund where this new record has an additional guitarist in Mats Gesar. Whether that makes or breaks it is anyone's opinion but I feel it definitely adds more dynamics to the traditionalism. You can hear more life on the strings in the stirring opener "We Cry Out", that 80s formula still deeply recessed in "Ye Olde Metal" but a little faster and punchier. Lyrically, the band always tackle religion, war and a mythology and this one is no different. The title track is an eerie take on the 90's myth of soul-taking hitchhiking children. It’s a real thing, look it up. "God is the Devi’" is lyrically intelligent and asks questions of our creator. "Die on Stage" is a fitting cut for blue-collars like Astral Doors --"Going out in a crescendo, dying on stage". Sing it man, sing it.
  • 1 :REVIEW COUNT
    4 :AVE RATING

ALL REVIEWS FOR: ASTRAL DOORS
TITLE
DOR
COMPANY
REVIEWER DATE MADE RATING
Black Eyed Children
2017
Metalville
Eric Compton4/24/2017
4
Evil Is Forever
2005
Locomotive Music
Eric Compton3/24/2005
-
Notes from the Shadows
2014
Metalville
Greg Watson8/29/2014
4
Testament Of Rock
2011
Metalville
Eric Compton1/10/2011
4.5

ALL INTERVIEWS FOR: ASTRAL DOORS
INTERVIEW INTERVIEWER DATE TAGLINE
Nils Patrik JohanssonTroy Cole11/17/2014


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