War

on April 19th, "Tides of War", the second full-length of the German traditional heavy metal act SACRED GATE, will be released. The band created a truly captivating and epic concept album about the Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans and their allies fought for freedom against invading Persians. Not a surprising choice of subject, considering that 2 founding members (vocalist Jim and guitarist Nicko) have Greek origins. The new album is undoubtedly a more mature, more epic and more confident effort showing the band crystallizing their own style, with strong, melodic but rough vocals, outstanding guitar work and rock solid rhythm section.

Like the epochal Police & Thieves by Junior Murvin, which also originated at Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark Studio and thus shares with this album Perry's trademark dark, swampy ambience, War ina Babylon is something of a mountain on the reggae landscape. But what makes it so remarkable is not just the consistently high quality of the music indeed, by 1976 one had come to expect nothing but the finest and heaviest grooves from Perry and his studio band, the Upsetters rather, it's the fact that Max Romeo had proved to be such a convincing singer of cultural (or "conscious") reggae after several years of raking it in as a purveyor of the most abject slackness. (His "Wet Dream" had been a huge hit in England several years earlier, and had been followed by such other delicacies as "Wine Her Goosie" and "Pussy Watch Man.") But there's no denying the authority of his admonishing voice here, and the title track (which describes the violent mood during Jamaica's 1972 general election) has remained a standard for decades. Other highlights include "One Step Forward" and "Smile Out a Style." Essential to any reggae collection.

Australia's incendiary extreme musical export THY ART IS MURDER released its third studio album, "Holy War", on June 30 via Nuclear Blast. Produced and mixed by Will Putney (SUICIDE SILENCE, EXHUMED, THE ACACIA STRAIN)

Dogs Of War however is one of the rare yet brilliant examples where the band have resurfaced all guns blazing. Instead of mellowing with age it's almost as if NWOBHM veterans Soldier have cryogenically preserved their vigorous performing style and energy for the past thirty years, only to be unleashed again by a new line-up of musicians on this colossal third LP.

With George Clinton, a humorous phrase could be nothing more than playful tomfoolery, or it could be a double entendre with a deep political meaning. The phrase "electric spanking of war babies" falls into the latter category – it referred to what the funk innovator saw as the U.S. government using the media to promote imperialistic wars. To Clinton, the American media functioned as a propaganda machine during wartime. But whether or not one cares to examine its hidden political messages, Electric Spanking is an above-average party album. Spanking falls short of the excellence of One Nation Under a Groove and Uncle Jam Wants You and didn't boast a major hit single, but amusing funk smokers like "Electro-Cuties" and "Funk Gets Stronger" aren't anything to sneeze at, nor is the reggae-influenced "Shockwaves." Spanking turned out to be the last album Clinton would produce under the name Funkadelic - when he hit the charts again in 1983, Mr. P-Funk was billing himself as a "solo artist."

War Eternal is the upcoming ninth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy, set to be released on June 9, 2014 by Century Media. It will be the first with Alissa White-Gluz on vocals after former long-time vocalist Angela Gossow stepped down from vocal duties to be the band's business manager,and Nick Cordle on guitars who replaced Christopher Amott in 2012.