Nicholas Franco, Author at Cryptic Rock

Summer Nationals Tour brings Punk Rock to Sleep Train Amphitheatre Chula Vista, CA 8-30-14

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoSeptember 26, 2014

Labor Day weekend is usually the last hurrah of the summer for most, and what better way to party then with some of the most recognized names in Punk Rock. On Sunday August 30th, Epitaph Records-sponsored Summer Nationals Tour 2014 featuring The Offspring, Bad Religion, ... Read More

Bloody Hammers – Under Satan’s Sun (Album Review)

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoSeptember 22, 2014

With some smooth, haunting vocals and a Sabbath-esque flair for doom and the mystical, North Carolina’s Bloody Hammers return with their first album for Napalm Records, and third overall. Entitled Under Satan’s Sun, it is most definitely its own entity; this band is not interested ... Read More

Crucified Barbara – In The Red (Album review)

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoSeptember 22, 2014

They are loud, brash, Swedish, and they are storming the hard rock wing of the heavy metal mansion with brand new studio album In The Red. They are Crucified Barbara, and their first CD for Despotz Records, In The Red comes hot on the heels of ... Read More

Accept & Raven sellout Gramercy Theater, NYC 9-15-14

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoSeptember 18, 2014

By popular consensus, Monday may just be everyone’s least favorite day of the week. Back to work for most, it represents the end of leisure and a return to the humdrum of the grind. September 15th might just have been another one in a long ... Read More

Wolves in the Throne Room – Celestite (Album Review)

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoAugust 21, 2014

Wolves in the Throne Room, the brainchild of brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver, began life in 2006 playing a brand of metal stylistically akin to Scandinavian black metal, but with heaps of analog synthesizers and dirge-like passages more reminiscent of Neurosis than Emperor. Coming from ... Read More

Judas Priest – Redeemer of Souls (Album review)

Nicholas FrancoNicholas FrancoAugust 7, 2014

Celebrating forty years of existence, Judas Priest is a band who needs very little introduction. Along with bands like Saxon, Iron Maiden, and Deep Purple, the mighty Priest is directly responsible for spawning heavy metal as we know it today. Unlike Maiden and Saxon, whose ... Read More

Nicholas Franco

Summer Nationals Tour brings Punk Rock to Sleep Train Amphitheatre Chula Vista, CA 8-30-14

Bloody Hammers – Under Satan’s Sun (Album Review)

Crucified Barbara – In The Red (Album review)

Accept & Raven sellout Gramercy Theater, NYC 9-15-14

Wolves in the Throne Room – Celestite (Album Review)

Judas Priest – Redeemer of Souls (Album review)

Summer Nationals Tour brings Punk Rock to Sleep Train Amphitheatre Chula Vista, CA 8-30-14

Bloody Hammers – Under Satan’s Sun (Album Review)

Crucified Barbara – In The Red (Album review)

Accept & Raven sellout Gramercy Theater, NYC 9-15-14

Wolves in the Throne Room – Celestite (Album Review)

Judas Priest – Redeemer of Souls (Album review)

This Week in Horror Movie History – Flowers in the Attic (1987)

This Week in Horror Movie History – Creepshow (1982)

This Week in Horror Movie History – Strangeland (1998)

Interview – Vernon Davis

Interview – Hopper Jack Penn

Interview – Peter Franzén

LL Cool J – The FORCE (Album Review)

James Bay – Changes All the Time (Album Review)

Fever 333 – Darker White (Album Review)