Matthew Beckett Reviews

For this weeks album review I am going to talk about the seventh album by heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch called And Justice For None released in 2018. The band consists of Ivan Moody as lead vocalist, Zoltan Bathory on rhythm guitar, Jason Hook on lead guitar and as backing vocals, Jeremy Spencer (who has since left the band) on drums and percussion and Chris Kael on bass and as backing vocals. This album continued their highly successful run of albums, in the UK it became their second of three top 10's peaking at number 7 and third top 40. In the US it peaked at number 4 becoming their sixth of seven top 10's, also the fifth top 5 in a row. In Australia the album also peaked at number 4 becoming the second of three top 10's and the fourth of five top 40's. And Justice For None went to number 1 in Austria, Germany and Switzerland while entering the top 10 in another six countries and top 40 in six others too. So you may know that I am a fan of roc...

Another book review this week, this time it is the sixth book in the Throne Of Glass series called Tower Of Dawn. First thing to say is that this will contain spoilers, so if you have not read any of the books and plan to I suggest reading it first. This book re-introduces Yrene Towers from the Assassin's Blade short story The Assassin and The Healer while also introducing several new characters, the main ones being The Great Khagan Urus, ruler of the Southern Continent, and his children, Arghun the oldest and most political, Sartaq second oldest and leader of the Rukhin (riders of Ruk's which are massive birds), Hasar third oldest and oldest daughter also head of naval fleet, Kashin youngest son and head of the cavalry forces and Duva youngest and heavily pregnant from her recent marriage with the first grandchild. There are also Hafiza the head healer of the Torre Cesme, Borte a member of a Rukhin clan who is close to Sartaq and Falken Ennar a shapeshifter who works with ...

This week I asked my wife to pick the album and she chose Everybody, the third album by US rapper and singer Logic, which was released in 2017 and increased his popularity around the world. I was already becoming a fan of Logic before the release of this album but as each single from it was released I became even more of a fan and then the full album cemented it all for me and I continue to love everything from him. Everybody was a turning point for Logic in terms of chart success throughout the world, it peaked at number 20 in the UK becoming his first top 40 album, he has since charted another two albums and one mixtape within the UK top 20. In the US Everybody became Logic's third top 5 album and first number 1 confirming him as a big hip-hop star over there, he has since gained another three top 2 entries with two of them going to number 1. In Australia Everybody became Logic's first top 40 album peaking at number 25 with another three to follow, two of which went top 10. I...

My film review this week is on the 2009 psychological thriller Exam, directed by Stuart Hazeldine, and starring Colin Salmon, Chris Carey, Jimi Mistry, Luke Mably, Gemma Chan, Chuk Iwuji, John Lloyd Fillingham, Pollyanna McIntosh, Adar Beck and Nathalie Cox. Before I go further I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you intend to watch the film and don't like spoilers wait to see the film first. In an alternate Britain, eight candidates dress for what appears to be an employment assessment exam. They enter the room and sit at individual desks with a piece of paper printed with the word candidate and a number. The Invigilator (Colin Salmon) explains the exam is 80 minutes long, consists of only one question and has three rules; they must not talk to him or the armed guard by the door, they must not spoil their paper and may not leave the room, all end in disqualification. The Invigilator asks if they have any questions and then leaves. The candidates discover the pape...

In this weeks album review I will be talking about the amazing fourth album from British country duo The Shires called Good Years. The Shires are made up of Ben Earle and Chrissie Rhode from neighbouring counties Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, this is what formed their name The Shires. You know that there is something special about a band when they are on their fourth album and they are still bringing high quality music and getting a lot of success from it, that is what we have with The Shires. Good Years gave them a fourth top 10 album in the UK and a third number 3 in a row, their debut album Brave peaked at number 10, and they are the best selling British country act ever while also being the first to be signed to a Nashville record label. As you may know by now I absolutely love country music and I have loved The Shires from the beginning, everything about them is amazing. Their voices are incredible and harmonise perfectly while both being able to steal the limelight on their...

Time for another film review and this week it is the science fiction film Ender's Game released in 2013 and based on the 1985 book of the same name by Orson Scott Card. Directed by Gavin Hood and starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin and Ben Kingsley. Before I go further I will say that there will be spoilers, so if you intend to watch the film and don't like spoilers wait to see the film first. In the future, humanity is preparing to launch an attack on the homeworld of an alien race, called the Formics, that had attacked Earth and killed millions. The Formic invasion was stopped by Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), who crashed his fighter plane into Formic queenship at the apparent cost of his life. Over the course of 50 years, gifted children are trained by the International Fleet to become commanders of a new fleet for this counterattack. Cadet Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) draws the attention of Colon...

Time for another album review and this week I have chosen to do Halsey's incredible third album Manic. I am a massive fan of Halsey I love everything she does so it wasn't surprising that I was not only excited for this album but absolutely love it aswell. This album continued to build upon Halsey's success becoming her highest charting album in the UK peaking at number 6, where her first album Badlands peaked at number 9 and second album hopeless fountain kingdom peaked at number 12. In the US it went to number 2 giving a third top 2 album in a row, hopeless fountain kingdom went to number 1, and in Australia Manic became Halsey's third number 2 album. It also went top 10 in four other countries and top 40 in another three. Manic has also spawned three top 40 singles Without Me, number 3 in UK, number 1 in US, number 2 in Australia and top 40 in 6 other countries, Graveyard, number 29 in UK, number 34 in US, number 24 in Australia and top 40 in three other countries, a...

Something different again, only my third book review and it's the next instalment of the Throne Of Glass series by Sarah J Maas, book five Empire of Storms. First thing to say is that this will contain spoilers, so if you have not read any of the books and plan to I suggest reading them first. This book doesn't introduce any new main characters however it does bring several characters back from previous books. Captain Rolfe of Skulls Bay and Ansel of Briarcliff from the Assassin's blade prequel book. Gavriel and Fenrys from Heir Of Fire the third book in the series, also Erawan is no longer using Duke Perrington's body and no longer hides who he is. The points of view during this book are Aelin Galathynius, Rowan Whitethorn, Dorian Havilliard, Aedion Ashryver, Manon Blackbeak, Elide Lochan, Lorcan, Lysandra (for a couple of chapters) and Gavrial (for half a chapter). This is the only book in the main series that does not feature Chaol Westfall as he and Nesryn Fa...

Time for my second album review of the week and this time I have decided, with some encouragement from my wife, to do a comparison of The Greatest Showman Soundtrack and The Greatest Showman: Reimagined both containing all the songs from the film. The Soundtrack is the songs as they are in the film The Greatest Showman with the actors Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Kealla Settle etc performing them, the Reimagined album has well known stars performing the songs, these include P!nk, Kelly Clarkson, James Arthur, Panic! At The Disco and Anne-Marie. Both albums performed incredibly well on the charts, I shall start with the original soundtrack. It went to number 1 in the UK where it spent an amazing 28 weeks at number 1 over 2018 and 2019, in addition it was the best selling album in 2018 and the third best selling in 2019. In the US the album spent 2 weeks at number 1 in 2018 and was the fourth best selling album of the year, it was the fourteenth best selling in 2019. In Australia it spent...