It seems that a lot of the albums I’ve gotten early this year have a heavy 1980s influence to them. Most have been surprisingly very good, a couple have been awful and then there’s the middle ground, where the full-length debut from Finland’s Armour falls. 
There’s some fairly solid early-to-mid 1980s hard rock here, falling a [...]

In a visual comparison, both Gwar and Green Jellÿ wear elaborately goofy costumes onstage (Gwar actually taught Green Jellÿ how to make their own latex costumes). Musically, the bands share the comedy shtick, though as Gwar leans toward metal, Green Jellÿ seem satisfied to play loud punk rock. The biggest difference is that Gwar has [...]

After one spin of the new Alice in Chains album, it’s screamingly apparent that our dearly departed Layne Staley did not quite make this band—guitarist Jerry Cantrell did. However, none of Cantrell’s numerous post-AIC solo tunes seriously gelled with fans, either. But there are two truisms evident in each note of Black Gives Way to [...]

The full-length debut from Italy’s Future is Tomorrow certainly shows some promise, if not much innovation. It’s a concept record that looks at a funeral through the eyes of the deceased, and apparently only the first part of the concept.
On a positive note, Future is Tomorrow plays a brand of power/prog without a lot of [...]

After being particularly impressed by Elis’ Catharsis recently, I was anxious to check out the latest from Siegfried, Nibelung, featuring vocalist Sandra Schleret from the Elis record. It also didn’t hurt that I happen to be a fan of Wagner, the original metal musician, so I was intrigued by the theme of the record.
This record [...]

Now here’s something you don’t hear every day. A Russian guy from Chelyabinsk doing a mixture of ambient-natured neo-folk on top of a post-rock foundation (think of Tenhi’s most ‘rocking’ songs.) And the best of all, it’s all in Finnish! Needless to say, I was skeptical. I was more than skeptical. In fact, when I [...]

I only recently discovered Iceland’s Sólstafir, a band that I wish I had gotten to know earlier. Their previous album, 2005’s Masterpiece Of Bitterness became one of my all time favorite records as the band seemed to blend post-rock with their blackened heavy metal heritage flawlessly for a truly mind-expanding experience; sharing a similarity [...]

It never fails. Every year when I put my year end list together and get it posted, an album comes along within days that knocks my socks off and could have easily made my top 10. Metal of Honor, the fourth full length from Detroit’s Nocturnal Fear is that album this year.
You know something really [...]

Here’s another album that caught me completely off guard near the end of the year. Hailing from Arizona, Vektor are yet another young entry into the retro thrash craze, but have a decidedly different approach than most of their peers.
The first thing many will notice before even pushing play are the similarities of Vektor’s logo [...]

Here we have the debut EP from Amorphead who hail from Italy and play a modern form of death/thrash.
Psychotic is a 6 track offering book-ended by an intro and outro, cleverly titled as “Dreaming” and “Awakening”, respectively, leaving four proper songs. From what I can tell of these four, they have a slightly different take [...]

After many, many years stuck in the wilderness, the UK is finally getting back into the Death Metal arena with legions and legions of quality bands. Despite the intricate nuances of these new minions, they all comfortably sit under the encompassing banner of “Death Metal,” be it the blitzkrieg insanity of Infected Disarray, the guttural perfection of Embryonic Depravity or the freakishly bizarre Crepitation and Amputated, these bands are Death Metal to the bone. Ingested, produced one of my favourite (and most played) albums of 2009, they are another cast iron example that extreme music is healthy and vibrant on these shores. Ingested first came to my attention as the standout band of the North-West Slam Fest 3 way split extravaganza that was released in 2007. The potential demonstrated on that juicy entrée was mouth watering, and they satisfyingly outdid themselves on their full length. I spoke with drummer Lynn Jeffs, on whom the band’s guttural insanity is pivoted, he had plenty to say on the scene, his tenure in Annotations of an Autopsy, and the future plans for Ingested.

Here’s another late 2009 release that is worth your while even if you can look past the fact that the moniker, label, logo, cover art and band’s looks scream Hot Topic deathcore.
The fact is though, Australia’s The Red Shore, despite all the above going against them they are more along the lines of As You [...]

After two excellent splits, UK-based pagan black metal outfit Wodensthrone has delivered one of the most impressive debut albums I’ve heard in years. Grand, savage, epic and beautiful, Loss has not only found itself high on my year-end list, but it’s also quickly become one of my favorite albums in the genre. Much of this has to do with the sweeping songcraft, but it’s the evocative, atmospheric nature of the music that really transports the listener. No surprise, given that these guys take their history, their heritage and their philosophy quite seriously. Read on and you might even learn a few things…

Featuring members of black/doom act Eyes of Ligeia and Crimson Moon, Atlanta’s Legions of Astaroth have been plying their trade since 2004, culminating in this solid debut of frosty, grim and mildly atmospheric black metal.
While most of the metal media seems to take heed of the more artistic side of US black metal (Krallice, Wolves [...]

2009 was a pretty strong year for grindcore (and Willowtip) with the likes of Blood I Bleed, Napalm Death, Defeatist, Insect Warfare, Afgrund, Mumakil, Magrudergrind and such delivering the grinding goods, and Willowtip put the cherry on top of 2009 with the 5th album from Polish stalwarts Squash Bowels.
If you are familiar with European grind [...]

Is there some sort of unspoken mandatory rule that a band has to have a live album after their 4th or 5th studio album? The reason I ask is that I’m not sure what the point of this release is. It’s only 8 tracks long – most live albums are packed to the brim with [...]

I was a bit unimpressed by the commercial meets metal output of their sister band An Entire Legion, but Tricore fares much better while treading similar ground. Less than Man, More than Rabbit leans a little more toward a heavier sound, mixing radio-ready commercial hard rock with bits of thrash and just a few blasts [...]

Candlelight Records today confirms the recent signings of KRIEG, WOE and YAOTL MICTLAN.  All three add to the English label’s growing American roster, a concentrated effort of the label the past several years. Currently celebrating its ninth year of US operation, the label opened US offices January 2001 with the release of its first album, [...]

With 2009 now coming to a close, GRAVEHILL would like to announce that our partnership with ENUCLEATION RECORDS is officially concluded. We’d like to thank our friend and Brother Greg Drudy / ENUCLEATION RECORDS for all his support of GRAVEHILL. As the saying goes “When a door closes… a window opens!” thus moving into a [...]

Without fail, the same thing happens at the end of every year; I submit my year end picks to various outlets, only to have a release cross my path that would have made the list. In this case the second self released EP from Long Island’s Painted In Exile would have hands down been the [...]

Dead Man’s Hand hail from Norway, play a modern sort of European death/thrash, and The Combination is the bands debut full-length. It’s not much of a stretch to compare them to early period The Haunted, Dew-Scented or Hatesphere, but it’s probably a little too soon to be including them in that same class of ass-kicking, [...]

Death metal icons MASTER recently completed the recording of their upcoming Pulverised full-length The Human Machine. The mixing/mastering process is currently underway.
Said MASTER founder/frontman Paul Speckmann of the new long player: “I’m very happy with the way things have turned out; it’ll be killer to finally have a CD released once again on a professional [...]

An interesting fact about trolls: besides lurking under bridges, in forests and on message boards, they’re also able to change their form at will – usually to trick the humans they like to torment. I mention this only because Troll, the Norwegian black metal band started by Nagash (Covenant/The Kovenant, ex-Dimmu Borgir) in 1992, has [...]

Ihsahn’s work has always been forward-thinking and progressive, but its roots have also been easily traceable to that of earlier masters. From the Wagnerian fury of Anthems-era Emperor to the baroque intricacies of Prometheus, The Adversary and angL, it’s obvious that Ihsahn has studied and absorbed classical music and theory in a way that few [...]

You know its a stellar year for metal when all the the staff asked if they could submit more than ten favorite albums this year, and then snuck in numerous other top albums by way of honorable mentions, new discoveries and such. Still, you cant argue with 2009s wide array of quality albums. The year was dominated by technical death metal, and littered with unsigned gems and unexpected surprises. I mean, when was the last time a year see releases by the likes of Mastodon, Isis, Behemoth, Napalm Death, Nile and Suffocation and they only get cursory mentions?

Thanks to everyone who all who made the site what it is and thanks to all the readers who make it what it will be. Here is to another great year of metal in 2010.

Where available, reviews have been linked so you can read our highly specialized, professional, humble and opinionated reviews of these albums.

As usual feel free to ridicule, mock our picks, add your owns lists and ensure that the old fashioned saying about opinions holds true…