The End of an Era marks the final document of the Tarja’s Nightwish reign. I’m fairly certain fans held the original standard-def DVD in high regard, as the performance, track selection (“The Kinslayer”, “Bless the Child”, and Gary Moore cover “Over the Hills and Far Away”) and production values are very high. Well, kids it’s […]

Lead guitarist/vocalist James Malone offers this band update: “Although we had a great run over the past year and a half with drummer Darren Cesca [whose work is featured on the band’s latest album, We Are The Nightmare], we have decided to stop working with him in Arsis. The reasoning behind this decision is simply […]

Following intense and very constructive discussions, Steamhammer/SPV have announced their future collaboration with Swedish dark melodic metal act, Evergrey. The deal includes not only the group’s brand-new studio album, Torn, which will arrive at the stores at the beginning of September, but also Evergrey’s complete back catalogue. SPV Head of Labels, Ulrike Rudolph says: “We […]

Finland’s Rapture has been described as a mix of Katatonia and Opeth. Fair enough. Scratch the surface, however, and there’s far more Finnish in Rapture than a knee-jerk comparison to Swedes a sea and culture away. In fact, across three albums (Silent Stage came out in 2005), the members of Rapture sought not to emulate […]

When was the last time you heard of a band from Slovenia? Devil Doll doesn’t count. So, maybe never. I mean, it’s a little country. Smashed between Italy, Croatia, Hungary, and Austria, with a slice bordering the Adriatic Sea, Slovenia is like, say, Estonia (Hello, Loits) or any of the other Baltic countries. There’s a […]

I was forwarded a story by Patrick Goldstein from the LA Times about the possible end of the critic. Let’s be more specific here. Goldstein is referring to entertainment critics and how over the years, specifically since the Internet changed our information consumption habits, the single voice of a critic – respected or not – […]

Hangin’ tough at the crossroads can be interesting. You either make a deal with the devil, move on, and rock the F out or you go home with the same crappy guitar and poor playin’ aptitude. For Arsis, it seems they’ve finally made a deal with the devil. No, not Nuclear Blast. The devil gave […]

Today we were contacted by Victory Records notifying us we would no longer receive physical CDs for promotional purposes — reviews or interviews. Now, unless I’m mistaken Victory Records is the first independent label to make the switch from physical to digital promo. As harmless as it seems, this is a landmark event. Labels, mostly […]

Since inception (from the ashes of Catacomb), Italy’s Novembre has defied convention and categorization. While the majority of its work can be filed under atmospheric death, the band, helmed by brothers Carmelo and Giuseppe Orlando, is much more than that. In fact, as early as 1997’s Arte Novecento Novembre ventured so far as to employ […]

Lately, Italy has been a stronghold for quality doom metal. The Foreshadowing, formed out of members of avant-garde metallers Klimt 1918 and Spiritual Front, is one of the country’s newest acts to bridge the gap between Candlemass, My Dying Bride, and Anathema. And there’s a touch of Type O Negative, too. The sextet’s latest offering, […]

So, a co-worker of mine and I were listening to Tomb of the Mutilated on the way home from work the other day. He was digging on it. After a few minutes, he asked if I had seen a Cannibal Corpse parody where the Chris Barnes‘ lyrics are typed out as heard… I said, “Nope, […]

OK, I’ve known about Rock & Republic’s ‘Death Metal’ jeans for a few months now, so now that I have a place to riff I can do so. A little background: Rock & Republic is an American designer clothing company. Their motto goes something like this: “Rock & Republic means edgy, progressive design inspired by […]

As unorthodox as it is, the name Brown Jenkins didn’t immediately recall the H.P. Lovecraft character, but rather the Zambian street ‘drug’ Jenkem. Maybe it’s my frame of mind at the moment. Loosely based on “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” Mr. Jenkins produces a sludgy, repetitive, facile black-doom that sounds like the air in Innsmouth smells. […]

It’s difficult to discern the massive quantities of hardcore/metal hybrids clogging the arteries of the underground music, so it’s with great pleasure that I find Philadelphia’s A Life Once Lost neither a Dillinger Escape Plan or Hatebreed clone. Certainly, these are two of the bigger bands occupying the space, but A Life Once Lost do […]

Swedish death metal, the old school kind, exists in our CD collection (Carnage, Entombed, Unleashed, Dismember) and in our memories, for most of us in this for the long are still actively searching for bands that remind of the days when American death metal just didn’t cut it anymore. That sentiment still holds true, for the most part. Bands such as God Macabre, Utumno, Hetsheads and the cult line-up on the Projections of a Stained Mind all were direct descendants of Nihilist and Carnage, and to that end shared a similar sound. For Gorement, another lost gem in the sands of time, the above statement plays a part in their sound, but unlike most of the pure death metal acts, these five guys were also heavily influenced by the likes of early Paradise Lost and Benediction. Really, Gorement’s only full-length album, the masterful The Ending Quest (circa 1994), played well on this diverse foundation, and materialized as an album that still speaks volumes not only of the timeframe in which it was released, but also about how the songcraft of death metal a decade later is slowly diminishing into involved but substance-less drivel. While searching for a full copy of The Ending Quest, I ran across a band called Genuflection to Limbo and found out that Gorement guitarist Patrik Fernlund is still involved in music. While I thought Fernlund would see Gorement’s chapter as long closed, the axeman agreed to talk about a band he put to rest over eight years ago. And hopefully this chat will spur more interest in Gorement and the band’s impressive but scant catalog – if anything The Ending Quest is due for re-release like yesterday, but legal issues could shelve the project for at least another two years.

Norway’s Enslaved is clearly out to redefine itself on its newest album, ISA. With a new line-up, a new label and a powerful, striking new record, Enslaved returns to the spotlight, using musical prowess, adventurous spirit and damned fine songwriting skills to direct much deserved attention. Long exploring the byways of Extreme Metal psychedelia across three albums (Mardraum through Below the Lights), the core of Enslaved, Ivar Bjornson and Grutle Kjellson, revisits the past (Vikingligr Veldi and Frost) while having a keen eye on the future. ISA is a monumental album, one which is carved in modern Thrash Metal chops, Black Metal ethos and experimental songcraft. Read on as guitarist and songwriter Ivar Bj�rnson gives insight into the new Enslaved.

From strength to strength, album to album, neo-thrashers Nevermore never failed to expand and flourish creatively, but three years after the release of nearly unstoppable Dead Heart, In A Dead World opus, the Seattle outfit has hit the proverbial glass ceiling. Whereas Dreaming Neon Black, and the aforementioned Dead Heart, In A Dead World, used […]

Arma Angelus, featuring ex-members of hardcore luminaries Racetraitor and Extinction, are conveniently Eulogy Recordings new warhorse following the spectacular demise of Santa Sangre. Where most bands in this space use death and thrash metal devices to create a sense of heaviness missing in traditional hardcore, Arma Angelus’ thick, angular attack comes from a rock and […]

Behemoth’s gradual transition from cult black metal to world-class death metal outfit is not characterized by one album, but through the maturation of four. Unlike many Polish bashers (Decapitated, Hate, etc.) where Vader is the primary inspirational source, Behemoth, mining the strengths of Morbid Angel, Slayer and recently Nile, forge a high-energy, strikingly confident style […]

The epithet, “True Norwegian Black Metal,” may not apply to Immortal in its current incarnation, but the fact remains that the classification never truly fit the Bergen-based outfit anyway. Even at the height of their ‘cult’ career, Immortal never wholeheartedly prescribed to the conventions of their peers – Satan, church burning and murder were replaced […]

Ok, fellow ‘Enemies, before you spontaneously combust at the sight of this review, please know everything (three songs, one video) is included in Century Media’s deluxe edition of Wages of Sin. However, collector geeks and those that simply must have everything by the mighty Arch Enemy will find Burning Angel rewarding. As usual, the Japanese spare […]

For the most part, it’s difficult to swallow a traditional death metal record after spilling ink on the genre and its minions for nearly 10 years. You get to the point where little impresses and you’d rather revert to spinning Left Hand Path than plunk another derivative of a derivative into the stereo. Really, besides […]

The second installment of Anathema’s Resonance retrospective albums is a strange trip when you look at who and what the band currently are. Really, when you reflect on Anathema’s career, the evolution from The Crestfallen EP to the band’s recent album, A Fine Day to Exit, is fairly obvious. For proponents of everything pre-The Silent […]

The opening of Warmen’s second full-length album, Beyond Abilities, is an excerpt from some movie that ends with an old codger stating, “Too many notes.” Truthfully, I couldn’t agree more. Warmen, a project featuring Children Of Bodom’s blazing keyboardist Janne Warmen, Tunnelvision guitarist Sami Virtanen and a slew of sparkling Finnish metal celebrities, is basically […]

Now that fellow labelmates and countrymen My Dying Bride have two excellent retrospectives in the proverbial bag, Anathema get their turn to compile and assemble a collection or two of their own. While Bride’s dual slabs of melancholy were voted by the fans on the group’s website, Anathema here seems particularly adamant over what tracks […]