Wisconsin’s best death metal band returns with their seventh full-length album Creation Undone.  With mainman Axe Grinder and vocalist Dave Gregor fronting the band, they are on fire on this album.  And I do want to get something out of the way right now.  I really do not care how album covers are created – […]

What is the most boring thing you’ve ever heard? Like, go back through those memories and there’s probably something that was as boring as say, watching paint dry or flies fuck, a documentary about the secret lives of boll weevils would be more interesting than that, right? Which brings me to Mortuary Drape and their […]

All the underground maniacs, me included rejoiced in moribund when Autopsy put the pieces back together and reformed in 2008/2009.  The band always a cult favorite was happy to see how their name, over the years, had grown to more than just cult status.  What was originally supposed to be a short-lived reunion became full-blown […]

It stand to reason that with each new album an artist creates, the goal is to showcase the best, most authentic version of themselves. Make no mistake, that doesn’t mean that we, the listeners, have to like the output; but even in those cases where a new album may fall flat on the ears of […]

Well, Chris Reifert and co. are still at it and back with album number 9, their fourth (depending on what you view the 2015 Skull Grinder LP) after returning from an extended hiatus with Macabre Eternal in 2011, an OK if an underwhelming return to the fray. But then we got 2013s The Headless Ritual […]

I’m surprised how low profile a release from a band comprised of death metal legend Chris Reifert (Autopsy, ex Abscess, ex The Ravenous) and his new Autopsy bass player, Greg Wilkinson (Brainoil, Deathgrave, ex Graves at Sea) has been. Even for Peaceville. I wouldn’t have even heard of this project if it wasn’t for a […]

I’m a big fan of Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s long running death metal act – Morta Skuld.  All their releases rule and their 1993 debut Dying Remains is still a huge influence on the death metal scene today.  The band, always being more of a mid-paced demolishing type of death metal machine but still never afraid to […]

By the time you read this, the latest album from Katatonia will have already been on the streets for a couple weeks. I’m sure you’ve read some reviews by now and those are most likely from fan boys or former fan boys. I must give you a fair warning I am no such person. If […]

Norway’s Darkthrone return with their 18th album and Old Star is ass-kicking from start to finish.  First a few things.  Outside of Bathory’s first 6 albums and the 2 Nordland albums, Darkthrone are my favorite black metal band of all time and this is coming from a person that only dabbles in the black metal genre and not full on into all the bands, as many know […]

The death metal scene was abuzz when Paradise Lost‘s Nick Holmes was announced as the new vocalist for Swedish Death metal super group Bloodbath.. The resultant album, The Grand Morbid Funeral was solid, but certainly nothing compared to the band’s first two Akerfeldt and Peter Tagtgren fronted, classic releases. Well, Holmes is back, and is […]

Milwaukee Wisconsin’s Morta Skuld released a monstrous debut album in 1993, Dying Remains and I listened to it constantly.  Beyond quality death metal, with some thrash metal tendencies, but leaning more towards the brutal side of things, like Demolition Hammer and eventually some Solstice influence.  Well fast forward 24 years later and I get to […]

After nearly a decade of inactivity, Novembre are back with one of 2016’s most anticipated returns.  Ursa marks album number seven for the Italians and it wholeheartedly embraces everything that has made the band such a stylish international gem in the extreme metal universe. If you’ve adored the output from Carmelo Orlando and company over […]

So all we need now in 2015 is a release from Anathema, and have it return to the Crestfallen/Serenades sound and all will be right with the world, right? In fairness, while Paradise Lost, one third of the seminal UK doom triumvirate received much deserved praise for The Plague Within,  and rightfully lauded for a ‘return’ to form, […]

Norwegian Avant Garde Heavy Metal has been something of an evolution over the last twenty years.  In looking at Dodheimsgard’s 2015 release, A Umbra Omega we should first start with a trip back to 1996 and a double disc compilation called Blackened: The Black Metal Compilation.  Disc two of this compilation featured a song called,” […]

When Nick Holmes of Paradise Lost was announced as new singer of death metal supergroup Bloodbath, filling the considerably large shoes of Mikael Åkerfeldt and Peter Tagtgren, i thought is was a genius move. Not only getting a big name, but a name that many wanted as they were clamoring to hear Nick growl again once […]

One could argue that all of the iconic, old school death metal bands that took time off, or broke up then came back (Grave, Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Obituary, Fear Factory etc) , Autopsy has had the most successful return of all without a single hiccup or misstep in their comeback. . Three albums in after […]

I’m not sure why it took me two months to crank out a review of Autopsy‘s 6th album, their second since reforming after a near decade layoff, but sometimes I get in a reviewing groove and get a hankering to review something specific. Also A) it’s fucking Autopsy, and B) this albums kills. While 2011’s […]

Oh, good old My Dying Bride, we go back a long way. You commiserated with me during my depressing teen years and helped me feel something whenever life would turn mundane. I’ll admit to skipping over your then-infamous (not so much now) 34.788%… Complete only to discover it’s quirky gloom a few years later, and […]

Slice it and dice it any you’d like, but The Underground Resistance is Darkthrone doing what Darkthrone does best: that being whatever the Darkthrone wants to do. What that has meant on the last few albums especially (and back even further when you really think about it) is that Fenriz and Nocturno have immersed themselves […]

A decade ago, Katatonia made a daring and calculated shift in their style – something that few bands have attempted and even fewer have weathered – and succeeded with their artistic vision and metal reputation intact. Over time, we’ve heard subtle shifts and additions to that evolutionary sideways leap, from the eclectic stomp of Viva Emptiness […]

Lost in all the controversy and arguing over the new Morbid Angel album is the  fact that another legendary, godfather act of death metal also returned after a long hiatus in 2011. The difference is…these guys did it right. After two certifiably classic death metal albums in Severed Survival and Mental Funeral, Autopsy released two  […]

This new Finnish supergroup boasts members of Swallow the Sun, Amorphis, Moonsorrow, Kreator and October Falls. Given that line-up, you know Barren Earth is going to be awash in the lush, soaring melodies and crushing doom-death tones that make Finnish metal so recognizable. That’s convincing enough for me, but the addition of progressive-death structures and […]

Katatonia are influential. Make no mistake about it, this is an act that knows all the right moves and has been a leading entity throughout the years despite their change in sound and musical contemplation. The sheer emotion that circumvents their music is undeniable and with 2009’s Night is the New Day, Katatonia shatters the […]

Personally, I have never really cared for My Dying bride. As much as I love dismal doom metal, this veteran act has never struck the right chord with me. Is that blasphemy? No, it’s just this reviewer’s disposition. However, no one can deny how important this band has been to doom and gloom, and For […]

I was unimpressed with the release of The Roundhouse Tapes on CD only because of my apathy for audio live performances. I just don’t get it. I have the albums. There is no need for me to have a live version. At least Opeth. However, watching a live performance on DVD is a totally different […]