Indonesia is dumping out some brutal bands left and right. For me, the leaders in this scene are Decaying Humanity. I reviewed their monstrous debut album last year, and now here is the debut album from Multiwomb. Much of the time, the Indonesian death metal albums are super short, and this follows the format, with […]

Germany’s Schattenvald (Shadowforest) has been knocking around since 1998, but didn’t release an album until 2007, and has released 5 albums since, yet somehow neither I nor any of the staff here has covered them. And we love us some German black metal in these here parts. As I said in my review of Nazghor’s […]

Believe it or not, still now and again, a debut album surprises me in a really good way. I’ve heard every style within every genre for decades, folks. Back in 2019, my longtime friend Matt Bishop was on one of my favorite debut brutal death metal albums, in a long time, Excruciating Extermination, from Horrific […]

This is gonna be the easiest review I’ll have to write in 2026. It’s a Vomitory album. Done. I mean, of course I could flesh this thing out and ramble on about this being the band’s 9th album (11th if you count the Cut Up hiatus/ detour they band took after sort of breaking up […]

Gore Machine, from Philadelphia, returns with album number two – Congealed and Foaming. The debut from two years ago, Macerated & Liquified, was a pretty good brutal death metal album. Just like that one, this is a one-man show with Druesome doing it all. The first album cover was fun and gruesome, however this album […]

There have been stellar Black Metal bands coming out of the Middle East for years: Melechesh, Akvan, and Orphaned Land, to name three. Nile, while playing Middle Eastern Death Metal, is still from South Carolina, so they barely qualify (in sound only). So, having said that, I’m here to talk about Gomma, a one-man outfit […]

I know I’ve been reviewing a significant amount of metalcore lately, but it’s not been heavy enough. It’s been too sweet for my tastes, and I don’t have a sweet tooth. This is where Chamber comes in. To even call this “metalcore” is generous. It’s heavy, suffocating, in-your-face, and other adjectives. I am serious when […]

Germany’s death/thrash act Messticator is a relatively new act formed with former and ex- members of various other German thrash and death metal bands I am not familiar with, like Embers of Flesh and Devarium. Total Mastery is their second album, following up 2022s Forthcoming Revelation.  As they all do, the promo materials tell me […]

I reviewed Immolation’s eleventh album Acts of God, four years ago and here we are with album #12, Descent. This album is a little more streamlined, and this lineup has been intact for a decade so they are firing on all cylinders with Ross Dolan on bass/vox, Rob Vigna and Alex Bouks on guitar and […]

Relationships can make your spirit uplifted, and you’re invincible with your partner. But then something happens, and the spark goes out, there are accusations and distrust; both of you are trying to break each other down until you’re shells of your former selves. Loss, disconnect from the joyful aspects of life, and venomous anger are […]

Swedish/HM2 death metal can come from anywhere these days. There are stellar bands in the style from France (Iron Flesh), Japan (Heteropsy), Greece (Abyssus), Chile (Soulrot), Russia (Wombripper), Germany (Lifeless), Czechia (Brutally Deceased), Poland (Ulcer), Australia (Earth Rot), Venezuela (Nocturnal Hollow) and the USA (Sentinet Horror), just to name a few. Newcomers, Necrogore are from […]

If you’re unfamiliar with Canada’s Threat Signal, that’s understandable, as Revelations is only their fifth full-length, but they’ve been around since 2004. They haven’t exactly been prolific, especially considering this is the first album in nine years. I honestly never thought I’d see another album, so this was a welcome surprise. Their sound is described […]

Well, honk my hooter, this debut album from brand new tech/dm band Delirious Compulsion knocked my slippers right off my pathetic feet. The band is made up of individuals from the United Kingdom / United States / Czechia / Switzerland. My brother Dakota Rivera provides the putrid vocals, and I was blown away to see […]

The thing I love about a pepper? A pepper has range. A pepper can be much deeper and more complex than a lot of folks are willing to explore and give it credit for. Sure, a pepper can certainly provide spice – at times, alarmingly so – and if you do happen to be one of those […]

Poland is a literal hotbed of Death/ Black and Folk Metal. Their most notable outputs are Behemoth and Vader (among others), but you can add Varmia to the mix of solid extreme music bands from the region. I last spoke about them with high praises for their EP Prolog (2023) and Nie nas widzę (also […]

Inoffensive, paint-by-numbers, cookie-cutter, and lacking heft are usually not descriptors I bestow upon albums I enjoy. However… They still apply here. So, what I’m saying is that Colors in Grey by Oathbound is not for me. This is for the metal-curious folks. I’d imagine this gets rotations on Sirius Octane along with all the other […]

I sort of enjoyed the two prior releases from Sweden’s cosmic black metal act, Lightlorn; the debut EP, These Nameless Worlds, and the 2023 debut full-length, At One with the Night Sky. I own both physical CDs, and they fill that early Deafheaven, Soul Dissolution, Alkhemia, Vallendusk, Numeron, Vela Pulsar, Spectral Lore styled melodic/atmospheric black […]

So quite a bunch of things have been swirling around the Exodus camp over the last few years. First and foremost, Goliath is the long-time thrashers’ 13th album and first for new label Napalm Records. I am a huge Exodus fan and have reviewed their last several albums and have seen them live a bunch […]

Recently, I’ve been on a bit of a super heavy, metallic hardcore/beatdown,  ‘not quite deathcore/slam’ bender with bands like Orphan, True Temper, Misery Whip, Beyond the Styx, Glassbone, Unfazed, Braces, Grounds For Assault, Silverlake Murder, Hounds of War, Traitors, Nailwound, Pintglass, Mugshot, No Cure, etc. But when this came across my desk, I thought it […]

Like a bolt of lightning piercing your eardrums, Texans Necrofier have returned to deliver their blistering third full-length called Transcend Into Oblivion. Twelve saber-toothed tracks of prime USBM, and let me tell you friends and neighbors, it’s a fucking wild animal. There’s nothing better than a solid banger Black Metal album, and that’s what Necrofier […]

When seeing the band name Axe Dragger…I wonder why they did not choose the name Axe Dagger??? Anyway, you must scream in your highest power metal voice.. AXE DRAGGGGGEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! From their bio: American heavy metal supergroup Axe Dragger (featuring current and former members of Fu Manchu, Pantera, Dark Funeral, and Pentagram) team up with Metal […]

After covering 2020s Old Old Death back in 2020, I missed 2023s Fandens Skall, Tulus’s 4th effort since reforming in 2007, after the band’s successful  Khold offshoot. As I stated in my review of Old Old Death, Tulus and Khold are/were essentially interchangeable in terms of sound and style; simple, cold, riff driven Norweigian black […]

It’s okay, Lamb of God. You changed your logo, and along with the artwork for the new album, Into Oblivion, it looks like an early 2000s Geocities website. Am I bitter about it? No, of course not. It’s not like a certain writer for this distinguished online tome has the LOG from Wrath tattooed on […]

I rather enjoy Italy’s Dusktone Records; they have a solid offering of symphonic black/death metal bands/releases (The Gloomy Radiance of the Moon, Voland, Obscura Qalma, Svartghast), that I enjoy, as well as a very solid stable of reissues and compilations (Einherjer, Stormlord, Aborym, Spite Extreme Wing, etc). The latest of their offerings that has caught […]

The social media algorithm did its thing with Unverkalt. I can’t recall exactly which app, but an ad popped up showing them. I saw the band photo and the fact they’re on Season of Mist, which naively led me to believe they are a symphonic metal band, which is usually not something up my alley, […]