So I wrote a draft of a review for Last Retch‘s Abject Cruelty, but decided to let fellow scribe J Mays handle it. But I still gave that album lots of spins. So, when I got the promo for Montreal’s Scorching Tomb, also a Canadian death metal band on the Italian label Time To Kill […]

Any band, fan, or reader of my reviews knows I love all forms of extreme music, and when it comes to death metal, yes, I will admit to saying the scene is way too saturated with a bajillion bands. I do, however, love a lot of the new bands. When it comes to extreme music, […]

Centinex has been spreading OSSDM (Old School Swedish Death Metal) to the masses since 1991 with their aptly titled Stupid Humanity demo, it came out the year I graduated, as a matter of fact. Now that I’m feeling old as fuck, I’m loving the nostalgia brought on with their amazing new album, With Guts and […]

Argesk is a symphonic black metal band hailing from Manchester, England, and they should be on you radar if you are a fan of one of the UK’s more prominent bands in the genre, Hecate Enthroned, as Argesk features former Hecate drummer Bob Kendrick, who played on lauded albums such as Redimus, Kings Of Chaos, Dark […]

When I picked this album, I didn’t have a clue what it would sound like. I love Americana (Bluegrass), whatever the fuck you want to call it, being born in Kentucky I was kind of immersed in it and old school Country, and before I get hate mail (there’s always that one motherfucker); Nergal from […]

Vocalist Ralf Hauber and Jonny Pettersson (guitars/ bass/keys) have been slinging their twisted brand of horror death metal that is Heads for the Dead since 2017. For this album, Never Ending Night of Terror – their fourth album – Evan Daniele was called in to play the drums, and Matt Moliti is the second guitarist. […]

Not too long ago, I spoke at length about the Balls to the Wall RELOADED album that Udo Dirkschneider put out. Guess what? I loved it. C’mon, that’s such a great album, the defining songs of a generation. Is Babylon just as killer as that album? Yes, but in its own way. Allow me to […]

Hailing from the Netherlands, Terzij De Horde (loosely meaning ‘away from the horde’), is a veteran black metal band that has been around since 2010 with a slew of singles, EPs, splits, and two full-length albums up until this point. However, this album, their third, is the first time I have heard them. But will […]

So, the last time I sat down to review a 1914 record (2021’s Where Fear and Weapons Meet), the geopolitical landscape of the world was in a very different place. Suffice to say that the world just 4 years ago, even in the midst of a global pandemic, somehow seemed like much less bleak and desperate a time […]

I don’t know what you expect from a new band comprised of three former and founding Amon Amarth members: Anders Biazzi (whom I am very familiar with in projects like Gods Forsaken, Just Before Dawn, and Blood Mortized), Niko Kaukinen, and Fredrik Andersson. Then throw in session bassist  Tobias Cristiansson (Necrophobic, Grave, Dismember, etc) Power Metal? Deathcore? Prog Rock? […]

Meat and potatoes Death Metal should be its own sub-genre by this point. A dish served in a chipotle sauce with eyeballs stuffed with foie gras and finger sausages, and a nice blood pudding for dessert. Santa Cruz natives Torture Hammer are back, following a Demo called Dormant Horror released last year (I haven’t heard […]

I had an itch for Power Metal that needed to be scratched the other day. So I went and checked out Terra Atlantica, and that pretty much did it for me… for that day. Yeah, I needed to scratch the itch again; this time with the ultra-Helloween-ish (from the Walls of Jericho era) band Armoured […]

I’m so perpetually behind, one can say I will never catch up. So, being Blindfolded and Led to the Woods doesn’t sound so bad right now. I also share the same hardships as The Hardest Thing About Being God Is That No One Believes Me. That’s a different story for another time. That lengthy band […]

Some pretty good black/death metal has come out this year and last year: Imperishable, Hate, Keres, Black Hole Deity, Chaos Inception, Patristic, Nekodeus, and Proscription, to name a few. But the debut from this international project with members of  Drowstorm, Vahrzaw, Vintertodt, Burden of Ymir, Calling of Phasmic Presence (none of which I am familiar […]

NYHC in da house mofos!!!!! Echoes In Eternity is the 13th studio album from NHYC legends Agnostic Front. I had the pleasure of seeing them live at The Ritz in NYC in 1991. Headliners were the mighty S.O.D. – this show was video recorded and became the legendary Live at Budokan show. Opening the show […]

You may or may not have heard of Bristol’s killing squad, Plague Pit. That’s okay if you haven’t… yet. Apparently, there was a band out of Dublin with the same name, and they’re split up, so it’s kind of irrelevant. Hopefully, after reading this humble review, you will trample over your neighbors to be the […]

Maggot Stomp, with yet another home run of a band in Corpse Pile. If you’re into bands like Creeping Death, Deadly Remains, Sanguisugabogg you are in for a real treat. Corpse Pile combines heavy hardcore beat down moments, but make no mistake, this is death metal through and through. In the Beginning… is their new […]

There are some bands that don’t require introductions, but you do it anyway because they’ve been around for so long that you’d feel like a dickhead if you didn’t. So I’m here today to discuss the new album from Today is the Day called Never Give In. Do I sound less than enthusiastic? Yeah, I’m […]

If you’re not a fan of Tribal Gaze’s previous album, The Nine Choirs, you should be. If you still aren’t after checking out, then I’m not your buddy, friend! The good news is that the new one, Inveighing Brilliance, travels the same path. If you’re unfamiliar, they peddle the same old school death metal revival […]

I’m trying hard to remember when I first heard Author and Punisher. I’m going to say it was between Women and Children from 2013 and Beastland… 2018 sounds about right. Anyway, it’s been a minute, and when I saw that they were releasing a new album, I had to pick my jaw off the floor. […]

In psychology, the term ‘Shadow Work’ is used to describe the process of exploring the unconscious reasons behind your feelings or behaviors, particularly uncomfortable emotions that seem out of character or beyond your control. Like, “Why do I hate my co-worker?”?. Yay! I finally used my college degree. So what is Despised Icon trying to […]

If you were a fan of Germany’s Rotting Demise and their 2023 self-released debut, My Whole Wrath, you might be in for a bit of a shock for the follow-up, The Unholy Veil of Silence, also self-released. Not a bad thing, but the band’s style of chuggy, sometimes Bolt Thrower-y death metal has all but […]

France’ Horror Within released a damn good EP in 2022, Awaiting Extinction, and now equipped with a brand new label, Soul Awakening, their debut album is unleashed. The band also welcomes in new vocalist Loris Padovani. The EP had some technical death metal moments as well as deathcore nods. Soul Awakening is a different beast […]

Life is complicated. Reviewing albums can be complicated as well, especially if you’re torn between loving and just sort of liking an album. What’s even worse is when the band in question has been around forever and you’ve been a fan for a long time. Such is my dilemma with Hooded Menace and their 7th […]

Long Island’s Internal Bleeding has been through it; from arguably being one of the progenitors of ‘slam’ death metal with their first two albums, (featuring our own Frank Rini on vocals) then mixing even more hardcore elements, which seemed to divide fans, then lots of member turnover, label jumping, a 10 year hiatus where they […]