2008 was a pretty good year for melodic, contemporary hard core with the likes of Verse, Have Heart, Brothers, Take It Back and the almighty Killing the Dream. Yet here comes this nautical themed debut from this awesome SoCal three piece featuring members of Graf Orlock and comes close to taking the throne of 2008s […]

Way back in 2005 before metalcore and deathcore annoyed everyone, The Classic Struggle released their solid debut, Feel Like Hell, and at the time was one of the heavier displays of the genre I had heard. Fast Forward three years and unfortunately The Classic Struggle like With Dead Hands Rising and Embrace the End, simply […]

Great, another group of kids playing off the wall spazzy, crumbly, squealy deathcore. Except this lot are named after a Mitch Hedberg joke, have lots of samples (including Dane Cook and Anchorman), goofy song titles and quirky synths and an oh so quirky sense of humor. And somehow they’ve done this for 3 fucking albums […]

The Savannah, Georgia-based KYLESA, who recently finished recording their fourth studio album, will tour Japan for the first time early next year. The seven-show trek will correspond with the official Japanese release of the band’s acclaimed 2006 album, “Time Will Fuse Its Worth,” on Red Cobalt Industries. Additional information about the limited-edition release, which features […]

Founded in 2003 by brothers Wes and Jeremy Fareas, the New Approach to Martyrs Expressions (Name), is an amalgam of experimental tech metal, grindcore, ambient sounds, freeform jazz, blues, cultural world music, an odd sense of humor, and maniacal mood swings. Known for their chaotic energy, Name breathes vivid new life onto the stage. Name […]

The Asian symphonic black metal band ChthoniC, who made international headlines by championing Taiwanese democracy from the Ozzfest and Wacken stages last summer, has recently finished recording their new album “MIRROR OF RETRIBUTION” which is a concept album in Los Angeles with producer (and Anthrax guitarist) Rob Caggiano (Cradle of Filth, Bleeding Through). This marks […]

The third in Willowtip’s excellent recent grindcore revival trilogy (Phobia, Kill the Client), Maruta (a Japanese name for the collective victims in the infamous Unit 731 war crimes) ironically lies somewhere between the two as they mix furious, relentless modern grindcore with a more classic power chord driven sound. Seething blast beats feral screams, deep […]

New Zealand’s ULCERATE have finished recording their new album, Everything Is Fire. Scheduled for an early 2009 release, Ulcerate’s second full-length album further refines and expands their work on 2008’s Of Fracture and Failure. Punishing, churning dissonance mixed with their trademarked sense of melody and textured rhythm work, coupled with a greater foray into mood […]

Despite the switch from Deepsend to Unique Leader, little has changed in the Lecherous Nocturne camp. They still feature Mike Poggione (Monstrosity, Carpharnaum) on bass, they still unleash blistering blackened death metal, still under 30 minutes in length, and its still pretty good stuff. Coming it at 28 minutes, compared to Adoration of the Blade’s […]

Captivating UK buzz band DIAGONAL has completed work on its highly anticipated debut album. The progressive jazz-rock group will release the self-titled Diagonal in North America on January 27, 2009 via Rise Above Records. A seven piece from Brighton on the UK’s south coast, all in their mid twenties, DIAGONAL is very much at the […]

According to Unrestrainedmag.com, one of the metal media’s pioneers, Adrian Bromley, who started e-zine Chronicles of Chaos as well as Unrestrained Magazine and recently worked for The End Records and Ixmati Media, has passed away. From Unrestrainedmag.com; “It is with a very heavy heart we report that Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley passed away in his […]

Worse Than Alone out March 10, 2009 on Eyeball Records THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU announce a new March 10, 2009 release date for their third full-length release, Worse Than Alone (Eyeball Records). The Bergen County, NJ five-piece self-produced the disc at Backroom Studios in Rockaway, NJ and brought in acclaimed producer/mixer Steve Evetts […]

Though I was very impressed with this young act’s debut, Akeldama back in 2006, my recent experience of them at this year’s Summer Slaughter, and exposure to their new material left me somewhat unimpressed. Whether it was the lack of full time keyboard player, the more experimental material, or just an off night in a […]

SHADOW KINGDOM RECORDS, the Pittsburgh-based heavy metal/rock label and online store, has a slew of hard to find/rare reissues as well as new signings coming out in 2009. The record label comments, “There is so much good material that never was released on CD from the 70’s and 80’s and I’ve made sure with SHADOW […]

To celebrate a year since its original release, UK thrashers EVILE’s ripping debut album ENTER THE GRAVE has been reissued as a special redux edition and is now available worldwide! This limited edition version of EVILE’s FLEMMING RASMUSSEN-produced (METALLICA) modern thrash masterpiece features the album housed in a special slipcase, and includes three bonus tracks, […]

I’ve enjoyed watching Light This City evolve from their rough and ready debut The Hero Cycle in 2003 to through their brilliant third album,  Facing the Thousand , to what is now their swansong, Stormchaser, a mere five years later. The band has evolved from a mere At The Gates worship to a powerful, polished an […]

Until recently the metal singer was simply the the ugly, male dominated voice of metal. With female singers being almost common place nowadays, I thought I’d take a lot of some of my favorite female vocalists in metal, both old and new and the bands they play or played. Once considered merely eye candy for Goth metal bands, female singers are now growling screaming and rocking as hard as thier male conterparts, and far easier on the eye. The ones listed below deserve more than “hottest chicks in metal” spread in Decibel Magazine as they bring the vocal thunder and have helped bring women further into previously un-thought of territory.

Whats next? Allowing them to vote?

Fast-rising British death metallers IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION recently finished recording their highly anticipated debut album, OF WINTER BORN, and have made a brand new track from the album available to stream at their MySpace page, which has also been updated with brand new album artwork.Prepare yourself for the forthcoming brutality by listening to the new track, […]

Daylight Dies will join Soilwork and Darkane for the start of their upcoming US tour beginning January 30 in Rochester, New York. Continuing to support their latest record, Lost to the Living, Daylight Dies were selected to replace Warbringer who are unable to start the tour due to extended recording obligations. “We are all ecstatic […]

Rumored to be the brainchild of Robcore labelhead Rob Crow of indie wunderkinds Pinback, Goblin Cock is focused, primed, and ready to pull the pin on the follow-up to their mammoth debut Bagged And Boarded on Absoultely Kosher Records, which was nominated for three Plug Awards including Metal Album Of The Year.  With songs about […]

While you might expect yet another clichéd take of breakdown reliant deathcore based on the band name, label and overly dramatic album title, the fact is, once you discover The Plasmarifle hail from arguably the tech metal capital of the world, Montreal, feature former Neuraxis vocalist Maynard Moore and a familiarly tight mastering effort from […]

egura Bunget’s first four releases will soon be re-issued in Digipaks with improved artwork. “From Transylvanian Forest” is the only demo recording from Wiccan Rede, the legendary precursors to Negura Bunget. This re-release with two bonus tracks lays bare the roots of Negura Bunget in an unique way. On their debut album “Zîrnindu-Sã”, the Romanians […]

Eudaimony is the new band of Matthias Jell (ex-Dark Fortress), Marcus E. Norman (Naglfar, Bewitched), Jörg Heemann (Secrets Of The Moon), and Michael Håkansson (ex-Evergrey, ex-The Forsaken). Following their dictum ‘Negativity in its purest form’, this quartet combines doomy, disharmonic music with lyrics from the downbeat and hopeless side of life. You can listen to […]

Due to their ferocious female vocalist Grace Perry and a solid mix of thrash, hardcore and Bolt Thrower, Arizona’s Landmine Marathon have always been in my periphery, but never quite taken it to the next level. With their 2006 debut release Wounded and subsequent split EP , they only come across as a band with […]

First off, before you read this review, go here  and check out Medeia’s killer video for the single “Cold Embrace”. Making fun of black metal? Making fun of themselves? Who cares-it’s awesome. Hailing from Finland, Cult is the second album from Medeia, a melodic death metal band that utilize keyboards and a very US sounding […]