With all the complexity and technicality being thrown around in death metal this year, the third full length album from Japan’s Coffins is a welcome relief of earthy, primal mid paced doom/death metal that will appeal to fans of Cianide, Runemagick and Autopsy. With a phlegmy, hacking, feedback drenched, down-tuned guitar tone plying simple oozing […]

Has 2008 been a great year for death metal so far or what? There’s something for everyone; old school goodness of Hail of Bullets, Dismember, Unleashed. Deranged and Grave, newcomers like Dead Congregation and Detrimentum as well as bands like Hate Eternal, Decrepit Birth and Origin pushing the limits of technicality and brutality. Add to […]

So here is Umesh’s second release of droning, one man black metal for Moribund, and while still retaining the undulating, icky undercurrent of the claustrophobic Dagonite, Angel Eyes sees more of a focus on sickly doomy riffs rather than ambience or mood, and the result while certainly oozing with tentacled horror and dread, is at […]

 WARSHIP, the new band featuring Francis Mark (vocals, drums) and Rob Lauritsen (guitar, bass) of From Autumn To Ashes, is currently in a New York studio recording their debut release with producer Andrew Schneider (Made Out Of Babies, Cave In, Pelican, Unsane). The as-yet-untitled disc is due out on Vagrant later this fall. Fans can […]

Afflicted debuted when the Swedish metal scene was crawling with Entombed and Unleashed clones, all far from any originality. The Stockholm five-piece had a different approach towards death metal – they offered complex and intriguing music, reaching far beyond the typical Swedish school of metal. Their first and most acclaimed album – Prodigal Sun – […]

On Friday June 6th, Austrian Death Machine released the first single from their eagerly awaited debut, Total Brutal. The track, “If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It”, features the voice of Ahhnold as Dutch from the movie Predator screaming back and forth with the Predator himself! “In the first verse Ahhnold is talking trash about […]

Blind Prophecy recording artists EKOTREN have released the “Attack Of The Chupacabra” ecard. Scope it out and get more info on the band at http://www.blindprophecyrecords.com/chupa/.The fine folks at Sik World Clothing have hooked up with the band to bring you the, the fans, a chance to win Ekotren and Sik World merch with the “SIK […]

After boldy claiming their Victory Records debut Goodbye to the Gallows was the ‘most brutal CD of 2007′, Emmure return with their more humble, yet equally devastating follow up. And while admittedly, most metal heads will turn up their nose at this group of cocked hat, short haired kids and their hoodies, but truth be […]

Canada’s Profound Lore offers its official announcement concerning the signing of Ireland’s most promising outfit within extreme music, namely ALTAR OF PLAGUES. Already with a few notable self-released demos/EP’s within their repertoire, along with serving opening acts for MAYMEN and WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM on recent UK stints, Altar Of Plagues are gaining a […]

Dear Metal Friends, As many of you are well aware of, the Goodfellow Records band CURSED was robbed on the second-to-last day of their recent European tour of all of their tour earnings, some of their passports, etc. This included the money that was set aside to pay for all costs of the tour (backline […]

A few months ago, I reviewed the excellent debut full length album from Kansas City’s black metal act Lo-Ruhamah, entitled The Glory of God. The review was well received by the band and subsequently I have stayed in touch with the band and eventually an interview with another publication was set up. However, understandably, the […]

Candlelight Records confirms September 2 as the American release date for De Oppresso Liber, the full-length debut from Los Angeles-based black metal band Sothis. Recorded in Los Angeles and mixed in Sweden by Andy LaRocque (King Diamond) the album includes nine new original songs. The band is Candlelight’s latest American acquisition, a strong focus of […]

So last spring, Metal Blade cock teased me to no end by including a post card with “Coming in 2007-new Shai Hulud album!” on it, and I’ve pretty much had a boner for it ever since, as Shai Hulud is one of my favorite bands ever since their arguable involvement in developing the current modern […]

Stockholm, Sweden-based heavy metal powerhouse GRAND MAGUS has completed work on its long awaited new album, Iron Will. The record will see a July 8, 2008 North American release date via London, England based label Rise Above Records. Boasting an epic sound that melds sledgehammer metal with triumphant, soaring melodies, a fist-pumping gallop and the […]

UK grinders BRAINCHOKE have set the release date for their new album, ‘Introspective’, for July 7th. The album is self released and will be officially distributed by Grindethic Records and Code 7 via Phd. The release is an idiosyncratic blast of old school grindcore mixing the traditional sound of bands like Napalm Death and Nasum […]

Kolossus, the new album from Norwegian metallers KEEP OF KALESSIN, is available for streaming in its entirety at the band’s MySpace page. Due in Europe on June 6 and in North America on June 10, the CD will feature the following track listing: 01. Origin 02. A New Empire’s Birth 03. Against The Gods 04. […]

It’s a good thing I got the recent Day Without Dawn album around the same time I got the debut release from this Italian post rock band, because now I have something to compare At The Soundawn to; shimmering, delicate, acoustic heavy, artistic post rock. While more of a long EP (7 songs) than a […]

Chicago’s ever-evolving NACHTMYSTIUM will join their similarly sonically expansive brethren in Boris and Torche for a week-long run through parts of Canada and the U.S. The tour will see the band play from Montreal to Milwaukee in mid-July, when they can then pull from both the Worldfall EP and their June 8th full-length Century Media […]

Somewhere between the present day and unfortunate endings of PG.99, CITY OF CATERPILLAR and MALADY, a “lost” recording was created but shelved for several years. Five dynamic tracks that collided with both artistic and industry red tape comprise the VERSE EN COMA debut release, “Rialto“. Finally though the dust has settled, the hurdles have all […]

Much like Animosity when they released Shut it Down in 2003, or Decapitated’s Winds of Creation debut in 2000, California’s Fate is a group of very talented young teens plying thier chosen genre, in this case crumbly, growling death core laced with Between the Buried and Me-like arpeggios. Despite members barely out of high school […]

Repetition is the name of the game for Buffalo, NY’s Wrath of the Weak and their second album of bleak, dystopian and clinical one band basement black metal that’s as interesting as its cover art.  Sole member ‘J’, while certainly having a grasp of the requisite atonality, atmospheres and tenets of the genre, simply does […]

IMPALED releases new music video. Preceding their upcoming descent upon the shores of Europe, Impaled unleashes a new video onslaught. Culling from their latest album for Willowtip Records / Candlelight UK, The Last Gasp, the band has self-produced a cinematic abortion for the song “G.O.R.E.” “Heading to the Old World this summer for our second […]

As a child, one of the movies that left an indelible imprint on my psyche was 1978’s Watership Down. As a five year old I was too young to grasp the political, religious, social and possibly misogynistic undercurrent of the movie based on Richard Adam’s deeply engrossing literary works-I was too busy being horrified by […]

Drudgery, Featuring Ex-Members of Exhumed, Fuck The Facts and Dear Black Diary Signs With Year of the Sun Records. Guelph, Ontario based grind/hardcore act DRUDGERY has signed with Year of the Sun Records for the release of their upcoming debut EP, “RUST”. DRUDGERY is the new project spearheaded by drummer Matt Connell (EX-FUCK THE FACTS, […]

Continually overlooked in the doom scene yet consistently brilliant and evolving, Ireland’s Mourning Beloveth, have yet again improved from album to album. This time, the band has improved on the brilliant A Murderous Circus by adding even more classic doom flair to their already draining funeral doom lope. As with A Murderous Circus, Mourning Beloveth […]