Despite the Pantera based album title, Canada’s Senate actually deliver one of the more solid self released efforts heard that’s up there with the likes of The Fifth Sun, Martriden, and Empyrean Eclipse as far as well put together, well packaged and well played self released efforts. Armed with a Tue Madsen mastering job, as […]

After a debut EP (which was subsequently re-issued shortly thereafter), here is the debut full length from Boston hardcore outfit, Death Before Dishonor and while not really delivering anything new to the genre, the more classic East Coast approach replaces the burly, more Hatebreed-ish sounds of the EP. With more of an emphasis on punky […]

After the more earthy debut, Forever Advancing…..Legions, the follow up, Worlds Beyond the Veil, cemented Mithras as an upcoming English death metal act that might be the new hope for the Uk’s extreme metal scene, and now with Behind the Shadows Lie Madness, the band appears ready to join death metal’s elite. Continuing the ethereal, […]

Is it really the tenth album from Gary Meskill and co.? Truth be told except for the debut, 1992’s Foul Taste of Freedom, I couldn’t recall any of the bands other 9 forgetful but blue collar albums, but only recently armed with the knowledge that Built Upon Frustation’s Eric Klingler has played guitars for Pro-Pain […]

I could be forgiven for almost summing up Vital Remains’ new album as Dechristianize part 2. I mean, dramatic intro (painful sample from “The Passion of the Christ”) followed by Glen Benton bellowing “WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?” as opposed to “LET THE KILLING BEGIN”, then a lengthy 8 minute track consisting of a furious […]

After the stunning debut from these Finnish melodeath upstarts, Spirits And August Light, the ceiling was supposed to be limitless for this young act who breathed life into a then dying genre. However, the follow up, Years In Waste was a letdown and many though maybe Omnium Gatherum were a one hit wonder. Well, finally […]

I’m not a huge fan of live material, with maybe Iron Maiden’s Live After Death and a few Manowar CDs and DVD’s in my collection that are live stuff, that being said, I’m very impressed with this live CD and separate DVD from Canada’s symphonic, melodic black metal act Blinded By Faith. With only and […]

While most see Canada as the epoch of complex, technical metal, Quebec’s Sordid make no qualms about being a more simplistic yet well done homage to the likes of Dying Fetus, Internal Bleeding, Misery Index , Dying Fetus, Despondency, Dehumanized, oh and did I mention Dying Fetus? The NYDM sound is rife within Sordid’s groove […]

Way back in my metal reviewing youth, I reviewed an album on Cold Blood Industries by a Dutch band called I.N.R.I ( aka Insane Non-Commercialized Rock Institute), called Hyper Bastard Breed -and boy was it ever a scorcher; a simply killer blend of high octane thrash and death metal done absolutely perfectly. Well, that album […]

Though not a six year hiatus like the wait between their debut and follow up the excellent Condemned to Suffer, the three year wait for the All Out War’s third album is over, and the line-up issues that seem to cause the band’s less than prolific offering, seems to have been settled with much of […]

Here’s a decent debut of experimental, industrial, post black metal from a young Dutch band that should appeal to the likes of Dodheimsgard, VEGA and Aboryrm . While the mix of mechanical, Fear Factory styled atmospherics, dark ambient soundscapes, sampling and blistering yet adventurous black metal is a hard balance to find, CHD manage to […]

In my recent quest to expand my ambient, bleak, depressive black metal horizons, I’ve been pretty much lapping up everything I can find in the sordid underbelly of the genre and it’s turned up a lot of great music like Leviathan, Draugar, Blood of The Black Owl, The Ruins of Beverast, Bergraven, Shining and such. […]

So France’s Overcome Records has released two blistering grindcore records, one of which being the Tolkein named (Mumakil is taken from the Lord Of The Rings and is the Black Speech plural word for the giant oliphaunts) side project of several members of Swiss experimental metalcore act Knut (the other being Blockheads); and it’s a […]

Here’s another addition to the depressive, doomy black metal genre from France’s Mourning Dawn, formed by Inborn Suffering’s (a pretty solid funeral doom band in their own right) Laurent, and while not quite as elite or disturbing as come of their county mates (Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Vehementer Nos, Obscurus Advocam, etc), and with […]

With some foreign releases under their belt, Israel’s Total Rust Music now turn towards their own country by way of the debut album from The Knell, and the fact this record was mastered by Greg Chandler of the UK’s Esoteric, should give you some idea as to Harm’s style. Rumbling, plodding classic doom/death metal with […]

Whereas The Showdown (in my opinion) whiffed mightily on their recent attempt at Southern tinged hardcore, the second effort from former Underoath singer Dallas Taylor and his cronies is, much like their self titled debut, an perfectly executed example of incest, trailer park and whiskey fueled hardcore. Quite a few bands are injecting Southern elements […]

So after their recent Xasthur release, drone label Hyrda Head takes another leap into the black metal elite with the second album from Sweden’s one man, avant-garde black metal act Bergraven. I still think, to this day that Fleurety’s Mid Tid Skall Komme is one of the more under-rated black metal albums that surfaced during […]

I thought World of Lies was a big step forward from these Aussie industrial/techno grinders, as they introduced some actual death metal based song writing and restraint to their programmed fury. However, Animosity sees a bit of a return to the pure relentlessness of Dissimulate. Free from frequent samples (and masks), Animosity gets right to […]

 doubt few would argue than Neurosis and Isis are the cream of the crop or even the genre’s inventors when in comes to the post –rock/hardcore, ambient sludge drone stuff, heck the genre is pretty much called “NeurIsis-core” by most media outlets including myself. However, there’s a teeming second tier of acts vying for your […]

Wow. A devastatingly heavy Christian hardcore with some serious attitude to go with their beliefs and it makes for a pretty fucking crushing debut, and one of Facedown’s better releases. Even Facedown’s other Christian acts such as Alove For Enemies, Inked In Blood and War of Ages, can’t compete with Sleeping Giant’s blatant Christian rage […]

There’s hardcore then there’s HARD-FUCKIN-CORE. Bands like Built Upon Frustration, Sleeping Giant, Black My Heart, Redline and such make the Hot Topic core likes of Hatebreed, Terror, First Blood and their ilk look like choir boys, and Poland’s No Heaven Awaits Us is a nice addition to that group. As expected from Lifeline Records, this […]

Where as most ambient post rock, Neurosis/Isis Styled metal seems to be intent on mixing dreamy moments of lucid ambience and beautiful introspection amid their cascading riffs, however Arkansas’ Rwake, have for their four album career focused on a more disturbing and fractured delivery of the now saturated genre, making them stand out from the […]

Right. I’ve almost had it with this whole kids playing deathcore/grind spazz tech bullshit. While I generally embrace the heavier, more death metal aspect of this genre (Despised Icon, Ion Dissonance, Whitechapel, Diskreet, Knights of the Abyss, At The Throne of Judgment, Woe of Tyrants, etc) this overly spazzy, emo plagued, screechy, quirky, pseudo grind […]

Afer self releasing this stunning EP late last year, here come Montana’s Martriden (named after a Norse nightmare inducing wraith) now armed with an appropriate and deserved record deal, re-releasing thier 4 song (though each song ranges for 5-7 minutes), debut that deserved the attention of SOA/Candlelight and now deserves the attention of fans of […]

Along with Mastodon, Shadow’s Fall are the latest metal darling to sign to a major label, and while Mastodon seem to have passed with flying colors, it seems Shadow’s Fall also seems on track to break the major label curse. Now, let’s get one thing straight; I happen to think the Phil Labonte (now of […]