Sharing 3/5 of its members with new, very popular deathcore act Crown Magnetar, you’d be forgiven for simply assuming Detroit’s And Hell Followed With was a new, flash in the pan band that sounds exactly like Crown Magnetar. And they do play deathcore, so you’d be partially correct. However, let’s not forget that AHFW were […]

I’m surprised how low profile a release from a band comprised of death metal legend Chris Reifert (Autopsy, ex Abscess, ex The Ravenous) and his new Autopsy bass player, Greg Wilkinson (Brainoil, Deathgrave, ex Graves at Sea) has been. Even for Peaceville. I wouldn’t have even heard of this project if it wasn’t for a […]

I think we can all agree that Willowtip has been one of the most consistently reliable US-based extreme metal labels around since they kicked out the Creation is Crucifixion/Fate of Icarus split back in 1998. From legendary bands like Rune, Watchmaker, Defeated Sanity, and Impaled, to recent bands like Hath, Cathexis, Contrarian and Ominous Ruin, […]

I was just recently randomly listening to  Unsane, Insane, and Mentally Deranged, the debut album from Sweden’s Murder Squad, an early 00s supergroup featuring members of Grave, Entombed and Merciless with a guest appearance from Autopsy’s very own Chris Reifert. And I thought to myself, ‘Man. I have not heard a homage to Autopsy delivered […]

If you consider yourself an Emperor fan, there are 2 releases this spring/summer of 2022, that you need to be aware of. If you are a fan of the more technical,  latter, Prometheus, IX Equilibrium era stuff, then the upcoming release from Sweden’s, Katharos, Of Lineages Long Forgotten, will be right up your alley. However, […]

Following up on 2020s excellent second album, Eisenzeit, Germany’s war-mongering death metal cohorts Scalpture (I’m still not sure what a Scalpture is…) return with album number 3, and boy is it a scorcher. Continuing the band’s war-obsessed themes and sound that’s part Hail of Bullets, part Asphyx (especially in the vocal department), and part Bolt […]

France’s Hurakan (the Mayan god of wind, storm, and fire?) has apparently undergone a bit of rebirth from their first two more brutal death metal/slamming death/tech death albums, which feature songs titles like “Brutal Slamming Shit”, “Intergalactic Moo Moo Imperator”, “Xenometh” and “Transdimensional Whorehouse Spaceship”. They have changed logos, and now jumped on the more […]

Spacefaring hype beast, John Goblikon is back with his musical band in tow after an almost 4 year layoff since the aptly named Welcome to Bonkers back in 2018. And not much has changed from this hard to pigeon-hole, but fun as fuck band, as they still play a sort of melodic death metal with […]

I’ve been a big fan of Maine’s Falls of Rauros for a while now with the band’s last 2 efforts, 2017s Vigilance Perennial and 2019s Patterns in Mythology making my year-end lists, with the former being in my top three for 2017. So it kind of pains me to say that that trend might end […]

Though they started releasing albums in 2010, one could argue that the 2011 releases by Entrails (The Tomb Awaits) and Corpsessed ( The Dagger & The Chalice EP) were the label’s watershed, ‘we have arrived’ releases. Of course, Corpsessed waited another three years to release a debut full-length, Abysmal Thresholds in 2014, but by then […]

It’s been 2 years since Ulcerate released Stare into Death and be Still. So if you are fiending for that twisty-turny style of dissonant , experimental death metal, may I offer up Canada’s husband and wife duo, Crown of Madness? With a shared love of video games and death metal, this couple has delivered a stellar, […]

The undisputed heirs to Dismember‘s throne (here’s hoping for a reunion after the 2022 Maryland Deathfest), Demonical is back with album number 7, and as expected, there are absolutely zero surprises or curveballs from a band that features former members of Centinex and Grave.   They can pretty much do this in their sleep. Essentially delivering […]

Rampant mimicry is a large part of metal; Whether in the rip-off or homage category. There are 1000s of Cannibal Corpse clones. Just as many Suffocation clones and don’t get me started on Bolt Thrower and Entombed/Dismember. And those bands have their place, especially as the originals flag or call it quits. Some are really […]

Sometimes production can make me overlook average or bad music. I’ll gladly listen to just OK albums if they have a killer guitar tone. Lord knows Ive got some pretty average CDs in my collection, that I retain merely due to the killer Stockholm HM 2 buzz (I’m looking at you Torture Pulse‘s God Leash), […]

I snagged the debut from Denmark’s Heltekvad due to a trio of things; it features Ole Pedersen Luk of Afsky. Second, Eisenwald is pretty reliable when it comes to black metal with the likes of Fluisteraars and Alda on their roster. And third, the heraldic artwork reminded me of medieval black metal bands like France’s Véhémence […]

Here’s a short, tasty review for a short, tasty, 20 minute, 4 song EP from the always reliable FDA Records.  Dead Chasm is an Italian trio with members from a number of mid-tier/obscure Italian acts like Kadaver, Torment, Funest, Stench of Profit, and others. But they have come together to form a very impressive debut […]

Fall Of Stasis: “Pssst you, metal review person, wanna review some symphonic, blackened folk metal?” Me: “Nah , I’m a bit burned out of bouncy folky metal, even the last Ensiferum really didn’t enthrall past the first few listens, *sigh* Fall of Stasis: “What if they had a more slicing, viscous edge like The Black […]

You see that symbol there on the left, emblazoned on the album cover of Crowbar’s new album, Zero and Below? That’s called a fleur d’lis ( Flower of Light), and is regarded as the symbol of the state of Louisiana, the city of New Orleans, and more importantly the logo for that city’s NFL team, […]

It’s amazing what adding a new band member or two can do for a band. After a self-released EP, The Prophet of Disgust, in 2018, Colorado’s Crown Magnetar added vocalist Dan Tucker and guitarist Nick Scott From And Hell Followed With, a decent deathcore band who were actually on Earache Records at one point (and […]

Holy Shit!, Here is a wonderful, unexpected surprise. Back in the mid 00s I was enamored with a band called The Pax Cecilia, who released 2 self-released and free releases with 2004s Ep, Nouveau and 2007s Blessed Are the Bonds, (which I covered back in the day at one of my other review sites Metalreview.com/ […]

Here is one of those rare, blind promo grabs that works out, works out really well, as a matter of fact, as Chicago newcomers Burned In Effigy has delivered an exceptionally competent and enjoyable debut album of neoclassically inspired melodic death metal. Starting as an instrumental duo citing The Black Dahlia Murder, Between the Buried […]

So this release came out in late 2021, but just recently showed up on the TOTD emails, but when it name-dropped the likes of Wintersun, Ensiferum, Wolfheart, and Stormlord, it sure as fuck got my attention, and I had to check it out. I’m very glad I did, as the name-dropping, while a bit heavy-handed, […]

This review is brought to you by Google Translate.  Par le sang versé, the 2019 sophomore album from these epic/medieval French black metallers, snuck into the back end of my 2019 year-end list, but I if were redoing that year’s list, it would have been a top ten, maybe a top 5 release, as I […]

Being a huge New Orleans Saints and LSU fan, I’m generally up for anything from Louisiana, especially musically where the likes of Crowbar, Soilent Green, and Goatwhore are concerned. There’s just something about that swampy, sweaty, moist riffage that appeals to me, so checking out the debut album from Lafayette’s Golgothan ( a literal ‘shit […]

When was the last time you smiled from ear to ear while listening to a metal album? I mean a full-on, ear-to-ear grin, that you ‘felt’ in your soul? For me in 2early 2022, it’s every time I listen to the self-released debut from the self-proclaimed ‘peasant metal’ band from Wisconsin, Pillaging Villagers, a DIY […]