What a perfect album name and title for the current global isolation: Exulansis;  The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it. Sequestered: To keep a person or a group of people away from other people. Sympathy ; feelings of pity and sorrow for someone […]

It’s been 6 years since Milwaukee’s Ara released Destroyer of Worlds, and although guitarist Jerry Hauppa (who once wrote for this very site) remained busy with the likes of Steel Iron, Northless and Prezir,(sadly his instrumental project, Concentric is no more) it’s a new Ara record I’ve been waiting for from Mr Hauppa and co. […]

I vaguely recall interviewing The Black Dahlia Murder, back around the release of 2003s Miasma. Young bright eyed young men, with the world ahead of them, having fun and the metal world at their feet as the darlings of American metal. Well, the faces have changed significantly since then, as guitarist Brian Eschbach and vocalist […]

HM 2 pedals have started to pop up in the unlikeliest of places it seems. From right here in the US/Indiana (Psychomancer), France (Nuisable), Venezuala (Nocturnal Hollow), Russia (Wombripper, Pyre), Greece (Abyssus, Wreckage), Australia (Earth Rot),  Croatia (Herzera) and now Belfast, Northern Ireland of all places by way of Marty Robinson and his one man […]

“Warning! What you about to hear is extremely extreme. If think you can handle it by all means listen. However, if you have a preexisting condition that is aggravated by things that are evil, extreme, infernal brutal, cult , unholy or just sort of negative in general, you are urged to turn off this recording. […]

Within a matter of days, I received 2 really good symphonic black metal albums from the UK, and promptly purchased both. First, Argesk’s heavily Hecate Enthroned influenced  Realm of Eternal Night, and this, the conceptual debut album (they do have 3 EPs under their belt, which I have not heard yet) from Northern Ireland’s Drakonis. With […]

I’ve been on a bit of a new-ish British black metal kick of late with the likes of Wolvencrown, Drakonis, Vegard, Ante-Inferno,  Nefarious Dusk, Sleipnir,And Now the Owls Are Smiling, Shadowflag, The Dying Light and the debut from this Manchester based, symphonic black metal act . Of note to British black metal fans is that […]

Starting 2020  with the same productivity (Myth of I, Aronious, Sutrah) as they ended 2019 (Immanifest, Singularity, Flub, Equipoise, etc) The Artisan Era is quickly rivaling Unique Leader Records when it comes to tech death, even if The Artisan Era seems to have a a little more focus on symphonics. However, there may be some […]

Germany’s FDA Records has stepped out of their comfort zone for a couple of their early 2020 releases. One is weird goth doom (Hraun), another, Stråle , is a Finnish melodic hard rock band , and the other this one, originates from Japan, the first release on the label from there after a pretty consistently German/European […]

Ante-Inferno is a new black metal act hailing from the moors of Yorkshire, England, and has former and current members of other UK black metal acts like Petrichor and Sathamel. But don’t go expecting a band like either of those bands or like other recent UK black metal like the symphonic Argesk or Darkthrone worshiping […]

For 20 years now, France’s Benighted have been delivering blistering grinding death metal of the highest order. I first heard them on 2004s Insane Cephalic Production, and and last hear them on 2017s Necrobreed. And as I stated in that review, Benighted continue to be the illegitimate, bastard child of Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, Despised […]

So here is reunion album number 3 for Wombbath, one of the 90s Swedish death metal bands that reunited for another go. This time, lone original member Håkan Stuvemark and Johnny Petersson (Henry Kane, Ashcloud, Gods Forsaken, Ursinne, Just Before Dawn) has yet another set of different guys helping them out for this album by […]

It’s been 7 years since super group Hail of Bullets called it quits after a solid run of three war mongering albums of trundling death metal. But fear not, Germany’s Scalpture is here to revive the ghosts of the past with their second effort of World War One themed death metal. That should be enough […]

Germany’s metalcore/death metal veterans have always been one of those bands I kinda like. I own quite a few of their prior 12 albums, but I don’t think I have listened to them fully,  and I pick  them up used if I happen to find them rather than instantly buy them or seek them out. […]

I’ve been digging what Germany’s Purity Through Fire has been releasing of late, especially when it comes to quality black metal. Notably releases from Greve, To Conceal The Horns, Nefarious Dusk, Noidva, The Dying Light and this one man act from Bavaria, who has been super prolific since 2015 with 2 splits, 2 EPS and […]

Do you crave Dimmu Borgir’s last few albums? Especially craving 2010s Abrahadabra, and notably the single “Gateways”? Want fur, frosty armored outfits and face paint? Want some really good symphonic, bombastic black metal? Check out Russia’s veteran act Welicoruss. Apparently one of Russia’s more respected and biggest symphonic black metal acts, these guys have certainly […]

Times are weird. There’s a new virus, a worldwide pandemic and quarantines. Whole countries are locking down, including pubs and restaurants and toilet paper is the new economy!!!! Could the situation be any more metal???

Released at the tail end of 2019, Decision Code is the fourth album from this Russian industrialized death metal act, and if you are worried of Fear Factory and their apparently many and long running legal issues will prevent any future releases, Conflict will be solid stand in. In fact, ol’ Burton C Bell makes […]

After Swedish Death Metal, my favorite kind of death metal is that burly, chunky blackened death metal,. Big beefy riffs, commanding deep vocals, and a pretty strong militant vibe. It’s a sound Behemoth perfected in the mid 00s, (with Zos Kia Cultus being the arguable apex of the style) and recently bands like Poland’s Hate, […]

Occasionally, I need a break from the cacophony and brutality of black and death metal, and need a little respite from the more noisy end of the metal spectrum. Enter the UK’s long running, but hardly prolific doom act, The River, whom I have a very vague recollection of hearing back in my Digitalmetal/Metal Maniacs […]

Way back in 2005, I reviewed the third album from Poland’s Trauma, Imperfect Like a God. It was a killer Polish death metal album culling from all the usual Polish death metal peers. In my opinion, it was as good as many of Poland’s larger, better known bands, but at the time like Country mates […]

Oh shit. So I’ve been on a bit of a blackened death metal kick lately, but also still riding last years symphonic black metal wave that had me impressed and littered my year end list. Well outta nowhere come Australia’s Oath of Damnation with a sophomore album with a violent double penetration of both styles. […]

Before Khold, there was Tulus, who released 3 albums in the late 90s. When Khold, one of the 00s most consistent (some would say annoyingly so) Norwegian black metal bands went on hold in 2006, Tulus was reformed with 2 of the original Khold/Tulus member Sarke (drums) and Bludstrup (vocals- also known as Khold’s distinctive […]

At this point in My Dying Bride‘s 25 year career do you really need a review of album number 13? Let’s be honest, you are simply checking this review out to see if, 1. Aaron Stainthorpe is still growling, and if the 2 released singles  (“Your Broken Shore” and “Tired of Tears”) are the best […]

I said it before and I’ll say it again, if you or your PR folks go through the time and effort to send me a physical CD, there is a pretty good chance I’ll review it. If I don’t its normally due to the old adage about saying something nice. Even if the CD is […]