Even though it has been 7 long years since Poland’s experimental black metal act Furia released Księżyc milczy luty back in 2016, the sexy ass song “Zwykłe czary wieją” still gets a lot of airtime and kept the band on my radar over the years. So I was delighted when Huta Luna showed up out […]

For my real, actual paying job, I do a fair bit of travel and on said travel, I meet some interesting folks. Some good, some bad, some eccentric. What has always been consistent is metal heads, when they identify each other in the wild, generally get along and have a good time. It’s just kind […]

Listen, I’ll keep this short, sweet, and brutal, much like Der Ertraeger und das Fleisch, the fourth album from Austria’s Distaste. Want a 14-song, 29-minute gut punch of HM2-tuned Nasum and Rotten Sound-styled grindcore? Just fucking get this. From start to finish, Der Ertraeger und das Fleisch (“The Yielder and the Flesh”?) is a face-ripping, […]

This long fairly long-running Norwegian black metal band is new to me, but when I saw references to the likes of early Arcturus and Borknagar in the promotional blurb that came with it, I had to check it out. And Ye gads the blurb was correct! And indeed, eccentric symphonic black metal with a quirky […]

After 3 years, countless singles, EPs, and compilations former Amon Amarth and Blood Mortized guitarist Anders Biazzi and his cohorts are finally back with a full-length album (number 5) to follow up 2020s An Army at Dawn, one of the better Bolt Thrower worshiping albums of the last few years. But there are a few […]

Spain’s Decapitated Christ has been knocking around for a while now releasing albums with titles like Antikristian Extreme Dekapitation, The Vanishment and Extermination of the Deities, and their last effort in 2014, Arcane Impurity Ceremonies. Well after 9 years they are at it again with album number 5, and while it’s probably not a reunion […]

I didn’t discover this French one-man (Ardraos) melodic black metal project until the third album in 2019, Hic Regnant Borbonii Manes. However, I really enjoyed it (honestly, I’m not sure how it didn’t end up on my 2019 year-end list) and I have been eagerly awaiting its follow-up. The mix of completely over-the-top, busy, shredding, […]

With a moniker like Sodomisery, I blind-clicked on the promo for the band’s second album fully expecting a brutal death metal album full of ass, blood, and guts-filled lyrics with gurgled vocals. It was not that. Pleasantly so. Then I dug into the band a little and found it a more melodic Swedish death/black metal-based […]

Germany’s Sulphur Aeon has been dark for a few years now after churning (literally) out three superb albums of murky, majestic, Lovecraftian death metal since 2013, that had them being uttered in the same breath as the likes of Portal, Ulcerate, and such. But after a 5-year silence since 2018’s The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos, […]

I usually check out almost all of the Purity Through Fire promos we get, as I usually know what I am getting; frosty or raw, or some sort of decent to excellent quality old school or second-wave inspired black metal, usually from Germany or Scandinavia. The likes of Eisenkult, Kryptamok, Mavorim, Noidva, and such have […]

Despite being one of the first deathcore bands to dabble with black metal keyboards, Carnifex seems to have never quite fully committed to being a full-on symphonic/blackened deathcore band. The last two albums, 2019s World War X and 2021s Graveside Confessions, flip-flopped between more Whitechapel-styled deathcore and slightly more blackened deathcore that they introduced with […]

Those in the know and follow symphonic black metal, are aware that since their Piercing Through the Frozen Eternity EP in 2022, Finland’s Moonlight Sorcery has been touted as the next big thing in 90s-styled melodic/symphonic black metal. Some even saying they are going to be the next Dissection or Emperor, with a windy, grim, […]

I’m quickly becoming a very big fan of Sergio Gonzalez Catalan, the owner of the new Chilean label Tragedy Productions.  Already having 2 killer releases under their belt that will be on my year end list. One is Numeron’s Road to Valhalla and the other is one of his many solo projects, Winds of Tragedy […]

Remember Seattle’s Black Breath? They released 3 solid albums from 2010 to 2015 on Southern Lord. They were one of the earlier, really good US bands playing a Swedish death metal/hardcore hybrid that was a bit of a precursor to the Gatecreeper’s et al of this world. Well, while Black Breath is indefinitely ‘on hold’, […]

Mortem Obscuram initially got on my radar with their debut Eradication of the Human Endeavor back in 2021, a solid if unspectacular release of blackened/symphonic technical deathcore/death metal. It was OK, but I really didn’t give it that much attention, post-release. But boy, with The Wretched Divinity, they certainly have not gotten on my radar- […]

When I heard Japan’s Imperial Circus Dead Decadence‘s 殯――死へ耽る想いは戮辱すら喰らい、彼方の生を愛する為に命を讃える――。 last year, it ended up being my second favorite album of the year. It was the utterly bonkers love child of Sigh, Cradle of Filth, and an anime soundtrack, and I thought I’d never hear anything quite like it ever again. I was wrong. Enter Countrymates […]

Unfortunately, I missed the last album, Zerfall, from these guys. So the last taste in my mouth from them was the strange tangent EP, #YOLO, a departure from the band’s epic, cinematic stylings. But from what I gather Zerfall was indeed a return form of prior albums like2 012s Rastlos and 2015s  Mach Dich Frei. […]

Eternal Rot is a three-piece from the UK, and they play some lumbering, shambling death doom with some of sickest, moistest, icky gurgling vocals I’ve heard since Seep’s Souvenirs of a Necrosadist EP back in 2020. Moribound is their third album, but I’ll be certainly checking out the prior two albums as this is pretty […]

It took me a good while into Devouring Eclipse of Darkest Realm to figure out who Russia’s Cadaver Carnivore sounds like. It’s an enjoyable, modern one-man death metal project from ‘Necrodaemon’  aka Dmitri Krasnopeew, who has no other credits or bands to his name, and its a sort of chunky atmospheric almost industrial death metal […]

Ohio’s Astralborne is back with the follow-up to 2021’s excellent debut, Eternity’s End. The debut was a very enjoyable slab of meaty American melodic death metal with nods to Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames ( there is a cover of “December Flower” from The Jester Race on this album), and the usual suspects, but […]

It still amazes me, even 2 years later, 3 Russian death metal dudes (all three are in the HM2 worshipping Wombripper) delivered one of 2021’s best black metal records in Eminence.  And it still stands up there with label mates Véhémence as Antiq Records’ very best releases and bands. Well, the follow-up is finally here, […]

One of my favorite releases from the early 00s metalcore explosions was Earth & Sphere from Massachusetts’ Beyond the Sixth Seal. It had some death metal beef in its traditional dual euro melodies (as well as the Red Chord‘s Mike Mckenzie on vocals), and really knocked the songwriting out of the park. Why do I […]

It’s been 6 years since India’s Gutslit punched me in the face repeatedly for their second effort, Amputheatre, and let the world know they were clearly one of the top, if not the top brutal death metal bands from the county, if not the region. The line up that unleashed Amputheatre is largely intact, except […]

This summer, two major deathcore heavyweights will be vying for your attention. On one hand, is Signs of the Swarm and the subtly evolved and technical Amongst the Low & Empty. A still brutal, but intricate, deft evolution of modern Deathcore. On the other hand, is the pure fucking beatdown of Colorado’s Crown Magnetar and […]

Listen, I’ll make this short because frankly listening to Hate Manifesto‘s ΑΠΟΣΤΑΤΗΣ (‘Apostate’) gives me a headache, and I want to get this review knocked out ASAP. As much as I love being enveloped by swathes of orchestral and symphonic elements in my metal, sometimes a good no-frills, solid kick in the teeth gets me […]