One of the coolest and lesser known (at least in the US) power metal acts I have discovered recently is Germany’s Orden Ogan. A long running band with 5 albums under their belt since 2004 (with 2015s Ravenhead and 2012s To the End being the ones that got me hooked), these guys add a little oomph to power […]

Khazaddums‘ 2015, Dwarven/Tolkien themed EP, In Dwarven Halls was a solid, promising little 3 song demo/release, but I was not expecting quite this big of a leap in quality a mere 2 years later with the band’s full length debut. Driving the massive improvement to the band’s brutal, Nile-ish death metal is the addition of full […]

The Barren Throne, the third album from Iceland’s Beneath, was a solid tech/brutal death  metal affair, befitting the label it was released on (Unique Leader), but it was hardly a memorable, game changing album. That looks to have changed with the band’s wholly improved and utterly  impressive third album, Ephemeris. The more cosmic/celestial theme of […]

So, amid my recent power/heavy metal reawakening, it dawned on me that all of the bands I have become enamored with have been European. Sure, I dabbled with the new Iced Earth, Demons and Wizards, Kamelot and a few others, but none really hit the spot. Then I received a promo from Pennsylvania’s Lör . An […]

Though some might argue they belonged with Dark Tranquillity and In Flames in the pantheons of Swedish metal, I’d put Desultory’s first three albums right there in the second tier of Swedish styled death metal along side the likes of Seance, Cemetery, Comecon and such. Their more melodic take on the Stockholm sound was a […]

After one of the more successful comebacks of the last few years with 2012s Vanquish in Vengeance, death metal legends Incantation had a quick turn around with 2014s Dirges of Elysium, a solid album, but a bit of a step back with a cleaner, more sterile production and a bit of a rushed sense of […]

Listen, I’m not much of a ‘crossover’ guy. I appreciated the heydey of DRI, Prong, Crumbsuckers, Ludichrist and recently, Detroit Hellmouth are decent , but for the most part i like my thrash and my puck/hardcore somewhat separate. But, like a professional, I occasionally try to get out of my comfort zone. Sometimes it works […]

California’s Rings of Saturn and their (jokingly) self described ‘aliencore’ are one of the more divisive bands in metal, even more some since allegations the band recorded their materiel at half speed and used Guitar pro. Whether you consider them technical death metal or deathcore, the band’s first 3 albums Dingir and Lugal Ki En got […]

“A priest who had an affair with a 12 or 15 year old girl brought to one of their encounters, a consecrated host, and he touched her vagina and he said ‘this is how God loves you” and then he raped her”. And so that creepy quote begins the debut EP from Milwaukee’s Prezir (Serb-Croatian for […]

Hailing from Massachusetts, The Summoned play a form of noisy, techy/grindy spazzy tech/death metal that recalls a lot of the Black Market Activities/ Ironclad Recordings bands of the early and mid 00s. Much like the recent release from super group Johm Frum, there’s a lot of Dillenger-y, The Red Chord, Animosity, early Between the Buried and […]

The Portuguese metal scene has really caught my eye of late with the likes of The Ominous Circle, Goldenpyre, Primal Attack, Switchtense, and such. But it’s been missing something a little more brutal, and that’s where Grog come in. Though they have been around since 1991/92, and have released a fair amount of demos, this […]

Has there been a more hyped yet un-prolific and bloated project as Wintersun, Jari Mäenpää’s much ballyhooed, post Ensiferum project? After 2004s Lauded self titled debut there were deleted files and then an 8 year wait for Time I, which ultimately was a huge let down after the wait and the hype. So now we have […]

Former Amon Amarth guitarist Anders Biazzi is becoming a Rogga Johansson/Johnny Petterson type, being involved with numerous projects and players, including the two dudes I just mentioned. After a few fine albums with Blood Mortized and then the war metal super group of sorts, Just Before Dawn, he has a new project, Gods Forsaken along […]

So, quick back story, I recently underwent a musical awakening of sorts. Other than Manowar and Rhapsody, I’ve never been a Power Metal guy. The last power metal album I truly enjoyed was Thy Majestie‘s 1066 back in 2003. However I recent discovered Sabaton’s “Winged Hussars” and Blind Guardian‘s “Grand Parade”, and now I’m hooked. So, I […]

Back in 2015, this Finnish act released their second album, Sunless. It was an ambitious affair that tried to mix traditional Finnish doom/death and post rock-y/ Neurosis-y like atmospherics and builds with mixed results. The follow up album, Earthen, consisting of 2, twenty + minute songs tries almost the same recipe, maybe with more post rock […]

So the second album from Sweden’s Twilight Force was released in August of last year, but its getting some sort of re-release via Germany’s Metalville/Nuclear Blast Archive Records, and I’m glad, because it gives me a chance to unleash my inner nerd and delve into my recent power metal awakening. Hailing from the same town […]

What’s that you say? An epic, fantasy themed melodic death/black metal band featuring Ayloss  of Spectral Lore and drummer Hannes Grossman (ex Necrophagist)? Sign me the fuck up. Despite being a huge Spectral Lore fan, I had never heard of this project or  their 2010 self released, self titled debut, but this was an immediate listen […]

Back in 2006, I saw Dismember, Grave, Vital Remains and Atlanta’s Withered at a hole in the wall venue in St. Louis, MO. Dismember and Grave were two Swedish death metal icons, Vital Remains were still basking in the afterglow of Dechristianize and new comers Withered had recently released Memento Mori, a solid Swedish styled death metal album with some black and sludge metal thrown in. It remains the best show that I have ever attended. After the show, I hung out with Withered front man Mike Thompson as I had recently interviewed him for Metal Maniacs. He was one of the nicest, most down to earth dudes I had ever met and we stayed in somewhat regular contact. Fast forward a decade.

After reigniting the Swedish death metal revival with 2 albums of Dark Descent Records, Entrails moved to Metal Blade and released Raging Death and Obliteration, the latter of which saw a line up change  as long time guitarist Mathias Nilsson left, replaced with youngster Penki Samuelsson and it showed with a solid but underwhelming effort. Well, World […]

The suddenly very productive and quality laden Portuguese metal scene (Goldenpyre, Prayers of Sanity, An Ominous Circle, Switchtense, Primal Attack), has kicked out a dose of old school death metal with the debut from Pestifer, a no frills Deicide,  Altars of Madness era Morbid Angel influenced band. There’s not much else to say really, Execration Diatribes […]

2017 is turning into quite the year for veteran American  death metal acts; Suffocation, Immolation, Broken Hope and Origin have all released albums and later this year we even have Morbid Angel and Incantation releases. But elbowing their way through all of them is Dying Fetus and their eighth opus, and for lack of a better […]

Listen. For me, vocals are an integral part of metal. Whether it’s death metal, black metal, power metal or even brutal death metal, vocals can make or break an album. And with the 4th album from France’s symphonic black metal act Akroma, they absolutely break it. I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to an album, […]

Cut from the same moldy, dank doom/death cloth as Ciande and Desecresy, Portugal’s Goldenpyre deliver a fine debut of simple, riff based chugging , slightly ritualistic doom/death  metal that hints at finer things to come. Not as nauseating or atonal as country mates The Ominous Circle, Goldenpyre have a distinct old school Chicago/Midwest, steady, death […]

All of a sudden, I have got a glut of thrash/groove releases (Treyharsh, Murkocet, Malkavian, Voice of Ruin) hearkening to the late 90s tones of Machine Head, Daath, Devildriver, Chimaira and Skinlab. And while it’s a sound I’m only a bit lukewarm on, sometimes a production can make a release much more impressive. Such is the […]

After a pretty long dryspell for deathcore, I get 2 releases from Swiss label Tenacity Music- first, the impressive  Swiss bruisers Conjonctive and their female fronted down tuned assault of In the Mouth of the Devil, and this, the second full length album from France’s oddly named Hybrid Sheep, a band I have never heard of […]