Little did I know that arguably my favorite Cradle of Filth album, 1996s Dusk and Her Embrace was actually the second iteration of that album. Unbeknownst to me, before the 1996 Music for Nations version, another version of the album was fully recorded in 1995 with essentially the same line up as the band’s debut […]

While a fine label, Napalm Records isn’t exactly a death metal powerhouse, but with the recent release of Be’lakor‘s Vessels and now this, the third album from Germany’s Dawn of Disease, they appear to be getting into the flow. And while not into brutal, guttural death metal just yet, they have an ear for the […]

Ive been a big fan of Atlanta’s Withered since 2005s Stockholm meets Mastodon lurch of Memento Mori. Even the bands foray into blacker realms with 2008s Folie Circulaire and 2010s Dualitas were impressive. Even more so since I got to hang out with and drink a beer with frontman and founder Mike Thompson back in […]

Ireland’s Underground Movement label, previously unknown to me, has jumped on the Swedish death metal wagon with two pretty damn solid releases; Deathless and Fleshless from Venezuela’s Nocturnal Hollow , and this, a compilation of 2 self released demos from this Dutch band. Both deliver pretty damn solid examples of the classic HM2 Stockholm death metal sound. This […]

After more grindcore beginnings, one could argue that the modern deathcore movement peaked with either 2005s The Healing Process or The Ills of Modern Man, this Canadian act’s third full length album, in 2007. My vote is for the latter. But after 2009s Day of Mourning, the band split up as deathcore began to fade and wane under […]

I’m not a big ‘thrash guy’. Not since the classics of the 80s/90s has a thrash band captured my attention unless injected with a little more grit or death metal like Dew Scented. So here is the third album from long running, nu metal named, thrash band from Portugal, hardly the thrash or metal mecca or […]

Finland’s Gloria Morti, despite having been around since 2001 and have 4 previous albums are new to me. But being on Willowtip and having members in its ranks with ties to Wolfheart/Black Sun Aeon/Before the Dawn, Swallow the Sun, Morbid Vomit and Gorephillia, was enough to make me check them out. And I  glad I did. […]

Back in 2010 Aborted’s Sven De Caluwe got with some of his Aborted cronies and his wife Miri Milman and formed System Divide. They released one album, The Conscious Sedation, a more melodic death metal/metalore release that was a little heavier than the usual female fronted/Naplam Records Gothic metal, but it was merely an OK […]

Here’s an interesting one. A self financed and released effort from a Swiss band playing Egyptian/ Middle East themed deathcore. No there is no punchline I’m afraid, and this is actually pretty decent stuff, even though deathcore haters will still fume. Actually despite sticking rigidly to modern deathcore paradigms (pick whomever), the band’s little Egyptian […]

From the label that brought us techno and flamenco inspired nu metal/deathcore in Bolu2death, comes a more easy to pigeonhole release in Eel from this long running Spanish black metal/crust group Absenta (Absinthe). It’s my first exposure to the band but I immediately thought of bands like Deluge, Celeste and Regarde les  Hommes Tomber. Not necessarily […]

What’s this you say? a female fronted tech death metal/ djenty/modern death metal supergroup featuring former members of Animosity ( a must have from the early 00s deathcore scene), Animals as Leaders (Navene Koperweis) and The Faceless (Evan Brewer)? Well, color me interested…. While certainly The Faceless and Animosity influences ( as well as many modern bands like Textures, Veil of […]

I’m not familiar with the back catalog from Canada’a Forteresse other than they seem pretty well respected in the scene and I had seen them mentioned in the same breath as Neige et Noirceur, (early) Alcest. They have delivered a few albums varying between raw, minimalist black metal and more folky black metal and the songs are in […]

Here’s a very cool little 3 song, 30 minute EP out of Southampton England from a female fronted blackgaze/atmospheric black metal act that really hits on all notes for the genre and adds a little of its own angelic character to the mix. The clear, ignorant comparison is Myrkur, as this is female fronted black metal with […]

Here is something that is a little out of my wheelhouse, but considering my interest in keyboard drenched metal and the plethora of releases I’ve covered recently with said keyboards, this is an intriguing release that captures my interest here and there. Elvaron hail from France and have 4 prior albums under their belts dating […]

India’s Transcending Obscurity is becoming a pretty reliable source for simple, no frills death metal of late, (Primitiv, Third Sovereign, Affliction Gate, etc), and the duo comprising Indian newcomers Strangulate is no exception. Using old school American Death metal as a template, the Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation influence is immediate and obvious, but these guys do […]

While Killswitch Engage desperately tried to revive the ol’ metalcore corpse earlier this year, I have stumbled across a late 2015 release that just showed up in my mail box that deserves as much attention as Incarnate. And truthfully, I’m enjoying Justice is… a hell of a lot more than I did Incarnate. Confidently straddling the line between […]

The second effort from the UKs The Infernal Sea got my attention for the exact same reasons as The King is Blind and their impressive debut, Our Father. It’s one of the first releases from the newly reactivated Cacophonous Records ( though this was independently released last year on a limited  cassette run)- one of the […]

After the band’s impressive 2008/9 EP, and a pretty well received full length debut, The Prodigal Empire in 2011, a lot of folks were hailing this Denver act as the new Arsis meets The Black Dahlia Murder of the scene, mixing shredding black/death metal with melodic death metal . But the band went a bit dark […]

It was a forgone conclusion that Forteresse’s impending Thèmes pour la rébellion, was going to be an easy shoo in for my favorite black metal album of 2016. Then along comes upstart Black Lion Productions, who already impressed with Hyperion’s Seraphical Euphony, and deliver a physical release ( it was an independent digital release last year) one […]

With last year’s Savage Land, Exhumed main main Matt Harvey and basically his Chuck Schuldiner cover band Gruesome, delivered arguably the apex early Death worship album. But at the end of my review, I wondered how the band would follow Savage Land up. Would they still basically cover Death’s first 3 albums or would they […]

Despite playing Swedish death metal, my favorite genre ever, the 2015 debut EP, The Insurrection, from these veteran Swedes really didn’t grab my attention and seemed a little like Prosthetic Records desperately dipping their toe belatedly into the genre to grab some of its resurgent popularity. So here is the full length follow up, and it appears […]

Following up a classic is always difficult. Especially when that classic was 12 years in the making. Thus was the task at hand for Luc Lemay and trying to follow up 2013s Colored Sands, arguably one of the most successful death metal comebacks of all time. But Lemay has played it smart; he waited a while, and […]

I’m a big fan of symphonic black metal, but the genre has been in a bit of a dry spell. The only decent recent release I can recall is Diabolus Arcanium or Raphuemet’s Well, but those are a little ‘different’.  I am craving something more Scandinavian, melodic and grandiose like the scene on the ’90s (Lothlorien, Embracing  […]

Recently I have been getting a lot of synth/keyboard heavy metal of various styles across my desk: Hope for the Dying, Rapheumets Well, Enthean, Winterhorde, Elvaron, The Devils of Loudun, Pathways, Hyperion, and this, the solid second effort from France’s Blood Ages. Blood Ages’ take on metal is death metal with a Middle Eastern flair similar to Nile. […]

After shifting from a gore/pure slam band into a more rounded, complete death metal band with Autopsychosis, these Russians made my 2013 year end -list in a year full of great, brutal metal. With their new album, Gravenous Hour, the band have elevated themselves once again, with an album that is sure to be considered one […]