From the usually more death metal based Blast Head Records comes the debut from Denver’s Doperunner and its blistering mix of punk, grindcore and sleezy, Southern blackened sludge. It’s a volatile, fun release that plays like a mix of Nausea, Soilent Green and Eyehategod or Iron Monkey. The 14 grindcore length tracks deliver an ample […]

I have to admit, past the Chris Barnes era, I am hardly a Cannibal Corpse fanboy.I mean I reviewed 2009s Evisceration Plague, and have steadily picked up used versions of Gallery of Suicide, Bloodthirst and Gore Obsessed over the years, but I have not even heard 2006s Kill or 2012s Torture. It’s not that don’t care […]

Back in 2012 these yanks released, The Chills, a damn fine Stockholm styled death metal album that made it into the top ten of my 2012 year end list. I was curious as to how the band would follow it up and keep up with the retro trend that’s been top notch since and especially here […]

Here is the debut, 6 song EP (after a couple of demos) from one man Swedish death metal act Putrified. A. Death (also of black metal act Infuneral) plays all of the instruments, performs vocals and does a pretty good job of it as well as capturing the essence of old school death metal with a heavy dash of […]

And so Wisconsin’s own Protestant have once again subtly morphed styles  a shade, once being a pretty standard hardcore band, going a bit more crusty and sludgy , then getting intensely and darkly melodic.  Now, the band is embracing the current blackened hardcore trend, except they are taking the black metal side much more seriously, to the point […]

With an band moniker that’s a homage to Gorement and their classic 1994 album, The Ending Quest, you know exactly what Sweden’s Ending Quest is delivering on their debut; HM-2 styled, mid range, old school Swedish death metal goodness. And in a year that has delivered some really top notch examples of the style (Brutally Deceased, Putereaon, […]

Storming in from the windy city with war mongering bluster comes the debut from this Chicago black/death metal outfit comprised of a number of the scene’s veterans who have been in or played with the likes of Sons of Famine,  Corpsevomit, Gigan, Lividity, Enmortem, The Everscathed and Nachtmystium. It’s got an expected local scene sound being rough […]

Canada’s Hypnotic Dirge Records is really carving a niche out in the style of the label’s namesake, and their three early 2014 releases from Epitimia, In My Shiver and Russia’s one man project Windbruch are no exception. No Stars, Only Full Dark is the second album from sole member Illuzii Optice, who performs all of […]

If you have “EPIC FUCKING BRUTALITY” emblazoned across the inner sleeve of your album, you had better fucking follow through and luckily Virginia’s Solace of Requiem do on their impressive, fourth effort, Casting Ruin. Though their fourth album, this is my first encounter with the band  (Richard Gulczynski, Jeff Sumrell and Dave Tedesco- also unfamiliar to me despite […]

Switzerland’s Eluveitie (‘The Helvetian’ in Gaulish for those interested) , have been around for a while now but it seem like only yesterday that they burst onto the folk metal scene with 2008s ‘Slania’. Despite having released their debut Spirit two years before it was ‘Slania’, released by Nuclear Blast that put them on the map, mixing melodic death metal and folk elements such as the hurdy gurdy, Mandola, Tin whistle, Low whistle, Gaita, Uilleann pipes and Bodhrán as well as a Celtic theme. And while the rap on the band was that they were simply Swedecore with folk elements the band has powered on to be one of the more consistent and recognizable (and still difficult to spell/type!) names in folk metal.

So in summation: band forms, band does a couple of demos under Nihilist moniker, band changes name to Entombed, then releases two certifiably classic albums (Left Hand Path, Clandestine). Then release a third divisive album, Wolverine Blues (which has actually grown on me in my older, wiser years). Then things get a bit odd with a  […]

I never thought I’s actually say this in a review, but here goes- the second album from Swiss act Voice of Ruin is a throwback record- not a retro thrash or death metal throwback but a throw back to the…..classic American metal/metalcore days of the mid 00s. Yup. Miss Unearth or Lamb of God’s mid 00s […]

Once again, I find myself being very tardy on my review of a Shroud of Despondency release, as with Pine back in 2012. Part of the reason this time is that Tied to a Dying Animal is an ambitious,  monstrous release, being 2 CDs covering an hour and a half and two competently different styles.  The other […]

I’ve hit a rash of Asian music of late having only recently discovered envy along with the likes of Vampillia, Tengger Calvary, Maximum the Hormone and even non metal like Radwimps.  However, Japan’s Funeral Sutra, like COHOL a couple of years ago, was recommended and sent to me by a long time teethofthedivine forum reader, and even […]

Hailing from the  depths of Edinburgh, Scotland, the excellently named Of Spire & Throne play a crusty form of doom metal, not the classic, wailing kind, but a brutish, base level, burly, sludgy kind of doom- befitting Scotland’s craggy, rough landscapes. This 3 song EP is the band’s third EP in as many years and clocks […]

Phew. This is ambitious. 2 Cds, almost 2 hours of ambient black metal contained in a very well packaged (Hypnotic Dirge’s best packaging to date) double gatefold digipack. Nicely done indeed, now if only the music was as striking. Despite being around for 5 years and having three other full-length albums under their belt, this […]

After reviewing 2008s Slania, I never really went back to Switzerland’s folk metal act Eluveitie, I have not even heard 2012s Helvetios or 2010s Everything Remains or the band’s acoustic album, Evocation from 2009. I always thought the band was a bit over hyped and were simply Darkest Hour with a Hurdy Gurdy and a violin […]

After a tasty little debut EP back in 2011 and a few splits and subsequent EPs, former God Macabre front man per Boder  has finally released a full length album from Mordbrand, a dusty, d beat driven old school Swedish death metal return, and it’s a ripping little release. While certainly old school and Swedish, […]

Like Sectu’s Nefarious, the Third album from Greece’s Mass Infection is unfortunately liable to get a little bit lost in the early summer/spring deluge of killer death metal namely the stuff Unique Leader releases. Which is a shame as Comatose and Mass Infection have released pretty damn solid death metal record in For A am […]

Four albums into their career and Alestorm have outgrown and honed their ‘Scottish Pirate Metal’ sound and become arguably one of Scotland’s more famous metal acts. And the all important contract album, album number 4 certainly cements that with a larger than life collection of  drinking songs and Pirate-y raucous  rockers, but also a sense of impending […]

In nature, the hunter always at some point becomes the hunted or to use another analogy the student becomes the master. Pick your terrible analogy, but it applies to metal all the time. Some younger hungrier, more talented acts eventually surpasses their peers after looking up at the pedestal. it is the natural order, an […]

Fans of the so called down tempo deathcore movement such as The Acacia Strain, Restrains, Portrayer,  Osiah, Extortionist,  Endings, Overthrower and of course, Calmed By The Tides of Rain take note of this band and release. Heck, it even features a guest vocal performance from CBTTOR vocalist Artyom, and they hail from Russia as well. Boy is this heavy and […]

Austria’s goat porn fetish-izing death metal kings have been around since 1992. 2014 will see the release of the band’s tenth studio album, after a bit of a delay. And while the longevity and consistency of arguably Austria’s most famed metal export after Pungent Stench, has never been questioned, Belphegor never seemed to get mentioned amid death metal’s upper echelon acts. Even with a 10 album legacy, the band just seems to get ignored.

France’s The Great Old Ones took the black metal world by storm back in 2012, with their critically acclaimed debut, Al-Azif back in 2012. A full two years later, the band has released the follow up, continuing the Lovecraftian/Chthulu mythos based form of shimmering post black metal, and appear to be ready to pick up […]

“You’d better turn it up.Or turn it off.Or get fucked”. That pretty much sums up The Hell, a fun loving, foul mouthed hard core band from Watford, England, who on their Prosthetic Records debut indeed drop the groovehammer with a raucous mix of brute force beefy, American core mixed with a piss n sneer of […]