Author Archive

Even though I’ve always thought Rogga Johanssen was a bit of a second rate Dan Swano with all his projects, most of them sounding a little too similar, last years Revolting effort, my first exposure to the band, In Grisly Rapture pleasantly surprised me and had me locating the bands previous works and a gaining […]

Aussie Doomsters Myraeth were formerly known as Mona’s Lament but have released one EP and this, their debut under their new moniker and its very good stuff.  Although adding to their country’s fine doom stock with the likes of Mournful Congregation, Futility, Paramecium, Inverloch, Clagg  and such, Myraeth is far more rooted on the Scandinavian, […]

There is an air of mystery and anonymity surrounding  Stockholm black metal act Flagellated Seraph and their debut album, Beyond Salvation. However, not knowing anything about the band or its members does not change the fact that Beyond Salvation is a killer release. Basically, Beyond Salvation is the very epitome of black/death metal. It delivers […]

I don’t think there’s any questioning Anaal Nathrakh‘s place in the pantheons of metal. Their debut, The Codex Necro, now 10 years old, remains one of the most frightening and apocalyptic releases ever recorded, and while the decade since has seen the band hone and polish their grinding black metal tones into a different sounding […]

You kind of know what you are getting just by looking at the cover of the debut from Pittsburgh’s Kamikabe; the logo, the artwork, the label, etc; yup- techy, brutal death metal/deathcore that culls from the likes of label mates like Fallujah and Halo of Gunfire, early The Faceless and Born of Osiris (minus the […]

From the always reliable FDA Rekotz come some homegrown German talent on the form of Deserted Fear and their debut album, My Empire. It’s not a pure old school record or any sort of homage but instead a modern death metal record with some tangible old school nods notably Asphyx and Vader. Sound wise, My […]

I owe Wisconsin’s Shroud of Despondency a huge apology. They sent me 2011s Dark Meditations In Monastic Seclusion last year for review, and I just never got around to reviewing in. In part because of my review backlog and in part because their take on folky, woodsy, progressive black metal wasn’t sitting well with me […]

Hailing from Kansas City, MO, Marasmus are a no-bullshit US styled death metal act that cull heavily from the Floridian side of things (most notably Cannibal Corpse and Hateplow) with just a touch of Unique Leader, singularly paced brutality. The end result is a competent, if unspectacular, slab of American death metal. This is one […]

New Two-Song Album Coming Early 2013 from Flenser Records With the end of 2012 quickly approaching and Grayceon‘s critically-acclaimed last album All We Destroy (Profound Lore) waning in the rear-view, the San Francisco-based triad prepares for the next chapter in their story: a 30-minute album comprised of two sprawling epics that bend the concentration closer […]

Southwicked is a multinational death metal act that features some Belgian dudes from obscure bands like Blood Haven and Shattered Skull and Allen West of Obituary/Six Feet Under fame. So its no surprise that a majority of Southwicked‘s debut album sounds a lot, no, JUST like West era Obituary and Six Feet Under. You’d think […]

Album Details and First Single Revealed Swedish death metal overlords, AEON, are pleased to unveil the details of their fourth studio offering , Aeons Black. Set to drop via Metal Blade Records on November 20, 2012, the mammoth 15-track Aeons Black was recorded at Empire Studio in Östersund, Sweden, engineered, mixed and mastered by Ronnie […]

Remember in the late 90s when In Flames and Dark Tranquility were exploding? When Children of Bodom were fresh and awesome and young energetic, but short lived melodic death metal bands like Lothlorien, Auberon, Ebony Tears, Embracing, and Eucharist were releasing killer albums? Well, if you long for those days of bouncy, busy, solo filled, […]

Much like The Great Old Ones‘ release, Al Azif, Sentinel the third release from Greece’s Spectral Lore is an awesome black metal surprise that mixes a multitude of recognized black metal styles and tropes, notably Memoria Vestusta II era Blut Aus Nord, Krallice and other more ambient, experimental and otherwordly black metal. Even with a […]

And the retro Swedish death metal hits keep coming with a second wave of bands like Malfeitor, Mass Burial, Corrosive Carcass, Unconsecrated, Bombs of Hades, Eroded and such continuing the quality laid down by bands like Entrails, Demonical, Bloodbath, Fatalist, Hail of Bullets and others. And while some may tire of the genre’s imminent saturation, […]

Melbourne’s Be’lakor have gone from unknown, unsigned band to one of the scene’s most respected and consistent bands. Having just released their third critically acclaimed album in Of Breath and Bone, the band is now entering pastures that find the tiny dependent Australian band playing doomy, melodic death metal mentioned in the same breath as the like of Insomnium, Opeth and other European luminaries. And I’ve watched and listened the whole time, seeing the band grow and become one of metal’s elite acts. All the while I’ve stayed in pretty consistent contact with the band’s founder and keyboardist Steve Merry who was once again, more than willing to answer a few questions about Be’lakor, the new album and what the future holds for Be’lakor…

Candlelight Records today confirms November 6 as the North American release date for Vanitas, the new album from England’s ANAAL NATHRAKH. Produced by Mick Kenney (Bleeding Through, Ingested), the album carries the band’s signature and regarded union of black metal and grindcore. There is no other band that creates music as frightening as the Birmingham-based […]

Hailing from Minnesota, Lungs are a sludgy, down tempo, post rock/doom band that would fit nicely on Halo of Flies Records, next to a band like Northless , even  more so considering their vinyl based output here. This self titled 10″ release consists of two songs, the 7 minute “The  Pith” and  the 8 minute […]

Though many have thought melodic death metal dead for a few years now (thanks, In Flames), a few releases here in late 2011/2012 by the likes of Vale of Pnath, Pictured, December Flower, Darkness By Oath, Allegaeon and Karnak Seti have shown there’s a bit of life in the genre yet. And here is Italy’s […]

Deepsend Records is proud to announce the signing of Australia’s ETERNAL REST. The label will release the band’s debut album, Prophetic, in early 2013. The album was recorded and mixed by Joe Haley (Psycroptic). Eternal Rest hail from Brisbane, Australia. The band’s powerful energy can be heard on Prophetic, but must be experienced in a live […]

Hailing from my old college stomping grounds in Kansas City, Missouri, Solace and Stable are a group of young tech metallers cut from the same cloth as bands like Between the Buried and Me, Woe of Tyrants, The Demonstration, Conducting from the Grave, With Passion and such; they play a form of shred filled, melodic […]

Here’s a vinyl split LP with some amazing potential. Light Bearer‘s first LP, 2011’s Lapsus was one of the very best releases of last year while Wisconsin’s Northless have steadily improved over the two releases I have heard in 2010’s No Quarter for the Damaged and last year’s Clandestine Abuse LP. I’m not going to […]

Along with Dark Descent and Willowtip, Deepsend Records are one of my favorite independent US based labels, especially when it comes to pure death metal. They’ve had a solid spring summer releasing quality albums by the likes of Offending, Synapses, the always reliable Dawn of Demise and even got into the reissue game with reissues […]

Italy has a surprisingly solid technical/brutal death metal scene.  Of course, there’s the more obvious  monsters like Fleshgod Apocalypse and Hour of Penance, but if you dig a little deeper and actually list bands like Antropofagus, Gory Blister, Illogicist, Vomit the Soul, Unconventional Disruption, Humangled, Psychofagist just to name a few, you start to realize […]

Hailing from Texas and featuring The Faceless drummer Lyle Cooper, Absvrdist play a form of vicious modern grind/crust that would sit well on Southern Lord. It will appeal to fans of  Enabler and any other of Southern Lord’s crust/hardcore bands, and it’s got just a dash of black metal (though that might just be the […]

  Adult Swim’s Animated Aggressors to Release New Album in North America with CD/DVD Combo and Clean Version on October 16, 2012; Limited Edition Vinyl Follows on November 6 DETHKLOK returns this fall with Metalocalypse: Dethklok Dethalbum III, the highly-anticipated follow up album that fans of the animated band have been begging for. The stars […]