Author Archive

I really kind of wanted to like the debut from Vancouver’s Tribune a whole lot more. They seem like a fun loving group of guys that don’t take themselves too seriously, and the music contained on Elder Lore/Dark Arts is an eclectic mix of thrash, heavy metal, metalcore and melodic death metal. That is also the […]

It does not take a genius to figure out the style of metal played by Melbourne, Australia’s Whoretopsy; look at the moniker, the cover, the album title and song titles like “Cardiac Defecation”, “Potty Mouth”, “Necrobordello” and “Intimate Disgust”. What we have here brutal, ultra misogynistic death metal of the slammiest variety. I’m pretty sure […]

You know those anti-meth PSA posters where they show a normal person and their progression each month as they become addicted to meth? Well, one listen to Drug Honkey‘s fourth album might result in the same, tooth rotting, skin itching, hair losing, gaunt results. In fact, Drug Honkey might be onto a new sub genre of […]

Once again, Halo of Flies Records ensures that I keep a record player in my possession by releasing an impressive 2 track split 12″ from California sludge doom act Amarok and Polish doom band Enth. Both bands are new to me, but I’ll be certainly looking out for releases from both in the future. I’ll […]

Despite the recent run of excellent album reissues both needed and unnecessary, there has been a large hole in my metal collection and in my heart. As much as I’ve loved and needed reissues of the likes of God Macabre, Burial, Gorement, Uncanny, Convulse and such, there’s been one release missing; Desecrator‘s sole, 1991 album, […]

Last year, Minnesota’s Your Memorial dropped one of the year’s best metalcore records, Christian or otherwise.  And since then Facedown Records has struggled with a bit of staleness with their subsequent releases and even lost one of their best bands, Sleeping Giant, to another label. Well, Your Memorial is here as the savior to Facedown […]

GOREMENT, one of the finest yet obscurest death metal bands to ever emerge from the soil of Sweden, has signed a worldwide deal with Century Media Records for the release of the band’s entire recordings. Within The Shadow Of Darkness – The Complete Recordings will be available exclusively at CM Distro as a 2CD and […]

  Candlelight Records today confirms September 25 as the North American release date for The Threnody of Triumph, the third full-length album from England ’s WINTERFYLLETH. Recorded in Wales with producer Chris Fielding (Primordial, Electric Wizard), the album delivers ten new conceptual compositions from the black metal quartet. LurkersPath.com already notes, “The Threnody of Triumph […]

Back in 2008 Sweden’s Necrovation dropped Breed Deadness Blood, an authentic,  throwback but modern Swedish death metal record that was retro, before retro was vogue. It was widely regarded as a new classic of sorts and was a deservingly acclaimed record. 4 Years later Necrovation are back and have added a second guitarist, and those […]

Back in 2009 we reviewed the self titled, self released debut from this Australian doom outfit, and by most accounts it was a solid effort of European styled doom/death metal  culling from the British and Finnish school of the genre, recalling the likes of My Dying Bride, Anathema, Shape of Despair and such. I recall […]

This spring/summer has seen the German death metal scene deliver the goods with the likes of Tombthroat, Sophicide and the second release from Deadborn. All three delivering something a little different, with Tombthroat going for the throat, Sophicide making people forget Necrophagist and with Deadborn you’ve got a band that lie some where in between. […]

    Candlelight Records today confirms October 9 as the North American release date for DAYLIGHT DIES’ new album, A Frail Becoming. Mixed by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios (Opeth, Katatonia, Devin Townsend), the album features photography from award-winning Jonathan Mehring and packaging design by Agni Kaster. The release of A Frail Becoming silences […]

So back in April I attended a show featuring All Shall Perish, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Carnifex, The Contortionist and Conducting From the Grave. Admittedly, the main attractions were All Shall Perish and Fleshgod Apocalypse, as while I own all of Carnifex’s albums, they aren’t a band I really crave — being a solid if unspectacular deathcore outfit. That being said their last CD, Until I Feel Nothing, as with many of their contemporaries, upped the death metal ante and in the case of Carnifex, a very slight symphonic element was added, giving the band a more dramatic, epic feel. So before the show, I hung out with amicable drummer and founder Shawn Cameron to discuss, Victory Records, fans and the dreaded D word…

The Slovenian occult heavy metal act Vigilance inked a deal with Metal Tank Records that will release their upcoming album. The successor of “Steeds of Time” from 2011 will crush everything in front of with its excellent mixture of genuine traditional speed heavy metal filled with profound devotion for primordial and ritualistic occultism. For more information consult the official Metal Tank Records website at www.metaltankrecords.com The band comments: »We are thrilled […]

Recently I’ve been on a bit of a symphonic black metal kick, dusting off the likes of Anorexia Nervosa, Skyfire, Stormlord, Arthemesia, Dagor Dagorath, Sirius, Covenant (when they had a a ‘C’) as well as good ol’ Dimmu and Cradle of Filth. And during this time, something struck me; Other than Carach Angren‘s Where the […]

  Norwegian progressive extreme metal band ENSLAVED have unveiled the track listing to their twelfth studio album, RIITIIR, on their official Facebook page. “It has been only two years since we last released an album [2010’s award-winning Axioma Ethica Odini], and we’ve been touring Europe and North America several times since then,” reflects ENSLAVED guitarist, […]

Landskrona, Sweden-based THE FORSAKEN are preparing to drop their fourth full-length assault Beyond Redemption in North America. Beyond Redemption surges with forty minutes of the band’s modern black/thrash-infused death metal culminating here into some of the most devastating sequences from THE FORSAKEN to date. The album was recorded by the band themselves, and the final […]

So those of you currently enjoying the glut of old school metal bands fronted by smoky, female crooners (The Devils Blood, Christian Mistress, Witch Mountain, Jess and the Ancient Ones, Jex Thoth, Blood Ceremony, etc) here’s a short little EP that should appeal to you by way of the debut EP from Nevada’s Demon Lung […]

I had a hard time coming up with a description of Burnsred and their impressive debut album. So, I thought I’d simply lift the band’s own description of themselves as it sums the sound up perfectly: “Loosely fitting into the doom/sludge/post-metal genre, Burnsred play music which ebbs and flows through harmonic progressions, tempo changes, and […]

So I had to do a little research to discover that ‘Binah’ means ‘understanding,’ and is ‘the second intellectual sephira on the kabbalistic Tree of Life’. Oh yeah, it also happens to be the name of a new young English death metal trio, and their debut album is the best retro Swedish-styled death metal album […]

For four albums I reviewed and extolled the virtues of War of Ages as a top notch Christian, melodic death metal/ metalcore act who were deserving of As I Lay Dying type attention, peaking with 2008s Arise and Conquer. However, with 2010s Eternal, the band shifted into more commercial territory morphing into a more predictable […]

Released around the same time as Malfeitor‘s Dum Morior Orior and on the same label, Intestinal are also an old school Swedish death metal band who are actually from Sweden currently enjoying the genre’s resurgence. This is the band’s second effort after 2010’s Human Harvest, which I have not heard. And while I enjoy The […]

I had no idea what to expect from the debut from Ireland’s Eternal Helcaraxe. The cover and logo hinted at something Viking or Pagan, the moniker just reminded me of US death metal act Helcaraxe, and the album title was just ‘meh’. And they were from Ireland- with a few exceptions (namely Cruachan, Waylander, Primordial […]

I’ve been struggling with this review for several weeks now. On one hand I feel its  typically strong Dark Descent release that adds another quality act and release to their excellent roster. But on the other hand, it’s a strange record that struggles with influences, identity and consistency. Notably featuring members of Belgian black metal […]

Yeah, I know, I have not done one of these in a few months. But I’m trying to be particular about what I review here, and my bargain bin hauls tend to come in bunches. I just don’t want to review every 99 cents early 90s Metal Blade or Pulkas CD I find in the used bin.

And this episode of bargain bin reviews is slightly relevant as you will read shortly. I found this CD for 99 cents in the clearance bin at Hastings. The unreadable logo and esoteric title immediately drew me in to a blind purchase, thinking it had to be metal of some sort….and I was right.