Author Archive

So back in 2010, I reviewed The Moulting, the debut from this Canadian female Sludge duo at another site. I wasn’t particularly impressed and gave the release a pretty poor review , even throwing it some half-hearted sexist humor. Well,  the ensuing shit storm of comments on the review and on Facebook from the band […]

So here is last of fledgling Blast Head Records’ three initial releases. Hailing from Roanoke Virginia, Human Infection self released Infest to Ingest last year, but Blast Head picked it up for release earlier this year, and unfortunately of the labels  first three releases, this is my least favorite. Human Infection play death metal. Bog […]

As former drummer for the legendary Gorefest, Ed Warby went through his shares of ups and downs; breakups, reunions, classic album, reviled albums and more breakups. But nothing compares to the emotions that he conveys on his doom side project, The 11th Hour. While playing on Hail of Bullets keeps his death metal steel wet, it’s doom metal that remains Eds deepest love. With his second effort, Lacrimosa Mortis, his emotions and influences are not just worn on his sleeve, they are exposed by a gaping, tearstained hole in his chest showcasing the pulsing heart underneath. I visited with Ed to dig a little further into his more doom laden music and finally lay to rest any Gorefest rumors.

Phylum Morph-Apokalupsis is an 8 song split CD between two of New York finest,  gurgliest, messiest, grinding death metal/goregrind acts. You get 4 from each (though one of Animals Killing People‘s track is a cover) and the only real difference between the 2 sets of tracks is a few members here and there (both bands […]

After a few relatively quiet months,  Dark Descent Records has unleashed an unholy duo of crumbling doom/death metal in the form of Emptiness‘s experimentally depressive Loss and Anhedonist‘s crawling, lumbering debut, Netherwards. However, when truly unearthing Netherwards one word comes to mind more than any other; Cavernous. Playing a form of subterranean doom/death metal Seattle’ […]

It’s actually been a couple of months since I reviewed some Christian metal core on Facedown Records, so why not get back into things with the debut album from a band whose introductory EP last year grabbed my attention with its no nonsense, almost All Shall Perish styled delivery  of brimstone, metallic sermons. Unfortunately though, […]

God dammit!!!!  I wanted this to be good and really like it more. But alas, the debut album from renowned and respected metal uber artist Mark Riddick (who plays drums, keyboards, guitars and bass) and some dude from Belgium on vocals fall flat. Way flat. The intent is there; to create a dirty sloppy old […]

This is one of those special sort of interviews for me since guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke’s contributions to one of my all-time favorite bands, Motörhead, had such a huge impact on me growing up and still does to this day, not to mention his work in Fastway, particularly that brilliant first album. I still recall purchasing Motörhead’s No Remorse cassette at a record store in San Antonio, Texas during a visit one summer, a consumer product decision that changed my life (grabbing a copy of Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion didn’t hurt either). But enough with all that nostalgic blathering and on to the business at hand. It’s taken two decades, but Clarke is back in a big way with a fantastic new Fastway album, one that should blast any remaining memories of the questionable material that followed All Fired Up right out of your head. Clarke is joined by vocalist/bassist Toby Jepson and drummer Matt E on what is without question a great hard rock album called Eat Dog Eat. Welcome back Eddie and welcome back Fastway. Read on.

It’s time to play the spin the wheel of metal genre label creation!!!! What do we have here from Seattle’s 7 Horns 7 Eyes? prog-djent-death-core? death-djent–prog-core? Christian-djent-melo-core? Whatever you call it and whatever the hype surrounding this release  what with teaser trailers, a Jeff Loomis (ex- Nevermore, who apparently made Century Media aware of these […]

Set to Headline “CONQUERORS OF THE WORLD” N. America Tour PROSTHETIC RECORDS is proud to announce the signing of Greek symphonic death metal quartet , SEPTICFLESH,  whose eight albums and performances on tour alongside the likes of Cradle of Filth, Amon Amarth, Gorgoroth, Satyricon, Children of Bodom and more have earned the group international acclaim. […]

April 11, 2012, Philadelphia — Baroness, the Savannah-based quartet whose two prior releases (Red Album and Blue Record) were awarded record of the year honors from both Revolver and Decibel Magazines as well as repeatedly placing on year-end best of lists from Pitchfork and Village Voice, return with a new album titled Yellow & Green […]

North Carolina’s Wretched return with their third album on Victory Records, carrying the flag for the label’s strangely eclectic death metal roster amid the likes of Pathology and Jungle Rot. And while I’ve enjoyed the band’s prior two releases, they remain a band that are just ‘there’ for me, neither overly impressing me or making […]

Finnish crusaders of epic heathen metal, MOONSORROW, and Century Media Records are proud to announce a worldwide deal! In regards to the signing, the band comments: “MOONSORROW are thrilled to start working with Century Media, a label that is home to many fellow artists already! We never make our music half way or with compromises […]

Regular readers of the site more than likely know that I’ve got a HM2 pedal sized boner for old school Swedish death metal. It’s my first love of the vast metal genre going back to Entombed’s Left Hand Path. So the genre’s massive recent revival has me pretty giddy. Especially when bands from all over the world are delivering very impressive take’s on the classic sound. and even more vital to the genre seeing as the genre’s fore bearer’s are now defunct (Dismember), wheezing into the end of their career (Entombed, Grave) or simply overlooked nowadays ( Unleashed). Luckily the mantle has some worthy carriers. Whether it’s the Fin’s like Winterwolf and Cryptborn, Eastern Europeans like Morbider and Brutally Deceased, Americans Fatalist and Horrendous or home grown talent like Entrails, the genre is in safe hands. And there are no more impressive hands than Germany’s Revel In Flesh, who with their debut album Deathevokation have arguably jumped up to the top of the heap with Entrails. A mysterious duo comprised of Maggesson (drums/guitars) and Haubersson (guitar/bass/vocals), Revel in Flesh makes no bones about their chosen influences, so I visited with Haubersson to revel in the old school even more….

New record due out late 2012 on Nuclear Blast Records AUSTRIA – Supreme death/black metal commando, Belphegor, will enter Mana Studios in St. Petersburg, Fla. next month to begin work on its new, yet-to-be-titled album with producer, Erik Rutan. The band’s impending 10th studio release is due out late 2012 on Nuclear Blast Records.   Commented vocalist, […]

Other than Mithras, Sarpanitum, Trigger the Bloodshed, Fleshrot (RIP) and Detrimentum, I’m not very familiar with the better of the brutal/tech death metal scene coming out of the UK, but here is Hull based newcomer Parasitized and their impressive debut 6 song EP. Though released independently back in 2010, fledgling Canadian label Blast Head Records […]

According the Crown‘s website, Crown is “two men, two guitars, a voice and machine, …an extraordinary duo, trio or man-machine, whose compositions clean, direct and catchy, used as raw material to further the noise limits”. And that’s pretty accurate as Crown are in fact a French duo with both members once serving in Hollow Corp, […]

With the current trend of metal re-issues, previously revered or sought after releases are now easier to find and more accessible than their first run. I mean if it were not for re-issues, I would have never got to hear Uncanny’s “Splenium for Nyktophobia”, God Macabre’s “The Winterlong” , Convulse’s Wrld Without God or Gorement’s The Ending Quest. But reissues can be a double edged sword. I mean did we really need a Morta Skuld re-issue. Or how many times can Earache milk their early Carcass releases? . Heck, Attack Attack! recently re-issued their 2010 album. Yeah, really. But there’s still some releases out there that have been ignored over the last 20 years or so,releases I feel need to be heard again, or simply dusted off, and re-mastered to enhance their original sound. So I put together a list of albums that I personally would like to get the re-issue or remaster treatment, either due to their rarity or that they sounded like ass the first time around. I fully acknowledge that some of these might have been reissued on some obscure Ukrainian or South American bootleg label, but I’m talking about a re-issue on a recognized, corporately legal label, that’s freely available to anyone who does not want to go on the Russian black market to get a copy. Of course these are my own personal preferences, so until you have your own second rate internet review site such as ours, feel free to add your own in the comments section.

While about 75-80 percent of this ‘job’ is reviewing known or established bands in the same few genres and simply quantifying what most readers already feel, there’s often something that comes along that’s completely, new unexpected and rewarding. Such is the case with Chicago’s Beak. Some research shows that the band features members of a […]

Y’know, I’ve been debating on whether do review the new Asphyx album for a while now, but a few things weighed heavy on my mind; first, Century  Media never sent any sort of promo, digital, physical or otherwise, showing arrogance and confidence in the fact they don’t need press coverage, which considering the band is […]

All you really need to know about Blood Label to figure out how they sound are three things ; They are from Denmark, Existence Expires was recorded at Tue Madsen’s Antfarm Studio (Hatesphere, Illdisposed, The Haunted, etc) and the vocals were recorded at the studio of former Hateshphere/Allhelluya and current The Kandidate front-man Jacob Bredahl. […]

Some bands wear their heart and their influences on their sleeve, and none more so than the current crop of retro, old school Swedish death worshiping acts. For instance you’ve got the font and ‘tomb’ references of Entrails, Funeral Whore,  who named a demo after a Grave song, Brutally Deceased is named after a Grave […]

There’s an old adage that states ‘never judge a book by its cover’, and that applies aptly in the case of the debut album from Columbia’s King. Based on the Dark Funeral reject cover art, song titles like “Non laughter – Zero Fucking Happiness” and “Kill the Posers Like Fucking Christians” as well as the […]

It’s amazing to me that the band that left me relatively unimpressed with their debut EP Razor to Oblivion, then fired back with one of 2010s most critically acclaimed albums, Heavy Breathing and now followed that up with one of 2012s best releases, Sentenced to Life. Not only that, the band seemed to have really […]

Poland’s Centurion have been around for a while, but this is only the band’s second effort since their 2002 debut, Conquer & Rule, which I have not heard. Stylistically the band play typically competent Polish death metal with a solid Floridian (Morbid Angel/Deicide) influence and in fact, the band covered Morbid Angel‘s “Day of Suffering” […]