A stalwart of the Chicago doom/death metal scene for over a decade, Novembers Doom raised some eyebrows with their last 2 albums; 2007s The Novella Reservoir and 2009s Into Nights Infernal Requiem. The band injected more pure and aggressive death metal into their melancholy laced sound, with surprisingly brutal results. However with their latest release, Aphotic, the band appears to have returned to their doomier, sadder and more tempered releases of their first 5 albums. So while casually Facebook chatting with Novembers Doom drummer and fellow metalreview.com writer Sasha Horn a full fledged interview sort of evolved. And here is the subsequent impromptu result….

Here’s a nice little surprise in the form of the second album from Chicago’s symphonic black metal act Withering Soul. With ties to one of first US acts plying the style competently, the underrated Veneficum, in keyboardist/guitarist Krystopher, Withering Soul’s sound has a distinct European tone that obviously culls from the likes of early Dimmu […]

Halo of Flies is having a pretty awesome run of LP releases over the last few months. Going back to last year’s The Makai and Protestant LPs, this year they’ve released the sublime debut of Light Bearer (ex Fall of Efrafa) and Northless’ follow up to 2010’s No Quarter for the Damaged CD/EP. As with […]

This has to be a late April’s Fools right? Or some sick practical joke and somewhere Trey Azagthoth and David Vincent are laughing it up, and will let us in on the joke, then release a proper album, right? Because if not, I’m going to be pissed, as are lots of other death metal fans. […]

Mithras would like to announce the return of long time frontman/bassist Rayner Coss, who left back in 2008. Rayner commented “Firstly, it’s good to be back! When I departed in 2008, Leon and I had been playing in bands together non-stop for over 12 years, and for various reasons I was finding it really difficult […]

So a member of (our)  TOTD forum asked me if I could review this band–that has some friends of his in Japan–as they are excited for some possible international exposure. I agreed. Though, I admit to not expecting much, but I’ll do a favor for a longtime reader — even if the CD was released […]

Based on the cover art and album name, I was expecting some form of shitty deathcore, but I should have known better than that from Soulflesh Collector Records. Instead, what we have here is some very impressive Dying Fetus -styled (nay, worshiping — the moniker kind of gives it away I guess) slammy, downtuned death […]

Following up on 2010’s Ashes of Angels, former Antaeus vocalist MkM has returned to his Aosoth-project to deliver sermons of blackened fury. And while the last effort had slight tinges of Deathspell Omega/Blut Aus Nord styled discordance and atmospherics, with lengthier songs, more dissonant, harrowing and atonal hues, Aosoth appears to have morphed into a […]

“I See No God Up Here” claimed Yuri Gagarin during the first manned space flight, April 1961. The last really good, pure post-rock/shoegaze albums I heard were Rosetta’s last effort and the last EP by Mouth of the Architect. But in a matter of weeks I’ve heard three; Halo of Flies Records’ excellent LP duo […]

I’ve seen a fair bit of buzz on the old Internet about this Finnish band’s debut EP, and after finally grappling with its criminally short 23-minutes of hellish death metal — the hype is in deed worth it. One could argue that the oddly named Corpsessed are cut from the current cloth of better Incantation […]

There are those out there that think death metal is dying or dead. That the once proud genre has succumbed into a riffless, soulless, pro tool pandemic and become full of stagnant clones or simply fallen into pure homage and worship. For the record, I am not one of those people. However, if I were, […]

FoR have always been a well honed and eclectic American black metal band, but as they have progressed, their art has taken on an even more impressive and beautiful atmosphere as their songs developed and writing style grown to carry the listener deep into the woods with classical and folk elements. The bands first full-length […]

Chaos Records is proud to announce the debut album from Mexican Death Metal origniators CENOTAPH. For the first time on vinyl we present the debut masterpiece The Gloomy Reflections of Our Hidden Sorrows coupled with two bonus tracks “Repulsive Odor to Decomposition” and “Larvs of Subconscious.” Formed in 1989, CENOTAPH was one of Mexico first […]

Dark Descent Records is proud to announce the reissue of Death Strike’s Fuckin’ Death on CD and vinyl. Active from 1984 to 1985, Fuckin’ Death represented one of death metal’s earliest recordings. Death Strike disbanded after 1985’s Fuckin’ Death demo and Paul Speckmann went on to front the legendary Master. Fuckin’ Death was eventually re-released […]

The tombs are closed and the coffins are lowered. The sun bleaches the gravestones and the flowers wither. The sun settles and the darkness rises. The stench of death still lingers and the presence of doom is inimitable. The ritual preparation of the dead is complete. ENCOFFINATION arises from the crypts to worship this ritual […]

1. A noxious atmosphere or influence: “The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma” 2. a. A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease. b. A thick vaporous atmosphere or emanation Fucking perfect… Considering Dark Descent’s obsession with […]

When I got a CD in the mail, by a band called Monsterworks–whom I had never heard–I really had no idea what to expect. I was maybe expecting a new band doing some sort of new metal. Boy was I wrong. It turned out that Monsterworks is a UK/New Zealand collaboration that plays a form of experimental thrash/death/heavy […]

Ibex Moon Records is set to release the brutality-laden soundtrack to this year’s bloodiest and most gore-filled film of the year, Afterparty Massacre. Featuring music from the likes of DENIAL FIEND, INCANTATION, CARDIAC ARREST, GRAVEHILL, FATALIST, GOREAPHOBIA, FUNERUS, FERAL, SOULLESS, LIFELESS & ESTUARY, this soundtrack threatens to incite as much bloodlust and violence as the […]

It’s a shame to see Von of Liturgy end his label/distro Epitomite Productions, though not a high end label, they released some solid stuff throughout the years, recently releasing decent CDs from the likes of Abacinate and Domination Through Impurity. However, there is a silver lining to every cloud and for me it’s the massive clearance sale that Epitomite Productions had, getting rid of their stock ate ridiculous prices, and while most of the good stuff went early I was able to pick up a couple of older CDs for $3 including Axamenta’s Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture and the as yet only released from Polish Death metal act Angerpath, 2007s Forgotten World.

Eternal Helcaraxe came to be in May 2003. Between then and February 2004 began writing for a black metal project based on raw emotion and atmosphere. After several line-up changes both founding members decided to continue as a two piece and in March 2008 released the first MCD entitled Palest Kingdom. Shortly after this release […]

Candlelight Records confirms the worldwide signing of FALLOCH. Andy Marshall and Scott McLean joined their talents together only a year ago but have already found a curious and growing audience. The band, who combine a wide variety of styles including metal, post-rock and folk, are completing details for their debut album, Where Distant Spirits Remain, […]

SERPENTCULT was born in the summer of 2006 by Frédéric Caure, Steven Van Cauwenbergh and Frederik ‘Cozy’ Cosemans in a classic power-trio setup. A few months later, Michelle Nocon joined the ranks on vocals and soon thereafter, the first EP Trident Nor Fire was recorded and released. The first European live appearances started in 2007, […]

I’ve not really been a huge fan of the current Incantation worship movement in US death metal. Partially because I was never an Incantation fan in the first place and secondly the current Swedish death metal worship movement is much more entertaining to me. However, the debut full length from Houston’s Blaspherian has got my […]

And I thought Journal‘s Unlorja was ambitious! Imagine if Kayo Dot, The Pax Cecilia, Orphaned Land, Unexpect , Between the Buried and Me and Opeth all got together and contributed their DNA to a new breed of experimental, musical  genetics — the resultant zygote would be Ana Kefr. Meaning ‘I am Infidel’ in Arabic, California’s […]

It’s no real secret that I’m a huge fan of Between the Buried and Me. Since The Silent Circus, I’ve reviewed virtually everything they have released for this site or some other publication. I’ve interviewed and seen the band live three times and their album Alaska resides on my top 25 metal albums of all time — only one of a handful of albums released in the 2000s. And in what appears to be an annual occurrence, I happened to catch them in Lawrence, KS while touring with The Ocean and Job For a Cowboy. A tour, that’s promoting their jump from long time label Victory Records to Metal Blade and their current EP The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues — the first part of a planned two CD concept. So amidst Lawrence’s hordes of hipsters, tempting college lasses, apple chutney feta cheese burgers and drumming homeless dudes, I caught up with guitarist Paul Waggoner to find out more about the current release, the label switch and other guitar maestros…