So now that I have an old school record player, I’m delving into a few vinyl releases I’ve accrued over the last couple of months. The first one was the excellent Judgements LP by hardcore act Protestant, and now, I’m moving onto a different genre altogether. To a release that’s not really needed for its […]

New Zealand’s Ulcerate set the bar pretty high for themselves with 2009’s Everything is Fire, a monstrous slab of churning, atonal death metal that ended up on many 2009 year end lists, mine included. How would they respond? The album title says it all. Even though the formula is the same as on Everything is […]

I generally don’t go for gimmicks or over the top outfits in metal. Especially if such bands play second rate music, simply relying on their shtick to carry them. I also happen to think the likes of GWAR and Lordi are horrendously overrated. But if you are into that kind of a thing, A Band […]

You’d be forgiven for thinking that The Famine were a Christian metal band (not that there’s anything wrong with that) due to their CD artwork, label affiliation, song titles like “The New Hell” and “The Cross and the Holy See” and for the fact that former and current members came from early Christian death metal […]

Formed in 1993 under the name of Ravner, then resurfacing after a brief hiatus in 2006 as Hat (Norwegian for ‘hate’), Hat are a duo of corpse-painted, spike clad Norwegians playing brittle, frosty, hateful orthodox black metal culled straight from the early ’90s. While that little description is probably more than apt for me to […]

I had no idea Protest the Hero was dropping a new album, so when this showed up in my mailbox, I was like a small child on Christmas. Now, I know that Protest the Hero are a like Between the Buried and Me, in that they are a pretty divisive act with one side thinking […]

To me, The End Record’s roster has gone downhill quicker and more noticeably than any label in recent memory. Back in the ’90s and early ’00s, they were releasing game changing albums by bands like Arcturus, Epoch of Unlight, Agalloch, Love History, Antimatter, Scholomance, Sculptured and such. Now with a few exceptions (These Are They, […]

I wasn’t overly impressed with Abacinate’s 2008 debut  albummRuination, as it was a simple mix of hardcore and death metal. It wasn’t quite brutal enough to be considered deathcore or death metal, and came across as a hardcore sheep simply trying to unconvincingly wear death metal clothing. But on their follow-up, Genesis (are these guys […]

Fans of Protest the Hero, With Passion (RIP), The Human Abstract and Between the Buried and Me, take note. Detractors of all four, go click elsewhere. Plying a borderline pretentious, yet brilliant amalgamation of chaotic, spazzy tech metal, death metal, power metal and thrash, Californian six piece Journal have delivered an epic self-released masterpiece that […]

I really wanted to like Margin of Error’s second self-released effort a little more, as it mixes deathcore with a sort of electronica/industrial sort of The Berzerker sheen, but in the end, the fusing of the two elements isn’t quite as impressive as it could have been. With a thick heavy production that has a […]

I have a vague recollection of enjoying the shoe-gaze influenced black metal debut, Renihilation, of this New York act,  but I have to admit that after it was reviewed by my TOTD-colleague Jordan Itkowitz, I sort of forgot about about it. It simply melded into the many of so called hipster black metal releases that […]

It wasn’t until 2000’s Destroy the Opposition that I discovered Dying Fetus, who were being touted as the heirs apparent to the then-on-hiatus Suffocation. Based on Destroy the Opposition and Killing on Adrenaline, which I picked  up shortly after hearing Destroy the Opposition, those claims were certainly founded at the time. But for those that […]

Regarded as Dying Fetus‘s first ‘real’ release, though not their first album, Infatuation with Malevolence was originally released in 1995 on Wild Rags Records and it compiled two demos: 1993’s Bathe In Entrails and 1994’s Infatuation with Malevolence. Serving as an erstwhile precursor to the bands full-length debut album, 1996’s Purification Through Violence, Infatuation with […]

Still one of my very favorite Bargain Bin finds, this duo of CDs was found at a CD Warehouse in Southeast Missouri after literally hours of perusal. I had never heard of the band, but assumed by the cover, logo, album titles and labels that this was worth a look. And thanks to the old listening station, was able to preview both CDs, and I was sold after preview of mere seconds of each.

There are a few bands that come to mind when you simply mention a genre. Mention East Coast death metal and folks will more often than not say Suffocation or Dying Fetus. Mention Floridian death metal and Obituary, Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel will be the first bands to pop out of most people’s mouths. […]

CRITICALLY REVERED NORTH CAROLINA BAND ANNOUNCES NORTH AMERICAN HEADLINING TOUR Globally celebrated progressive rock / cutting-edge metal innovators BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME (aka BTBAM) will release its new album The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues on April 12, 2011 via Metal Blade Records. The three-song strong, 30 minute tour de force was recorded at Canada’s Metalworks […]

I had this Canadian death metal outfit’s monstrous self-released debut album, Archaeaeon, recommended by the fine readers of this very site, but I had no idea that they were working on a second album… let alone on the mighty Profound Lore Records where they slither along nicely next to the likes of Portal, Vasaeleth and […]

The title, artwork and full tracklisting of the first part of a groundbreaking BLUT AUS NORD trilogy are finally revealed. Recorded, mixed & mastered at Earthsound Studio, 777 – Sect(s) represents BLUT AUS NORD’s most nightmarish voyage yet . The amazing artwork is courtesy of gifted Chilean artist Daniel Valencia from Fenomeno Design and can […]

While labels like Deathwish Inc, Bridge 9, Epitaph and Victory are often considered the preeminent contemporary hardcore labels, the fact remains that Halo of Flies actually has one of hardcore’s very best bands tucked away on their label;  Milwaukee’s DIY act, Protestant. Having released numerous vinyl, splits and 7” records I was happy to see […]

NEXT CHAPTER IN AWARD-WINNING BAND’s STORIED CAREER SET TO UNFOLD Celebrated progressive rock / cutting-edge metal band BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME (also BTBAM) has inked a worldwide recording deal with Metal Blade Records. The award-winning North Carolina quintet will kick off the partnership with the April release of its new album The Parallax: Hypersleep […]

As most of you know, I’m a sucker for old school, Stockholm-styled Swedish death metal. And with the recent resurgence of the genre, I’ve very much enjoyed nostalgic acts like Axis Powers, Interment, Entrails, Fatalist, Brutally Deceased, Morbider and Evocation bringing back the glory. Not forgetting the slew of re-issues of previously undiscovered, obscure or […]

GOD DETHRONED calls it quits! Might Dutch Death Metal warriors GOD DETHRONED have announced to call it quits by the end of this year. Read the statement of GOD DETHRONED mainman Henri Sattler: “For a Nihilist, nothing is at least something. 2011 is GOD DETHRONED’s final year in existence. We could have spent another year […]

(Montreal, QC) – Canada’s RAZOR are announcing their first show in Montreal in over five years at Foufounes Electriques on Friday April 29th, 2011. Playing only a few shows a year they are also set to headline the 2011 ‘True Thrash Festival’ in Osaka, Japan on February 11 and the show in Montreal will be […]

Glendale, AZ extreme metal band JOB FOR A COWBOY have entered Florida’s Audio Hammer Studios with producer Jason Suecof to record an EP of all new material. The as-yet-untitled EP will feature the first new music from the band since 2009’s Ruination LP which landed at #42 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. A spring […]

Willowtip is very pleased to announce the signing of Dallas’ BARING TEETH. Their debut album, Atrophy, will be released in early-Summer 2011. The band comments, “We are thrilled to be working with Willowtip. We have been fans of the label for years and are excited to be part of such a great lineup of bands.” […]