Folks, THIS is how clean vocals on a metal record are done right. Plying a familiar form of modern metal that will appeal to fans of Killswitch Engage, All That Remains and such, Canada’s Odium add a couple of things to spruce up their sound: some heavy handed but well placed, dramatic orchestral synths that […]

I decided to review this self released Italian metalcore effort and the debut, At The Bottom from Canada’s Odium on the same day so you readers could get two slightly different examples of how clean vocals affect the totality of the album. In the case of Inside Process, their heavier, meatier take on metalcore (a la […]

April 22nd, 2009 – (Detroit, MI) Thrashing death anti-heroes THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER are set to release their first ever DVD, Majesty, this May.  This side splitting peek into the hard working band’s humor laced brand of daily life will have you smelling the funk of the van from coast to coast and keep you […]

Listen -I love metal. I grew up on metal and have listened to metal for the better part of 25 years. I live, breath, eat, shit and ejaculate (much to my wife’s chagrin) metal. It’s part of my being, part of my personality and part of my soul and never in a million years could I see myself listening to any other music as I grow even older. Nope – I’m going to be in the old person’s home, drooling and shitting all over myself, listening to Deicide on headphones while on my death bed. When I do croak, my hands will be stuck in the shape of the ol’ horns.

That being said, there are some things about metal and all of its many sub genres that annoy the ever loving shit out of me. Things that grate my nerves, mildly irritate me, some things I just flat out hate and few I’m even embarrassed to be associated with. So I thought I would share a few of them in no real order. And as always feel free to add your own or comment on mine.

Of course, please remember this is for mild entertainment and very weak humor purposes only….. Don’t get all butt hurt.

New Album “Unspoken Words” In Stores May 19th, 2009 Montreal based Derelict has officially signed with Year of the Sun Records and Kerosene Media for the release of their upcoming new album, “Unspoken Words.” The album will surface in stores across Canada on May 19th, 2009. The group is currently streaming tracks from their forthcoming […]

Full album will be available for preview on MySpace music this Thursday.   Shadowside together with MySpace Brazil will feature all tracks from the upcoming record on their official MySpace profile. From noon on, Rock/Metal fans all over the world can check out, from April 16th to May 16th, the full Dare to Dream album […]

Artillery – one of the best thrash metal bands around returns with a brand new studio album! New material entitled “When Death Comes” will be their first studio release since the 1999’s album “B.A.C.K“!!!!! Denmark’s Artillery is one of Europe’s earliest exponents of thrash metal and the band’s contribution to the bourgeoning genre is difficult […]

BICLOPS (ex-Postman Syndrome, current East Of The Wall) are currently in the studio at The Machine Shop (King Crimson, Clutch, Lamb Of God) with producer Will Putney, completing their debut full-length for a to-be-determined label. Demos for three of the nine songs can be heard at http://www.Biclops.net. Immediately following the completion of the recording, the […]

With 2007s debut, Nailed. Dead. Risen, California’s Impending Doom rustled some feathers and raised some eyebrows with their attempt at  pure, brutal death metal from a Christian viewpoint. On some levels it succeeded, but it also felt a bit forced and gimmicky. So here is the follow up, and I’m glad to say, that for […]

Like this record, I’ll get xstraightx to it: 9 songs, 22 minutes of very impressive, incredibly hefty, heaving Straight edge hardcore/metal that’s some of the most impressive of this style I’ve heard since Black My Heart and Redline. Also, because some of the huge, open note breakdowns, this will appeal to the likes of The […]

Brantford, Ontario, Canada based metal band Our Lady of Bloodshed has signed with Northern Storm Records. The group’s debut album “VII” will be released under the label on June 16th, 2009. Our Lady of Bloodshed is currently streaming tracks online at http://www.Myspace.com/OurLadyofBloodshed “We are all very excited about this partnership,” says Our Lady of Bloodshed […]

Holy hell. 2008 saw tech death metal explode with the likes of Origin, Decrepit Birth, Brain Drill, Trigger the Bloodshed, Severed Savior, Psycroptic and such; a year hard to top right? Well, 2009 already has seen brilliant releases from Obscura and Ulcerate as well as solid releases from Inevitable End, Gory Blister, Trigger the Bloodshed […]

Here’s yet another excellently put together, self – released effort, this time from Phoenix, Arizona’s Loren Battle, however, the music isn’t quite as promising as the cover art and self described mix of “beauty and brutality”. What we have here is a very predictable style of metalcore that’s on the heavier end of the spectrum […]

As a deathcore fan, 2009 has been off to a pretty solid start with the likes of Rose Funeral, Impending Doom, Glasgow Grin, Within the Ruins, Earth From Above, etc. However two recent releases in particular have savaged my genitals with the tenacity of an African Honey Badger and I was wearing beehive underpants; the […]

First off, I’m generally not a writer who spends half the review on an albums packaging or artwork, but Defeater’s Travel’s and its multi panel, digipack gatefold packaging emblazoned with no frills, grainy and real, black and white photos is simply superb and a welcome change to the usual over the top colors of the urban […]

(Los Angeles, CA) April 14, 2009 – The Syracuse, N.Y.-based UNHOLY, who will support Earth Crisis and Walls of Jericho on a national tour next month, have posted the Aeron Alfrey-designed cover art for their Prosthetic Records debut, New Life Behind Closed Eyes, on their MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/unholy.  “The cover as well as the interior […]

In an update issued by the band: “We’re proud to announce that we’ve  licensed our own new EP, Doomsday Derelicts from our North American label, Century Media, to be released on our own in-house label Battle Kommand Records for release in North America! The CD will be at press shortly and we anticipate a release […]

DARKEST HOUR, the Washington D.C. powerhouse metal quintet, will proudly release their fifth full-length record, The Eternal Return, June 23, 2009 on Victory Records. The band tapped producer Brian McTernan (Senses Fail, Thrice, From Autumn to Ashes) and recorded at his Baltimore, MD-based Salad Days Studio. Guitarist Mike Schleibaum comments, “To put it simply, this […]

The fact the third full length album from one of Funeral dooms best bands and one of my favorite personal bands came out late last year and I’m just now getting to it should give you a red flag as to what is about to follow. After two absolutely stunning funeral doom albums in O […]

Skelmersdale England’s death-thrash outfit Machiavellian has posted a video teaser for their new album “The Impossibility of Death in the Minds of the Living” online here. The group’s debut release will surface this spring on Year of the Sun Records. Recorded at Foel Studios in Wales, “The Impossibility of Death in the Minds of the […]

Translation Loss Records are extremely excited to announce the addition of Richmond, VA’s CITY OF SHIPS to their roster!   CITY OF SHIPS has been touring relentlessly since its inception in 2005, promoting self-released EPs as well as CD and Vinyl releases from independent Richmond, VA labels Forcefield Records and the Perpetual Motion Machine. The trio […]

My CD collection is full of albums I ‘like’. Not albums I’m going to revisit and listen to over and over again, but certainly not an album I’m going to trade in, sell or use for Skeet shooting once I’m done reviewing it The second album, Dawn of Reprisal from the UK’s Malefice is one such […]

Maybe it’s the five year wait, maybe it’s the fact I’ve listened to soooo much similar styled noisy, lurching, techy mathcore in the last 4 years, maybe I’ve just turned into a miserable, jaded old fuck. I’m not sure what it is, but after being blown away by 2005s The Design, the follow up, The Campaign, […]

Harpoon is a drum machine based ‘grindcore’ duo featuring vocalist Toney Vast-Binder of 7000 Dying Rats fame and guitarist/drum programmer Dean Costello (the band has also added Lair of The Minotaur bassist DJ Barraca). The term grindcore is relative here-this isn’t pure Napalm Death, nor is it the modern pseudo grindcore (Pig Destroyer, etc) that […]

WHEN AND WHERE Dates: July 31, August 1, and August 2, 2009 Venue: El Rodeo Community Center Address: 451 W. Hueneme Rd., Oxnard, CA 93033 STAGE SOUND / STAGE FURY This year we are pleased to announce that we will have a 2 stage set-up for the first time. The two stage set-up could be […]