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So to coincide with the band’s current US Pagan Knights run with Suidakra and Tyr, Scotland’s purveyors of Pirate metal have given us a 4 song EP to tide us over until the next album, slated for a 2009 release. The EP consists of 1 new song (the 6 minute title track), a reworked track […]

Though the third release from the newly restarted Strikefirst Records won’t appeal to too many readers of this site, it will appeal to fans of the first As Cities Burn album as well as the likes of Misery Signals, Means and such; jangly, layered, melodic worshipcore with an overabundance of emo/clean vocals, that as usual […]

Three nasty, noisy albums into their career, Sweden’s Crowpath continue to make caustic, brittle attack that seems to be a perfect fit for Willowtip and gives the label’s relatively quiet 2008, a noisy, discordant ending. With a turbulent, chaotic sound akin to a being stuck in a sonic landslide, Crowpath’s largely unclassifiable mix of grind, […]

Where as most deathcore in 2008 was content to prolapse your bowels with breakdowns and little else, the full length debut from Belgium’s Days of Betrayal is actually one of the more complete deathcore albums I’ve heard, with an actual focus on songs and riffs and opposed to endless open note beat downs. Released in […]

Candlelight Records today announces its third label packaged tour for North America. Set to kick off on June 6, CIII will feature the talents of US black metal legends Absu, with support coming from France’s Glorior Belli, Austin-based Averse Sefira and Los Angeles-based Sothis. The tour will visit 22 cities throughout the US and Canada […]

Translation Loss Records are extremely pleased to announce the addition of Columbus, Ohio’s STRUCK BY LIGHTNING to their roster! Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, STRUCK BY LIGHTNING features Gregory Lahm (previously of Mouth Of The Architect) on vocals and guitars, accompanying by Travis Kline, Mike Leach and John Peters. Encompassing the aggression and punk slathering of […]

The much maligned deathcore genre looks to be off to an explosive start in 2009 with the likes of Oceano and this sophomore release from Rose Funeral. I was actually surprised at this album, not only because Metal Blade signed them after the band virtually split up after 2007s Crucify Kill Rot, only leaving guitarist […]

I’m not usually one for stoner doom sludge rock or whatever, as A) I don’t partake of illegal drugs, and B) I’m usually too highly strung and easily distracted to let myself fall into a half sleep, red eyed stupor for any length of time. However with their self released debut (Tualatin Records is the […]

It is with immense reverence that Southern Lord Recordings announces the signing of Chicago heavy-rock instrumental icons Pelican. Their genre-defying sound and eagerness to explore new musical directions will fit right at home alongside similar bands on the label like Earth, Boris and sunn 0))). Pelican is currently at Red Room studios in Seattle, WA […]

BONDED BY BLOOD will be playing their first cross-country shows on the Masters of Disaster tour. Alongside fellow thrash acts, EXMORTUS and WITCHAVEN, BONDED BY BLOOD vocalist, Jose “Aladdin” Barrales looks to take a little bit of the LA thrash scene to every town they play. As the excitable frontman explains, “This is our first […]

Fast-rising Swedish rock band DEAD MAN will launch its first-ever U.S. tour tonight at the Union Pool in Brooklyn, NY. The buzz band, quickly becoming known for its colorful songwriting and dynamic live performances, is touring in support of its critically acclaimed new album, Euphoria. DEAD MAN, whose members possess a wealth of musical experience […]

Candlelight confirms the worldwide signing of Norway’s Susperia. Currently finishing work on their fifth album, the band recently announced a string of early spring UK dates that will kick off what is expected to be a busy year for the popular Norwegian metal band. “Ten years and still the same five guys,” exclaims vocalist Athera […]

Chet Scott’s 2006 self titled debut was an excellent doomy, ambient, almost stoner take on depressive Pacific Northwest, one man black metal, giving the scene an injection of creativity that strayed from typical depressive Wrest and Malefic worship. And the follow up, while taking the same elements, delivers an even more tribal, ritualistic, organic and […]

With 2008s watershed of superb, high profile releases, a number of lower profile but still excellent releases from the likes of Mitochondrion, Hour Of Penance, Celebrant, Battalion, Hackneyed and Virginia’s H.P Lovecraft obsessed act Cyaegha got somewhat overlooked. For a debut, Steps of Descent is a confident, under the radar entry into technical death metal, […]

When one thinks of Australian metal, I imagine not too many doom tinged melodic death metal bands come to mind, but enter Melbourne’s Be’lakor. The band’s 2007 self released debut “The Frail Tide” was arguably one of the most critically acclaimed and well received independent metal releases I can remember, so when keyboardist Steve Merry contacted me via myspace to review the upcoming follow up, I took the opportunity to sneak in an interview and find out a little more about the band as well as the new album…

I’ve listened to and enjoyed a lot of deathcore over the years-most of it from the genres larger names on larger labels. But one of the smaller gems I discovered was an EP back in 2007 from a Canadian band called Dear Black Diary. Hardly groundbreaking stuff, but solid and well done with a crafty […]

If a complete stranger or non-metalhead were to come up to me today and ask me “What is Black Metal”? I’d give him this record. Sure there’s all sorts of classic options from Emperor through Marduk, Immortal, Leviathan and such, but as of right now A Spell for the Death of Man, for me, seems […]

Wow, real Black metal in the US is really starting to impress me and this his SoCal 5 piece look to be an up and coming band with some real potential as this 4 song, 21 minute EP does virtually everything right. With a perfectly balanced raw buzzing guitar tone and some actual presence of […]

PSYCHOSTICK – NEW ALBUM COMPLETED ENTITLED “SANDWICH” Phoenix, Arizona, comedy/metal band Psychostick has finished recording their new album, Sandwich. Work on the 24-track opus to food, email spam, bad directions, revenge and more food began in August 2008. A May 5, 2009, release (US only) is scheduled via Rock Ridge Music. Sandwich is the follow-up […]

Open Grave Records & NePlusUltra Music are proud to announce the signing of Finland’s Female Fronted Melodic Metal band VENIA. VENIA got their start in 2002 when guitarists Viktor and Jere started jamming together and seeking more band mates. The lineup was finally completed in the spring of 2004, and a demo was recorded titled, […]

This spring, Ohio’s mighty SKELETONWITCH and Georgia lords (and lordess) of sludge KYLESA will embark on the hessian odyssey that is the “Southern Discomfort” tour, a co-headlining trek that – not counting performances by both bands at the Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta – kicks off March 13 in Charlotte, N.C. Included among Southern Discomfort’s […]

A KID HEREAFTER IN THE GRINDING LIGHT has hit Denmark hard with the release of their debut album. The album received unanimous praise by the Danish press, and now it has been nominated for a Danish Music Award in the Hard Rock category, where Mercenary and Rock Hard Power Spray are the other nominees. A […]

With the rise in popularity in the Pagan/Celtic Metal Scene, one of the true pioneers of the Genre is ready to take the United States scene by storm. Over their fourteen year history, SuidAkrA have stayed true to their roots and the sound that they have become known for. The German Celtic metallers are returning […]

Montreal technical death veterans NEURAXIS – whose new album, The Thin Line Between, was named one of Metal Edge’s Top 20 releases of 2008 – are currently prepping for back-to-back tours. First up is the “Montreal Assault” tour, which will see the band play alongside Despised Icon, Carnifex, The Plasmarifle and labelmates Beneath The Massacre.   […]

Here’s the kind of album that drives old metal heads nuts, but the kids seem to like; squawking, growling, breakdown filled chaotic deathcore, given the ‘grindcore ‘tag’ by the Hot Topic crowd. Ugh. It’s all here for the kids to enjoy; 14 short bursts with Oh so quirky song titles (“Urethra Franklin VS. Queef Latifah”, […]