Don’t always trust tags that someone pulls out of their ass; always listen and decide for yourself.  The labelling of “post-rock/blackened hardcore” for Vienna auteurs of execution, Seagrave and the debut album Stabwound doesn’t even begin to do justice.  Post-rock always makes me think of something gorgeous, dreamy, hypnotic, etc.  Sure, the guitar work on […]

Man, this is evil stuff.  It’s not fast, it’s actually quite melodic but I’ll be goddamned if this shit doesn’t get by on sheer tonnage alone.  The Dead hail from Australia, a country/continent with a rich heavy scene that doesn’t always get the credit it so rightly deserves.  I’m coming into this review as an […]

I might be picking in the wrong season here.  I’m growing a crop of doom/death when the weather consistently lures me towards faster riffs, heavy groove abandon or something that will have me speeding down the highway at 100 mph and swerving between lanes.  The Ukraine’s Torrens Conscientium are not exactly band, but you know […]

New Delhi trio Toxoid take an ain’t broke, don’t fix it approach to black metal on their debut album Aurora Satanae.  They avoid shoe gazin’, there are no pop elements, over the top orchestration is left for the London Symphony and you can kiss those clean vocals goodbye.  For those who like it right in […]

A slab of brute force melancholy from Poland, Oktor’s full-length debut after a string of mini-albums is a grandstand of kiloton riffs and lighter shading.  They straddle the fence of sadness without getting too weepy for their own good and bring some of the heaviest guitar work I’ve heard in the death/doom across the eight […]

German grinders Mindflair have been around a helluva long-time.  Their dirty dozen, blast beat carnage dates back to 1994.  That’s a couple of lifetimes in grind years because only a few bands have managed to last for such a long period of time.  My only experience with these guys to date was with the ’02 […]

Primoridum is comprised of former members of shredding death metallers Heavy Lies the Crown.  If you’ve come for technical guitar permutations, forceful mid-tempo chunks, surprisingly melodic lead-work, ultra-clear bass licks and hyper-speed blast tactics, you’ll be in good hands.  This is a solid slab of punishment from these Indiana upstarts.  As ridiculously brutal as this […]

According to my research a “Lachrimatory” is a vase that stores cried tears.  If my findings don’t clue you in on what kind of band Brazil’s Lachrimatory are then you are probably beyond my help.  This is mournful, gothic death/doom that will have you reaching for the tissues and a shoulder to weep on.  Originally […]

This is some ferocious shit with an impressive resume.  Come Back From The Dead features some of the violence mongers from Machetazo, Nashgul, Asedio, Cenotaph and many others.  Their music centers on a sandblasted, scum-bathed crust/doom/thrash/death metal hybrid that calls to mind very early Entombed, Discharge, Autopsy, Venom, Dismember, Celtic Frost and Motörhead…throw all of […]

It’s hard to believe that 10 years have passed since the Busse Woods stranglers, Acid King have released any new music.  They put out their fuzzed-out, blown amp masterpiece III on Smallstone and there hasn’t been a recording since…until now!  Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere is their first album in a decade.  My fanship […]

From Mumbai, India hails Biopsy, a chunky, galaxy swallowing death metal three piece with plenty to offer the world.  In a shocking turn of events the band is comprised of vocals, guitar and drums.  That’s right folks, no bass.  To compensate for the lack of low-end, guitarist Akshay Verma turns his amps to the hogslop […]

To the untrained ear, death metal is simply death metal.  Those that have been fans of the genre over the years know better.  There’s the ripped-circuit board tech craziness, the burly chested guttural variety, the sloppy gore madness, the pleasingly melodic, the groove-oriented…  I could go on and on.  Belarus’ long-running bashers, Veld fall into […]

Portland, Oregon is notorious for great riff/doom/stoner/whatever ya wanna call it bands.  I’m not going to make you a list of cool stuff from the region I’ve been turned onto because the task would take up the entirety of this write-up.  Also, I’m not going to discuss the origin of Black Pussy’s name because every […]

Some metal reviews require expanded length, detailed analysis and thoughtful examination.  Other metal reviews demand brevity, tough talk and all hyperbole checked at the door.  In the case of Denmark, Copenhagen’s Halshug and their Southern Lord debut Blodets Bånd I won’t be pushing the boundaries of the written word.  Simply put, this is crust punk […]

I don’t think many of us will dispute the fact that the Fins know their metal.  They’ve given us headbangers a lot to enjoy and admire over the years, and the pattern has continued long beyond the storied bands of old.  Named after a King Crimson song, and often billed straight to the chin as […]

That special, swampy brand of metal that only seems to come from New Orleans is a sound I just can’t deny.  Even whenever the musical genre in question happens to be grind/death metal you can always expect a murkier, muddier take on the style if it’s Louisiana bred.  Gristnam features members of doom grinders Haarp […]

The Hands of Orlac by Maurice Renard is a tale I’m very familiar with having seen numerous film adaptations of it including the 1960 version with Christopher Lee, The Beast with Five Fingers and The Hand.  What is it about that ol’ genre staple involving disembodied limbs running amuck that is so appealing?  I couldn’t […]

Bloomington, Indiana’s hypothermic quartet Thorr-Axe makes a helluva racket on their second LP, Gates of Winter.  Self-described as “blackened-doom” I’m not about to argue with them and set myself up for some Viking justice.  The grinding rhythms grease their gears with sludgy grooves, knee-deep trudges and begotten abandon while the tonality of the riffage, agoraphobic […]

Holy shit, Brazil’s Nervochaos are still going?  That’s pretty amazing, honestly.  These guys were always like the death metal band that was just right there biting at the larger pack, but never could seem to totally sink teeth into the flesh of the alphas.  I’ve had one of their albums, heard at least 3 more […]

Owl is a German duo that has three prior offenses under their belt and on their record.  I haven’t heard a single lick of anything they’ve done to date, so I’m drawn into their forest bewildered and untainted by past opinion for this new release.  Patrick Schroeder handles drums/percussion and Christian Kolf multitasks on guitars, […]

Blackened quartet Wayfarer hail from Colorado, and put on a melodic, mental institution clinic on their debut Children of the Iron Age.  Formerly an independent release, Children of the Iron Age has been picked up for CD/LP distribution by Prosthetic Records, which should help the band’s mixture of midtempo, tuneful chaos, despondent doom and rural, […]

Let’s face facts, chances are if you’re a death metal nut at least one major band that dragged you kicking and screaming into the style’s dungeon of torture is from Florida.  I know this site is full of haunted souls with more knowledge than myself, so I’m going to spare you the history lesson.  The […]

Me And John Wilkes Booth go back a long time.  It was back in the spring of 1865 that I used to hide him up in my attic after that little assassination affair.  Seriously though, I’ve been a fan of Long Island’s hard rockin’, hard drinkin’ noisemakers for quite some time now.  The band’s debut […]

The cover art attracted me to this album; a man hung from his neck holding a harp while vultures anxiously await a go at his bones.  Pretty cool shit.  Sometimes you can get burnt going in on the cover art theory alone, but that’s not the case here.  Hombre Malo is a quartet of bad […]

While everyone goes nuts for Electric Wizard’s painfully pedestrian Time to Die, I myself will clutch tightly the hearty entrails of NYC’s Blood Farmers, and their third horror doom masterpiece, Headless Eyes.  The trio hasn’t lost a step since they proudly stalked the halls of legendary riff label Hellhound Records back in the 90s.  If […]