Jazzy Tech-Death, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… Quadvium (if you didn’t know already) is a project of Steve Di Giorgio (Testament, Death) and Jeroen Paul Thesseling (Obscura, Pestilence). They grabbed a guitar player along the way and a drummer: Yuma van Eekelen (Our Oceans, Pestilence) and Eve (Myth Of I, […]

Sargeist is one of the foundations of the Finnish Black Metal scene, a deadly force of Satanic wrath. They, along with Horna (Shatraug is associated with both Cult entities) and the unholy Behexen, form this Black Metal pyramid, a diabolical trinity if you will. Flame Within Flame is their sixth full-length following 2018’s Unbound, and […]

I have a process when I look for new Metal when promos drop: find the weirdest sounding shit possible. So if I see that a band is featuring banjos, a cellist, and a keyboardist… I’m fucking sold. Such is the case with New York’s Weeping Sores and their blistering 2nd album, The Convalescence Agonies. It’s […]

I’ve been trying to review this album for weeks now. Things kept getting in my way, however, and so now I’m able to sit down and put thoughts to page about this album that stands before me. I’m talking about French/Japanese depressive black metal duo, Enterré Vivant, and their heart-wrenching third album Azukï, from enigmatic […]

Occasionally, an album will hit me with such force that I’m compelled (not by the power of Christ) to put finger to keyboard and rave about it. This is the case with Trivax and their revival of violence on The Great Satan (directed at the Ayatollah Khomeini, who is depicted on the cover as Satan). […]

I’m going to admit that I didn’t like Midnight at first. I don’t know why they play this DIY style of Punk, Death Metal, and old school Thrash. Stuff I like and by this point they’re pretty fucking good at it. Athenar is a workhorse, putting out a slew of singles, splits, compilations, even a […]

I’ll admit to knowing next to nothing about Indonesia. I know that it’s beautiful (I’ve seen pictures and I love their action movies, so I’m sort of an expert) but I’m not here to talk about traveling, I’m here to talk about the proud and savage Jakarta natives, Tombstone. Coming in hot as a meteor […]

Once upon a time, I thought of Melodic Death Metal as the Michael Bolton of the Metal community. It’s pretty, at times brutal as fuck; but ultimately one cancels out the other and it either sucks ass or kicks it. This is not the case with Greece’s Nightfall. I wasn’t expecting what I got from […]

When Morgoth ceased to exist following the shitty Feel Sorry for the Fanatic there was a hole left in the Death Metal community. They did reunite, albeit without vocalist Marc Grewe for the pretty good Ungod, but it wasn’t the same. It’s ok though because Leper Colony was formed to fill that sizeable void. As […]

Sweden’s Celtic-themed Melodic Death Metal stalwarts Eluveitie (“the Helvetian” in Etruscan) have been spreading joyful violence since 2002. Theirs is a train I jumped on right away, after doing my daily search for new Metal when I discovered Ven their fantastic EP from 2004. “Uis Elveti,” and “Your Gaulish War” became anthems for me, and […]

I’ve been turned onto some killer bands since signing up for the Metalhead Box. One of the first shirts I received was a Tribunal one. So of course I wanted to know what they sounded like, and my expectations have been exceeded substantially. My stupid ass thought they are a Black Metal band interested in […]

Think about the last good Sword and Sandal movie, or game; it doesn’t matter when, just that you’ve ever seen one. For me, I think of Conan the Barbarian, Clash of the Titans; you get the idea. Elvenking live in a land of fantasy, where women randomly rise out of cobalt blue waters and dragons […]

We’re in an age of chaos and confusion. Now, in a musical setting, that can be a visceral experience. Notes colliding into each other at breakneck speed while the drums blast and the bass rumbles the Earth. It’s the basis of Black Metal. Eternal suffering and a veil of darkness lowering onto the desolate landscape. […]

Coming out of the French Alps on black sleds of vengeance is Aldaaron, waving a banner dripping blood and blasting album number five,e Par-delà les cimes (Above and Beyond the Summits). After the marvelous Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths back in 2023, they (presumably) started working on Par-delà les cimes. The result is a bombastic triumph […]

Avast ye salty dogs, I have a tale to tell ya! It’s about a band of hearty fucking pirates, who have returned after an eight-fucking year hiatus! Must be nice, aye?! At any rate, ye can forget about Alestorm (even though they’re still technically Pirate Metal, they sound more like Party/Bro Metal at this point.) […]

I love gore. Not real gore, mind you; movie gore. The scene from Gates to Hell when the woman vomits her intestines, you know that sort of thing. Haemorrhage hail from beautiful Spain and they love gore as well, they also love Carcass and it’s evident on this five tracker. It’s not just Carcass, though. […]

I’m sure everyone reading this remembers the scene from the first Faces of Death where the ‘blood cult’ eats the dead body, right? Okay, so keep that image in your head and then go listen to Profanatica’s new album Wreathed in Dead Angels. Maybe playing the two together will result in some sort of evil […]

My fall down the Tech-Death rabbit hole continues. It’s been a wild ride, and it seems to have no end because another killer band has come across my radar. They are called Changeling, and this is a new project from Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger. Most recently he wrote  “Weltseelee”, the 15-minute epic that he composed for […]

You’d be forgiven (by me anyway) for thinking that Imperial Triumphant were a Nile ubër concept band based on their masks. You’d be wrong as the day is long, because they certainly are not doing anything remotely Egyptian, especially on Goldstar. During my time with it I got these images from the movie Metropolis, and […]

It’s probably arguable that Norway’s biggest export is Black Metal. They started the genre, and since the early 90,s numerous bands have come (and gone). Here I have Gryla and their second album The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass. Torbjørn Kirby Torbo is the one-man mastermind behind the chaos on display. This is a savage bit of […]

It took a long time before I really sat down and listened to Jazz. I started with Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Glenn Miller (yeah he’s more Swing, but “Take Five” is a powerhouse) and Ramsey Lewis. But then a funny thing happened in the 90s with the purchase of At Death’s Door 2 and I […]

Legendary is a word reserved for the elite. The bands that have endured throughout the many transformations that have run through Black Metal since It’s vile birth so many years ago. If you don’t know the history of Rotting Christ, go read a book. Seriously, there’s an official book written about them. I’ll wait. Okay, […]

Bands have been releasing B-side album collections for years, and they’re always cleverly titled so you know what you’re getting. We’ll, CrusHuman have done that with Besides… my stupid ass didn’t realize it was a B-side album until I read the presser. Holy hell, it’s songs that didn’t make it onto their amazing self-titled debut. […]

The first time I heard the song “Balls to the Wall” by Accept was on one of those compilation Metal albums that were put out by K-Tel in the 80s.  I still have the record, it’s called Slave to the Metal and I bought it in 1986. It’s one of those songs and albums that […]

There’s a scourge festering on the skin of this country. Without getting stuck in the weeds of politics that noxious odor of corruption is  sneaking it’s way into every fabric and nook and cranny. It’s time for angry music again, we need to release our frustrations and what better way than with blast beats? The […]