I’ve heard some weird shit this year, admittedly, I hear weird shit every year because that’s what I look for on promo day. Weird shit. Well, I got super excited this last time because guess what I got? The promo from the Czechian legends, Master’s Hammer, entitled Maldorör Disco… YEAH, BOY! I’m about to admit […]
Hello! Welcome to my review of the brand spanking new Testament album entitled Parabellum. I plan on being as fair as possible. This is their fourteenth album, so they have a sizeable back catalog to compare Para Bellum with previous albums. The first thing I notice right off the bat is the amount of blast […]
Occasionally, believe it or not, I listen to things other than deathcore, death metal, or symphonic black metal. Yep- even I have to have a palate cleanser or reset or guilty pleasure, or whatever you want to call it. And for me, it’s super cheesy power metal. And not normal power metal- I fall hard […]
Centinex has been spreading OSSDM (Old School Swedish Death Metal) to the masses since 1991 with their aptly titled Stupid Humanity demo, it came out the year I graduated, as a matter of fact. Now that I’m feeling old as fuck, I’m loving the nostalgia brought on with their amazing new album, With Guts and […]
So, the last time I sat down to review a 1914 record (2021’s Where Fear and Weapons Meet), the geopolitical landscape of the world was in a very different place. Suffice to say that the world just 4 years ago, even in the midst of a global pandemic, somehow seemed like much less bleak and desperate a time […]
NYHC in da house mofos!!!!! Echoes In Eternity is the 13th studio album from NHYC legends Agnostic Front. I had the pleasure of seeing them live at The Ritz in NYC in 1991. Headliners were the mighty S.O.D. – this show was video recorded and became the legendary Live at Budokan show. Opening the show […]
In psychology, the term ‘Shadow Work’ is used to describe the process of exploring the unconscious reasons behind your feelings or behaviors, particularly uncomfortable emotions that seem out of character or beyond your control. Like, “Why do I hate my co-worker?”?. Yay! I finally used my college degree. So what is Despised Icon trying to […]
What can be said about Switzerland’s Coroner at this point, right?! A few things to point out before getting into Dissonance Theory, their 6th album. Their last album, the disjointed Grin, released in 1993, polarized fans, and this new one, quite honestly, is the comeback album Dark Angel should have written. That is how great […]
It’s weird. I own a bunch of Soulfly albums. When recently checking my CD collection, I saw that I actually possess albums like Savages, Ritual, Archangel, Dark Ages, Omen, Conquer, as well as the band’s first three or four more tribal, famous/popular efforts, such as Soulfly, Primitive, 3, and Prophecy. But the thing is, because […]
NY Hardcore legends Biohazard have returned with their 10th studio album, Divided We Fall, with the original band back together, once again like their last album, in 2012 – Reborn in Defiance. Evan had left right after, but returned in 2014. So Billy Graziadei – vocals/guitar, Bobby Hambel – lead guitar, Danny Schuler – drums, […]
A new Revocation album has arrived, and while that’s exciting news for me, not so much for my brothers in writing for Teeth. The band is now approaching 20 years of activity and is at this point a stalwart of the tech/death/thrash sub-genre. Call it “progressive” if you’d like as well. For my money, which […]
Paradise Lost needs no introduction. And unless you have lived under a rock for 30 years, you are bound to be aware of their vast history and legacy, transforming from a pure death doom band, being part of the UK 90s Doom trinity along with My Dying Bride and Anathema, to a Gothic metal act, […]
I kinda feel like I’m getting punked here at this point. Listen, I’m not naive. I didn’t come into Borderlands thinking that, just because the Under the Red Cloud/Queen of Time/Halo trilogy of album was wrapped up, that this new Amorphis record was suddenly gonna sound VASTLY different. The band has more or less been sticking to their distinct formula […]
The world, simply, is a brutal place. There’s no shortage of forces at play working day in and day out to make what brief time we have on this rock more trying and difficult than, all too often, seems entirely necessary, and as I continue to get older and my body continues to find new […]
Listen, I strive to be as objective as possible when writing reviews, providing an unbiased opinion where I can to guide you, good reader, in the right direction and help you spend your hard-earned money wisely. But if you have read my reviews before, you know I am one: A huge fan of the blackened/symphonic […]
It’s no secret that I love Helloween. They were the first German Power Metal band I ever heard, way back in 1986, with their amazing Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1 album. I was a hooked fish at that point. Power and majesty have always been the cornerstone of any Helloween album (well, maybe […]
Sweden’s most consistent bunch of Vikings need no introduction. Unleashed have been stalwarts of the scene since Johnny Hedlund was booted from Nihilist back in the late 80s. It worked out pretty well for him because 36 years later, Unleashed are poised to release Fire Upon Your Lands, their 15th full-length album. Hot off the […]
After a few albums of top-tier deathcore, Signs of the Swarm earned their spot as one of the genre’s better bands, with 2021’s Absolvere being their very peak in my humble opinion. But on 2023’s Amongst the Low and the Empty, along with a jump from Unique Leader to Century Media, came a slight development. While […]
I cannot believe it’s been 23 years since Relapse released the discography of Ohio’s brutal goregrind band – Hemdale. As it is called once again here, Rad Jackson took all the complete works of the band and released a beautiful reissue. Christ, I remember playing a show with these fellas, and there are a bunch […]
Back in 2022, I did a review in these hallowed pages for an all-female international beast called Castrator. That album was Defiled in Oblivion, and it was one of my favorite releases of that year. Since that time, they’ve been doing… whatever bands do; I’m assuming playing shows and recording this album. What an album […]
Deliquesce (to liquefy during decomposition), is an Australian brutal/tech death project from Disentomb’s Adrian Cappelletti. He’s joined by vocalist James Cooper (ex-Incarnate), bassist Armando Wall and American session drummer Lyle Cooper (Mithridatum, Humanity Is A Cancer). And it’s a bit different from the hulking, brutal death metal of Disentomb, as Deliquesce is even more technical […]
What the hell am I listening to and why do I love this?? Our acclaimed site owner Erik “The Brave” Thomas did a bang up review of Impureza’s second album, La caída de Tonatiuh, in 2017 and it made his year end list as well. I overlooked the band, there are just too many bands […]
Thaumaturgic Veil, the fourth full-length from Milwaukee’s Viogression, came out of nowhere. It could be that the band has no label, and maybe that is why? Their last album, 3rd Stage of Decay, was a damn good album, and this album has a very striking and cool AF album cover. Brian DeNeffe, vocals, is the […]
When calculating all of Sodom’s albums, The Arsonist, comes in at album #18, even with their covers albums, etc.. The long-running Teutonic German thrash metal band has had some clunkers along the way; however, Genesis XIX, from 2020, their last original full-length, showcased the band on fire ,especially with incorporating blast beats and showing a […]
Re-recordings are a bit of an issue for me. On one side, sometimes replacing a bad production is a necessity; sometimes it’s not really warranted. And sometimes, a classic just needs a fresh lick of paint. There’s a little of all of the above going on here as Mirai Kawashima has decided to completely re-record […]