Archive for the ‘Frontpage Feature’ Category

It should come as no surprise that Deserted Fear hail from Germany, where killer metal is coming out, literally on a daily basis. Also on the killer FDA Rekotz German label, the band’s My Empire debut last September should be picked up by fans of not only the Swedish/Asphyx sound, but also the 90’s Floridian dm sound. One of the things that was eye catching when I first saw the album cover is the killer artwork, surrounding a cemetery-it’s good to see bands still putting time into creating killer artwork and this reeks of old school through and through. Mr. Dan Swano helping to create a massive sledgehammer sound and really Deserted Fear are amazing.

Helsinki, Finland was a busy place on the last weekend of June 2013. Not only were there three, four or five festivals going in and around the city, but the streets were full of gay pride as well. For whatever reason, Tuska Open Air Metal Festival’s visitor count has been on the decline since the relocation from the Kaisaniemi park to the industrial zone — not that the other events around the town helped, quite possibly snatching a few casual listeners with acts like Green Day and Rammstein. However, Teeth of the Divine never abandons those in need, and thus we summoned ourselves to the 16th Tuska Festival where acts like King Diamond, Bolt Thrower and Testament graced the main stage.

Last year Sevared records put out one of their best albums ever, in my opinion, from Unfathomable Ruination- Misshapen Congenital Entropy was a highlight for releases last year. Massively heavy, brutal blast beats with guttural vocals, but also some technical aspects to the well played songs. I thoroughly enjoyed the enormous bass bomb drops that appeared in various parts of the album, which created a more brutal environment for the songs to even sound more lethal. Around for a mere 3 years the band has seen their popularity grow as they perform with national acts and devastate crowds and they are one of the best bands coming out of the UK, at the moment. Just look at the fuckin crazy looking album cover. That ginormous monstrous plant thingy looks to wreck havoc upon your mere mortal soul if you fail to purchase their debut cd. Their guitarist, Daniel Herrera, was super cool in getting the answers back to me quickly and here is what he had to say regarding the inner workings of this great young band.

The fine folks at webzine/label Transcending Obscurity are offering 2 of their releases to 2 lucky readers of Teethofthedivine. That’s right two lucky readers will each receive a copy of Drug Honkey’s disturbing 2012 release ‘Ghost in the Fire’ and the 2010 debut, ‘Impending Hostility’ from Polish war mongering death metalers Preludium.

The far reaching influence of Immolation has reached new heights over 20 years after the band released their debut, Dawn of Possession in 1991. In recent years the resurgence of old school death metal has peaked with a plethora of bands culling both from Immolation as well as the well documented Stockholm sound. One such band reaching into the past, culling from Immolation as well as Gorguts and other early but forward thinking death metal stalwarts is international act, Zealotry.

To get a pulse on what’s been happening in Oakland’s underground metal culture, we spent a day in the lives of 6-year bay area veteran ZH, who has straddled the line of punk, thrash, and metal, to eventually define their own sound with the release of their most recent album: Entitled to Enlightenment.

After a year long hiatus, Tampere’s Sauna Open Air festival returned again in 2013 for a weekend that consisted of mainly Northern European acts like Nightwish, Children of Bodom, Opeth, Volbeat and Sabaton — with the only US visitor going by the name of Hatebreed. The festival also saw other changes. Instead of being ushered into a park setting, the party was held in a sports stadium and rather than doing three full days, there were only two. And we were there.

What happens when you discover a new band? You go see them play — that’s what. Noel Holmes discovered Nile and soon found himself at one of their live shows back in March 2013. This is what happened.

On the verge of potentially breaking out into the “mainstream” of metal, Pasadena, California’s Holy Grail seem to be doing all the right things. Their sophomore full-length album Ride the Void has been met with positive reviews and their popularity is growing each day. It seems as though before long, these “kids” from the West Coast will be a part of a core of younger bands leading the metal brigade into the next generation.

In a cryptic message posted on the band’s Facebook Page, Canadian Occult black metal act Weapon suddenly announced the band was no more and that the members were parting ways without drama and moving onto other things: “The end of a melody is not its goal; but nonetheless, had the melody not reached its end […]

Could you imagine the world without GWAR? Seriously: imagine that GWAR never existed and their legendary stage shows never happened. How scary of a thought is that? The Virginia-based veterans of everything gory, vile and flat-out wrong have been soaking concert hall patrons with blood and semen for decades and there doesn’t seem to be any quit in the band at all. They’ve released countless full-length albums, even more VHS/DVDs, comic books, action figures… You name it and GWAR has done it. With a new album on the horizon – their first in three long years – and currently trekking across North America, the mighty GWAR have endured quite a bit throughout their history, but the group remains as strong as ever. In fact, it can be argued that GWAR hasn’t been this powerful since their “glory days” of the early ‘90s. Luckily for this scribe, GWAR came through Las Vegas and performed at the Hard Rock Café on the Strip. TeethOfTheDivine.com was fortunate enough to sit down and chat with GWAR mastermind Dave Brockie, aka vocalist Oderus Urungus, several hours before their show.

Jungle Rot has been carrying the flag of true American death metal for two decades and they’ve never been stronger than they are today. Fresh off their latest full-length album Terror Regime, the Wisconsin-based band is hoping to continue the uptick they’ve been on and carry that into the next decade of existence.

We are all about supporting independent, new labels and bands here at Teeth of the Divine. So when fledgling UK label Wretched Decay Records approached us about some reviews and a monster giveaway for all of you dedicated Teethers out there, how could we refuse? Were giving stuff away to not just one, not just two, but three randomly selected winners!

For those who are fortunate enough to have heard the debut full-length album from Lake Forest, California’s Xanthochroid, you already know how diverse and majestic the music is. A young band with an insane amount of talent and maturity, Xanthochroid is undoubtedly a band with a brighter future than most of their peers. A perfect blend of sweeping atmospheres, melodies, symphonic/orchestral elements and chilling black metal, Xanthochroid’s latest release Blessed He with Boils is nearly flawless.

Anyone that reads this site regularly know I have a huge love of old school Swedish death metal. Pretty well anything with that HM2/Sunlight sound sounds gets me more excited than Kim Kardashian in an NBA locker room. And 20 years after the genre’s originators like Entombed, Grave, Carnage and Dismember spewed forth from Stockholm, the genre is experiencing a comeback of massive proportions. For the last few years the HM2 sound and style has been in a resurgence with bands from the UK (Binah), Poland (Ulcer, Kingdom), the US (Abysme, Terminate, Horrendous), Germany (Revel in Flesh, Lifeless), Spain (Unconsecrated), The Netherlands (Funeral Whore, Massive Assault) and even the Czech Republic (Morbider, Brutally Deceased), just to name a few. But standing atop of the genre, are acts that hail from the genre’s homeland: Sweden. From the recent reissues of long long classics like Uncanny and Toxaemia, to new blood like Blood Mortized, Malfeitor, Usurpress, Morbus Chron, Bombs of Hades, Bastard Priest and Rogga Johannsen’s 4,456 bands, the Swedes are back. And none is more happy to be back than Entrails. Originally forming in 1990, but never recording anything, one could argue that their loooooong awaited debut, Tales from the Tomb was essentially a dusted off, unearthed blast from the past, re-ignited this whole resurgence. And now their third album, Raginf Death has just been released on Metal Blade Records- a far cry from obscurity 23 years ago. I overcame the language barrier and caught up with founder and guitarist Jimmy Lundquist to dig further into the pile of Entrails…

The Netherlands is country known mostly for two things (depending on the type of person you are): arguably the best kickboxers/Muay Thai fighters on the planet and some of the baddest, most crippling death metal bands in all of Europe. If not for the Netherlands, we wouldn’t have been exposed to such legendary acts of Pestilence, Asphyx, God Dethroned, Hail of Bullets, Gorefest, Sinister, and countless others. Enter the newest member to the Dutch tree of death metal: Icons of Brutality.

Amorphis is one of those bands who always did things on their own terms. They never pigeonholed themselves into one specific genre of metal, constantly experimenting with various sounds and adding elements to their music not typically found in regular metal. Amorphis, as defined by their name, are a band without boundaries, a band without a determinate form. The Finns were one of the first metal acts to ever infuse traditional folk elements to their sound and since the early stages of the burgeoning Scandinavian metal scene, they garnered a legion of loyal fans. Fast forward almost 25 years since the band’s inception and Amorphis is still standing tall amongst their peers. Two EPs and ten full-length albums in, Amorphis just released Circle, an album that revisits many passages of their career as well as a few new wrinkles here and there. TeethOfTheDivine.com was fortunate enough to speak to guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen about their latest release and Amorphis’ legacy. Considering everything that they’ve achieved and where they stand right now with their brilliant new record, it’s safe to say that Amorphis certainly has come full circle.

Back in 2005, I reviewed ‘Absence’, the second album from melancholic Finnish death/doom metal act Noumena. Despite competing directly with the likes of Amorphis, Insomnium, Swallow the Sun and Rapture, the release was one of my favorite releases of that year. The very next year the band released ‘Anatomy of Life’ — once again to critical reviews. However, the band then went silent. Real silent. After being on the verge of truly breaking out, they were not heard from again for seven years. Until now.

Slayer’s riff powerhouse, Jeff Hanneman (aged 49), has passed away today. The band posted the following on their Facebook-page: “Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He […]

It goes without saying that the United Kingdom has birthed some of the greatest acts the rock and metal world has ever heard. Pink Floyd. Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath. Iron Maiden. Napalm Death. Carcass. Cradle of Filth. The list is seemingly endless, though the majority of what many believe to be the best of the best hail from England. Yes, Ireland has had its fair share of terrific musicians/bands over they years but there’s one country that is hardly, if ever, mentioned as even a hive of metal: Scotland. With their debut full length The Giants of Auld just released last month, black/folk metal act Cnoc An Tursa are hoping to change that.

The retro death metal movement is as strong as ever these days, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Add to the pile of corpses and rubble a young Chicago-based band in Terminate. Fresh off the release of their debut album, Terminate appears poised to be one of the bands to lead the latest wave of old school death into the future. Guitarist/vocalist John Porada took some time out of his day to chat with TeethOfTheDivine about their maiden release Ascending to Red Heavens and of death metal in general. Bludgeoning the underground in one of America’s best metal cities, Terminate’s take on a vintage sound suits them well and it’s only a matter of time before the metal world is much more familiar with them.

Remember the days of the late ‘90s when it seemed like everybody and their brothers started up a symphonic black band? Old school black metal bands began infusing orchestral elements to their sound, melodic death metal outfits incorporated some Cradle of Filth-y nuances, and the trendy thing to do was add female vocals into the mix. It was a fun time for a while because some of the releases were top notch. But like every fad – especially in metal – it dies off almost as soon as it starts. For a few years, symphonic black metal was scoffed at for the most part because the bands were either A) trying too hard to sound like their heroes; B) were just not that good; or C) both.

If you go and find the review I wrote for Thrawsunblat’s second opus Thrawsunblat II: Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings you will ascertain how enamored I was with the trio’s eloquent take on folky, misty black metal. A project that once involved Woods of Ypres’ David Gold, it has been kept alive by Joel Violette, who performed on the tragedy stricken Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light.

Edmonton’s Mortillery gets it right. Debut album Murder.Death.Kill (HPGD Productions) really set the tone for the Canadian thrash metallers; everything from the album title to the artwork to Cara McCutchen’s vocal ferocity to the up-the-irons mentality lived, breathed, and puked METAL. Napalm Records heard it, got it, and snatched up that debut album for reissue, including the vinyl treatment. But it is with The Origin of Extinction that Mortillery have raised the bar and unknowingly dared bands the world over to try and top it. Blazing riffs, lacerating solos, vocals that move from thrash brutality to wailing heavy metal singing, and consistency of catchiness all the way through to the end. I can’t get enough of it, which is why The Origin of Extinction is a virtual lock for my 2013 best-album list. Guitarist Alex Gutierrez spoke to me about the finer details of what it’s like to be in a band of metal fans making music for metal fans and not giving a damn about wheel reinvention.

At the end of every calendar year, metal journalists spend months trying to put together the dreaded year end list. It’s a long, stressful and ever-evolving process that keeps us up at night as we order and reorder albums several times, fret over stuff we have too high on the list or stuff that got bumped off the bottom. We try to make the lists as extensive and inclusive as possible, but inevitably, stuff gets missed. Maybe an album was too obscure, got overlooked in the crowd, we didn’t hear it until too late, or simply never made it into our inbox. So some of the staff here decided to give you guys a late Christmas present and let you know about some releases that you need to hear in case you also missed it or like us, simply overlooked it or it just didn’t get coverage here. These are the mulligans that, in hindsight, deserve your attention and probably would have made our staff’s year-end lists if we weren’t so lazy and rushed by a tireless dictator. So rise, brush, floss and repeat as we drill you with our cavities and fillings from 2012: