“Don’t knock it until you try it.” I start off with this because my original intro to this review was… unkind. After Catharsis, which I didn’t hate as much as seemingly everyone else (I used my words carefully and honestly there), I was prepared for this to be a shit sandwich. In my original intro, […]
Bjorn? Sven? Sylvain? David? Bastian? Rasmus? Good, you’re all here. Before we get started; Take off the chauffer’s cap, please Bjorn. We’re talking about Soilwork, not The Night Flight Orchestra. You should have known that. I thought I put it on the Outlook Calendar invite. Anyway, I’ve gathered all of you here to let you […]
Ho hum, album number 12 from these now fully established scene veterans, who have blown up in one of metal’s most consistent and best-selling acts. And if past logic shows us anything this should be a better Amon Amarth album based on the band’s affinity for good, then not as good, then good then not […]
At this point, shitting on a new In Flames record is a metalhead pastime on par with making fun of James Hetfield’s gratuitous “YEEEEAAH”-ing or screaming “SLAYERRRRRRRRRR” at ridiculous and nonsensical moments. Depending on when you decided that one of metal’s most influential and prolific acts jumped the shark, we’re talking actual decades since they’ve […]
What do you call Witchery at this point in their career? A super group? A collective, ever-evolving side project (aside from guitarists Patrick Jensen and Rickard Rimfalt, the last two remaining original members)? What was once basically a catch-all side gig for former members of Seance along with legendary bassist Sharlee D’Angelo (Mercyful Fate, Arch […]
Werewolves don’t like you. In fact, they fucking hate you. They said so on the first track of their last album What A Time to be Alive, and on track 2 of this new one, they flat out say they are better than you and are genuinely shocked that you think you’re worthy of buying […]
Man, talk about being prolific. With their debut album, Rat°God, having just been released barely a year ago, and having spent much of the past year out and about supporting said album, Inhuman Condition is already back with full-length number two of classic old-school styled Floridian death metal. What the hell? Do these guys think […]
You know that meme of the kid with the “stank face?” That’s what the new album by Molder (I hardly know her), Engrossed in Decay makes me do for nearly 50 minutes. It’s that hoped-for but ultimately unexpected style of filthy. The kind of nastiness not unlike the time you hooked up in the back […]
Virginia’s crossover/thrash lunatics Municipal Waste return with their seventh album. I remember when this entire genre resurged like around 2000 and MW were the new kids on the block. Now it’s over 20 years later they’ve been around and are veterans. I was really happy when drummer Dave Witte joined in 2005. He’s a great […]
Hate über alles is the 15th album from German thrashers Kreator. IMO they are the best German thrash band, ever. Seen them live so many times and other than 2 meh albums, Outcast and Endorama their discography destroys. Kreator are not reinventing the wheel but maybe the new bassist Frederic Leclercq (Loudblast) said let’s up the ante a little more. “Sergio Corbucci […]
First off, hats off to Alestorm for the whole Iron Maiden, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son homage/parody for their very own seventh album. Well played lads. Second, this is an Alestorm album, so by now, you know what you are getting, especially as the band has really locked into a sort of pirate/party metal […]
Italy’s premier Dwarven-themed power metallers are back with album number 5, and although I only discovered them after 2017s Stonehymn, (where they truly leaned into the Dwarven imagery and themes), they have been one of my favorite power metal bands since. 2019s Wintersaga brought us the youtube hit and earworm “Diggy Hole”, (sitting at 34 […]
I don’t think there is any doubt that the first three albums from Entrails, 2010s Tales From the Morgue, 20011s The Tomb Awaits, and possibly the band’s 2013 Metal Blade debut, Raging Death are the pinnacle of the Swedish death metal revival. However, subsequent albums Obliteration, World Inferno and Rise of the Reaper didn’t quite […]
Detroit’s death/doom mongers Temple of Void has parlayed 3 solid albums (notably the last 2 efforts, 2017s Lords of Death and 2020s The World That Was on Shadow Kingdom Records) into a deal with heavyweight label Relapse Records. And as you’d expect on a jump to the ‘majors’, the band has upped the ante, but […]
Question: name a Swedish death metal band that has been around for over 20 years, and has released 14 consistently good albums in that time span? Chances are you were not thinking of The Project Hate MCMXCIX, the brainchild of one Lord K Phillipson, a gentleman whom I have conserved with over the internet over the years since the third album, Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate. His supporting cast has changed over the years (though he has been finally locked into a stable group of hired guns for a while now), but one thing remains; the absolutely monstrous albums he and his troupe kicks out.
And what makes it even more impressive is that the last 6 albums have been donation funded, paid for by fans of the project, via ‘donation experiments’ whereby fans can donate money, and upon a certain amount being reached, he commences assembling his musical avengers and recording the album and sends those results digitally to those that donated. There is even a limited CD run if the fans, again want to pay for the whole CD-making process.
A dear friend of mine once gave me one the most profound pieces of advice I’ve ever been given in life: If you could choose one thing to have in life – choose fun.
Sounds simple enough, right? But life, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, doesn’t always (or even often) make this so easy. In truth, we’re all just doing our best to try and get by and, when we can, find whatever time is left over to surround ourselves with the people and passions that make life worth the effort.
We’re heartbroken to hear about the passing of Trevor Strnad. Our hearts go out to his friends, family, band mates, and a generation of metalheads around the world whom he inspired through his work. Though he is gone far too soon, his legacy will live on forever through his music, and the impact he left […]
If you consider yourself an Emperor fan, there are 2 releases this spring/summer of 2022, that you need to be aware of. If you are a fan of the more technical, latter, Prometheus, IX Equilibrium era stuff, then the upcoming release from Sweden’s, Katharos, Of Lineages Long Forgotten, will be right up your alley. However, […]
I reviewed Watains’s Trident Wolf Eclipse in 2018. Being new to their music back then, but knowing about them for years, I went into their music with fresh ears. I really enjoyed that album as well as their prior releases. They play a pretty high-octane style of black metal but mixed in with their melodies and metal influences […]
Though they started releasing albums in 2010, one could argue that the 2011 releases by Entrails (The Tomb Awaits) and Corpsessed ( The Dagger & The Chalice EP) were the label’s watershed, ‘we have arrived’ releases. Of course, Corpsessed waited another three years to release a debut full-length, Abysmal Thresholds in 2014, but by then […]
The undisputed heirs to Dismember‘s throne (here’s hoping for a reunion after the 2022 Maryland Deathfest), Demonical is back with album number 7, and as expected, there are absolutely zero surprises or curveballs from a band that features former members of Centinex and Grave. They can pretty much do this in their sleep. Essentially delivering […]
Finland’s Desolate Shrine fourth album, Deliverance from the Godless Void from 2017 was and still is a great album, and five years later here I am reviewing their fifth album Fires of the Dying World 7 songs in 46 minutes. Actually 6, since the opening track is an intro and it’s like a moody classical […]
Meshuggah is a juggernaut of a band, maybe the heaviest band on the planet. Immutable being their 9th proper studio album – by now you love what Meshuggah does or you can leave them, because their music can be tough to absorb. The band is a machine, that is the best way of describing their […]
You see that symbol there on the left, emblazoned on the album cover of Crowbar’s new album, Zero and Below? That’s called a fleur d’lis ( Flower of Light), and is regarded as the symbol of the state of Louisiana, the city of New Orleans, and more importantly the logo for that city’s NFL team, […]
I reviewed Ghost’s Meliora when it was released years ago. I did enjoy that album quite a lot, but also felt there was some filler on it. The more I listen to that album, though, I truly appreciate it and love it. It’s part of their first 3 albums, which are excellent as well as […]