Once again we get the total package. The cover art and inlay are magnificent, and they convey the theme of the music contained within perfectly. The production is stellar, and every note rings out with equal parts sorrow and anger.

“Gakidô” gets things started and right away I can tell this is going to be something special. A different experience than 悪罪 (Akuzaï); certainly a different approach than that album. The band plays with tempos like a cat with a dead mouse; one second they’re wrapped up in a whirlwind of blasting and the next they’re doing emotion-laden Atmospheric Black Metal.

“Ningendô” is a slow, menacing track; it wraps itself around you in a bloody embrace. It’s got a nice Dimmu Borgir vibe to it, circa Spiritual Black Dimensions and Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. It’s an unbelievably heavy song (as they all are) and I can’t stop loving the fuck out of Kurogoku.

There’s a little bit of Cradle of Filth in “Tendô” especially in the keyboard-heavy beginning, where Enterré Vivant goes full-on epic Atmospheric Black Metal. The second half of the song is a full assault, not in the sense that there is a crushing wall of blast beats… more of a wall of brutal malice.

“Chikushôdô” starts out subtly; about thirty seconds into the song, it bursts out of the speakers to devastating effect. This song is over nine minutes long and doesn’t feel like it at all. That’s the magic of how Enterré Vivant compose their songs. “Jidokugô” is next, and it’s got one of those classic Black Metal riffs that make you nod along with the beat until the blast kicks your head in at the two-forty-seven point. Only to switch to a gorgeous, yet brutal as fuck track that literally takes your breath away.

This part of Kurogoku is a bit more European than the first half; there are Japanese flourishes and moments where it sounds like Sigh and Dimmu Borgir had a bastard offspring. I can pick out some Ukrainian Black Metal influences, definitely Norwegian but firmly rooted in the French Black Metal spirit. “Shuradô” is my favorite song from Kurogoku. It’s so goddamn heavy and emotional, the riffs that weave through the song and the flute(?) I think it is a flute… anyway, it adds this whole other level of gravitas to the album, that’s what I’m trying to say.

Is Kurogoku better than 悪罪 (Akuzaï)? Fuuuuck, that’s a toughie. 悪罪 (Akuzaï) used radio transmissions to great effect, adding a huge amount of emotional impact through the story of Hiroshima. Enterré Vivant don’t do that on Kurogoku, but it doesn’t need to be done. On their fourth full-length, they’re firmly rooted in the realm of Atmospheric Black Metal with nothing to prove.

The bottom line is quality, and that’s exactly what you will get with this release. If you like Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth and all things Atmospheric Black Metal, you’re in the right place. Go get this one now!

Here, Gurkkhas (with an extra K?) is a recently reunited French death metal band that was active from 1999 to 2001, releasing 2 albums on Massacre and Morbid Records, respectively. However, I never crossed paths with them back then, despite writing for multiple webzines and publications.

To celebrate their recent reunion, Gurkkhas and Underground Syndicate have remastered and released those two albums: 2000’s Engraved in Blood, Flesh and Souls and 2001’s A Life of Suffering.

Both albums are, of course, war- and heavily Gurkha-themed, with song titles like “Gurkkhas at War”, “The 12 Gurkkhas Commandments”, “Kukri” ( the famed dagger the Gurkhas used), and “Born on a Day of War”, etc., and I can only assume the songs extol the regiments’ many victories.

Musically, this is pretty standard 2000 brutalish death metal. I hear some of fellow Frenchman Loudblast or Hypokras, who were around at the time (go check out 2002s Dead and Hungry). Despite the warring themes, it’s not a Bolt Thrower knockoff, being a more thrashy European-meets-American death metal sound of the day. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible, especially considering it’s 25 years old. It’s the sort of death metal Deathgasm, Rottrevore, The LSP Company, and Sevared Records were churning out at the time.

The Engraved in Blood, Flesh and Souls tracks, despite being remastered, are still pretty rough and bog-standard 00s death metal that was saturating the scene, but tracks like “The Voice of the Terrible One” and lurching”The 12 Gurkkhas Commandments” are solid. My sort of gripe is the more thrash-hardcore vocals of Jean-François Rey.

A Life of Suffering is more of the same but a little better sounding, with a tad more low end, and slightly deeper, more death metal-ish vocals.  A much more technical, American, Floridian influence is here, with Malevolent Creation, Diabolic, Monstrosity, or Internecine coming to mind, which, considering the timeline and scene at the time, makes sense.

The likes of “Kukri, “The Day of Battle,” and “Legacy” all deliver that primal early 00s American Death metal.  That said, I’m not exactly clamoring for what the reunited project delivers next, as I’m sure it will be more of the same. Which is fine, but much like the scene in the early 00s, it wasn’t spectacular and was a bit saturated.

Certainly, The Great Heathen Army felt less like a genuine effort to write a complete album, and more an exercise in writing big arena-rockers for fans to pretend to row along with, while holding imaginary drinking horns aloft.

In other words, Amon Amarth got a little… hokey.

Listen, I’m all for having a good time, even more so for not taking oneself too seriously – and sure, you can argue that the whole Viking thing has always been a little bit on the side of cheesy, I guess. But what Amon Amarth has always excelled at (particularly since their breakthrough With Oden On Our Side), is finding that real sweet spot between genuinely great songwriting and album-building, and leaning in just enough to the Viking aura to make the whole thing all the more engaging and fun (particularly in a live setting).

Alas, recent efforts like The Great Heathen Army and Berserker (and many would argue Jomsviking – I personally disagree), though boasting a few bangers on each respectively, overall felt like a band going for style over substance.

Which is why it brings me IMMENSE joy to tell you, Amon Amarth has rediscovered that critical balance. I think The Allfather Awakens is the best Amon Amarth has sounded in a LONG time. I’m talking, like, 15 years here, when they dropped my personal-favorite AA album, Surtur Rising (I realize this in and of itself might be a controversial opinion, but that album fucking rips and you can’t convince me otherwise).

Now look, I’m not saying this is a complete return to With Oden On Our Side or Twilight of the Thunder God era AA. The band that has slowly but surely embraced more melodic, anthem-heavy elements of the last few releases – that’s just part of the reality of who this band is in 2026. And that’s great! Who doesn’t love a great friggin’ anthem?! And we sure as hell get a couple here – particularly the immensely catchy and bouncy “We Rule the Waves” with its sing-along chorus and simple, super-effective riffing. But it also carries a bit of a sense of self-assuredness that was lacking in recent efforts.

Ditto for the titular “The Allfather Awakens”, which, sure, the riffs are certainly lifted and slightly rearranged from past AA work, but god damn if they don’t sound tight as hell with drummer Jocke Wallgren, who, to these ears, sounds the most in sync with the band as he ever has. And hell yeah, we get a banger of a drinking track with “Kvasir’s Blood,” a nice and heavy down-tuned headbanger featuring some of Johan’s lowest, most menacing vocals to date (more on this shortly) and a rollicking chorus about drinking mead made from the blood of the gods which, how is that not going to bring a smile to your face? It’s fun as hell.

But it’s not all just arena-friendly anthems this time around. Album opener “Gjallarhorn” (the best opener the band has had in a minute) strikes a perfect balance – featuring some awesome sing-along “woah”-ing that will sound amazing in a crowd of thousands of metalheads, but also puts some of the band’s signature tremolo-picking riffs on full display with absolute glory. I honestly haven’t felt my blood pump and heart race like this from an AA track in a long time, and it’s a welcome return – and it only continues with the follow-up “Eight Legs of Thunder” coming hot on its tail –  a fitting ode to Odin’s eight-legged horse Sleipnir (not their first, but maybe their best), boasting appropriately galloping riffs, and genuinely one of Olavi Mikkonen’s most epic, inspired solos of his career. It’s such a fun track that, again, sees the band leaning into the Viking fun without crossing over into being too cheesy.

And then there’s the punishing “Die with a War Cry” that may genuinely be one of Amon Amarth‘s heaviest tracks to date (certainly of their modern era) – showcasing more of Johan’s apparent new mastery of deep, growling lows that sound straight out of Helheim itself. Say whatever you will about any of AA‘s more recent work, John Hegg continues to get better and better with every release and deserves his flowers.

I also really like the addition of the band’s first acoustic track in “Upphaf.” It’s a perfectly placed break in the middle of this record that brings an unusual sense of reflection and serenity to the otherwise furious affair. If anything, I see no reason this couldn’t be integrated more into even more traditionally heavy or epic Amon Amarth tracks (not that it needs to be a focal point; it’s just another nice wrinkle). I think it also let the band feel confident on closing out the album on two absolute friggin’ scorchers – first with the blazing “Oden’s Hunt,” which sends the band on a full-throttle attack of tremolo-picking and relentless double-kicked drumming. Again, Johan sounds absolutely monstrous on this track, particularly on the crushing bridge leading up to the final chorus.

Closer “Ascending Like An Eagle” features some riffing that could easily have found its way on some of the band’s earlier albums, before switching into some more modern soaring leads in the chorus, a nice nod to the old while embracing who they are as a band now, and a super strong end to what was such a well-balanced and crafted album.

I can’t tell you how nice it is to be this excited about one of my favorite bands’ new albums, and to see them, this late into their career, settle into a groove they’ve struggled to find, to deliver such an immense album. I want to stress that this album isn’t just good because of how much better it sounds than their recent output (not just from a songwriting perspective, but from a production standpoint, this album just sounds so much more full and robust as well), this album stands tall just fine all on its own. Amon Amarth got serious again without sacrificing the fun that has always made them such a compelling act, and we can all only hope that they can continue to strike this epic balance.

Odin, The Allfather has awoken, and so has Amon Amarth.

Amalgamated States is Mucosal’s debut EP, and it’s a bit rough around the edges, but you can tell that a lot of heart and soul went into the creation of this debut and honestly, it’s not bad at all… It’s good at what it’s wanting to get across.

Starting things off with “Denied, Defiled, Disposed” pretty well sums up the ideological direction that Mucosal is going for the jugular on; this is a fucking dragged-across-concrete type of track. It is Neanderthal slow at first before it goes all Grinding Punk near the track’s end.

There’s a sense of Extreme Noise Terror and Terrorizer in the next track, “Egregore”; it’s a pissed off mother fucker of a song. With an opening sample that is too good not to mention, this is solid to the bone, yo. Then there’s “Programmer Crashed Race,” which is about as insane as you can imagine a song with a title like that should be. Just balls to the bloodstained wall intensity and violence.

These songs don’t overstay their welcome, either. Short and to the goddamn point with no pussyfooting or anything lame like that. Guess what “The Old Hate” is about; I’ll give you a minute in case the intro doesn’t give it away. This is a Punky Grind bastard, Napalm Death-ish with a bit of Broken Bones and Raw Noise extremity. The message is clear as day.

Next and final track is “Amalgamated States” and it struts around like the guy trying to get the fucking pit going. It’s got skronk, some crazy as fuck drumming, and some reverb-laden Slayer-ish soloing. It has a very peaceful outro, however, and I’m assuming it’s because you want to play it again, so it leads into the beginning of the album.

Sporting sick as all hell cover art and a suitably grimy production, Amalgamated States is a promising EP from a brand new and hungry band. They’re not reinventing anything, but then they don’t need to.

If you think Napalm Death, Terrorizer and Extreme Noise Terror are the absolute bees knees then I urge you to pick up Amalgamated States. Thank me later.

And on album number 4, the quartet (Farago – vocals,/guitars, Samael – guitars, Apophis – drums, Thanatos – bass) has done what most bands do this far into a discography: remained consistent in their sound so as not to lose fans, but developed enough for the fans to also be happy with the band’s growth. (We fans are a fickle lot)

One of the very minor changes is that the vocals of Farago have changed just a smidge; they are a little more shouty than raspy, reminding me a little of Nergal’s more recent Behemoth output (listen to the 4th track “Thanatos, Embrace of the Night”), and I think musically that’s also a pretty fair comparison, maybe mixed with a little Watain. It’s black metal, but it’s polished and a little burlier, with some grandiose, ritualistic vibes and a few keyboards and atmospheric segues (i.e., “Lux Fulget”, “Of Stones Sleep and Death” and “The Accuser”- both of which have some excellent piano work).

And while the opener “In Noctem” had me a little concerned – it has one of those ‘drop’ teases, but for black metal)- still, it’s mainly about solid, frosty, 6/8 melodic tremolo-picked riffs. For example, the true opener “Tabula Rasa”, the excellently melodic “Glorification”, and “De Profundis” (where Lethian of Nornír) also adds her traditional raspier black metal shrieks).

Closer “Hypnos, I See you” wraps up the fine affair with a mix of everything on the album’s longest track, and definitely leans into the newer Behemoth sound, and a sound I think Servant does very well.

The band stays intact with this album, with Anatoly on bass, Efim on drums, Vyacheslav on guitars, and Ivan behind the vox. In the promo, bassist Anatoly (Katalepsy) singled me out to review their newest offering, so I had to jump at the chance to review the album. The new album cover is pretty neat and I think it is a better album design than their debut album. With this album, we get eight songs in 45 minutes.

“Beneath Unhallowed Ground” opens with a bunch of growly and berating vocals, with the music slowly coming together to start building up. This opening goes on for a while with those shouted vocals, and it’s a bit much, since the vocals are way too loud in the mix, although they are very good. The music still retains the old-school Morbid Angel/Brutality flair as a blast beat enters into the picture. Anatoly’s bass still retains the bite and pluckiness that was present on the Katalepsy albums. He has a great bass guitar sound. The blast is ferocious, with some dual-layered vocals, at times. The stomp groove at the 3.25 section features prominent bass work and I do love the sound of the snare drum. Vocals are angry and vicious, just a bit too loud in the mix.

“Condemned to Eden Below” has an excellent rhythm section early on, and it shoots right into the blast beat, then slows down to a mid-paced crunch fest. If you’re not swigging back pints of vodka and slamming, during this part, you need to go back to bed. There are some bendy guitar riffs and then a nice groove section which is sure to get a pit going. The pinch harmonics are tight and it’s always good to hear them well-placed in a song. The tempo shifts are tremendous and there is a guitar solo, that fits in well. Some of the bendy riffage has an Immolation flair. Yet another good song.

“Forever Unsaved”, with some of the spoken-word moments early on, takes on a rap approach. Hearing Ivan, with his thick Russian accent, is an interesting style. Maybe on the third album we will get this style fully realized on a song. For now, it is inserted to have a tough-guy sound to it. So watch out! This song is surprisingly melodic with some progressive and off-kilter time changes. The song sounds rather complicated to play, and there is a squealing guitar in the middle of the song. There are moments where I do not know if I should headbang, throw up my horns or just relax, like I am reading a book near the fire. This song is all over the place. It’s pretty cool, especially the bass solos towards the end of the song; damn, he is fast.

“None Shall Be” ends the album with more of a brooding and heavy buildup. This beginning is slower and quite excellent. There are more atmospherics, taking us on a dreamscape path, before that mid-paced stomp drives home the message. The blasts and progressive/serene moments all tie together with Ivan’s excellent and varied vocals. What a great song to end the album.

Sermon Under Mound is a damn fine death metal album from Gravegod. It beats their debut with song structure, and I quite enjoy the variety of tempos the band tosses in. The musicianship is spot on, with Anatoly’s bass work having the best bass guitar sound on a death metal album for 2026. The band knows when to blast and to utilize it to their advantage and not overdo it. Sure, the vocals are a bit too loud in the mix, but outside of that, everything sounds good. Crank this sucker up, Nostrovia!

Some parts Pain, some parts Aborym and a Blackened version of Skinny Puppy. This is a mechanized assault on the senses. Like the best Sci-fi horror game you’ve ever played (you know, if you’re into that sort of thing). The way the song titles are done is called Transmissions. I think that’s cool as fuck, and each one has its own identity that makes it an incredibly enjoyable sequence.

“First Transmission” gets the ball rolling with some huge Pain vibes; the vocals are otherworldly and unsettling. I love the autonomous nature of the effects on the display. The guitars are compressed to the point of being squashed under the cyber hellscape.

“Second Transmission” is like hearing the demise of a planet. It implodes, reconstructing itself with the noxious vocals supplied by members 040118180514 and 102119200914. No, I don’t know who is doing what because the male vocal is distorted to the point where it’s nothing but crackles and pops, and it’s countered by the harsh, female vocals that seem to howl from the outer world.

The “Third Transmission” and the “Fourth Transmission” are like bursts of kinetic energy, contained to a small, private place. The “Third Transmission” is a slow, crawling miasmatic space slug, while “Fourth Transmission” is a striding nightmare with some insane vocal antics.

“Fifth Transmission “ goes heavy duty on the Darkwave tip. It goes almost full-blown Hard Techno in the midsection of the song, sounding like a computer locked in its death throes. But it’s “Sixth Transmission” that is my favorite song on First Contact. It has a swirling, Dead Space video game tone to it, like right before the Necromorphs attack and rip you apart. The second half of the song is furious blasting, and I wish the drums were more pronounced; it is what it is, though.

“Seventh Transmission” is more of a classic Black Metal with some grinding electronic elements added for good measure. Endspace plays with tempos like a cat with a dead mouse. Therefore, “Seventh Transmission” has some lunatic vocals that sound like a robot on acid.

“Eighth Transmission” starts with some slow, plodding drums with the haunting keys in the background. It erupts into a supernova of violence with this cool as fuck riff that propels the track forward with galactic menace. This is unlike anything I’ve heard recently, and I fucking love that! Totally original take on the genre, unapologetically fantastical. Finally, the “Ninth Transmission” comes crackling through the speakers. Soaring vocals match the blasting drums hit for hit, and then it shifts tone completely and does some Space Jazz before the relentless blasts kick in. This is such a powerful album that I want to exist in the world it creates.

So yeah, I love First Contact. Endspace has created a Black Metal experience that isn’t afraid to experiment with mind-crushing brutality and subliminal Darkwave with Hardcore Techno sensibilities. If you like Thorns, Skinny Puppy, Suicide Commando and Aborym… you need to get this motherfucker now.

The Hollowing of Godflesh picks up right where last year’s aptly named Punishment EP left off: blasphemous, punishing, bludgeoning deathcore that’s a relentless beatdown. No atmospherics, no epic keyboards or synths (though there are some teeny tiny bits buried here and there, ie “Dead Crown”, end of “Godkiller”), just a sub-30-minute pummeling.

And with Dan Tucker’s massive presence (vocally and physically), the whole thing is just disgustingly heavy. Starting with the slow and low menacing rumble of “Gun Eater”, an intro of sorts, then kicking off properly with “Desecrate Infinite”, then ending with “Dead Crown”, the album is a jackhammer to the face of blistering blast beats and teeth-shattering breakdowns from start to finish, in short, 2-3 minute-ish bursts.

Highlights are hard to find as the bludgeonings all run together, but certainly “Godkiller” and “Torture Engine”, with early Decapitated “Day 69”-ish razor-sharp riffage and massive breakdowns, are worth revisiting. But like being punched in the face repeatedly, all the punches feel the same; they hurt and leave you beaten and bruised afterwards.

But unlike being punched in the face, I’m ready for more once the album ends, and hit ‘play’ or ‘please start punching me again and again.

Boy, I sure do. My first exposure was 2002’s Fermina, a transitional album that saw the band move away from the melodic death/black metal of their first two efforts (Evanescent, Everfading in 1998, and August Wernicke in 1999) into more progressive, gothic pastures. 

Fermina introduced the world to the clean vocals of Tuomas Tuominen, who up to that point had used some standard rasps and growls, but to this day his svelte tones remain some of the best clean singing in metal I’ve ever heard. However, the band split up in 2007 after Aerolithe. You can still hear Tuominen on his darkwave rock project, Wait, Stone & Sure (which also features Hänninen).

But around 2019-2021, Fall of the Leafe guitarist Jussi Hänninen formed two new projects: the death/doom band The Bleak Picture, with vocalist Tero Ruohonen, and Autumfall, also with Ruohonen and drummer Olli Pirkkanen. Hänninen has released three self released  albums under the Autumnfall name, but until now I was completely unaware of the project’s existence. That has been rectified immediately, as all of Autumnfall‘s albums are now in my possession.

Astute readers and Fall of the Leafe fans will recognize Autumnfall from the name of the first Fall of the Leafe demo, and while unfortunately Tuominen is not here, Hänninen and his immediately recognizable dancing, shimmering layered riffs are back, as Autumnfall returns to the early, more raw days of Fall of the Leafe, (most of these songs were written in 1998-2001) and adds more polished and elegant melodic and symphonic black metal.

Phew, sorry for that long-winded intro, but Christ, this brings back memories. While in The Bleak Picture the sound is more traditional Rapture-ish Finnish death/doom, here, Hänninen’s sumptuous, unique riffs instantly bring you back to the band’s early Evanescent… and August Wernicke days, and even Fermina. Just with black and death metal vocals from Ruohonen.

Listen, every note here is just exquisite, and no one creates and plays riffs quite like Hänninen (early Dark Tranquility’s Skydancer, and Of Chaos and Eternal Night are the nearest comparisons), even when delivered in a slightly more aggressive style.

From the opening piano tinkling of “The Halo in Utopia”, with its uniquely Hänninen-styled flourishes, the haughty layers and leads of “Lightless Depths”, the elegant blast beats of “Dark Goddess”, the death/doom stomp of “Mists of Eternity”, and shimmering “Crystal Skies” to the surprisingly fierce “Pulse”,  and gorgeous closer ‘The Timeless Kin”, the whole album could be August Wernicke meets Fermina, just sped up, more keyboards and with harsh vocals instead of clean singing (I mean listen to “The Blind Brother”).

How I never came across this project until their third album is staggering, but I’m glad I did and will definitely keep tabs on this band as well as The Bleak Picture.

Straight away I’m over here thinking these guys are European… they’re not. They hail from the hub of all things American Power Metal: Nashville, TN. Be that as it may, these guys have a very firm grasp of what top-notch Power Metal should sound like, and they pound that knowledge home with a large hammer.

There’s the intro; here it’s called “In Spirit, in Shadow”, and it’s a lush, keyboard-laden affair. It sets the tone of the album perfectly before “Evermore” comes galloping out of the speakers. It’s got a bit of a Demons and Wizards vibe to it that isn’t unwelcome. But then they do tracks like the Within Temptation -y “Valkyrie’s Fire” and “Cascade”, here and now I’m going to shout this out loud… Bettie Floyd can fucking sing! But then, she already knows that, and now you do.

I’ve never mentioned Within Temptation in a review, so that is a first for me. However, “Burning Sky” has more in common with Disembodied Tyrant or the Zenith Passage. There’s slamming and guttural vocals, and it really has nothing to do with the rest of the album at all.

Which brings me to album length. 01:11:06 is a bit longer than my attention span allows for, and while Out of Darkness is a fun Power Metal album… it’s fucking long. There’s enough material for a good-sized EP, plus a full-length to boot. Sometimes less is more. This goes for any genre of music, so I’m not just picking on these guys.

“Shattered”, “I See the Angels Fly” and “Skylark” sort of blow by pretty quickly. They’re all good songs, bordering on ballad status for a couple of tracks, as well. There are so many killer riffs on Out of Darkness that it’s hard to keep track.

The production is spot on, and the artwork is killer. I want to get that out there for a debut album; this ticks all the boxes.

Now back to the songs because there are still five more songs to talk about… yeah, that’s right… five more. As I said, this is a long album and, usually, this many songs can be found on a Grindcore record; but then those songs are usually running around the two-to four-minute mark. These are some hefty tracks, clocking in at around five to seven minutes long.

“Labyrinth” has a bit of a Kamelot vibe to it, as does “Bone and Thorn” and even “Dark Moon”.There are galloping riffs and even some competent thrash-style drumming that keeps things interesting. “Nocturne” and “I Will Rise Again” finish the album off with a suitably grandiose flourish.

Valkyrie’s Fire has unleashed a monster of an album. Overly ambitious, perhaps, but it’s a solid Power Metal record that deserves your time and attention. If you’re a fan of Kamelot, Within Temptation, or something along those lines, then you’ll be in the right place. Go get Out of Darkness.

Also, riff-wise and structure-wise, I get some early Mastodon and Baroness, but with a thicker, earthier, sludgier, and doomier (so…..Chicagoan?) backbone; case in point: “Spectral Cataclysm”, which starts the album proper after a short instrumental “Void of Guilt”. After its black/crust-basting opening few bars, it settles into a Mastodon-ish lurch and stagger. The vocals, though, are pure sludge/doom with a gritty, earthy bellow from guitarist Peter Norman (the trio is rounded out by drummer Edward Hamel and CJ Johnson on bass).

There are a few damn fine moments scattered around the 6-song, 45-minute affair. Whether it’s the aforementioned blackened blasts in “Spectral Cataclysm”, the hefty opening riffs of “Bodies Dragged to Sunlight”, the crusty sway towards the end of “Slow Death Chant”, or the stank-face-inducing bass run and heaving, subsequent riff late in the album’s sprawling, 13-minute centerpiece, “An Ocean of Broken Hope. It’s all rendered with a solid production and master that I’m sure has way more impact in a live environment, as this is pretty clean on record and the low end isn’t quite as devastating as some of their peers.

The album ends with more Mastodon-imbuing riffs of the title track, and while I feel the band is more effective when slowing it down a bit and leaning a little more into the sludge/doom, it’s still an enjoyable stammering, staggering track, and does end with a nice sludgy sway, finishing the album on a high note.

In a word: absolutely.

When this trilogy first commenced back in 2025, and I covered A Dark Poem Part I: the Shores of Melancholia, I had no idea of the direction that these guys would go (and why would I? I’m just along for the journey). The follow-up to that album was an even more brooding dip into the psychological depths of grief and loss. A Dark Poem Part II: Sanguis had a much doomier and more solemn tone to its six tracks. “Loneliness Untold, Loneliness Unfold” being my favorite track off that, while it was “The Slave that you Are” from Part I that captured my attention the most.

But now I sit here with the brand-spanking-new stuff. The coup de grace if I may be so bold. The whole thing is magnificent, from the artwork to the stellar production; I feel almost sad that it’s ending.

So how is A Dark Poem Part III: the Messiah Complex compared to its predecessors? It builds up on subtle keys; the drums come in, and the bass walks right on up and starts rolling along. “Unconditional Artificial Chemistry” gets under your skin with that catchy, Arcturus-ish-sounding title, and the song itself lives somewhere between Opeth’s Black Water Park and Arcturus’ Sham Mirrors. It moves with its own powerful currents, ripping at your heartstrings as it goes on its way.

“The Messiah Complex” is next, the crushing title track with the epic lyric “It’s a sign”, King Herod replied “A massacre’s needed in order to withhold the throne. Oh, my Bethlehem, I will reign in blood until my enemies are slain”. This is the heaviest song on A Dark Poem Part III: The Messiah Complex, fitting the overall resonating theme of overcoming the depths of human suffering and the resolution to continue after all is said and done.

This is a Prog album, first and foremost. Yes, it has it’s heaviness that compliment a Metal aspect, but for as much as there is a hint of say, Opeth. There’s also a King Crimson-esque quality that is unmistakable; “Common Enemies” is quite possibly the best song in the whole trilogy. It is dynamic and breathtaking; the way Green Carnation put the song together is masterful in it’s scope. The solo will give you chills down to your soul.

But there is a trick up the sleeve of A Dark Poem Part III: Theitssiah Complex, and that is the final track “A Dark Poem – Orchestral Suite”. This is sixteen minutes of command performance. It moves like currents within it’s own tide. A spellbinding movement that captivates and caresses your mind.

The band brought in guest performer Ingrid Oitsn flute for “Broken Souls, Common Enemies” and the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and Opera Choir on “A Dark Poem – Orchestral Suite”. If I were to rank the trilogy in order of best to least, then it would run Part III, Part I, and then Part II. This is the most fun I have had reviewing a trilogy. Maybe Green Carnation could be talked into a box set of the whole thing. Maybe?

At any rate, this album needs to be in your collection. Listen to it on its own or as part of the overall architecture of the three combined albums. For fans of Opeth, King Crimson and Mozart. Submit yourself to the sorrow, get it now.

With their 12th album, Cursum Perficio, there have been plenty of delays with this sucker. Drummer, Charlie Benante, went on to drum with the Pantera reunion act and that took a lot of time away from Anthrax, as they toured and opened up for the likes of non-other than Metallica, so his priorities were elsewhere. It’s been 10 years since their last album, the magnificent For All Kings and the same line-up returns on Cursum Perficio. Admittedly, outside of the previously released singles, this album did not hit me between the eyes like the band’s last two efforts. This was more of a slow burner, and after several listens I became hooked. The band incorporates some of the most extreme Anthrax moments in terms of speed and crunchy stomping mosh parts. So, let’s get to the review, dang it.

11 songs in 53 minutes, the album opens with a minute long intro, “Persistence of Memory”, that goes into “The Long Goodbye”. I was expecting the band to come outta the starting gates with a fast thrashy song, but they do not. A mid-paced crunchy number that has some commercial appeal to it. The chorus is exceedingly catchy, and the guitar riffing is outstanding, Ian on fire, as usual. Charlie lets loose with some cool drum rolls and there are some creative stop and start moments and soloing going on that is courtesy of Jonathan Donais. The rhythm section tight with Frank Bello’s killer bass lines and Joey’s vocals sound as great as ever. Overall, though, the intro and this song are both more of a whimper, rather than a rallying cry, from a band that has not released an album in a decade.

“It’s for the Kids”, was one of the singles previously released. After a little squealing guitar action, the song rips into the thrash the masses have grown to love and expect from the band with an aggressive and catchy chorus, that slows things down, into a killer circle moment. The squealing guitar returns, a nice drum roll, then BAM!!! Right back into the thrash speed. The Holy Shit moment is the 2.20 marker, and it hits, this is one of the best mosh/slam moments Ian has ever written. So much so, this takes me back to NYHC, with the groove. It is crucial. The pits will be monstrous during this part. Then a nifty and super killer guitar solo erupts that takes us over the speedy parts. This song should have come right after that opening intro, imo. But what do I know?!

“The Edge of Perfection” is that song folks… On Worship Music Anthrax had a little blast going on and this song brings it. At 6:46, this is the longest song, and the soft opening will fool you. The blast at the 32 second marker is fueled with black metal riffing. Something that was bound to rub off on the band with all the more extreme metal acts they have played with in the last 15 years. But that is pure black metal, and it brings a huge smile when Joey is doing some aria ahhhs over these moments. The song slows down with a super heavy lead guitar riff, that has an abundance of melody too. The blast returns with Joey singing over it and the song slows back down with terrific vocals and gang shouted vocals to accompany him. The back and forth of the varying speeds is breathtaking, making this the most extreme Anthrax song to date, and these bastids are in their 60’s now. This is my favorite song on the album.

“Infectious”, takes us back to Among the Living , with the groove and crunch and catchy vocals. The band also showcasing more of their melodic edge, they have also incorporated over the last two albums and I can see this song being played live. There are many points where I can picture the spotlights coming on and the fans headbanging in unison to this song. “NYC 93” brings back the speed and is a banger as it thrashes all over the place with the gang shouted vocals of It ain’t worth doing unless you do it to death is gang shouted over and over with Ian’s parts piped in a little louder, or else he is just much louder than everyone else. Another great song to be in their live set.

“My Victory” closes out the album with it’s tremendous double bass moments and lead guitar riff which will embed in your brain for days on end. The crunchy guitar tone is one of the heaviest Anthrax moments, ever. It is brilliant and Joey belting out the vocals, perfectly timed. This song must be in their live set. It is super catchy, fun, thrashy and has a cute little groove/stomp at the end. That lead guitar riff…..damnit it, Ian, you did it again, you crafty bastid.

Cursum Perficio is an excellent thrashy Anthrax album with the band bringing in all their decades of expertise and moments into this sucker. I’m not a fan of album covers without a band’s logo, therefore I wish the band logo was on here. On the virtual interactive album cover, on Apple Music, it’s actually super cool to look at what’s going on when the music is playing. The production is top notch and honestly if you never liked the band in the past, you’re not going to start liking them now. Although “The Edge of Perfection”, you should listen to for the black metal riffing, over the blasting. It’s not something you have ever heard Anthrax do. And that is why out of new ones, from the bigger bands this year, like Lamb of God, Megadeth, Kreator and Exodus, Anthrax have the best album. They are doing different things and incorporating new ideas, still all these decades later. Welcome back Anthrax, what a scorcher of a crushing album!!

So now that everyone is all caught up with the back story and the future release schedule. How is this debut full-length and is it worth your valuable time? Well first of all, yes it is very worth your time. A melding of Dark Funeral and Marduk sounds good on paper and fortunately the way Mindvile execute said melding makes it extremely fun to listen to.

The production is massive and in your face and the killer artwork brings it all together. The total package will be absolutely killer, according to the presser and since physical media is still a popular format, it is not showing any signs of going away.

“Bite by Bite” is first and it’s a home wrecker due to the need to fling and flail yourself into the walls. These aren’t long, drawn out songs. They’re quick and to the point. “Predator’s Mask” is next and there are those Marduk moments I was saying come blasting in. Roller-coaster rides aren’t even this intense, to the point where it’s aural brutality; a literal assault on your sense of hearing.

“Unholy Task” and “The Evil Siren’s Tongue” have more of a Dark Funeral-ish vibe to them, especially the latter which could have sat like Baphomet on Secrets of the Black Arts or Vobiscum Satanas. “Lord of the Threshold” and “Judge, Killer and Executioner” are my favorite tracks on Old Continent. Go for the jugular, precision blasts and riffs that roll over your ass like a tank.

“Craftman’s Legacy” and “Cellarbound” round out the album in proper bombastic fashion. Both are fast as fuck, boy! Although they do play around with tempos, not just here; but across the album. It’s all about diversity in the end, anyway.

While Mindvile aren’t reinventing the Black Metal wheel any time soon, Old Continent is a competent album. I’m anxious to see what they do with this concept series and as long as they keep up the caliber of music I’ve spoken about here, it’ll be a banger.

If this sort of thing excites you then you should automatically pick it up. Do yourself a favor.

What hasn’t changed is the band’s deft mix of multiple genres, from Bolt Thrower and Swedish death metal to some black metal, war metal, and some black/thrash, and even some Gothenburg death metal with damn solid results.

Those elements come together both between songs and smoothly within them. Case in point: the opening title track has a lot of everything thrown into one eight-minute mass of tumbling, rumbling riffs; the early  Entombed, “Revel in Flesh” styled gallop standout “Inexorable Slaughter”, the pure spikes-and-leather black thrash of “Fully Armed and Filthy”, the Bolt Thrower trundle of “Unto the Anvil of War” (which also has another “Revel in Flesh” type riff), the tremolo-picking riffs in “Warp Storm Imminent”. In all, I keep being reminded of fellow Kentuckians Abominant.

If my ears are correct, there is even some slight keyboard usage in “Penitent Engine”, and then in “Iron Within, Iron Without”, the album’s other standout, gets blasty with some Dismember-y melodies before the closer “Eternal Enslavement” wraps things up with a song that does a little of everything, but i would have preferred the album go out with a bit more of a memorable bang.

The production has a slight Swedish buzz to it, but I wouldn’t call it a full-on buzzsaw guitar tone, and vocalist/guitarist Conqueror Horus has a throaty rasp and shout, keeping things in that black/thrash realm, though the odd gruff bellow reminds you this is mostly solid, enjoyable death/black metal at its core.

Their mix of Exhumed/Carcass is ever-present. Mark Wallace’s varying vocal tones — the gutturals and raspier vocals — are piped in excellently, as is the production of layering the vocals to make it appear there are two vocalists. At times, Deicide comes to mind with this effect. The guitar solo, hovering over the blast beat, is exceptional, and the grind blast is terrific. Adam Houmam continues to excel in his craft with his monstrous blasts. This song features some very cool drum parts, and the guitars of Mike Flory and his wife Ria Flory are brutal. Ria plays bass/guitars in the killer Emasculator band, by the way. This is a brutal opening number.

“The Autopsy: A Surgical Sonata” is a song title you would expect on a Carcass album, but Cartilage beat them to the punch. Melodic guitars with some of the harmonies are interwoven into brutal riffage over the blasts. The dizzying array of vocal tones and the layering is some of the best I have heard in a bit. Some of the monstrous blasts, especially at the two-minute timestamp, are going to rip your limbs apart in a nanosecond. The song slows down and gallops at a terrific headbanging pace. Once the blast takes over, you had better stop headbanging or else you might headbang that head of yours right off your pathetic shoulders.

“A Lymphatic Labyrinth of Roiling Rot” has an opening guitar riff that is so killer, then right into the Holy Shit blasting madness. This moment is pretty vicious, and with the vocals, I am wondering if another member of the band, during a concert, takes over maybe one of the tones. Because, with the layering effects, the vocalist is either going to have to stick to one tone and another member pipes in the other tone in order to replicate the album moments, or they just forgo the different tones. Hopefully one of the band members helps out with the other tone, since it sounds killer, just like how Dying Fetus and Exhumed have been pulling this off, brutally, for decades. This song moves and grooves, and the double bass drums sound great with one of the best snare drum sounds all year. This song is fun, brutal, and has some pit action moments here and there.

The rest of the songs all follow this formula, with the title track another strong standout, with the Carcass-inspired opening moments and galloping pacing taking over. The song slows down to a mid-paced, bludgeoning crawl and then double-pounding madness. The variety of vocal tones and tempo shifts will keep you on your toes and off your toes as well.

Operating Altar is yet another brutal release from Cartilage, who keeps upping their game. So much so that this band is one of the strongest in their genre class. Songs are memorable and catchy, and death/goregrind is not always something easy to pull off. There is enough harmony on this album to keep some of the technical fans happy, and so much putrid filth to keep us goregrind and death metal fans happy like a clam. Get this dirty, filthy, brutal album now!

So now there’s a live album called A Beast to Praise and of course it’s good. There’s crowd banter, you can hear the whoosh when the fire pots go off, and Heljarmadr sounds phenomenal. As a frontman, he is among my favorite vocalists… plus he seems like a cool dude, all down to earth and shit.

I’m not going to dwell on the songs so much here, you’ve heard them before, and since there’s no need for comparison to other bands, I’ll just be commenting on the quality of the performance and the sound, shit like that, you know?

The first live album review I did for TOTD was for the Amorphis opus Tales from the Thousand Lakes – Live at Tavastia album. You can read it here if you haven’t yet; I’ll wait.

Okay, so crowd noise or anything to indicate that other people are in the room is what makes a great live album. Period. Kiss, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest have all released live music that has become the golden standard. Is A Beast to Praise as good as those? Hmmmm… no. But that doesn’t even matter because it’s capturing the essence of a veteran band who have nothing to prove, other than they are masters at what they do.

“Unchain My Soul” is first and it sets the tone perfectly. There’s crowd interactions and it lets you know that there is, indeed, a whole bunch of people there. They literally blast through their hiinteraction,track list is pretty fucking impressive (although my personal favorite, “Atrum Regina” is absent, but I’ve heard them play it enough when I’ve seen them so… it’s ok).

“Vobiscum Satanas”, “Let the Devil In”, “We are the Apocalypse”… every note, harmony, and bestial scream make it feel like you’re right there, front row; witnessing the spectacular essence that is a Dark Funeral show… the artwork is magnificent, and the booklet looks slick as f,ck.

They end the album with “The Secrets of the Black Arts” and “Where Shadows Forever Reign”; and then you walk out of your virtual venue to have a smoke before going back to listen to it again. A Beast to Praise is a solid live album, capturing an experience with the power of technology to deliver live blasphemy to the masses.

Go get it! This will tide you over while they’re hard at work on their next album (I’m assuming that’s what they’re doing. They could be playing golf for all I know). Anyway, what are you waiting for?

You’re welcome, good sir, and thank you in turn! I am honored to be interviewed by the animal who spewed such killer gutturals on early Internal Bleeding. Voracious Contempt is such a fantastic album.

There is a lot of meaning and passion driving Achtung! Destroy The Weak. A motif running throughout the album is the necessity to avoid victimhood and to celebrate and achieve self-actualization and success through will to power and strength. Modernity is plagued with victimhood. It’s a disgusting, weak mindset. Yes, there is a great deal of suffering, challenges that affect people in different ways, etc. People are handed different cards in life. Equality does not exist. With all of this in mind, why choose the path of weakness, curling up in the fetal position and giving up? When life hits you hard, and it hits all of us, don’t be sad. Be mad. Let that rage inspire you. Push yourself through adversity. Be a lion. Be a wolf. “Take life by the balls and squeeze until they crunch.” I just quoted Biohazard’s Urban Discipline. Some in our scene may scoff at me for quoting Biohazard. I really don’t care. They can SMD. That’s a killer lyric from a killer band. And I don’t have any “guilty pleasures” in life. I like what I like, and without apology.

I discuss some Machiavellian concepts and Carl Jung’s psychological discussion of the importance of bloodline, ancestral memory, and connection. I value my father to no end. He was just a small, premature baby born in a hut in Africa, and he worked hard, moved to the West, and became a very successful physician and clinic owner who was recognized by members of Congress. So, I really have no time nor patience when hearing BS about how some people can’t make it in America. Anyone can become anything they want if they desire enough in this beautiful land of opportunity.

Anyway, there certainly was an extensive period between our first album and this — seven years. Trench isn’t going anywhere, though, and while we definitely favor quality over quantity, you better believe that we will never take that long between releases again. In short, a variety of factors are linked to the long wait for the album to come out: Familial deaths, career changes, distance between members, and traveling time involved in getting together. This isn’t a diss to any previous member, but we finally have the right lineup in place with members who are able to write, record, perform, and hit the road with more relative ease and with more ambition. In the meantime, we are eager to showcase this new material on stage.

We were in talks with a few labels, but we ended up choosing Conjuring Records because it’s a smaller label that’s driven by passion, and they’re putting a strong focus on us — an optimal situation rather than being on a larger label that would just neglect you.

As for the artwork, imagery from older warfare, we wanted something simple and true to our aesthetic so that it will remain in your mind’s eye.

How does this album differ from your debut album, and did you achieve the goals you wanted to?

Our demo “put us on the map,” so to speak. I mean that relatively speaking, of course. No one has lofty rock star dreams, and we will always have day jobs and daily hustles. But I digress… When I say that it put us on the map, within our corner of war metal, bestial black metal, and black/death metal, it caught a lot of people’s attention. We have always maintained our war metal roots but never wanted to be boxed in. So, our first album, Hatred Prayer, revealed our passion for death metal and black metal.

I think we will always have continuity and avoid taking any drastic left turns. So, I think the new album is a refined version of the debut but with more elaborate song structuring and phrasing. Vocally, I wanted the lyrical storytelling to come across as though it’s being narrated, to an extent. I remember reading a few Steve Tucker interviews—a huge influence upon me, by the way—when they were promoting Gateways to Annihilation, and he said that he wanted to have that approach, so that it wasn’t necessarily cutthroat and relentless throughout. There needs to be contrast to the extremity in music; otherwise, the potency just gets stale. So on Achtung! Destroy The Weak, the cadence and timbre move according to the underlying thematic tone, very much like a conversation or monologue would flow. While the album as a whole is absolutely savage, it does the same thing on a musical level. I think we achieved that goal. We always want to be extreme, but to make music that is memorable.

Trench Warfare has been around for several years now. Explain what is important in being in a band, writing music, developing your own lyrical and vocal style, which I think you have a Martin van Drunen flair, and what Trench Warfare adds to the scene?

The importance of being in a band varies significantly from person to person. For some people, that may involve fame and fortune or chasing tail. Even in underground metal, some people seem to have those lame goals without admitting it. For us as a band and for me personally, and without intending to sound pompous, creating art that’s meaningful, powerful, and lasting is what matters. It may not reach that many people, but I want as many people to hear it as possible. Some people, including a former member, claim that they don’t care about others hearing the music or what their opinions may be. Bullshit. If that’s the case, recording music wouldn’t be a goal at all. Anyway, the artistic expression, the performance, matters. I enjoy that aspect more than the writing and recording, actually. It’s cheesy to use this term, and it’s overly abundant in our scene, but it is very ritualistic. Everything involved in the process is very cathartic, and I absolutely do need this. If I didn’t have this, the gym wouldn’t be enough of an outlet for my aggressive side. Hell, I’d probably wind up dead or in prison if I didn’t have this outlet. Sure, writing, recording, and performing can be a great deal of fun. But considering the content and intensity involved, there are certainly moments where it doesn’t feel that good. It can be quite uncomfortable, like the feeling a snake may have when shedding its skin.

It was definitely important for me early on to develop my own style and approach, both lyrically and vocally. Good call on spotting out Martin Van Drunen as an influence! I love Pestilence and Asphyx. Along those lines, John Tardy from Obituary has impacted me, Marc Grewe from Morgoth to a lesser extent. And there are a host of others like, again, Steve Tucker. Who else? Barney, Kevin Sharp, and I listen to a lot of hardcore. Lou Koller from Sick Of It All (RIP) and Jon Gula from Turmoil come to mind. Phil Anselmo, of course. My friend in Belgium, Kevin Lerminiau from a band called Wolfskull, and I wrote and recorded a song many years ago when I was over there. He said my vocals sounded like a cross between tough guy hardcore and John Tardy. I can see that.

In terms of lyrical content, so many bands of our general ilk seem to be content to peddle such generic tropes and clichés involving war, death, and satanism. We definitely tackle all of those subjects, except the latter, but I’d like to think we do so in a manner that is much more rooted in reality. I’m not opposed to fantasy lyrics entirely as far as my listening consumption. When I discuss the darker side of existence, however, it is based in reality. We aren’t one of these bands made up of corpse-paint-covered wankers who are essentially engaging in nothing more than vampire cosplay.

Certain references to military and war are oftentimes metaphorical, because life is a battle. Then again, some of it is literal in the way that we want the West to win during conflict, whenever that may be referenced. To that end, we want America to win ultimately. America will win. War will never end, and we need to stay on top. The third World War is already here. It has just begun in a soft sense. I’m not wearing a tinfoil hat. I’m just a realist.

When you put it all together, I think it’s clear that Trench Warfare offers a lot to the scene, synthesizing desired and familiar sounds into an uncompromising expression that is individual and unique.

The scene and fans are ever-changing. With the band splintered in various parts of the country, what are your plans for shows, touring, challenges, and your personal lives? Is full-on touring feasible?

It’s interesting that my recent move from Austin to rural Oregon places us bandmates further apart geographically at the precise time that we have never been as poised to play out and about. What I mean by that is that we are no longer restrained by the work schedules and job constraints of former members. Those factors are understandable barriers, but now that they aren’t in our path, our current line-up is eager to play more shows, fests, and yes, now we can finally tour once the right opportunities are in place.

How serious are you all in wanting Trench Warfare to achieve the next level of success?

Success can mean very different things to different people. Is it measured as far as commercial reach and number of units sold? That’s important for some, not us. In our eyes, success is creating art, performing it, and having it connect with as many people as possible for whom the music really matters. We have had elements within the band who have held the band back, and we aren’t going to put up with that ever again. We are eager, and we are hungry.

Let’s skip around a bit and let the readers know all about your metal reviews and writing for magazines such as Pit, how you got into it, why you did, and the challenges as a writer — like ,did you ever review a band’s album, only to then have them talk smack about the review online or send you their take on how the review should have gone?

After I got my first academic degree, I had all this knowledge about metal, and I just wanted to do something to take my love for it to the next level. I had been in several terrible short-lived bands over the course of a summer, so I didn’t think that was the path at the time. I was a rabid consumer of metal and music journalism, the magazines, fanzines, and webzines; so that made sense. I dove balls deep into it and, as with anything, there have been lulls here and there, but I’ve been at it for more than half my life at this point. I’ve been an editor for Pit Magazine, I wrote for Metal Maniacs, Unrestrained, Hails & Horns, AMP, and Outburn, as well as many webzines. These days, I’m writing for Blabbermouth and Metal Underground. I’ll branch out further in due time. I did news journalism years ago, including crime reporting, and I’m sure I’ll dabble in that again down the road.

There have been challenges, as with anything in life, but I wouldn’t consider disgruntled interview or review subjects as being challenges. You know me, so you’re well aware that I don’t take myself very seriously, but I take everything I do very seriously, including singing and music journalism. I can understand why a band may be upset in the face of a negative review. But at the end of the day, however serious or not a reviewer takes the process, it’s their opinion, so it shouldn’t stick with a band. The most outrageous response to me was when a hardcore band once messaged me following a negative review, saying, “You better not ever show your face in Philly if you know what’s good for you.” I mean, c’mon, dude…

The talented multi-instrumentalist Darren Cesca reached out to me following my less-than-stellar review of Arsis many years ago. He’s primarily known as a drummer, and he did that for them around that time. He had a brief, mostly respectful back-and-forth with me. I didn’t find the album even remotely catchy, to which he seemed frustrated. He insisted that it was catchy and kept pressing me to almost… cave in and agree with him? It was absurd, and I just “left him on read,” as the kids say.

Sean Malone, formerly of Cynic, is another great talent who wasn’t necessarily that pleasant. I was interviewing him for his Gordion Knot prog metal/fusion project, and we were emailing back and forth. Many musicians can be assholes, as you know, so there are a million small situations I’m sure I can’t even remember nor care about, but this comes to mind because he was just exceptionally snooty in his conversational tone. I had no beef with him, really, though. May he rest in peace.

As seldom as I ever see or speak with him, I get along with Phil Anselmo quite well. He was upset and publicly expressed that sentiment when I spilled the beans in a blog about one of his upcoming projects, the nature of it, and so on and so forth. I reached out to him to talk about it, and the beef was squashed essentially.

Those are just a couple of things off the top of my head.

Quick fun question: you’re moving to a secluded island, and you’ve overpacked. You can only take 5 albums. Which would they be and why?

I despise these questions because they’re so fun yet so frustrating! How can I narrow it down? I’ll begin by throwing out some bands who could be included as honorable mentions. Those bands would be, I guess, Soilent Green, Acid Bath and Blasphemy. This could change on any given day, but let me give you five albums in no particular order:

Type O Negative – October Rust

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath

Pantera – The Great Southern Trendkill

Brutal Truth – Sounds of the Animal Kingdom

Napalm Death – Enemy of the Music Business

As you get older, how are your vocals holding up playing shows and recording? Do you take care of your voice? Any vocal exercises? When was the last time you played live, and what’s on the horizon for touring and shows – do you have a booking manager?

I’m pleased with my voice these days. I think I will continue to improve over time, and my voice has certainly gotten stronger. I do my best to stay well hydrated for general health, gains in the gym, and for singing. Before practicing or playing shows, I always go through melodic vocal warm-ups, about 20 minutes’ worth. I used to do a bit of choir in high school. (In due time, I’d like to perform in other kinds of bands, perhaps doom-related, noise rock or otherwise. I’m not sure. That will happen whenever the time is right.) Anyway, I lifted a lot from those old choir, melodic vocal warm-ups and I’ve supplemented that with YouTube videos. I know that screaming has become an “art” of sorts. I haven’t yet done so, but I like improving my skill set in all that I do in life, so I definitely want to dive into those screaming tutorials at some point.

We played at the end of June in Austin at the Lost Well with our longtime friends in Imprecation. We’ve done many shows with those legendary satanic death metal maniacs. We don’t have anything on deck at the moment other than Mark Madness Fest in Illinois that’s slated for June of 2027, but as mentioned before, we are eager to do as many shows and make the most of any touring opportunities as possible. And no, we do not have a booking agent, but we are open to that sort of thing as long as the arrangement would make sense for us.

Moving musically forward, how do you see Trench Warfare expanding in sound, style, vocally and lyrically?

We will always maintain an element of war metal at our very core, around which we have allowed the growth of death metal into our sound as well as aspects of black metal. Going forward, Dustin Putz will be the primary songwriter musically, and he is doing exactly that. He has already started working on some stuff where the foundation is war metal, but his great passion for bands like Dismember, Autopsy, and Pestilence is also informing the direction. And our drummer JP Campo is fantastic. He is a rabid maniac, but his style is so controlled.

There are some other ideas in mind. I’d rather not spill all the beans, but suffice it to say, it’ll be intense, and we really want to push the envelope of what extreme music can be. Vocally, I’m sure my hardcore influences will continue to shine through. Lyrically, without straying from the subgenres at hand completely, there will continue to be a tapestry that involves history, literature, psychology, and personal experience.

Since your debut album, coming from a band and fan perspective, how has the scene changed? Are you happy with the changes? Too many bands — have shows changed, and what are some current bands you enjoy that are new, as well as older bands that you listen to, regardless of genre?

There is a lack of originality and boldness in all of extreme music, which is annoying. I don’t want to say that’s the case across the board, but it does seem to be the norm, unfortunately. Homogeneous sounds, imagery, and ideals plague the underground, and that’s never what it should be about. Groupthink is lame and weak. That’s the opposite of what we are about. We preach and celebrate the power of individual strength and identity. Of course, there can be pride in some form of group identity, but build upon that legacy. Don’t just be a carbon copy of all that inspires you. Be yourself. That goes for music and life overall, generally speaking.

I’m sure some may say, “Okay, boomer,” about this following point. I don’t care. I keep it real. (I’m Gen X, by the way, but that’s neither here nor there.) Underground extreme music, and I’m talking about virtually every subgenre and style, is inundated with “woke” scene tourists. There needs to be more gatekeeping in that regard. It’s weak and pathetic, and it shouldn’t be tolerated. Sure, you can see how some of that infiltrated hardcore and grind, but it is radical in an absurd way that ultimately isn’t benevolent. It doesn’t belong. It certainly doesn’t belong in darker-themed styles. Music should be extreme, but political extremes are always collectivist in nature. All of that is for weaklings. Celebrate the individual. Equality is a myth. Everyone is handed a different hand in life. Make the most of life. Build your own empire and live on your own terms. I’m speaking about underground music scenes and society at large. And this goes back to the meaning of the album. Self-defeating ideologies and victimhood need to be demonized. Be a lion. Be a wolf. Celebrate the self and free will. The notion of “Will To Power” is fascinating, endearing, appealing, and it needs to be championed.

As far as specific bands that we have been into as a band and as far as my own taste goes, let me see here. I can bring up Blasphemy, Beherit, Deiphago, Diocletian, Nuclearhammer, Genocide Shrines, Tetragrammacide, Wargrinder, Ritual Genocide, Triumph, Archgoat, Morbosidad, Imprecation, Obeisance, Satanik Goat Ritual and Nunslaughter.

Let me add some stuff that I’ve been listening to very recently: Abominator, Atomic Aggressor, Atomicide, the new Neurosis and the new Butthole Surfers, as well as Shane Embury’s solo album. Also, I’ve really been digging some aggressive African hip hop: Nigeria’s ODUMODUBLVCK and Kenya’s Wakadinali.

Before we go, Jay, what would you like the readers to know about Trench Warfare that they may not know? Maybe about all your ridiculous and funny memes on social media and, well, let’s be honest, you sometimes are pretty outspoken on there – ever get any flack for that?

Trench Warfare is your worst nightmare, reader! Jajajaja Again, I don’t take myself too seriously, but I take everything I do very seriously. Social media is great escapism from the BS that we all deal with in our daily lives and with regard to the daily grind. So, it should be fun. I joke around, and I’m outspoken for sure, about life, sociopolitical matters, and pretty much everything. I’m always myself, as everyone should be. I can understand that some need to be mindful of saying certain things due to work-related obligations, family matters, et cetera. That is all understandable. But if one feels the need to self-censor for a metal audience, they are no longer metal. They are just pussies. Full stop. Never let metal be defanged. Metal is a wild beast. May she forever roam free and unrestrained.

But here is Australia’s A Night In Texas (I’d love for someone to comment on the band’s name origins), with their 4th album, The Darkest Side of Humanity, to rectify the situation. Surprisingly, I’m not overly familiar with the band, only having first heard them on 2024’s Digital Apocalypse, but in going back and checking out the band’s first 2 efforts, 2015’s God Delusion and 2017’s Global Slaughter, I see that they’ve been pretty consistent with their sound: technical deathcore with some symphonic elements scattered generously around.

Now, when I say blackened or symphonic deathcore, I don’t mean a full-on Lorna Shore, Shadow of Intent, or Worm Shepherd sound. It’s close, but the band’s primary sound is firmly rooted in the band’s thriving Australian deathcore scene (To the Grave, Thy Art is Murder, etc.), but adds symphonic elements at times. But when they do lean into the more epic/dramatic sounds, which seems like tangibly more than prior releases, it hits pretty hard, as they are delivered/composed by none other than Francesco Ferrini (Fleshgod Apocalypse), so I’d expect nothing less.

This increased orchestral and choral presence is used well to enhance moments in songs, rather than being present all the time, but when they do show up, they are super effective. It makes already stout tracks like “Fed to Death” the standout “Metastatic Misery”, ‘The Infinite Maw” (where Ryan Vail of Larcenia Roe helps out), or the closing killer title track pretty fucking epic. At times, I’m reminded of when Bonecarver’s sound changed on Carnage Funeral (in particular, the start of “Metastatic Misery” recalls “Morgue Desecrator” from that album).

But there is plenty of straight-up brutal, brutal deathcore for the Crown Magnetar folks, like “Rot From Within” or “A Primal Conditioning”, where the orchestration is a little less present or more understated, if still there (I mean, why would you hire Ferrini and not use him at least a little?). The only track that’s a bit of an outlier is “When the Sun Burns Out”, a moody sort of ballad with clean vocals that, while going for Whitechapel’s The Valley/Kin sound, doesn’t quite work for me.

The band’s own guitarist, Cory Judd, produced and engineered the album, as he has on past albums, and it sounds great, making the entire effort one of the better examples of the genre in 2026, though right now it doesn’t have much competition.

So what does Necrocene have that Left to Die lacked? ORIGINALITY! I’m going to try and keep away from the comparisons to Left to Die. Necrocene’s Scumocracy is an ode to the Morris Sound studio … and it’s fucking excellent in case you were wondering.

Right away, “(Threshold)” is the perfect intro for Scumocracy, capturing the horror vibes from those visceral Italian films like Gates to Hell and Zombie. It ends abruptly as “Ordinary Enemy” kicks in and wipes the floor with your feeble sense of dignity. This is what I’m talking about, there’s a Death riff here that could’ve been right at home by the fire on Human. This makes me want to run around my backyard and mosh with my dogs.

“Tempestarii” has the tastiest riff and solo on Scumocracy. Guitarists Alex and Joy channel those days of early brutality, fledgling Death Metal bands that have become legends in their own right: Death, Obituary, and Cancer right off the bat. But this is more than an homage album, like I said, there is originality, and that goes a long fucking way.

I love Scumocracy because of moments like “Scale of Grey” and the absolutely bonkers title track that’s going to have those people who like to pretend they’re Sho Kosugi in Revenge of the Ninja spinning around like crazy people. “Scumocracy” is a great sing a long sing-alongen kidding) It’s pretty indicative of the current state of affairs that we’re being forced to endure. Listen to the lyrics, they’re pretty understandable since vocalist Apo has a voice on the cusp of Chuck Schuldiner and John Tardy.

“(Stillpoint)” is another crawling instrumental that sticks around briefly, giving the album room to breathe before the throttling begins again. “Human Lithifacation” I don’t know what that means, but it sounds painful. I do know that there are some sick riffs being fired off. This is just a crushing album and total experience overall. The production is on point, in your face with a bloody hammer, and the killer artwork brings it all together.

“Concrete Petrichor” starts off slow, allowing the track to breathe once again, which I love about Scumocracy; the tempo changes are surgically precise. “Weapons of the Damned” brings some Cancer to the proceedings, think Death Shall Rise and Sins of Mankind era. This is OSDM done absolutely right.

Last up is the “Lust of Us” it’s not exactly a sexy track, it’s slow-burning, and then boom! Blast beats show up briefly, and they make the song that much more devastating. This is the best way to end an album like this. No frills, just honest and savage meat and potatoes Death Metal that will have you banging your head against the concrete for all the right reasons.

If you like those bands I mentioned (even Left to Die) then you’ll be happy as a cannibal in a mass grave. Plus, these guys are apparently from Italy, and we all know that great things come from Italy. So go get it!

Fog Wall is a duo from Nevada comprised of Zak Brady on bass/vocals and Alex Malmquist on vocals (ex-Warbringer), with some session folks helping out on guitars and drums.

The style of death metal is a murky, musty style of OSDM (the Floridian sort, particularly like Obituary, Autopsy, and Morbid Angel) meets new ‘caveman death metal’ like Tribal Gaze, Frozen Soul, etc, though not quite a Bolt Thrower worship band.

Starting with “Manor of Ensnarement”, the band growls ( and screeches) and blasts and lopes through 44 minutes or so of decent death metal. Not great, just solid, enjoyable death metal.

It lacks some of the pure heft and stomp of some of its peers, though it does have a stout low end and isn’t overly savage or brootal, but certainly has enough of both to please the death metal fan curious about the Lord of the Rings and video game subject matter.

Tracks like “The Accursed”, heaving “Marzabul (Desolation)” (IYKYK), blasting “Belching Black Vapors”, rollicking “Strangling Gloom”, the most varied track, “Fleshpot Ritual” and the aptly named spider-y “Frantic Orb Weaver” are enjoyable and worth a relisten for sure.

The only outlier is the Type -O-Negative medley/cover “The Profit of Doom”, but seeing as I’m not a huge Type-O fanboy (I’m more of a Carnivore guy), I’ll let you fans out there decide for yourself if death metal versions of Type-O songs work or not.

For some reason, that cover/medley isn’t the last song (as covers should be, IMHO). The Elden Ring-based ” Traverse” ends the album with more of a doomy crawl that suits the band’s sound and motifs pretty well, and I hope they explore further on the next album.

Terrestrial Hospice have been in existence since 2018 and have three full-length albums (including this one) Indian Summer Brought Mushroom Clouds (2020) and Caviary to the General (2023). Neither of which I have heard, so I’m going in blind here.

Omnicide: Chapter I starts off subtly enough. It’s a bit gentle, lulling you into a false sense of security. Then “Phosphasc Salvation” hits like a ton of bricks with a nice acoustic guitar intro that goes on for a solid two-minutes before a very Bathory “Destroyer of Worlds”-ish track begins to beat you and that’s before the blasts kick in, it strides along pretty confidently. There’s some epic shit going on around the six-minute mark, when this totally unrelated riff comes out of nowhere and elevates the song to this two-minute level for the solo.

Omnicide: Chapter I pours on the atmosphere like a black rain. “The Couloir of Despair” and “Call of the Void” bring to mind more of a Bathory meets Dimmu Borgir Black Metal attack. Whereas “Serpents in the Grass” and “Menace” hover on the cusp of Behemoth and Gorgoroth. I can picture that fancy chef guy sprinkling the band influences all over this album and Terrestrial Hospice make their sound not overly derivative of their peers. Which is a good thing because this album could have been horrible and not make me want to listen to it ever again.

“Depraver (Black Invocation)” has a lot of that atmosphere that I was talking about. It’s hard-hitting, and that’s really all you can want from a hellish blasphemy. The production could have benefited from a bit more emphasis on the drums in that they are sort of buried in the mix and when we’re talking about Inferno on drums, they need to be loud as fuck.

“Drowning Spirit” and “The Gospel of Obedience” finish the album with two elite flourishes. Both go heavy on the ambiance, and ratchet the brutality up for the last hurrah. All in all, I’d say that Terrestrial Hospice has done a super solid job with Omnicide Chapter 1, as it doesn’t reinvent anything; it’s good on its own merit.

So if you enjoy Gorgoroth, Dimmu Borgir and even some Thunderbolt, then you should trample orphans to make sure you get this album.

Second, that is some killer album artwork. I need a shirt, guys. (edit: there is a shirt!)

So, now that’s over with; this is the duo’s (Ryan Ashmore on vocals and Trey Porche on all instruments) debut, and it’s pretty damn solid. 5 songs in 33 minutes of pure sludgey, doomy goodness that fits the press recommendations ‘for fans of Crowbar, Primitive Man, and Thou (though not as blackened)’. I’d also throw in some obscure 00s bands like If He Dies, He Dies and Samothrace.

Though from Louisiana, the guitar tone isn’t the usual fuzzed-out,  swampy tone, but a clearer, still very heavy tone. Ashmore’s vocals are a gruff, gravelly bellow, with a few bars of a spoken-word croon.

Riff-wise, this lumbers with ample heft and lope, with a few moments of more gravitas, and very little buildup or atmosphere clogging things up (“The Mariner” has a few seconds of the tide washing ashore). And when the band does add a little more emotion or layered melodies, such as the standout “Poisoned Crown” or “The Mariner,” it’s pretty stellar.

The other 4 tracks are not chopped liver either. Notably, the steady “Dead Shepherd” and the moodier but massive closer “Passages”. And certainly Fane looks to have a promising future in the genre and carrying the Louisiana sound if they can build off this strong debut.

I have interviewed Ralf before, reviewed all of his bands, and have talked to him on the phone as well. The man loves death metal, and the Revel in Flesh breakup did not last long, as he put a new band together last year. He brought in Simon Abele (Inner Earth) on guitars, current Rotpit drummer Erik Barthold,

But how do you still capture that Boss HM-2 Pedal classic Swedish death metal tone, Revel in Flesh is known for???? Well, you bring in a longtime veteran and who I consider a friend, Jonny Pettersson, to handle the bass and, most importantly, the buzzsaw guitars. The man is in a ton of current and past bands. Current and past, check out this man’s resume: Henry Kane, Massacre, Heads For The Dead, Rotpit, Wombbath…I mean, I can go on all day. He is another death metal worshipper, and he knows this style of death metal amazingly well. So much so that the Revel in Flesh sound is preserved, mastered, and in some ways a bit angrier on this sixth album. I reviewed their last album, The Hour of the Avenger, and hot damn, that sucker is heavy AF. That was a tough one to beat. Flesh for the Kult of Death beats it.

No cute intro, just a total ‘Fuck You’, we are back. The title track erupts. Getting right into the speed, it’s not long before a brutal blast beat is tossed in. Ralf sounds great, throaty, and alters his vocals back to Revel in Flesh, as he does sing a tad differently in the other bands he is in. There is an exceedingly strong Dismember – Like An Ever Flowing Stream guitar tone on this album, and it’s monstrous. The main tempo of the galloping is sure to keep the headbanger happy. There are a few moments of slowdown with the atmosphere and beautiful guitar harmonies. Melodious, and that is what Jonny knows how to toss in, amongst the brutality.

“Bodybag Inferno” is next with a scorching opening guitar riff that is pounding heaviness. Slow, groovy, and will see some pits moving about here and there. The isolated guitar riff around the 2.20 section is excellent as it gives way to the isolated bass guitar. This stop-and-start moment is a great testament to the rhythm section. It will be a true test to play this sucker live. This is a great middle of the live set song.

“Pool of Blood” brings forth the speed. The buildup is short and right into a blast beat, then into a monumental galloping attack. Then right back into a brutal blast beat. Stupendous lead guitars and soloing. More blast beats, and this is a full-throttle death metal assault on the senses.

“Priest of Flesh” offers a slower and more melodic edge that the band has now incorporated on this new album. This song is moody and has a great double bass rumbling heaviness during the mid-paced moments. Guitar harmonies throughout this song, and quite honestly, some spoken word moments, would have actually worked if they had tried it out. The song gallops towards the end with an ethereal, emotive section that calls to mind what fellow countrymen, Chapel of Disease, started doing on their later albums. Truly is amazing.

The band always closes out with a cover song, and this time it’s Crowbar’s “All I Had (I Gave)”. A very heavy original song, and it’s great to hear the Dismember guitar tone in this song. All the elements and pacing of the original are intact, and Ralf lets loose on some extra growling. Such a fun cover.

Flesh for the Kult of Death is not only a terrific return and improved Revel in Flesh I am very happy to see the band continuing with their color-themed covers. This time we get blue, and the artwork is amazing as the reaper makes a return on this album, as it presides over the festivities.

The production and musicianship are impeccable. I am wondering if the band will be laid to rest maybe next year? The song preceding the Crowbar cover is called “The Last Farewell”, which I am unsure insinuates in any way that this is the last Revel in Flesh album? I am just speculating. Suffice it to say, this album owns and must be in your collection pronto!

At the end of my review of The Star, I rhetorically asked if the band could return to the more blistering, scathing sound of the first two albums. Sure, Arkivet and The Star were amazing, but the more despondent and restrained hues just left me wanting more.

So I open the promotional email. And…. (sad trombone noise)… this is a 2-song, concept-based, 16-minute EP, not a new album.  And they didn’t read my review of The Star, as this continues the sound of the last 2 albums.

But, of course, it’s still brilliant, as both the songs on Å (‘stream’) deliver what you have come to expect from Wormwood: elegant, exquisite, but regally despondent melodic black metal.

The 9-minute “Yra/Extas” initially had me pumped as it comes out of the gate with a searing blast beat for a few bars. But over the next 9 minutes, it takes you on an emotional journey with riffs, emotional moments, atmospherics, and knee-wilting melodies (I mean, the last 3 minutes have a riff and solos that are just unfair).

The haunting child choirs from The Star kick off “Purposelessness Geometry”, a more restrained and mid-paced track that fully sounds like the last 2 albums. But it’s still damn good stuff, with some leads and riffs that just hit that despondent yet gracefully searing sweet spot, especially after the bluesy mid-song break where the choirs and moody riffs deliver the goods in all their somber glory.

I’ll try again, though; even though this is fantastic, can we get a return to the debut’s sound on the next full-length, please?