Archive for the ‘Reviews › P’ Category

I could really use a new Sentenced album about now. Unfortunately, that won’t be happening, so I have to settle for the next best thing – singer Ville Laihiala’s Poisonblack. My relationship with Laihiala’s side project turned main project has been up and down. I wasn’t wild about the debut record with a different vocalist, […]

Being the thrash fan that I am, I’m almost ashamed to admit that Riot Squad is my introduction to Germany’s Paradox. It’s their fifth release, and they’ve been kicking around in various incarnations since the late 1980s. Admittedly, I was a little America-centric in my thrash listening during that time period and discovered most of […]

When Godspeed You Black Emperor! lent itself for post-rock to advertise and gain momentum, little did they know just how saturated the genre would become. Soon after, everyone seemed to have a band that played the music by the book, making it harder and harder for the casual listener to find the progressive elements the […]

I truly thought that the self released EP from Australia’s Brazen Bull would be the most absolutely bat shit insane band I would hear in 2009.  Wrong.  Apparently this is this Italian band’s second album (along with 4 Ep/splits), and it has to be some off the most of the wall, experimental grindcore/spazz tech metal […]

Without fail, the same thing happens at the end of every year; I submit my year end picks to various outlets, only to have a release cross my path that would have made the list. In this case the second self released EP from Long Island’s Painted In Exile would have hands down been the […]

I’ll admit I am a Protest the Hero fanboy. I love both Kezia and Fortress and having met and interviewed the band after a local live show, I found a new appreciation for them, not just as a band, but as a pretty cool group of kids. That all being said, I wasn’t sure about […]

As one of the European fathers of death/doom and gothic metal, Paradise Lost has had controversial ups and downs for years. Though the band has released quality music and some great albums, nothing has been quite as monumental as Gothic, Icon, and Draconian Times. If anything, the band stayed far from that chapter of their […]

One of the most revered bands in the Australian metal scene, the mucky, mysterious musical cist that is Portal seems to be one of those ‘cool’ bands to like because they are such an anti thesis of all that is popular and trendy in metal. And with their third insidious album of churning, seemingly unstructured […]

Split albums are common in metal but yield mixed results. Far too often, listeners labor through 20 minutes of crap to get to five minutes of goodness. Here’s a combination that works – a dual platter from the bowels of the San Francisco Bay Area featuring death metal veterans Abscess (formed by two members of […]

I’ve learned over the years that I am too quick to judge. Actually, most would probably confess to hastily disregarding a certain CD or band, only to find down the road that you neglected something you really enjoy. This is where we start with Timeline Symmetry. This thing sat in my review pile, shunned, while […]

Post Mortem were the perennial underdogs of the 1980s underground metal scene. They recorded one bona fide classic – Coroner’s Office – yet never received credit for being years ahead of most bands now regarded as the godfathers of death metal. Their follow-up albums Festival of Fun and Destined For Failure were wildly experimental. Instead […]

Many of Porcupine Tree’s recent albums have centered around a theme or mood, but it’s been quite awhile since Steven Wilson and crew have delivered a full-on concept album. Here, it’s not just a narrative concept album, but a structural one as well, as The Incident is less a collection of songs than a loosely […]

Do bands have to abide by the rules of labels they sign contracts with? I guess it’s true to some degree, and there is a lot of evidence showing the most unusual transformations occurring throughout the history of metal. Something like this happened to Pathosray, a promising Progressive Metal five-piece from Italy as soon as […]

When it comes to contemporary Power Metal from Germany, Primal Fear seem to be an outfit that nearly every fan of the genre holds in great respect and keeps an eye on. Everything Mr. Sinner & Co have been bringing out since their highly-acclaimed self-titled debut is top-class, perfectly-crafted material. Even if you’re not too […]

As one of the many who hyped Pelican’s self-titled EP from the rooftops, I held out great hope for the band at their inception, but unlike many who continue to hold them in high opinion, my enthusiasm was short-lived due their frankly anemic debut full-length, Australasia. Even more frankly, the live performances I witnessed were […]

I was only recently introduced to Ireland’s Primordial by way of 2005s The Gathering Wilderness and 2007s To the Nameless Dead, and only in the last month or so have I had a chance to go back and check out the Candlelight reissues of 2000s Spirit the Earth Aflame and 2002s Storm Before Calm. However, […]

More horrific. More addictive. That’s the aim for Pulling Teeth. Every time they come back they are that much more ugly, that much more putrid but, that much more intoxicating and tempting. Furthermore, with each release, everything just gets better, doomier, faster, of course uglier but paramount of course is the quality which is unsurprisingly […]

The original tech-death players have been coming out of the woodwork these past few years, haven’t they? We got an Atheist reunion that has gone over a storm and a new Cynic album that pissed off the diehard death metalers. Now Patrick Mameli has resurrected Pestilence all these years after the release of the critically […]

Through no fault of my own I am behind the curve on this one. Back in 2004 I received the Terrifyer promo disc and, like all promotional copies, it was bare fucking bones. Nothing cool like bonus DVD’s are ever included. Originally “Natasha” was an additional bonus dvd to the Terrifyer release, a dvd with […]

I’ve discovered that there is a big difference between listening to Psyopus’ Odd Senses with a clear mind (yesterday) and in a hung over state (this morning). The latter is not recommended for those trying get their proverbial shit together after a night spent drowning in Crown Royal, vodka, and beer.In any case, I must […]

The fact the third full length album from one of Funeral dooms best bands and one of my favorite personal bands came out late last year and I’m just now getting to it should give you a red flag as to what is about to follow. After two absolutely stunning funeral doom albums in O […]

I really never know what to say when I get this kind of stuff in the mail. I’m not the biggest black metal fan, and I don’t know why I always feel like stating that. Maybe only to justify my opinion if everyone else loves this and I somehow missed something. But that doesn’t change […]

Classic, or “old school” Heavy Metal, has managed to maintain a pulse, however faint, within the Metal underground despite being, well, “old school”. They employ no modern elements at all in their music rather they carry the mantle set forth by our NWOBHM forefathers. And, as with any genre, some bands pull it off and […]

Sadly, albums released at the end of a year usually tempt a cruel fate of being left out of the majority of top lists, which is sometimes nothing else but a gross injustice towards some exceptional pieces of value. Thus, Screenslaves, the ninth full-length release from Hamburg-based metallers Paragon is unconditionally one of the nominees […]

Melding the grind worlds of Brutal Truth and Napalm Death, Orange County’s Phobia still sounds better than most modern grind bands—and ten times better than any crust of yore. The raw and muddy production values of early Terrorizer, Napalm Death, and Carcass doesn’t follow Phobia and their revolving roster, this time tapping Intronaut drummer Danny […]