Can someone explain to me how Shadow of Intent is unsigned? Especially considering the absolute proliferation of the symphonic/blackened deathcore genre of late? Are the band members complete dicks? Are they independently wealthy? Do they hate labels? Imperium Delirium is the band’s 5th self-released effort, their third after dropping the Halo video game-inspired themes from […]
I should not like Sleep Token.. Thanks to my bastid friend, Graham (Deepsend Records), who recently sent me this band to check out as he had recently started to like this band. He actually told me, “Frank, you’re probably not going to like this”. Not only did I love this new album, Even In Arcadia […]
This spring/summer, two mid-era Behemoth-inspired acts will be vying for your attention: the always reliable Hate, and this French death metal act and their third album, although I have not heard the first two self-released albums. But Transcending Obscurity saw enough to sign them, and that label usually does not miss. And they certainly have […]
My bud Alex, the owner of Dolorem Records, has sent me yet another promo for one of his bands, and this time it’s Supreme Void, a Polish death metal band playing a dissonant style of extreme music. Fans of Ulcerate, Immolation, and Gorguts take heed of this bad boy. “Remnants of Hope” opens this six-song […]
Spiritworld is back and leaning hard into some cowboy shit. They experimented with it on Deathwestern, but multiple conversations afterward with friends concluded that Wayfarer released the album Deathwestern should have been. In hindsight, I’m not so sure that’s the case, but Helldorado could be. What stands out over their previous album is the commitment. […]
It took a long time before I really sat down and listened to Jazz. I started with Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Glenn Miller (yeah he’s more Swing, but “Take Five” is a powerhouse) and Ramsey Lewis. But then a funny thing happened in the 90s with the purchase of At Death’s Door 2 and I […]
After two fine albums on FDA Records (including 2022’s fucking outstanding Feldwärts), Germany’s war mongering death metal act Scalpture have made the jump to a different German label, Testimony Records for their 4th album, though it comes with mixed results. Saying Landkreig is a step back from Feldwärts is probably a bit over an overstatement, […]
“After hearing the chainsaws on a daily basis, we knew it was time to act”, says musician-turned-activist Sylvain Demercastel, “because the buzzing is only getting louder”. It’s no secret that the rainforest is essential for us to live. It’s been referred to as the lungs of the Earth for very good reasons; but due to […]
Canada’s Thrash Legends Sacrifice returns with the sixth album, the aptly named Volume Six. It’s been a minute since their last one, The Ones I Condemn, was released in 2009, that was their comeback album and I guess this would be considered another comeback album? Suffice it to say I interviewed this very same band […]
A few months back, I ran into Mark Kloeppel, one of the guitarists for Misery Index, and Missouri act Cast The Stone, Ive ‘known’ him and fellow Cast The Stone member Derek Engemann from various shows I’ve attended in St Loius over the years. We got to talking about Scour, the black metal band he […]
This Italian death metal band, Shrieking Demons, has come up with an album cover that is insanely awesome and it’s the first thing that drew me to this debut album, The Festering Dwellers. They released an EP in 2021, Diabolical Regurgitations, which was ok, however, this debut album is a lot of fun. 10 songs […]
Scotland’s Folk/Pagan Black Metal band Saor, under the sole guise of Andy Marshall, and guest musicians, return with Amidst the Ruins, their sixth album. This is their most adventurous and most expansive album to date. The 12+ minute title track leads the charge, opening this terrific album, with a long blast beat which has other […]
Śmierć (‘Death’, ‘End of life’) is a long-running Swedish band paying to Polish hardcore with Polish titles and such. Opór (‘Resistance’) is their third effort and they were kind enough to reach out to the site directly and send me a copy of the LP, with its gorgeous artwork and all. The album is co-released […]
Man, back in the late 90s and early 00s Germany’s Folk/Celtic-themed melo-death act Suidakra was one my absolute favorite bands. Early albums Auld Lang Syne and Lays From Afar were my jam. And even with some ups (Caledonia, Book of Dowth, The Arcanum) and downs (Command to Charge, Realms of Odoric, Cimbric Yarns), some of […]
I’ve reviewed my fair share of Sentient Horror releases and have seen this New Jawsey HM-2 Swedish-inspired death metal band live after their outstanding Ungodly Forms debut album. I still feel their debut is by far their best release and their other releases have been good and well-received by the fans. Their last album, their […]
Canada produces, on average, some of the finest, most killer Black Metal and Death Metal. It’s the home to Black Metal titans Blasphemy, Death Metal tricksters VHS, and hordes of other, equally deadly bands capable of crushing the listener into mulch. Enter Sedimentum. Suppuration morphogénésiaque was at the top of my year-end list that year, […]
I rather enjoyed the 2022 debut album, Depravity from these Belgian lads as it meshed At The Gates and The Black Dahlia Murder-styled razor-sharp melo-death, and threw in some orchestration/keyboards here and there, which as regular readers know, gives me a major boner. So here is a 6 song EP to follow up Depravity, and […]
Symphony Of Heaven is a Christian melodic black/death metal band from Indiana, that used to be on Rottweiler Records. But with their 3rd album has forged out alone like… that one guy…. that went … out to the wilderness? In the bible maybe? I’m trying here, that theology isn’t really my jam. What IS my […]
Long-running NWOBHM act, Satan, has gone on hiatus, broken up, and reformed, more times than I care to count, however, they first started out in 1979. Since their last reformation in 2011, the band has been on fire. Releasing four amazing albums during this time span and Songs in Crimson is now their fifth release […]
I’m not familiar with Germany’s Servant, having not heard the band’s prior two albums. Still, I’m always down for some ‘melodic-yet-furious black metal’ (per the promotional email). Especially as I dig a lot of the music that AOP Records puts out, especially the likes of Firtan, Waldgeflüster, Groza, Finsterforst, and Harakiri for the Sky. So I […]
When was the last time an album hit you with such emotion that you felt like it was casually going to rip your heart out and leave you with a gaping hole where your emotions used to live? I have a list of bands that have created music like that, and those are the ones […]
Boston’s Seven Spires were never on my radar until 2021, when our illustrious site owner, Erik “The Brave”, gave a glowing review to Gods of Debauchery, the band’s third album. I loved the album so much, it made my year end list and I went through their back catalog to obtain their two prior full […]
I’ve loved Dark Ambient Music or ‘Dungeon synth’ music since the first time I heard Mortiis’ Født til å herske, but even before his music, I loved Midnight Syndicate. They were a Halloween and night drive staple, as well as Thou Shalt Suffer‘s Somnium; yes I’m bouncing around years, no I don’t care. I really […]
Scald is a name that appears in heavy metal lore. Specifically, the epic doom genre, or as their new album indicates, Ancient Doom Metal. I was taken aback when I saw that they were going to be releasing a new album, considering the first and only was in 1997. I heard Will of the Gods […]
It’s been a few weeks since my deep dive into Helloween’s back catalog and then the killer album from MadHatter showed up, and now I’m going deeper into the Power Metal void with Shadows of Steel and their searing fourth full-length Twilight II. This is a ass-kicker, fast when it needs to be and harmonious […]
