January of 2020, specifically January 14th, was quite the day for deathcore. You had releases from Worm Shepherd, Fit For An Autopsy, Enterprise Earth, and a new Ingested single, as well as album number four from Connecticut’s Shadow of Intent, one of symphonic deathcore’s top bands As with 2019s excellent Melancholy, which tackled mental health […]
Back before the internet, we metalheads used to rely on a few different methods in hearing and procuring our aural fix. One of these was the blind purchase. Sometimes the payoff was immeasurably fantastic. Sometimes the gamble was nothing less than horrific. Most of the time though, the results tended to fall somewhere in that […]
When my metal comrade, multi-instrumentalist from Seeking Obscure and owner/founder of Metalbolic Records, Rob Luckie, recently got in touch with me to see if I would be interested in checking out Samarian and their four track EP, Awaken, released on Metalbolic with Rob contributing his bass talents, I tented my fingers with pure Mr. Burns […]
Back in 2020, I reviewed the debut EP from this D & D, Forgotten Realms named, then-unknown act, Galdrum. I loved it and it ended up on my year-end list, and I ended my review stating I was really looking forward to what the band was going to release next. And apparently, the metal world […]
In a year chalked full of incredible technical death metal Minnesota’s Sunless present their second full length album Ylem. If you are not familiar with Sunless, they are a three piece that features former members of the group Australis and The Body Beneath. What make Sunless unique are their arrangements. I cannot think of too […]
Like it or not, deathcore is having a pretty solid comeback over the last couple or years, and it appears to be peaking in 2021 with Unique Leader Records leading the charge with releases from the likes of Distant, Osiah, To The Grave, Humanity’s Last Breath, Mental Cruelty, Worm Shepherd, Bound In Fear, (a few […]
A freshly minted project comprising members of Rimfrost, Sweden’s Son of Sam features dynamic duo Throllv (vocals, drums, guitars, keyboards) and Khratos (bass, guitars, backing vocals), joining forces to create a vastly different and uniquely separate entity from their main project. Although the album seems to have flown under the radar since its mid-year release, […]
Very late last year, I was introduced to Boston’s Seven Spires, with their second album, Emerald Seas, and immediately fell in love with them, largely due to vocalist Adrienne Cowan (who surprisingly used to be the keyboard player for deathcore act, Winds of Plague). Her range and power on songs like “Bury You” , “Succumb” […]
The debut album, Misery Sermon from these track suit and mask wearing Russian deathcore thugs was one of my guilty pleasures of 2017, but then they went a bit quiet for a couple of years. But a flurry of singles and videos in 2019, 2020 and 2021 (and even got the famed metal gunner/drummer treatment […]
I had no idea Lithuania had such a diamond in the rough band – Sullen Guest, an excellent doom/death band. The band’s debut 2015 ep Will You Greet the Sullen Guest as an Old Friend? was a great display of haunting doom/death and the female vocals really enhanced their sound. Their 2018 debut album IIIIXXI […]
I grabbed this EP (originally self released digital last year) from North Carolina’s duo Snogard (Dragons spelled backwards apparently?), due to the cover art, with looks like a cross between Ian Miller artwork, and something I would have drawn on my 7th grade notebooks, as well as EP themes that explore different protagonists/antagonists in fantasy, […]
The ever productive Matthew Schott is back with another Sxuperion album, that’s 6 in 6 years, along with a few splits and Eps as well his output in Garden of Hesperides, Valdur and Oreamnos. I reviewed 2019s Endless Spiritual Embodiment but never got around to covering 2020s Omniscient Pulse, (Sorry Matt, I’ll blame covid). However, […]
Sun of the Suns is a new band from Italy featuring members of tech-death act Carnality, deathcore stompers The Modern Age Slavery, and symphonic death metal band Nightland, but also features Francesco Paoli from Fleshgod Apocalypse helping out on drums. And for once, the FFO recommendations in the promo actually nail it pretty hard, mentioning […]
Last year Sinira, a 1 man black metal band, self-released this debut album The Everlorn. The album went unnoticed and he eventually inked a deal with Northern Silence Productions to put out the album physically and with an alternate album cover for 2021. . So this year when I first heard this album I really […]
California’s Skeletal Remains burst onto the scene extremely quickly with a debut album in 2012, one year removed after releasing a demo that same year. So for about 10 years they have remained one of my favorite death metal bands and all their releases are of high quality. I feel their fourth album, released last […]
Finland’s Sadistik Forest flew under my radar until their third full-length album, Morbid Majesties, came out in 2018. Their intense combination of death metal mixed with some blackened thrash metal had me thinking of early Skeletonwitch. I went and discovered their prior 2 excellent albums, however Morbid Majesties is still my favorite release from them. […]
This is not the same Solstice, who are from the UK and play incredible epic and heavy doom, no this is the death/thrashy bastids who originated from Florida in the 90’s. About a decade ago I reviewed the excellent compilation Pray for the Sentencing which included their first 2 outstanding albums – I reviewed that […]
Every so often, the world of metal is treated to an act that creates an altogether new and unique sound – one that, if it catches the right audience, can become a spark that inspires an entire generation of bands and musicians to try and capture some of that magic for themselves. Classic examples including […]
This is neat. Stone Healer are about to unleash quite the progressive metal record on the world and I don’t know if I was quite ready for it. Listing as influences such bands as Alice in Chains and Ulcerate, this could have turned out to be a masterpiece or a complete mess. Conquistador is the […]
As much as I love the opportunity to promote new, young metal acts trying to make their way in an increasingly difficult world, it’s just as gratifying to help spread the word about a group of older dogs out here trying out new tricks, trying to push through and re-make a name for themselves with […]
In 2019 I reviewed and raved about the Sanguisugabogg ep Pornographic Seizures. That was my favorite ep for that year and since then the band has seen quite a rise in their popularity. An ep of a mere 11 minutes, saw the band go on a bunch of mini tours throughout the country with a […]
I was late to the Stormtide party as I didn’t hear this Aussie Fantasy metal act’s 2016 debut, Wrath of an Empire until 2020. But When I finally did stumble across it, I very much enjoyed the band’s Asian/Far East inspired take on melodic, symphonic death metal, imbuing an mix of Amon Amarth, Stormlord and […]
Swampbeast is here to steal your tree fiddy (after all, you gave tree fiddy to the Loch Ness Monster, so they know you have plenty more where that came from) and to pummel you. Their debut is called Seven Evils Spawned of Seven Heads and it doesn’t waste much time getting started. The first track […]
Talk about a match made in heaven…….Switzerland’s Stortregn, a formerly pure 90s melodic black metal band turned more technical, surgical, shredding death metal with some of their black metal remnants left behind, on The Artisan Era, arguably the flagship label for this style with bands like Inferi, Demon King, Enfold Darkness and such. I’ve reviewed […]
Sometimes I like my black metal delivered in epic, rangy long albums like say Kjeld’s latest offering, Harakiri For the Sky’s vast double album or Utbyrd’s majestic foray. But sometimes I like my black metal in short sharp, icy bursts, like the debut EP, from New Finnish black metal duo Sarvekas, which is a perfect […]