I think most metal fans will agree that last years supposed “comeback” effort, Hell’s Unleashed was a laughably bad joke of an album, that one can only blame on the band’s inactivity or some form of cruel practical joke. So it was with some trepidation I approached this album, wondering if one of Sweden’s death […]

The Funeral of God proposes that God has died leaving us to live completely upon free will. Some may not like Zao’s sound but many agree; they are influential and forward thinking with every release. Zao are a band constantly in a state of change. Just in the last two years so much has happened […]

Lets be honest, after being of on the cusp of black metal elitism with their first two albums, Svartalvheim and The Cainian Chronicles, Norway’s Ancient became pretty bad, pretty quick, peaking with 2001’s embarrassingly bad Proxima Centauri, and as a result have become pretty much irrelevant in black metal circles. So with some lineup changes […]

2004 has been an important year thus far for American metal. With Unearth, Killswitch Engage, Bleeding Through, Beyond The Embrace all issuing that all important second album and Shadows Fall moving on to album number four, US metal seems to be as strong as ever. Massachusetts’ All That Remains made quite a stir with the […]

Slovakian grindcore on Obscene; you know what you’re getting here. The self anointed ‘mincecore’ of Abortion, while not as eviscerating as label mates Squash Bowels and with a irreverent sense of catchy humor, Abortion aren’t doing anything too special but it will probably please most die hard fans. With a classic Napalm Death/Carcass sound including […]

A taster EP to follow-up the ravaging Retaliate debut album, Dissent, released on the band’s own label, is a 5 song EP with the title track split into four parts. With Kevin Talley back in the fold for this EP’s recording, the drumming becomes immediately improved and is also emphasized immeasurably by a Scott Hull […]

Steve Austin, the man whose gloriously deranged mind state forms the axis by which the cataclysmic sonic universe of Today Is The Day revolves, is not exactly the kind of person you would trade places with, but for reasons that have little to do with his actual madness. Sadness Will Prevail, the oft-maligned follow up […]

Arguably the most anticipated metalcore album of the year and sophomore album from one of the genre’s most revered acts, The Oncoming Storm is the album that floppy black-haired, hip hugging jeans wearing kids have been salivating for, for over 3 years now. So is it worth the wait? Well yes and no. Yes, because […]

The master of suicidal black metal returns with another twisted tale of madness, despair, isolation and pain. As usual, what stands out most is Wrest’s unmistakable voice. From album to album, Wrest is consistent in style and many songs would not feel out of place on any of his releases. If this kind of lack […]

Sear Bliss, the pre-eminent Hungarian pagan black metal band, returns with their sixth cd release in their ten year history and fifth full length recording. Once again the album was produced by former guitarist Viktor Scheer. Many aspects of this album remain the same, though some things have changed. This is the first cover not […]

Here is some pretty nice early 90’s styled symphonic but primal black metal that hails from Brazil but sounds like it came from the mountains of Norway.With a sound and tone similar to very early Emperor, but less complex or very early Dimmu Borgir, Zargof weave and epic astral tapestry of raw but still grandiose […]

Up until this point, Agathodaimon has been a group which has achieved much with their first three albums, yet been credited and recognized little. Agathodaimon has been in the realm of gothic black metal since inception, but has always carried a remarkable diversity in songwriting.  This has apparently not been realized by many however, despite […]

So imagine for a second that the last two In Flames and Soilwork albums had been really good. Same slight experimentation and clean vocal usage, but with the intensity of yore and deliberate thrash edge within the harsher Gothenburg sound. Intrigued? Then check out Denmark’s Withering Surface. With their fourth album, but truthfully the first […]

This album would be more appropriately named Telapathetic with the Deceased, though I’m being overly harsh. On first listen I admit to being disappointed. The vocals are buried, the mix is horrible and the music is watered down suicide/doom black metal; run of the mill uninspired, unoriginal, monotonous.This one man band has been around nearly […]

Melodic metalcore has grown exponentially over the last few years, but it has also been plagiarized exponentially also, with countless Poison The Well clones poring from Orange County and the East coast. One such band was the short lived 7 Angels 7 Plagues, who had a solid offering with Jhazmyne’s Lullabye. I tell you this […]

I’ll be the first to admit the debut album To Serve Man from this San Diego based vegan death/grind outfit bored me to tears. They seemed more intent on plugging the plight of PETA and mistreated animals all over the world than writing a decent album. So here is their second full length effort with […]

I have to admit that I didn’t soil myself by the band’s highly acclaimed Goremageddon CD, but I must say that this new EP really took me by the balls and delivered a sucker punch worth noting. The package consists of six songs out of which three are new, one is a decent Entombed cover […]

Simply being on Transmission Records should clue you in as to this album’s style. Sharing the label with Epica and After Forever should get your female fronted, Goth Rock Spidey sense tingling away, as Asrai deliver basically the exact same sound; lush, epic and heavy on the dramatics and emotion. Still, while not quite Nightwish, […]

Someone forgot to tell Scarlet Records that melodic death metal was dead, what with Withering Surface’s Force the Pace and this high octane little number, they seem in denial to admit the relative complacency of the genre. What makes Italy’s Disarmonia Mundi so interesting is the presence of Soilwork’s Bjorn Strid on vocals, and realistically […]

The spate of high profile U.S. metal acts continues as Beyond The Embrace vie for the attention of Shadows Fall, All That Remains, Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God fans, with their second offering. Their debut Against The Elements held some promise amid its In Flames/Iron Maiden worship, but their three-guitar attack was understated and […]

I like Skyfire, so I was more than a little surprised that upon shopping for the import version of prior album Mind Revolution, I found out this, their third album, had been released on Spanish label Arise Records. I was also a little surprised that this disappoints somewhat. Skyfire, along with Norther, have headed the […]

Without a doubt, Mokoma became Finland’s best kept secret with last year’s thrash assault album, Kurimus. The album made sure that the band would be remembered as one of Finland’s most original and inspirational groups ever. The quality of the song writing, the excellence in the lyrical field and the pure professionalism and excitement that […]

Someone please give Killswitch Engage and All That Remains a hug-they’re having major heart issues. Anyhoo, I don’t know about you guys, but Alive? Or Just Breathing, was kind of my first heavy exposure to metalcore on a grand scale, despite other bands forging the way many years before and my quick souring on the […]

I’ll admit, this surprised the shit out of me. Hailing from Kentucky and with a pretty solid discography behind them, I was expecting the usual US goregrind but instead got some fairly solid melodic black/death war metal with a distinct European lean and even some black thrash tendencies. Although not super tight or crisp and […]

1349 is back with their second full album, and third release overall, and it is the most proficient material to date, such sweet disharmony, almost sacred in its blasphemy.I like the formula, I like the sound quality (the details do not get buried). Great energy and technical precision. More complex than Liberation, it took me […]