More often than not, I can formulate and knock out a review of an album fairly quickly- 4 to 5 listens on the average. However, the second effort from the Netherlands’ Dodecahdron has me flummoxed, but in a good way. A twisty, suffocating, avante garde black/death metal record that’s hard to get a grip on, […]

Well this is definitely something I have been missing for a while. Awesome! Veteran Swedish melodic blackened death metallers Sarcasm have returned with their 2nd full length album Within the Sphere of Ethereal Minds.  It is interesting that these guys started off way back in ’92 and continued to gradually continue releasing smaller released pieces […]

I’m not sure why i have not heard of New Jersey’s Kalopsia up until now. They have been around since 1999, have a handful of releases, including two full length albums and feature current and ex members of the likes of Abacinate, Deteriorot, Dehumanized and recent Dark Descent act, Ruinous. So here is the band’s third […]

Man, it never ceases to amaze me how much Italian Death Metal Bands love the Floridian style of death metal.  Not that is by any means a bad thing by any means and it most certainly has been a busy year for Italian Death Metal with Hour of Penance releasing Cast a First Stone on […]

Scotland’s (I guess now Tennessee’s?) favorite Pirate sons are back with album number 5. And I have to admit after 2014s Sunset on the Golden Age, I thought Chris Bowes might be winding the project down, but boy was I wrong. No Grave But the Sea sees Bowes and co (inc new guitarist Máté Bodor) deliver […]

Lets be honest. There is simply too much metal out there nowadays for a fan to stay on top of it all. Thirty years ago? No problem. Twenty years ago? Difficult, but still do-able. Today? Fuhgeddaboudit… Even the most devout of metal collectors (which most us are) will find it nigh impossible to stay afloat […]

It’s been 5 years since Sweden’s Evocation released Illusions of Grandeur in 2012, and frankly I thought the band was done. After transitioning from a  pure, mid range, Swedish death metal band akin to their Cemetery/90s roots, to a more melodeath/Amon Amarth-ish styled band the band has returned with only 3 remaining members from Illusions of Grandeur, […]

Germany’s Wound released a pretty kick ass debut album in 2013, Inhale the Void.  I was and still am a huge fan of the album.  Massive production with excellent chunky guitars and a sound borrowing a little from the Swedish scene and a few nods to Autopsy and At the Gates.  A really killer death […]

Last year I reviewed Neurogenic’s Ouroboric Stagnation which was a bit of an international death metal supergroup featuring Lord Marco Pitruzella of Six Feet Under on drums.   Fast forward, present date, April 2017 and Comatose has birthed a new offering from Vancouver Canada in the form of Abuse, also featuring Lord Marco Pitruzella on drums. […]

Has it really been 15 years since Colorado’s Excommunion released Superion? I reviewed the album for digitalmetal, and the review has been lost on the mists of time, but I recall really liking it. The two members (Christbutcher- bass/vocals and less creatively named Kyle Spanswick- guitars/vocals) have since blown up in Nightbringer, releasing 5 fine […]

Poland’s Azarath return with their sixth studio album, In Extremis.  Founded by Behemoth’s drummer Inferno, Azarath play a style of blackened death metal a kin to Krisiun, Behemoth, and maybe Diabolic to throw an American band in there. In Extremis opens up with “The Truimph of Ascending Majesty” which opens up with cackling whammy bar […]

  When Erik asked if anyone wanted to review the new Emmure album no one was chomping at the bit to do the review, except for me.  Being a long standing fan of the band, I really wanted to review this. I know how polarizing the band is to many in the metal community, due […]

Yep. That Nightrage is back. I had to do a double take as well. After bursting onto the scene as an international  super group featuring guitar maestro Gus G (Firewind, Dream Evil) and the legendary Tomas Lindberg with 2003s debut Sweet Vengeance and 2005s Descent into Hell, Nightrage were the supposed saviors of a waning melodic death metal […]

Brooklyn’s black metal act Woe has been to the top of the mountain and the bottom of the valley. From stunning debut as a one man black metal act almost a decade ago, to almost breaking up, founder Chris Grigg has seen it all. After a 4 year layoff, Grigg is back with a new album, some new members and the return in “Hope Attrition”, which drips with a cathartic venom of a man and a band that has something to prove. Ive known Chris for a few years, back when he was called “Xos”, and thought I’d reach out to see how hte new album and lineup came about as well as the last couple of albums….

After splitting in 2011/12, founder and lone remaining original member Henri Satler as well as long time drummer Michiel van der Plicht decided to reform the band. They are joined by veterans  Jeroen Pomper (Absorbed) and Mike Ferguson (Detonation), but even after 5 years and the new line up, the results are the same, reliable, consistent and […]

England’s brutal blackened death/thrash metal band, Craven Idol, return with their scorching follow-up to 2013’s outstanding Towards Eschaton album.  Hopefully you did not snooze too long and missed their 2010 ep, Ethereal Altars, which was also phenomenal.  The Shackles of Mammon boasts longer songs this time around, with the average song length, in this 8 […]

Holy gargantuan balls of steel, Batman! This is some straight up good shit right here. I  really was not sure what to expect from Holycide and their debut full-length, Annihilate… Then Ask!. Truth be told, I was basically looking for something other than death metal for reviewing purposes  and didn’t anticipate such a blistering and […]

Chris Grigg (then known as Xos) burst on the the USBM scene with Woe on 2009s stunning debut, A Spell for the Death of Man, a nigh perfect black metal album. Then a year later released Quietly, Undramatically on Candlelight Records and the now full band was starting to get mentioned in the same breath as […]

I love bands that have the energy and passion in their sound but also still tie into the familiar sounds we all know and love. Take Italy’s Ekpyrosis who excel at both. At the onset,after the customary eerie intro, listen to opening song “Profound Death” and you will judge for yourself as well. The intense […]

Back in 2011, I questioned the need for another Lock Up album in Necropolis Transparent, and resultantly, got my ass handed to me by one of the year’s best grindcore albums. Well, the band is if anything consistent in both their lack of productivity (3 albums in 15 years) and kick ass-ness when they do […]

Marquee Records owner, Armando Pereira truly knows his metal music.  No disrespect to Finnish thrash metal band, Angel of Sodom, but I had never heard of them, up until recently.  Upon gazing out the album cover for Divine Retribution you would think this is more geared towards classic or power metal, but no, it’s thrash […]

Hailing from the fertile metal lands of Stockholm, Sweden, unsung melodic black metal outfit Wormwood appear poised to raise their modest profile on the back of their hugely impressive debut LP. Taking cues from melodic black metal legends Dissection and Naglfar and blending these influences with traces of melancholic folk and pagan metal, Wormwood’s stellar […]

Back in 2015, I ordered a Solium Fatalis CD from Canada’s Galy Records, as part of the order, I was granted a free bonus CD. I chose Ordoxe’s May Death Be My Shepard as a completely arbitrary, blind selection. As it turns out, I really enjoyed the band’s super melodic take on Scandinavian black metal, so […]

First things first; hats off to Spectral Descent for being able to pique my interest in such a way that I damn near couldn’t wait to hear their debut album, Descending the Astral Plane. You see friends, like many of you, I love death metal. Love it! Luckily, I was a present and accounted for […]

I loved everything Tuomas Saukkonen did with his Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon projects as well as Wolfheart, his latest endeavor. The band’s first two albums, Winterborn and Shadow World are near classics of Finnish melodic death metal that immediately put the band in the same conversation as as Insomnium and Amorphis, just without the lengthy discography. So here is album […]