Ave! Italy’s Romanic death metal warriors ADE are back with yet another new line up, another label and another quality album..despite that Dance of Death level artwork… Lone original member/founder/primary song writer Fabivs again has a whole new legion surrounding him including bassist Cornelvuis and vocalist/lyricist Diocletianvs (both formerly of Suicidal Causticity/ Oredreth), the band’s […]
What’s in a name? Are you the type to disregard a metal band due to a dubious moniker? Germany’s Fvneral Fvkk would probably fit into the category if you were so inclined to feel that way. Is this a lo-fi piss-take black metal act or novelty metal band? If you thought you had the band […]
Sweet Texas watermelon! Has it been two years already? Wow…it really doesn’t seem like a couple of years have passed since Exhumed released their fan and critic praised Death Revenge, but here I am blasting my eardrums as well as my face, clean into oblivion with the aural onslaught that is Horror, Exhumed‘s seventh full-length […]
Despite being the arguable top act in the Swedish death metal revival since 2010s Tales From the Morgue, I had some reservations about the band’s sixth album. Mostly due to yet another line up change surrounding founder Jimmy Lundqvist, this one involving the addition of Markus Svensson on guitars but mainly, Penki Samuelsson moving to […]
If the novel “War of the Worlds” and any Zelda game ever created got together and had a baby, the result would be Rings of Saturn. That’s about the most succinct way I can sum up this album. On Gidim, the band’s fifth full length album, they have continued what they have dubbed “aliencore”, and […]
2019 has been a banner year for power metal, especially for some of the bigger name bands, and more importantly power metal bands I actually like: Battle Beast, Beast In Black, Twilight Force, Sabaton , Grimgotts, 43 Rhapsody based bands and even grizzled Hammerfall all released albums, with some of them certainly in the mix […]
Hailing from Denver, Colorado Blood Incantation return with their sophomore album Hidden History of the Human Race, the follow-up to the monstrous 2016 debut, Starspawn, which I reviewed on this very site. In their existence since 2011 Blood Incantation has garnered a well-deserved reputation for their raging live show and yes live, they’re one of […]
Transcending Obscurity is on quite a roll in 2019, firmly establishing themselves as one of the best labels going around in the underground metal scene. Already the label has dished up an impressive quota of quality metal releases this year, and with the upcoming The Drowning album yet to drop, there’s plenty more goodness to […]
Do you like early Asphyx? Do You like early, Drunen led, Consuming Impulse Era Pestilence? Then the always reliable FDA Records has a release for you, the full length debut from German death metal act Evoked, and it’s a scorcher of an album, despite its clear influences. Culling heavily from The Rack as well as […]
Shortly after its inception in 1995, France’s Blut Aus Nord started traveling two separate, but parallel paths. The first two albums Ultima Thulee and Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Ages fell right in with the other second wave black metal of the time: lo-fi, buzzy, fast, and melodic. Then the band split off […]
New Jersey’s Fit For An Autopsy got on my radar back when they started in 2008, as they initially featured one of my favorite vocalists of the era, vocalist Nate Johnson from very short lived deathcore act Deadwater Drowning as well as noise-mongers Premonitions of War. Even after Johnson left, Ive purchased all the albums, listened to […]
Admittedly, I was zero percent familiar with Aggravator and any of their previous output before their new self-titled EP. Though after spending some quality time with said EP, thanks to Unspeakable Axe Records, who have just recently re-released Aggravator after being independently released earlier this year, I will be hunting down their earlier efforts and […]
When I reviewed Nile’s fourth album, Annihilation of the Wicked way back in 2005, I mused how long the band could keep up the high quality and continue the long running Egyptian themes. Well 14 years and 5 albums later, that answer is pretty clear. Even with a bit of a lull with 2012s At […]
Oh Dear. I saw the writing on the wall for Equilibrium’s downfall with 2016s Armageddon, and its epically bad lead single “Born to be Epic”). But I didn’t see the next album being such a complete and total disaster that completely alienates the band’s fan base. After 4 albums that arguably stand among the very […]
Formed at the end of the 80’s Pentacle has remained a staple in the underground death metal scene and helping to push forth the Netherlands metal scene, which is one of the best, in my opinion. With the members in various other bands and still to this day, we have Alex and Mike Verhoeven on […]
What the Fuck? Have I gone back in time to 2006-2008? Unearth released a great album last year, Killswitch Engage released a great album earlier this year, and now As I Lay Dying have released a great album!!!! I digress. But personally I have found the story arc of AILD frontman Tim Lambesis more interesting […]
Well summbitch…As if I needed another reason to love Denton, Tx; here comes Creeping Death, hot off the heels of their last EP, Specter of Death, with their full-length debut, Wretched Illusions. Besides being a cool place that I’ve always had great times in, whether playing shows with my own band, scouring records shops for […]
Born from the most treacherous and violent sewers in Delaware, Flesh Tomb unleash their debut ep-Torn From The Womb of The Sky. Zach Wilson on vox, Ryan Giordano-guitar, Jack Mulvanerty on bass and Ladon Vance on drums this 6 song 14 minute ep will fly by you so fast, heads will be lopped off pathetic […]
I’m not very familiar with the UKs Infant Annihilator, other than the ridiculous prices their first 2 albums are being sold for, and that some of the members are in down tempo act Black Tongue. But The Battle Of Yaldabaoth is my first time actually hearing them, and if it’s any indication, those prices are […]
Greece’s Murder Made God have been on my radar since their 2013 Brutal Bands Release Irreverence. If you are not familiar with the style of death metal Murder Made God play I would describe as quite percussively rhythmic and groovy. Murder Made God’s 2019 effort Endless Return is no exception. Kicking things off with “Alive”, […]
Last year, I reviewed the fourth album, Emptiness Fills the Void, (Non Serviam Records) from this Swiss melodic black metal band, And was rather impressed with band’s tight, modern take on classic Scandinavian (Dissection, Naglfar, Catamenia, Dawn etc) melodic black metal from the 90s. So when I heard Non Serviam Records was reissuing the band’s […]
Lots of long overdue comeback albums this year: Possessed, Sacred Reich, Nocturnus and add Exhorder to that growing list too. Longtime original members from the first 2 classic albums Slaughter in the Vatican from 1990 and The Law in 1992, Kyle Thomas-vocals and Vinnie LaBella-guitar return to the fold to resurrect this once great, but […]
When a promo manages to name drop Insomnium, Turisas, Monnsorrow and Omnium Gatherum it its one sheet press release, you get my attention, if just to see how bloated the claims are. But this Finnish act has somehow managed to cull from all of their fellow Finns and drop a solid third album full of […]
What can I say about Bones and their new, and third full-length album, Diseased, that hasn’t already been said before about a few other bands; namely, the ones that seem to influence Bones and their trade of crusty and sometimes even punky, no frills, basic, bare boned death metal. If Terrorizer/Nausea meets Celtic Frost/Obituary by […]
The Artisan Era is really starting to come into its own as a label, and is starting to hone in on a pretty specific sound. With bands like Inferi, Equipoise, Warforged, The Odious Construct, Arkaik, Aethereus, Oubliette, Flub, Enfold Darkness, Mordant Rapture and The Zenith Passage, the label certainly has some of the better technical […]