Here we are, well over halfway into 2022 and in my eyes, two labels are standing out. The Artisan Era is having a hell of a year, as well as the label on which the new Carrion Vael is getting released, Unique Leader. Last year, Unique Leader were known for symphonic deathcore, and while they […]

The 2020 solo debut, Verisaarna, from Hex Inferi ( ex Horna), was a blistering, icy cold blast of classic black metal in the Marduk-ian realm of relentlessness, with some innate Finnish nastiness thrown in. And while Kataklysmi is not quite as palpably frosty, it delivers much of the same frozen swathes of black metal, maybe […]

Heading into 2022, I had no idea that this was going to wind up being my most heavily anticipated album of the year. Granted, I’d have to have been some kind of all-seeing mage or wizard or whatever, because, until the first day of this year, nobody knew Blackbraid even existed (ok, before someone writes […]

I realize that some bands just aren’t for everyone. Japan has always been a solid part of the world of Metal. Loudness and Sigh are the first two that come to mind for me. Metalucifer, not so much. A side project conceived by Gezol (Sabbat), Metalucifer have a body of work that dates to 1996 […]

Well lookie here, it seems Kam Lee and crew have snuck back into our presence just mere months since their full-length release Resurgence landed, declaring Massacre was back to to swallow your fucking soul. With Mythos we’re only getting four tracks stretched across fifteen minutes, but thats okay, less is more so they say, plus […]

I think someone at Century Media follows the underground and most relevant to my point the American death metal scene, very closely. They have poached from the awesome small California label, Maggot Stomp with Sanguisugabogg, Frozen Soul and now Connecticut’s Vomit Forth. The ‘Bogg and Frozen Soul are experiencing massive success with their albums, videos […]

My friends, we are inching ever-closer to that most wonderful time of year again when you can actually go outside and, like, EXIST without instantly bursting into flames. When the air is crisp and everything doesn’t smell like either hot piss or cooked manure. The modern human is not made to endure summer. Summer arrives […]

Like The Mist From the Mountains and I Am The Night from earlier this year,  Pestilent Hex is a Finnish symphonic black metal supergroup  of sorts. However, this particular project is from a duo  (L.L and M.M) who also perform in Desolate Shrine, Ordinance, Convocation and Corpsessed. And whereas the the two projects above have […]

“Don’t knock it until you try it.” I start off with this because my original intro to this review was… unkind. After Catharsis, which I didn’t hate as much as seemingly everyone else (I used my words carefully and honestly there), I was prepared for this to be a shit sandwich. In my original intro, […]

My favorite grindcore album of all time is Napalm Death’s From Enslavement to Obliteration. Has been since its release over 3 decades ago. A close second would be Terrorizer’s debut World Downfall. The list of grind bands with terrific albums is endless. Every once in a while, a grind album is released that blows my […]

You’d think an epic, symphonic death metal band named after Icarus’s father would deliver a Greek mythology-based album. But what we have here is a concept album about Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated, 1845 artic expedition where two ships, Erebus and Terror, and their crews of 129 went missing (also the loose basis of the excellent […]

France has a dark history. Uprisings, wars, and more wars; have left the countryside pockmarked with craters, and flowers grow in the places where blood had been spilled. It makes sense that France has a solid Black Metal history steeped in that revolutionary blood. Deathspell Omega, Mutiilation, Aldaaron, and the infamous Black Legions; forged a […]

Austrian technical deathcore/technical death metal outfit Spire of Lazarus has been on my radar for a bit now since they released two video game-themed albums under the moniker Dayum. Both 2017s Dark Souls and 2019s Ghost of Sparta (which is being re-released at the same time as this album, under the new name with Reality […]

Bjorn? Sven? Sylvain? David? Bastian? Rasmus? Good, you’re all here. Before we get started; Take off the chauffer’s cap, please Bjorn. We’re talking about Soilwork, not The Night Flight Orchestra. You should have known that. I thought I put it on the Outlook Calendar invite. Anyway, I’ve gathered all of you here to let you […]

I imagine being a Swedish death metal band, playing Swedish-styled, HM2 death metal AND hailing from Stockholm carries a little weight with it, what with Entombed  Grave and Dismember all hailing from your hometown. However, youngsters Katakomba are up to the task and have delivered a fine, if not damn brilliant homage to their hometown […]

Misgivings is yet another damn fine French band label owner Alex Dolorem has sent to me. Interestingly enough, this self-titled album is their debut yet they’ve been around since 1991. The band has released many demos, went on hiatus but returned a few years ago. This is 9 songs in 35 minutes and the band […]

At the risk of coming off a little too right-wing, conservative lunatic – I’m getting goddamn sick of the world we live in today. I’ve had it! Of course, there’s a delicate balance of “the way things used to be” and progression that needs to be struck, right? Civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights, Women’s rights – […]

In the history of Death Metal, a solid debut album is a must. Bands have lived and died on the quality of that crucial first release, and luckily for international, all-female collective Castrator, they have a brutal as fuck first release that is like a Venom Prison-styled punch to the gut. Not a knockoff by any […]

Ho hum, album number 12 from these now fully established scene veterans, who have blown up in one of metal’s most consistent and best-selling acts. And if past logic shows us anything this should be a better Amon Amarth album based on the band’s affinity for good, then not as good, then good then not […]

OK so, Necro Weasel. Sounds kinda silly, right? Like the kind of thing you don’t have to think real hard about or take too seriously. If you’re like me, you’re picturing a furry little dude wearing Abbath-like corpsepaint running around in the woods with a little plastic axe. SO PRECIOUS. Good, clean, ridiculous fun. NOPE. […]

I grabbed this promo to review as I dug the 2020 debut from Germany’s Eisenkult, …gedenken wir der finsternis back in 2020 ( though I somehow completely missed last year’s Von Himmel, Hoch Herab) as it was a super melodic, medieval black metal release, and I love that shit. So it appears somewhere between the […]

Norway’s four-piece Kryptograf return with their second album, The Eldorado Spell, after their scorching self-titled debut from two years ago. Chalk this band up to another new favorite Rini band. Kryptograf play a heavy doom with psychedelic moments. I’d say throw classic Sabbath in a blender and mix in Trouble, Khemmis as well as the […]

Let me just say straight away that this is not a metal album. Its hard to describe what it is, exactly. Argh! Ok, its fair to say I have never done any sort of Classical music review… ever. While this is a Satyricon album, and their name is on the tin. This is part of […]

While I have an affinity for every single metal sub-genre in some way, it’s safe to say some are less “my thing.” Grindcore is one of those, but I do enjoy some once in a while. Some bands just do it right. Some bands are also from my local scene, or more specifically the scene […]

In my ongoing quest to discover symphonic death metal of any sort here in 2022, I’ve stumbled across some awesome, obscure stuff this summer alone,  like Japan’s Imperial Circus Dead Decadence ( whose 殯――死へ耽る想いは戮辱すら喰らい、彼方の生を愛する為に命を讃える―― might be my album of the year- which was just going to be too much of a challenge to review/type), The […]