I reviewed Watains’s Trident Wolf Eclipse in 2018. Being new to their music back then, but knowing about them for years, I went into their music with fresh ears. I really enjoyed that album as well as their prior releases. They play a pretty high-octane style of black metal but mixed in with their melodies and metal influences […]
Spacefaring hype beast, John Goblikon is back with his musical band in tow after an almost 4 year layoff since the aptly named Welcome to Bonkers back in 2018. And not much has changed from this hard to pigeon-hole, but fun as fuck band, as they still play a sort of melodic death metal with […]
Finland’s Desecresy return with their 7th full length album Unveil in the Abyss. Those unfamiliar with the band must know Tommi Grönqvist is a one man band. He plays all the instruments, does all the vocals and this talented bastid also does all the artwork. Their album covers always having a main color theme and […]
If you follow this site and my writings (you’re not the only one as I’m kind of a big deal), you might be asking yourself why a folk metal album is getting the review treatment from me. Instead, you should immediately be thinking the subject of this review is entirely worth your attention. It’s been […]
Though they started releasing albums in 2010, one could argue that the 2011 releases by Entrails (The Tomb Awaits) and Corpsessed ( The Dagger & The Chalice EP) were the label’s watershed, ‘we have arrived’ releases. Of course, Corpsessed waited another three years to release a debut full-length, Abysmal Thresholds in 2014, but by then […]
I dunno about you, but I love to make a meal out of an appetizer. And I don’t mean like a rich, white housewife going to a restaurant and ordering a side salad as their meal so they can fit into that bikini the 20 year old pool boy loves to see you in – […]
It’s been 2 years since Ulcerate released Stare into Death and be Still. So if you are fiending for that twisty-turny style of dissonant , experimental death metal, may I offer up Canada’s husband and wife duo, Crown of Madness? With a shared love of video games and death metal, this couple has delivered a stellar, […]
I haven’t written a review in ages, literally seven years. I’ve come back to TOTD after only seven reviews back in 2014, and I’m super thrilled to be back, writing about metal and hearing bands I’ve never heard before. I picked Morgue Supplier for my first review back, and since I had started following vocalist/guitarist […]
I’m a longwinded guy, there’s no doubt about it, but when it comes to Celestial Extinction, the debut full-length from Australia’s Cryptivore, there is simply no beating around the bush; this album kicks ass, plain and simple. This one-man band from multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Chris Anning, sounds like anything but, having a full band intensity […]
Canada’s favorite metal weirdos, Voivod, and one of the elite in all of extreme metal, return with their 15th proper studio album, Synchro Anarchy. Their last 2 return to form albums Target Earth and The Wake have been nothing short of exceptional. In support of the 2013 Target Earth album I saw them live on […]
Germany’s Scorpions have been around since 1964. That’s 50+ years. You can say the band was directly influential in starting the metal scene in Germany. My start to Scorpions music is their 5th album Taken By Force from 1977. My first album was Love At First Sting in 1984 and that’s still my fave from […]
The undisputed heirs to Dismember‘s throne (here’s hoping for a reunion after the 2022 Maryland Deathfest), Demonical is back with album number 7, and as expected, there are absolutely zero surprises or curveballs from a band that features former members of Centinex and Grave. They can pretty much do this in their sleep. Essentially delivering […]
I’ve had a Power Trip sized hole in my heart since the untimely passing of Riley Gale. Last year’s Spiritworld helped fill it temporarily (giggity), but not permanently. What I didn’t anticipate was an album on Unique Leader, the undisputed kings of deathcore, staking a claim. So, here comes Extinction AD. The title track is […]
All too often in life, things just refuse to be simple. Take this album from Necrom for example: On the surface, this should be a slam dunk of an release to promote. Objectively speaking, I’ll just get to the point – All Paths Are Left Here… is one of the best examples of Old School […]
Rampant mimicry is a large part of metal; Whether in the rip-off or homage category. There are 1000s of Cannibal Corpse clones. Just as many Suffocation clones and don’t get me started on Bolt Thrower and Entombed/Dismember. And those bands have their place, especially as the originals flag or call it quits. Some are really […]
Sometimes production can make me overlook average or bad music. I’ll gladly listen to just OK albums if they have a killer guitar tone. Lord knows Ive got some pretty average CDs in my collection, that I retain merely due to the killer Stockholm HM 2 buzz (I’m looking at you Torture Pulse‘s God Leash), […]
I snagged the debut from Denmark’s Heltekvad due to a trio of things; it features Ole Pedersen Luk of Afsky. Second, Eisenwald is pretty reliable when it comes to black metal with the likes of Fluisteraars and Alda on their roster. And third, the heraldic artwork reminded me of medieval black metal bands like France’s Véhémence […]
Finland’s Desolate Shrine fourth album, Deliverance from the Godless Void from 2017 was and still is a great album, and five years later here I am reviewing their fifth album Fires of the Dying World 7 songs in 46 minutes. Actually 6, since the opening track is an intro and it’s like a moody classical […]
Here’s a short, tasty review for a short, tasty, 20 minute, 4 song EP from the always reliable FDA Records. Dead Chasm is an Italian trio with members from a number of mid-tier/obscure Italian acts like Kadaver, Torment, Funest, Stench of Profit, and others. But they have come together to form a very impressive debut […]
Can you believe a brand new recording from Bay Area Thrashers, Vio-Lence, after close to 3 decades? I would never have guessed it. Seeing the band lay waste at the Thrash of the Titans benefit show for Chuck Billy and Chuck Schuldiner, back in 2001 was one my live highlight experiences for sure. Maybe the […]
I have an ex-girlfriend who had a favorite phrase of “I can do it myself” when I would try to help her. She was half joking. Maybe. Cut to us in my kitchen at the time, this phrase came about when I offered to help her with grabbing her drink while cooking, it fell on […]
The sky is blue. The sun rises in the East. Every “metal subgenre of the moment” is destined to become oversaturated and less exciting by virtue of its own popularity. These are basic and inalienable truths. I’m not arguing that something loses its appeal because it’s “more popular.” That argument is dumb. Popular things are […]
Meshuggah is a juggernaut of a band, maybe the heaviest band on the planet. Immutable being their 9th proper studio album – by now you love what Meshuggah does or you can leave them, because their music can be tough to absorb. The band is a machine, that is the best way of describing their […]
As someone who used to watch Monster Hunters, is vaguely interested in cryptozoology, and had to explain to his father that a Discovery Channel documentary spoof including a CGI Bigfoot wasn’t a documentary, nor proof of the existence of Bigfoot, I’m here for Bigfoot-themed death metal. I am also here for unnecessary run-on sentences. Having […]
Jeremy Turner from Unmerciful turned me on to this unique project of Origin lead guitarist Paul Ryan. Ryan called Maentra. Based out of San Francisco Maentra play a really unique mix of death metal, grindcore, and tinges of industrial. Kundalini Rising kicks off with “Muladhara”. I was surprised to hear that Ryan does not play […]