The great Absu moving from ideal to actual. The ideal lineup we all know, the actual lineup is now on display. The question is is the comparative equivalent Candlemass with just Leif, or Gorgoroth with no founders? Take one member from an acclaimed lineup and give him the band name and the reigns, disaster awaits. […]

These are the sound waves we should be blasting out into space for other cultures to hear, not Elvis and the Beatles. Other worlds might actually send emissaries instead of shunning us. Way back in 2001 Vindsval announced the title of his next Blut aus Nord album as Dialogue With The Stars. After several side […]

Candlelight Records today announces its third label packaged tour for North America. Set to kick off on June 6, CIII will feature the talents of US black metal legends Absu, with support coming from France’s Glorior Belli, Austin-based Averse Sefira and Los Angeles-based Sothis. The tour will visit 22 cities throughout the US and Canada […]

Ego is something Manowar had plenty of and they flaunted it with their own robust approach. Some may feel the bands downfall was when co-founder Ross “The Boss” Friedman left the fold. Since then he’s tried his hand in a few different groups and was a founder of the punk outfit The Dictators. Recently, Ross […]

Candlelight Records confirms the signing of Denver-based thrashers Havok. The band are currently completing their debut album titled Burn which is expected for release early spring. The album, produced by vocalist/guitarist David Sanchez at Dirty D Studios and mixed by Bart McCrorey at Motaland Studios, contains twelve songs from the youthful band featuring guitarist Shawn […]

Sothis have finally unleashed some label backed mayhem upon my ears and its about time. I reviewed their demo elsewhere and I was surprised it took them so long to hook up with someone. They were from the Dimmu Borgir school of symphonic black metal back then and they certainly retain that influence. However they […]

I’ll be the first to admit that the Gothenburg sound is probably the most overdone and over saturated style in metal, but I’ll also quickly admit that I’m a huge fan, especially when done right. Meet Finland’s Omnium Gatherum if you haven’t done so already. The Redshift marks the bands fourth long player, and fourth […]

Doubtless you’ve heard the name Abigail Williams by now – some of it hype, some of it curiosity given the band’s former incarnation as brutal-yet-melodic death-metal act Vehemence. A constantly rotating line-up, several moves around the country and a brief break-up have likely put the band through a number of trials (those of you familiar […]

As a stop gap between albums, Obituary and Candlelight have given us this tasty little 4 track EP; two new tracks (“Forces Realign” and “Left to Die””), a recording of the posthumous debut album’s title track, “Slowly We Rot” and a cover of Celtic Frost’s “Dethroned Emperor”. There’s also video for “Evil Ways” from the […]

Candlelight Records today announces the signing of Oakland, California based Defiance. The band currently featuring vocalist Steev Esquivel (Skinlab), guitarist Jim Adams, bassist Mike Kaufmann and drummer Mark Hernandez (Vio-lence, Forbidden) has started early tracking of their new album at Trident Studios and Greendot Studios in East Bay, California. The currently untitled album is expected […]

I don’t have anything against female vocalist in metal, it’s just that I prefer the more aggressive and suiting sounds of male vocalists. Sure, I like Arch Enemy and Light This City, but Angela Gossow and Laura Nichol are growlers, and suit their respective bands sound, not to mention my personal preference. I’ve just never […]

Candlelight Records today confirms the signing of multi-national progressive doom-death outfit The Living Fields. The trio, with members based in Chicago, London and Ottawa, has received early acclaim via their self-released 2004 and 2007 recordings. Now working on their Candlelight debut, currently titled Running Out of Daylight and planned for release in early 2009, the […]

Admittedly, I haven’t given Daylight Dies very much attention at all since their debut Tribunal Records EP, entitled Idle. Back then, I saw them as a natural offshoot of Opeth (with hints of early Katatonia). They employed slower tempos, melancholic melodies, and an overall dark presence. With Lost To The Living being the first thing […]

The thrash reunions continue. This time German band Headhunter, featuring vocalist/bassist Marcel “Schmier” Schirmer of Destruction, guitarist Uwe “Schmuddel” Hoffmann from Talon and drummer Jorg Michael, who has played with Saxon, Stratovarius and Grave Digger, among a long string of others.While I missed this band’s work in the early 1990s, I’m intrigued by what I […]

Here’s a release that would seem really odd when you look at its  actual parts: a 2 year old symphonic black metal album (originally rleased by Deepsend Records in 2006) from Canada, featuring former Ion issonance vocalist Sébastien Painchaud (going by the far more black metal name of ‘Ill-Fate’ here) as well as at one […]

Progressive metal sometimes isn’t very progressive – it’s become easy to predict that an album in that genre is going to offer dense, snaky rhythms, soaring vocals and perhaps a smattering of synthy sci-fi grandeur. What you might not expect, then, are delicate female vocals laid over contorted compositions, with random bursts of smooth jazz, […]

Talk about a case of bad timing. In a year without a new release from Opeth, perhaps Farmakon’s Robin would serve as a mildly entertaining diversion for fans longing for that sound. If I’d heard it when it was originally released by Four Seasons last year, it might have gone over better. Re-released by Candlelight […]

‘Bring me my wine’, Ihsahn screams at the start of angL, like a tyrant celebrating dominion over all he sees. It’s a fitting sentiment for a man who’s remained part of black metal’s elite even long after vacating the throne he once conquered with Emperor. And in a reminder of his still-potent might, he launches […]

Is this a feeble scream from the depths of a prison unknown? “I’m getting out soon, look at me, I’m still relevant, I can still channel the power from dark dungeons,” or is he just a lost and forgotten Kristian. An anthology release in advance of a prison release. There are many bands with controversial […]

“MONTANA?!” Is what I said to myself when I discovered where one of Candlelight’s newest death/black threats, Martriden hails from. Who would have thought the state of Montana, which I always kind of regarded as Bum Fucked Egypt, was capable of producing talent in the metal world? I for one certainly did not, but I […]

When people think of US black metal the bands that get brought up first are usually the one-man misanthropic bands, but to me US black metal is the full lineup bands like Abazagorath, Grand Belial’s Key, Kult ov Azazel, and the Texas triumvirate of Absu, Thornspawn and Averse Sefira. Anyone that thinks American black metal […]

For a band named Wrath they sure have gotten rather mellow. Before I delve too much farther into this review of Vreid’s third album let me explain that remark. I started out this morning listening to Gorgoroth, all of their stuff in chronological order, and then I switched to Vreid, starting with Kraft, then Pitch […]

I picked up Pure Black Energy back in 1996, I don’t remember why, and was not really impressed. I ignored the band until they became Khold and everyone was raving about them. I still ignored them until Phantoms, which bored me, and then Mørke Gravers Kammer was not really impressive either. Then the dreadful Krek […]

I remember being very impressed with Rob Rock’s last solo record, Holy Hell. The Roy Z-produced effort captured the same vibe as Bruce Dickinson’s solo works without, of course, sounding like a Dickinson knock off. There’s still a bit of that sound on Garden of Chaos, but I’m finding it much harder to get into […]

Another offering coming from Italy, this time by Elvenking, who play a poppy, Americanized mix of Power metal, Melodic Death, and Folk. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but the first band that comes to mind when listening to The Scythe is recent Avenged Sevenfold. Extremely accessible melodic metal, with moments of slightly […]