While the popularity of this band has been soaring with each release my interest has been plummeting. I still listen to Ultima Thulée and Memoria Vetusta from time to time, but I didn’t check out the reissues, and if I didn’t get the next three full lengths as review copies I probably would not have […]

This is my first exposure to Norway’s Pantheon I, the new-ish project of former 1349 guitarist Tjalve (André Kvebek) but I must say I enjoyed the bands mix of traditional and experimental black elements into one, above average, polished and slightly forward thinking slab of blackened extremity. With longer than usual songs and extended segments […]

It’s a bit surprising that a band formed by former Dimmu Borgir drummer Tjodalv and Satyricon guitarist Cyrus has little or no black metal leanings. Instead it’s very much a classic thrash sound with some interesting compositional choices that add a dark, moody flavor to what could otherwise be easily written off as Metallica/Testament worship […]

This is Sear Bliss’ sixth full-length album and first on Candlelight. Extreme black metal with a classical flair. Once again produced by Viktor Scheer, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. This time Viktor has gotten a deeper richer sound with more bottom end and the drums are much more resonant. The horns truly stand […]

So here it is. Arguably the most anticipated death metal albums of the year from one of the genre’s most respected and revered acts-and if you could tell from the cover art and album title, it’s a true return to form. Personally I found Frozen In Time to be a tired plodding release that reeked […]

Most bands who go on a 6 year or more hiatus don’t come back quite as well as Gorefest did. 2004’s La Muerte was a pummeling beast of a return to the scene and held high expectations for Rise to Ruin. Though the band isn’t turning pages in the future of death metal, they are […]

If you’re going to mix Gothic elements into Doom Metal it’s got to be done right. There has to be just the right balance to avoid becoming a caricature of itself. Italian sorrow-mongers The Foreshadowing have struck such a balance. Owing much to UK doomster’s Paradise Lost, they have mastered the art of grey-skied Metal […]

There are bands, musicians, and records out there that one can appreciate but not enjoy. Former Emperor vocalist Ihsahn has produced a few of these records and though I am not a fan of his music, I have much respect for his efforts over the years and consider him to be way beyond my pattern […]

It was a happy day in Hell when Limbonic Art called it quits. All those demons got 24 hour a day concerts from the defunct duo. The international day of Slayer was a joyous day for those of us in this realm for 6-6-06 was the day that Daemon and Morfeus decided they had more […]

Hearse is a strange duck. Since Johan “SomberDusk” Liiva’s departure of Arch Enemy some years ago, these Swedes have been rummaging in the scene, pushing out albums, and creating a sound that really is kind of original. Although, they have never really produced that one great album, Hearse is progressing and In These Veins is […]

Basically mixing the churning heft of Behemoth or Vader with the cyber/industrial assault of say The Amenta, Crionics have unleashed their third album of clinical, futuristic swathe of black/death metal that’s pretty unrelenting, at times repetitively so, but still manages to literally fire on all cylinders. Of course, as with most cyber death metal (Scorngrain, […]

No Candelight. This is not good. This is bad, bad, bad and you are so naughty for putting out this nonsensical drivel alongside the new Obituary record, seriously, shame on you. Funnily enough Hemlock are taking their influence from a time when Obituary were at the peak of their popularity (i.e. the mid 90s). References […]

Much like the recent Candlelight/SOAR releases Diskreet, Rose Funeral and Whitechapel, Arizona’s Knights of the Abyss ply a form of technical, grindy, breakdowny, modern death metal, that’s to say, and I hate to use the term; deathcore, and they actually should give Job For A Cowboy (who share the same producer) a run for their […]

OK, so I have had this record sitting on my desk and in my ipod for ages now, but for some reason I simply couldn’t bring my self to review it because I honestly couldn’t come up with a simple description of the style. That is until I read a review of The Wind Up […]

Standing amid a sea of dreamers, I occasionally encounter one that rises above the floodwaters and proves their worth emphatically. I came across Throne of Katarsis because of Einherjer. Stein Sund left and formed Thundra along with ex-Enslaved drummer Harald Helgeson and Thor Erik “Grimnisse” Helgesen. Grimnisse then formed Throne of Katarsis. An Eternal Dark […]

As the deathcore genre becomes ever more burgeoning and ever more hated by them (the haters, shit talkers and internet dawdlers) who demand that the bands plying this style stop ‘breeing,’ claim they write poor death metal and have too many shitty metalcore breakdowns etc. But of course, their salient directive is that these bands […]

The latest solo record from Stratovarius frontman Timo Kotipelto really offers no surprises. It’s a collection of melodic and power metal tracks designed to show off his vocals, and overall it’s a very mixed bag despite a lineup that features Children of Bodom keyboardist Janne Wirman, Stratovarius bassist Lauri Porra and Thunderstone drummer Mirka Rantanen […]

Seeing the words “all-star lineup” these days is almost enough to make me not even want to listen to a record. While the idea of a supergroup may seem kind of cool, the truth of the matter is it takes more than names to make music. For a band to truly be tight and locked […]

On their second album, Norway’s Octavia Sperati (now no longer an all female act with the addition of drummer Ivar Alver), continue their more doomy, Anti-Nightwish take on female fronted Goth metal, and continue to impress with some improved song writing growth. With an earthier, almost more stoner rock development from Winter Enclosure, these gals […]

Here’s another of Candlelight’s deathcore records licensed from the UK’s excellent Siege of Amida’s records (Diskreet, Whitechapel, The Partisan Turbine and Knights of the Abyss), and while not the best release or most original album either label will release this year, it’s a competent and confident record of snarling, breakdown heavy deathcore. The formula is […]

I haven’t really given Carnal Forge any thought or attention since their 1998 debut, Whose Gonna Burn? as all the subsequent albums seemed to blaze by in a tight but lifeless vortex of neo-thrash, but when I heard the band had a new vocalist and had taken a more melodic direction, I decided to give […]

After the more earthy debut, Forever Advancing…..Legions, the follow up, Worlds Beyond the Veil, cemented Mithras as an upcoming English death metal act that might be the new hope for the Uk’s extreme metal scene, and now with Behind the Shadows Lie Madness, the band appears ready to join death metal’s elite. Continuing the ethereal, […]

Is it really the tenth album from Gary Meskill and co.? Truth be told except for the debut, 1992’s Foul Taste of Freedom, I couldn’t recall any of the bands other 9 forgetful but blue collar albums, but only recently armed with the knowledge that Built Upon Frustation’s Eric Klingler has played guitars for Pro-Pain […]

Name your record Thrash Metal and you’ve got my attention. Of course, you’d better deliver what you promise, too. Blood Tsunami does. The band is firmly entrenched in the worlds of 1980s German thrash and the San Francisco Bay area style, which of course, produced thrash’s biggest names. So what you’ll hear here is tight, […]

After the stunning debut from these Finnish melodeath upstarts, Spirits And August Light, the ceiling was supposed to be limitless for this young act who breathed life into a then dying genre. However, the follow up, Years In Waste was a letdown and many though maybe Omnium Gatherum were a one hit wonder. Well, finally […]