Three long years in development, you’d start to think that Honour Valour Pride, Bolt Thrower’s long-awaited seventh full-length album, was some sort of top-level military secret. While the second departure of longtime growler Karl Willets made headlines all over the metal world, not a word leaked from the Bolt Thrower camp about their whereabouts until […]
Hot on the heels of Carnal Forge, The Forsaken and nearly every other band in Sweden rocking to the success of At The Gates comes Alingsas-based Arise. Admittedly, I would have instantly liked The Godly Work of Art, say, two years back, but as more and more bands appropriate the upper echelons of Swedish death, […]
South Florida’s Until The End is a veritable hardcore supergroup of sorts. With members from Red Roses For A Blue Lady, Walls Of Jericho, Where Fear And Weapons Meet and Morning Again, you can tell from this all-star line-up Until The End mean business. Blood in the Ink, their Eulogy debut, is 100 percent tough-guy, […]
Just as At The Gates approached the zenith of their career, internal strife within the band caused one of metal’s brightest hopefuls to supernova in a spectacular event that shocked the band’s growing legion of fans and proponents. Slaughter of the Soul will forever remain lodged into the minds of metallers everywhere as the record […]
While the term “Forest Metal” may sound ridiculous and comical, one listen to Agalloch’s Pale Folklore and their most recent EP Of Stone, Wind and Pillor and it’s difficult not to see large expanses of forest and snow-capped mountains. Much of Agalloch’s allure is its organic sound and sweeping, melancholic melodies – crossing Ulver’s Bergtatt and […]
Heavy metal really hasn’t changed in the 30 odd years the music genre has been invading the humble homes of suburbanite, disenfranchised kids. Whether it serves as a confidence booster, a unifying rally cry or simply music to party by, heavy metal has and always will be a part of the general overview of music. […]
Sweden’s Amon Amarth is one of the few bands who started out playing death metal and maintain a steadfast proponent of the genre, musically and ideologically. While the band’s previous death metal masterpiece, The Avenger, solidified Amon Amarth as worldwide death metal entity, on The Crusher the mead-swillin’, Thorshammer-wearin’ outfit seem to be stuck in […]
Summoned from the very same aged and burnt grimoire as Morbid Angel, Incantation and, perhaps, Krisiun, Aeon’s brand of death metal is incendiary, hell-wrought and well scaled. Dark Order is also predictable, but more on that later. Despite genre’s trodden path, Aeon do manage to bend, manipulate and smith their own sound by using a […]
After enduring turbulent times at their previous label, Washington D.C.’s Darkest Hour finally find solid ground in Victory Records. What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger, so the adage goes. For Darkest Hour, adversity is the key to survival and, furthermore, the catalyst in crafting their most impressive effort to date. Whereas The Mark […]
Peaceville never plied the safest of waters with its artists or its artists’ statements. The label’s outspoken stance on artist integrity is seen not in the atmospheric delight of Anathema, My Dying Bride, et al., but in the likes of Autopsy, GGFH and, most importantly, Dark Throne. Autopsy’s Shitfun cover was the progenitor of the […]
As metalcore shape-shifts every month, the borders of the genre continually expand, absorbing death and thrash metal, jazz, fusion, hardcore and every other music genre it decides to take on. Death metal in sound and hardcore in attitude, Germany’s Heaven Shall Burn are one such metalcore outfit, whose sound is more reflective of Amon Amarth’s […]
Holland’s God Dethroned exponentially improves on their brand of catchy death metal with each album. With the release of Ravenous, there’s no questioning the band’s commitment to creating high-quality extremity. Ravenous comes at a time when death metal is experiencing a resurgence and bands in the genre are pushing the genre’s limited boundaries. It also […]
Arch Enemy were tight-lipped about who would fill in for vocalist Johan Liiva after he left to form NonExist with Andromeda axeman Johan Reinholdz. Rumors were everywhere, claiming former Carcass frontman Jeff Walker would reunite with guitarist Mike Amott and take the mic for an album’s worth of trademark growls. Alas, the rumors proved to […]
Renown for their uncompromising approach to black metal, Sweden’s Marduk has leveled many expectations and gained a loyal following over their 10-year career. From the near-death metal trappings of Dark Endless to last year’s ultra-venomous Panzer Division Marduk, the men in black wear every one of their bloody victories proudly on their shirtsleeves. And, for […]
Now that Emperor vocalist Ihsahn has Peccatum in full-swing, remaining members Samoth (now Zamoth) and Trym Torson have decided its their turn to showcase their talents outside home base. I normally feel apathetic towards such groupings, but Zyklon, consisting of Myrkskog guitarist Destructhor and Limbonic Art vocalist Daemon, on its debut World ov Worms doesn’t […]
Sweden’s The Forsaken is the latest entrant (and certainly not the last) in the tidal wave of melodic death metal. The band’s label, Century Media, name-drops the venerable At The Gates, Arch Enemy and the unparalleled Morbid Angel in an attempt to lure listeners into checking out what this recently-formed band is all about. Ok, […]
The Haunted finally return with what may be one of the best metal album of the year! Picking up where the band left off on the self-titled debut, The Haunted waste no time expanding upon the thrashfest that made the band an overnight sensation with fans and media. Humorously titled, The Haunted Made Me Do […]
After a mildly disappointing second full-length, Finland’s Thy Serpent returns with four songs of the most emotive blackened metal I’ve heard in ages. I’m not too sure if it’s the fact that Thy Serpent mainman Sami Tenetz nabbed Rapture guitarist and songsmith Tomi Ullgren. Whatever the situation may be, Death is moving, engaging and inescapably […]
Nevermore’s previous album Dreaming Neon Black punctured metal’s stale world with daring yet impossibly catchy songs only a year prior. The possibility that the band would write and record an album of equal or greater impact, especially after losing guitarist extraordinare Time Calvert (ex-Forbidden), seemed like a distant goal. Fortunately for Nevermore Dead Heart, in […]
I’m sure there aren’t many out there that remember or even know that Arch Enemy guitarist Christopher Amott has a side-project monikered, Armageddon. The band’s debut offering, Crossing the Rubicon, was technically proficient death metal that, in this humble reviewer’s opinion, outweighed Arch Enemy by leaps and bounds. Metal history aside, Amott decided it was […]
Indianapolis-based Upheaval may frequent on the hardcore/metalcore side of the fence, but their circle of friends isn’t stopping them from creating some of the most harrowing, if not predictable, death metal this side of AngelCorpse. Indeed, Upheaval’s second platter, Testimony to the Atrocities, hails of the genre’s most illustrious outfits as inspiration. The most notable […]
Ulver in its current phase is undisputedly its most creative, explorative and, furthermore, important. While Ulver’s old legion of fans would rather hear a follow-up to the mesmerizing black metal triumph, Bergtatt, there’s simply no point at this stage to regress to past glories. They are what they are. Perdition City, comparatively, is just as […]
In times when extreme metal bands are experimenting more often, there’s nothing more gratifying to the ears than a good, solid death metal album. Just the thought of a great death metal album is exciting enough to dust off debuts by Entombed, Dismember, Morbid Angel, Unleashed and Death for another nostalgic listen. Well, before you […]
It’s been two long years since we’ve last heard from Sweden’s Without Grief. The band’s debut, Deflower, received nominal acclaim for its unique approach to the New Wave of Swedish Death Metal. Yeah, that means I really liked it. So, what have two years of songwriting and progression brought? Dark Tranquillity? No. At The Gates? […]
Am I the only one in metaldom who really, really thought the band’s second album, The Grand Grimoire, was a masterstroke in the death metal arena? Whether not you agree with me, Holland’s God Dethroned returns with inarguably one of the best death metal releases of the year. Again! Masterfully produced by Berthus Westerhuys, the […]