I knew some HM2 boss pedals had made their way to South and Central America by way of Zombiefication and Nocturnal Hollow, but it appears some have made to all the way to Chile and they are used to full effect on the band’s impressive homage laden second album. It’s clear immediately (after a short […]

I know it’s a broad, sweeping generalization, but it’s a pretty common phenomenon for metal, and death metal in particular to have a geographical sound or recognizable style. You’ve got Sweden’s buzzsaws, Florida’s punchy technicality, New Yawk’s groove, Finland’s filth and Canada’s uber complexity. But what is Norway’s know death metal sound? It’s not really […]

As I peruse through albums I might consider year end candidates I see a lot of black metal; …And Oceans, Abduction, Kryptamok, Aara, Afsky, Eisenkult, Glaciation, Marrasmieli  to name a few. But there is very little truly special  death metal.Sure there’s some good stuff like the always reliable Abysmal Dawn,  The Project Hate‘s Purgatory or […]

Christ this is the 13th full-length Sinister album.  I really don’t count Dark Memorials as a 14th album because that was an album made up of cover songs. I’ve been a long time fan of the band ever since I heard the debut Cross the Styx and first saw them on tour in support of […]

Imagine for a moment Abysmal Dawn were your average, every day, 9-5 productive cog in society. It’s not too far from the truth. After all, they do make death metal for a living (although, let’s face it, they probably need other jobs, too). They get up, go to work every day, do a great job, […]

Formed way back in 1983, Polish juggernaut Vader are rightfully held in high regard in the death metal scene. A pillar of consistency since dropping their 1992 debut, The Ultimate Incantation, Vader keep on kicking out reliably strong death metal jams, with the past decade showing no sign of decline. Although Vader has dabbled with […]

Ho Hum, another Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Revolting, Ribspreader,  The Grotesquery, Down Among the Dead Men) project. Let’s see who he has joined up with this time shall we?  Well, we have Wombbath’s Håkan Stuvemark on vocals and guitars, Jon Skäre of Defiatory on drums and Mathias Back from Fimbultyr on bass (what, no Jonny Pettersson?????). […]

With being involved in the music scene for so long both as a musician and a writer I still get stoked over the smallest things and am very thankful for some of the bands I have interviewed and reviewed over the years.  I have been fortunate to have reviewed all the Thanatos reissues as well […]

From the promotional email: “For fans of Gorefest, Entombed, Bolt Thrower, Grave“ Fucking sold. OK, so the promotional email might have been a bit of a stretch, but aren’t they all?  And it certainly got me to check out the debut fro Switzerland’s Mnemocide (‘death of memory’). Entombed and Bolt Thrower might be a bit […]

Viogression hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, began in the hey day of death metal and although they released a second album in 1992: Passage, and the album suffered a lot from production and song writing issues, their crowning achievement is the 1991 debut – Expound and Exhort.  A 12 song album that mixed a blazingly heavy […]

When one thinks of the phrase Cemetery Filth, what picture forms? For me, I think of that Linnea Quigley graveyard scene in “Return of the Living Dead.” If you’ve seen it, you know the one. For others, I’m sure it’s quite different. When it comes to music, you’re probably thinking of some grimy, slimy, disgusting […]

Nothing like a little world chaos and a global pandemic to really get the blood pumping, amiright?! Maybe it’s just the lingering threat of societal collapse talking, but I think crust and grindcore is really on the cusp of having a moment. It’s that raw mix of anxiety-ridden rage, irremovable pessimism, and willingness to watch […]

HM 2 pedals have started to pop up in the unlikeliest of places it seems. From right here in the US/Indiana (Psychomancer), France (Nuisable), Venezuala (Nocturnal Hollow), Russia (Wombripper, Pyre), Greece (Abyssus, Wreckage), Australia (Earth Rot),  Croatia (Herzera) and now Belfast, Northern Ireland of all places by way of Marty Robinson and his one man […]

Denmark’s Ferocity really burst onto the scene with their 2009 debut Cocoon of Denial which was an excellent death metal debut album, combining that Danish chunky brand of death metal that fellow countrymen, Dawn of Demise and Corpus Mortale are known for.  The band followed it up with their 2013 album The Sovereign which was more technically advanced and the brutality was increased ten fold.  I love […]

Germany’s FDA Records has stepped out of their comfort zone for a couple of their early 2020 releases. One is weird goth doom (Hraun), another, Stråle , is a Finnish melodic hard rock band , and the other this one, originates from Japan, the first release on the label from there after a pretty consistently German/European […]

So here is reunion album number 3 for Wombbath, one of the 90s Swedish death metal bands that reunited for another go. This time, lone original member Håkan Stuvemark and Johnny Petersson (Henry Kane, Ashcloud, Gods Forsaken, Ursinne, Just Before Dawn) has yet another set of different guys helping them out for this album by […]

It’s been 7 years since super group Hail of Bullets called it quits after a solid run of three war mongering albums of trundling death metal. But fear not, Germany’s Scalpture is here to revive the ghosts of the past with their second effort of World War One themed death metal. That should be enough […]

I remember reading a review of Horrified‘s 2018 full-length release, Allure of the Fallen, where the band was described as having a sound familiar to Horrendous, but without the prog attributes. While this isn’t my favorite description of the band’s style, it’s admittedly, not too far off either, and ends up working well since more […]

Finland’s Black Royal stormed into prominence with their powerhouse 2018 debut LP, Lightbringers, an impressive slab of doom-laced death with an abundance of killer riffs and piercing hooks. Eager to build upon the sturdy foundations of their impressive debut, Black Royal return to strengthen and refine their beastly, riff-centric style of death and doom on […]

I was unaware Paraguay had such an excellent death metal act, in the name of this 5-piece named Verthebral.  I will admit to getting a bit burnt out recently to the oversaturation in the death metal scene of bands trying to out brutal one another.  While I understand the competitive nature of that often the […]

Way back in 2005, I reviewed the third album from Poland’s Trauma, Imperfect Like a God. It was a killer Polish death metal album culling from all the usual Polish death metal peers. In my opinion, it was as good as many of Poland’s larger, better known bands, but at the time like Country mates […]

Malaysia’s Humiliation return with their 10th long player and singer, Bear Bee recently informed me what a special recording this was for them.  Being around a decade now and releasing an album each year they wanted to make Parallel Chains of Command extra special.  Humiliation has never had a title track for any of their […]

I said it before and I’ll say it again, if you or your PR folks go through the time and effort to send me a physical CD, there is a pretty good chance I’ll review it. If I don’t its normally due to the old adage about saying something nice. Even if the CD is […]

Ohio’s Embalmer continues to be one of my top bands in all of death metal and with them recording their new album, for a 2020 release, I felt it befitting to review their 2016 release,  Emanations from the Crypt which recently was spit-shined, polished and vomited out with not only a remastering of the sound […]

I must admit that I am quite sold on everything that The Artisan Era has been putting out recently.  See last year’s unbelievable release by Singularity as an example.  Montreal’s Sutrah have my continuing to pick my jaw off the floor with their 2020 EP Aletheia.  In the bio description they are compared to  Lykathea […]