So here is the follow up to 2002’s artfully sublime Reflection of the I from Norway’s heralds of classically laced metal. For those that don’t know, Winds is the brain child of one piano progeny Andy Winter, who has garnered the aid of some of Norway’s most respected extreme musicians to help him deliver his […]
I think most metal fans will agree that last years supposed “comeback” effort, Hell’s Unleashed was a laughably bad joke of an album, that one can only blame on the band’s inactivity or some form of cruel practical joke. So it was with some trepidation I approached this album, wondering if one of Sweden’s death […]
Lets be honest, after being of on the cusp of black metal elitism with their first two albums, Svartalvheim and The Cainian Chronicles, Norway’s Ancient became pretty bad, pretty quick, peaking with 2001’s embarrassingly bad Proxima Centauri, and as a result have become pretty much irrelevant in black metal circles. So with some lineup changes […]
2004 has been an important year thus far for American metal. With Unearth, Killswitch Engage, Bleeding Through, Beyond The Embrace all issuing that all important second album and Shadows Fall moving on to album number four, US metal seems to be as strong as ever. Massachusetts’ All That Remains made quite a stir with the […]
Slovakian grindcore on Obscene; you know what you’re getting here. The self anointed ‘mincecore’ of Abortion, while not as eviscerating as label mates Squash Bowels and with a irreverent sense of catchy humor, Abortion aren’t doing anything too special but it will probably please most die hard fans. With a classic Napalm Death/Carcass sound including […]
A Perfects Murder’s debut album, Cease To Suffer was a solid slab of Hatebreed inspired hardcore that didn’t really do anything special, so it was a surprise to me, that after a switch from Goodfellow Records to Victory, APM would come out with this absolute monster of a disc. Pure vein popping, chest swelling, boot […]
A taster EP to follow-up the ravaging Retaliate debut album, Dissent, released on the band’s own label, is a 5 song EP with the title track split into four parts. With Kevin Talley back in the fold for this EP’s recording, the drumming becomes immediately improved and is also emphasized immeasurably by a Scott Hull […]
Arguably the most anticipated metalcore album of the year and sophomore album from one of the genre’s most revered acts, The Oncoming Storm is the album that floppy black-haired, hip hugging jeans wearing kids have been salivating for, for over 3 years now. So is it worth the wait? Well yes and no. Yes, because […]
Here is some pretty nice early 90’s styled symphonic but primal black metal that hails from Brazil but sounds like it came from the mountains of Norway.With a sound and tone similar to very early Emperor, but less complex or very early Dimmu Borgir, Zargof weave and epic astral tapestry of raw but still grandiose […]
So imagine for a second that the last two In Flames and Soilwork albums had been really good. Same slight experimentation and clean vocal usage, but with the intensity of yore and deliberate thrash edge within the harsher Gothenburg sound. Intrigued? Then check out Denmark’s Withering Surface. With their fourth album, but truthfully the first […]
Melodic metalcore has grown exponentially over the last few years, but it has also been plagiarized exponentially also, with countless Poison The Well clones poring from Orange County and the East coast. One such band was the short lived 7 Angels 7 Plagues, who had a solid offering with Jhazmyne’s Lullabye. I tell you this […]
I’ll be the first to admit the debut album To Serve Man from this San Diego based vegan death/grind outfit bored me to tears. They seemed more intent on plugging the plight of PETA and mistreated animals all over the world than writing a decent album. So here is their second full length effort with […]
Simply being on Transmission Records should clue you in as to this album’s style. Sharing the label with Epica and After Forever should get your female fronted, Goth Rock Spidey sense tingling away, as Asrai deliver basically the exact same sound; lush, epic and heavy on the dramatics and emotion. Still, while not quite Nightwish, […]
Someone forgot to tell Scarlet Records that melodic death metal was dead, what with Withering Surface’s Force the Pace and this high octane little number, they seem in denial to admit the relative complacency of the genre. What makes Italy’s Disarmonia Mundi so interesting is the presence of Soilwork’s Bjorn Strid on vocals, and realistically […]
The spate of high profile U.S. metal acts continues as Beyond The Embrace vie for the attention of Shadows Fall, All That Remains, Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God fans, with their second offering. Their debut Against The Elements held some promise amid its In Flames/Iron Maiden worship, but their three-guitar attack was understated and […]
I like Skyfire, so I was more than a little surprised that upon shopping for the import version of prior album Mind Revolution, I found out this, their third album, had been released on Spanish label Arise Records. I was also a little surprised that this disappoints somewhat. Skyfire, along with Norther, have headed the […]
Someone please give Killswitch Engage and All That Remains a hug-they’re having major heart issues. Anyhoo, I don’t know about you guys, but Alive? Or Just Breathing, was kind of my first heavy exposure to metalcore on a grand scale, despite other bands forging the way many years before and my quick souring on the […]
I’ll admit, this surprised the shit out of me. Hailing from Kentucky and with a pretty solid discography behind them, I was expecting the usual US goregrind but instead got some fairly solid melodic black/death war metal with a distinct European lean and even some black thrash tendencies. Although not super tight or crisp and […]
Scotland. Home of the Haggis, and……. erm, I dunno, Scottish people? Who would have thought that one of the best death metal albums of 2004 would have risen from the craggy depths of Dumbarton? And while Mithras could certainly lay claim to being the UK’s saviors of extreme metal, Man Must Die have a far […]
I can’t really say Italy has a solid stranglehold on the doom genre, but after this, their third album, Rome’s Void of Silence at least seem ready to make others take notice. After the horrifically bad Carinou album, I was reluctant to give this a listen but it turns out, VOS are a pretty creative, […]
It’s always hard reviewing a genre you don’t particularly get, but when graced with power metal, grim black metal or grindcore, I try my best to be objective and at least recognize ability and talent no matter the genre. However, in the case of grindcore, a few releases have found their way into my album […]
Edge of Sanity. Yup, that’s the first band that popped into my head when the opening chords of the tile track rumbled from the speakers. Not the ambient experimental metalcore outfit who blew me away with V.I.T.R.I.O.L, and while a drastic style change such as this might usually disappoint me, Fear My Thoughts actually pull […]
With all the metalcore suddenly gracing Metal Blade’s roster, it’s sure nice to see this veteran act still on the label and still churning out quality if rudimentary, but ultimately fun old school death metal. The easy thing to do would be cut and paste either their Revelation Nausea or Blood Rapture reviews and change […]
I’ll admit, my review of 2002’s God Was Created was slightly overzealous, but Vehemence’s second full length album was still worthy of my album of the year title, so with their follow up I’ll try to be a little more level headed and objective, but still, Vehemence are on of my favorite bands. If anything, […]
While the prospect of a Kreator meets Carnal Forge or Dew Scented offspring has some appeal theoretically, its actual manifestation is far less promising. Hailing from Wolfsberg, Germany, Uppercut have taken the classic German thrash sound and spiced and tightened it up a bit with a sort of Swedish death/thrash razors edge, and like I […]