Formerly known as Bolero, Toronto’s newly remaned Vesperia are part of a suddenly surprisingly strong Canadian folk/Viking metal scene that includes the likes of Will of the Ancients, Crimson Shadows, Valfreya, Trollwar, Nordheim, Battlesoul, and of course Blackguard just to name a few. I’m not sure why the canucks have latched into the sound and delivered […]
Switzerland’s Impure Wilhemina have been dark since 2008s excellent Prayers and Arsons, where the band delivered a gorgeous take on elegant post rock a la Burst and The Ocean. However, the band has undergone a large line up shift, resulting in a bit of a style change since that release, and tempered their sound a bit, […]
Rounding out Dark Descent’s excellent trio of early 2014 releases (inc. Corpsessed and Lvcifyre) in the sophomore album from Finland’s long running death metalers, Lie In Ruins (formerly Dissected back in the 90s). And while not as crushing or cavernous as their label mates above, Lie In Ruins still deliver a powerful if more traditional, […]
Back in 2002, 7 years before Fleshgod Apocalypse‘s debut Oracles, before Scrambled Defuncts, before. Ex Deo, The Monolith Deathcult, there was a brutal death metal band from the US called Agiel and they were using full on orchestration in their death metal. Now, bands like Hollenthon and Septicflesh were using orchestration and such, but Agiel were […]
Like many FDA Rekotz bands, California’s Morfin play old school death metal but, rather than the Swedish/Stockholm old school sound played by Harm, Wound, Revel in Flesh, Massive Assault etc , Morfin went right for an older, American influence similar to Skeletal Remains, Slaughterday, Deus Otiosus, and Chapel of Disease: good ol’ Death. And let […]
Back in 2012 I interviewed Carnifex drummer and founder Shawn Cameron before a show they were opening for Fleshgod Apocalypse and All Shall Perish. The dude was polite, friendly and more importantly unwilling to go into too many details and throw then label Victory Records under the bus (on the record anyways…) . Almost two years later and a lot has changed. The band is gearing up to release their fifth album, Die Without Hope on new label Nuclear Blast Records, and embark on a headlining US tour. I caught up with Mr. Cameron again to see how much better things are for the band in 2014
I actually feel a little happy for Carnifex. Despite playing the much maligned deathcore and spending time on Victory Records, I met the guys back in 2012 and they were some of the nicest metal dudes I’ve met and were obviously frustrated with their label at the time. Well, they told me they had a […]
There has been quite a buzz about the debut from New York’s Artificial Brain, the technical death metal band featuring Revocation‘s Dan Garguilo and Biolich/Andromorphus Rexalia vocalist Will Smith. After hearing it, the buzz is deserved, as is Profound Lore’s bold declaration of the band as ‘next level death metal’. Adorned with more striking artwork […]
For obvious reasons there’s something about winter that makes me lean towards the more furious and frosty spectrum of my black metal listening habits. And this winter, Marduk, Taake, Thromesis, Inferion, Dodsverk and this, the fifth album from The Netherlands’ Sammath have all satiated my need for a more primal and classic take on the style. However, […]
Everyone likes a good side project right? Even more so when it’s off the member/band’s beaten path and a little different from the full time project. Case in point, Wrong, a project started by Wormed‘s vocalist/drummer Phlegeton, who performs the same duties here. He is joined by David Perez (The YTriple Corporation) on guitars and bass […]
I wasn’t expecting much from this, the debut of Denmark’s Roarback. I mean the moniker, the cover art all screamed old school thrash, which really isn’t my cup of tea. However, the old adage about books and covers came into play, as Echoes of Pain ended up being a kickass little old school death/thrash record. […]
Eye of Solitude is a funeral doom/death metal band from the UK continuing the style that the country forged many years ago with the likes of My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Anathema. Canto III is (obviously) their third release, and it really sees the band peak and carry the mantle from their county mates […]
Though seemingly named by the same person that came up with the moniker for fellow Frenchman, Destinity, Idensity is an interesting, ambitious band that delivers a symphonic, goth tinged, orchestrated take on melodic death metal. Though the violin is the primary instrument of choice via Mayline Gautié, there is some heavy synth usage and the […]
Hailing from Adelaide, Australia, In the Burial throw plenty of curve balls to the uninitiated listener. First off, the moniker had me expecting some form of metalcore. Then the album starts playing and I’m suddenly listening to hyper blasting technical death metal akin to Origin, that’s pretty kick ass. Then on the fourth track “Amaranthine’s […]
France’s Bliss of Flesh are a new act to me, so this, their second album, is my first exposure to the bands style of Black/death metal, but I am very impressed with Beati Pauperes Spiritu, so much so it actually stole a lot of the thunder and attention from Necrophobic‘s Womb of Lilitu. I can […]
It’s a good thing that Autopsy really kicked ass with their last effort, The Headless Ritual, because two bands, Norway’s Obliteration and Germany’s Slaughterday are nipping at tier heels with their own excellent, Autopsy drenched sound that almost outdoes the masters. Named after an actual Autopsy song, with Slaughterday, the influence is unashamedly front and […]
I love surprises. Not the “oh, you are putting that where?” surprises, but musical surprises where you get an out of the blue email from a completely unheard of band asking for a review (meaning our little site is growing) and that subsequent release ends up being pretty damn awesome. Such is the case with […]
Here is one of those 2013 releases that I slept on until now. From the label that brought the likes of The Great Old Ones, Ebonylake, Pensées Nocturnes comes some really interesting avant garde French black metal that is well…various shades of black. There is A LOT going on here. The band is, if anything, […]
I was genuinely excited for this, the debut album from now guitarist Steve Tucker, former Morbid Angel vocalist/bassist and recently Nader Sadek frontman. But now he has his own band under the moniker of Warfather and is aided by a few cronies such as drummer Diemos (Temple, Severe Torture) and Nick McMaster (Krallice, Nader Sadek, […]
Even though the band’s moniker may lure in casual Nile fans, France’s Nephren Ka is actually centered around Frank Hebert (Dune author) themes, despite the fact their style of modern, clinical, technical death metal, still is actually a bit Nile sounding, just without all of the Egyptian instrumentation and sand in your crack. Unfortunately, the […]
There is something foul afoot in England. Not since the late ’80s early ’90s has there been this much of an explosion in quality metal arising from the once fair isle in the last couple of years. And it’s not just the quality, it’s the substance of the music that is surprising; Binah, Grave Miasma, […]
Hailing from Texas, Cara Neir is one of those bands that will drive grizzled old school black metal fans crazy but fans of envy, Hiretsukan, Quantice Never Crashed as well as label mates The Makai and black metal upstarts Deafheaven and So Hideous should check these guys out. Playing a punked out form of hardcore and screamo tinged black metal, […]
Deicide is death metal royalty. Despite some ups and down the band is 11 albums into a genre defining career and with the 11th album, In the Minds of Evil released late in 2013, Glen Benton and co. are still on top of their game, being as brutal and anti Christian as ever. However, other than Benton and drummer Steve Ashiem, the band has undergone some line up changes. Gone are the long time Hoffman brothers replaced by Jack Owen and at one point Ralph Santolla, but there is some new blood in the Deicide camp now and that new blood is Guitarist Kevin Quiron.
After tantalizing the death metal world and truly putting Dark Descent Records on the map with their 2011 EP, The Dagger & The Chalice, Finland’s strangely named Corpsessed have finally unleashed their debut album, and it, along with Dark Descent’s two other killer early 2014 releases from Lie In Ruins and Lvcifyre, have signaled some […]
After some demos and EP of fairly standard Swedish death metal, Necrophobic morphed into a black/death act and released a handful of pretty revered albums in 1993’s The Nocturnal Silence, 1997’s Darkside and 1999’s The Third Antichrist. However, it’s 2002’s Bloodhymns that I will always have a soft spot for, being one of my very […]