A Hope For Home‘s last record, Realis was a decent, if slightly whiny visage of shimmery Christian post-rock. So here they are with album number three, and it’s a vast, beautiful improvement that’s on par with Hands‘ Give Me Rest — as far as gorgeous, introspective Christian metal goes. Now that almost everyone has left or […]
So back in 2010 I reviewed the self-released debut from Portugal’s Karnak Seti, and it was a surprisingly good melodic death metal effort that imbued the the genre’s once hailed stylings and even reminded me a little of Disillusion‘s landmark debut. Well, the band were kind enough to send me the follow-up, In Harmonic Entropy, […]
As usual at this time of year, I get a few CDs for review that came out late the year before. Such is the case with Ahdistuksen Aihio Productions who sent me Ave Maria‘s Chapter I and this, the debut from Finland’s Saturnian Mist. And while Ave Maria left me unsettled but only slightly impressed, Gnostikoi […]
Here’s yet another addition to the growing collection of fine but quirky, experimental German black metal. This time in the form of duo ‘A’ (guitars/vocals) and ‘C’ (drums) and their Ave Maria debut, Chapter I. I don’t have a whole lot of reference points for this act, but it’s safe to say they definitely sound […]
So here’s another reason to own a record player (and a cassette player); Sacred Plague Records. And one of their recent releases is the second effort from Chico, California’s Black Hole of Calcutta, a noisy, primal punk/grind/hardcore collaboration featuring members of The Makai, Transient and Mammoth Torta. Named after a 1756 incident where 146 prisoners […]
Blood Mortized‘s self released 2009 debut was one of my coolest old school Swedish death metal discoveries during the genre’s current revival. And though featuring former and current members of Amon Amarth and Crypt of Kerberos, the band didn’t seem to have as high of a profile as some of their contemporaries, but with an […]
Anyone has a Latin dictionary? Here is the impressive debut from Minnesota’s Atrum Inritus and as you can tell from the moniker, album title and track titles like “Aegrus Evert”, ” Sacramentum Exeuntium”, ” Tenebris Descendi” and “Ephemera”, there’s no doubt about what we are dealing with here: Black metal. While all the above and […]
Listen, I’ll readily admit to being one of those shallow, close minded types that judges a book by its cover, or a band by its moniker. And quite frankly a band with the name The Gardenerz wasn’t something I was ready to dive into. It’s the same reason I’ve never listened to Weekend Nachos and […]
Well fuck! That didn’t take long! After kicking my ass for a majority of 2011 with the likes of Entrails, Cryptborn, Uncanny, Miasmal, Undead Creep, Corpsessed, Gorephilia and such, Dark Descent Records, a mere two fucking days into 2012, has unleashed yet another gem of awesome old school death metal. Despite the label and PR […]
Despite being around since 1991 and with 6 full-length releases under their belt, Germany’s apparent death metal stalwarts Dead are new to me. But after hearing Hardnaked…but Dead, I can’t say I’m too bothered by the fact that I have missed out on their 20 year history. With a tongue in cheek grooving sense of […]
Listen, do we really need another interview with Glen Benton ranting about how much he hates Christians as well as his ex-wife? Or Trey Azagthoth calling out fans that don’t like his music as fake fans? Well, how about a (first) interview with an independent, local (at least to me) artist who has released 5 albums in 2011 alone? A young man I decided to meet up with while on a business trip in his neck of the woods and interview him after hearing a number of his albums and being impressed by them. That man is Adam Kalmbach, the lone spirit behind Jute Gyte. And when I met Adam I was a little shocked when you consider the nasty and abrasive nature of albums like Old Ways, Verstiegenheit and his latest effort, Impermanance. Well, spoken, intelligent, unassuming and critically knowledgeable about music, I should be glad the racket he produces is so vitriolic as this Jekyll and Hyde effect would be a terrible thing if it manifested itself outside of his music. A one man black metal act that has Burzum, Leviathan and Xasthur level potential that you all should get to know… please meet Adan Kalmbach AKA Jute Gyte.
I was pretty gutted when Life In Your Way broke up, especially on the heels of 2007s Waking Giants, one of my very favorite records of the years and favorite metalcore records ever. Well, earlier this year, after a 4 year layoff, the band has mostly reunited (former Wrench in the Works drummer Andy Nelson […]
First- just look at the cover… (courtesy of renowned fantasy artist Daarken whose work you’ve have seen grace games like Warhammer Online and Warcraft games ). FUCKING LOOK AT IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If that doesn’t make flaming metal skulls shoot from your cocks/vaginas, you simply don’t like metal. Second, how in the fuck is Arkansas’s Vore […]
Generally, when I’m looking at porn, (I’d Like to think) I’m a fairly typical male. It’s your typical porn stuff, nothing to gross or degrading. But once in rare while I’ll be in the mood for some thing nasty; some German Bukkake or weird Japanese, submissive ball stomping fetish. Something that makes me cringe and […]
As You Drown‘s first album, Reflection was one of my top 25 albums of 2009, so I was pretty psyched to hear these Swede’s follow up. I’ve sort of mentally linked As You Drown to Australia’s The Red Shore,who released their 2nd album ( I know its their third but here in the US, albums […]
So if Ov Hollowness‘s Drawn to Descend was my favorite of recent Hypnotic Dirge Records’ and Ekove Efrits’ Conceptual Horizon was my least favorite, Pandemic Transgression from Canada’s one man black metal maven Vultyrous, is my middle release. As with any good one man black metal project, there’s boons and pitfalls. The pitfall here is […]
Here’s an interesting release from the label behind the recent and solid Ov Hollowness CD, Hypnotic Dirge Records, so you can expect something…well… hypnotic and dirge-y. And in the case of Ekove Efrits, it’s a one man black metal act from Iran, helmed by Count De Efrit. I use the term black metal very loosely here, […]
I swear, I have every intention of trying to make this a somewhat regular blog.
Here is the true definition of a Bargain Bin Find!!!!. I located this CD in the clearance rack of a Hastings, and grabbed it for a mere 25 cents- though technically it was a dollar, seeing as the bin was 4 for a dollar. So I had to grab a Boys 2 Men Christmas CD, a Jose Stone CD and an album by some Latin rap group.
So I reviewed the demo compilation by this New York tech metal act a couple of years ago and was rather impressed, especially by the shredding abilities of guitarists Nick Llerandi and Billy Anderson who added some very nice sweeps and solos to the semi deathcore/tech death metal/metal core stylings. However, my only real gripe […]
Still a musical anomaly residing on Facedown Records , Finland’s Immortal Souls are four albums in to their career and have yet to truly impress me. Their form of melodic “wintery” death metal has always been solid, but I’m never craving this band. So I’m not sure what’s more impressive, the fact they are still […]
Relapse has reissued some pretty good stuff over the last couple of years, namely the Death reissues as well as General Surgery, Convulse and Nirvana 2002, but along with a couple of the recent Dying Fetus reissues, this one is a bit of head scratcher. For some reason Relapse Records has decided to dust off and […]
Portugal’s Major Label Industries is hardly prolific with their releases, but when they release something it’s usually something creative or unique like Crushing Sun, The Firstborn or Before the Rain. However, with the release of E.A.K‘s second effort, the label appears to have succumbed to releasing an underwhelming home grown effort that does not match the […]
There’s a fine line between plagiarism and homage. And in metal, that line is even thinner as many acts have simply said, ‘you know what? We like this band we are going to sound just like them, not to rip them off maliciously but they just rock’. For every Suffocation, Entombed, Morbid Angel and Slayer […]
If there is one label that’s almost on par with Dark Descent Records as far as old school Swedish death metal worship, its Pulverized Records. With the likes of Crucifyre, Morbius Chron, Interment, Tribulation and Desultory‘s comeback, they have created their own nice little stable of retro Swedish death metal acts. Well, add Sweden’s awesome […]
When initially approached with the prospect of reviewing this album I was a bit leery. A Montreal band calling them selves ‘trombone core’, named after a Shakespeare character and with a masked trombone player called ‘the hitman’ in their ranks. It all seemed to have the potential to add up to a giant pile of […]