So France’s Overcome Records has released two blistering grindcore records, one of which being the Tolkein named (Mumakil is taken from the Lord Of The Rings and is the Black Speech plural word for the giant oliphaunts) side project of several members of Swiss experimental metalcore act Knut (the other being Blockheads); and it’s a […]

Here’s another addition to the depressive, doomy black metal genre from France’s Mourning Dawn, formed by Inborn Suffering’s (a pretty solid funeral doom band in their own right) Laurent, and while not quite as elite or disturbing as come of their county mates (Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Vehementer Nos, Obscurus Advocam, etc), and with […]

With some foreign releases under their belt, Israel’s Total Rust Music now turn towards their own country by way of the debut album from The Knell, and the fact this record was mastered by Greg Chandler of the UK’s Esoteric, should give you some idea as to Harm’s style. Rumbling, plodding classic doom/death metal with […]

Whereas The Showdown (in my opinion) whiffed mightily on their recent attempt at Southern tinged hardcore, the second effort from former Underoath singer Dallas Taylor and his cronies is, much like their self titled debut, an perfectly executed example of incest, trailer park and whiskey fueled hardcore. Quite a few bands are injecting Southern elements […]

So after their recent Xasthur release, drone label Hyrda Head takes another leap into the black metal elite with the second album from Sweden’s one man, avant-garde black metal act Bergraven. I still think, to this day that Fleurety’s Mid Tid Skall Komme is one of the more under-rated black metal albums that surfaced during […]

I thought World of Lies was a big step forward from these Aussie industrial/techno grinders, as they introduced some actual death metal based song writing and restraint to their programmed fury. However, Animosity sees a bit of a return to the pure relentlessness of Dissimulate. Free from frequent samples (and masks), Animosity gets right to […]

 doubt few would argue than Neurosis and Isis are the cream of the crop or even the genre’s inventors when in comes to the post –rock/hardcore, ambient sludge drone stuff, heck the genre is pretty much called “NeurIsis-core” by most media outlets including myself. However, there’s a teeming second tier of acts vying for your […]

Wow. A devastatingly heavy Christian hardcore with some serious attitude to go with their beliefs and it makes for a pretty fucking crushing debut, and one of Facedown’s better releases. Even Facedown’s other Christian acts such as Alove For Enemies, Inked In Blood and War of Ages, can’t compete with Sleeping Giant’s blatant Christian rage […]

There’s hardcore then there’s HARD-FUCKIN-CORE. Bands like Built Upon Frustration, Sleeping Giant, Black My Heart, Redline and such make the Hot Topic core likes of Hatebreed, Terror, First Blood and their ilk look like choir boys, and Poland’s No Heaven Awaits Us is a nice addition to that group. As expected from Lifeline Records, this […]

Where as most ambient post rock, Neurosis/Isis Styled metal seems to be intent on mixing dreamy moments of lucid ambience and beautiful introspection amid their cascading riffs, however Arkansas’ Rwake, have for their four album career focused on a more disturbing and fractured delivery of the now saturated genre, making them stand out from the […]

Right. I’ve almost had it with this whole kids playing deathcore/grind spazz tech bullshit. While I generally embrace the heavier, more death metal aspect of this genre (Despised Icon, Ion Dissonance, Whitechapel, Diskreet, Knights of the Abyss, At The Throne of Judgment, Woe of Tyrants, etc) this overly spazzy, emo plagued, screechy, quirky, pseudo grind […]

Afer self releasing this stunning EP late last year, here come Montana’s Martriden (named after a Norse nightmare inducing wraith) now armed with an appropriate and deserved record deal, re-releasing thier 4 song (though each song ranges for 5-7 minutes), debut that deserved the attention of SOA/Candlelight and now deserves the attention of fans of […]

Along with Mastodon, Shadow’s Fall are the latest metal darling to sign to a major label, and while Mastodon seem to have passed with flying colors, it seems Shadow’s Fall also seems on track to break the major label curse. Now, let’s get one thing straight; I happen to think the Phil Labonte (now of […]

If there is one thing I enjoy about cyber death metal such as The Amenta, Scarve, Total Devastation, Sybreed, Kryoburn, Hypnosis , The Project Hate and Finland’s Scorngrain is the guitar tone; that thick, mechanical, filling shaking guitar tone and as with their impressive debut, the fittingly titled Cyberwarmachine, Scorngrain once again deliver a solid […]

Though I have been pretty harsh on most of the Pathos Productions releases, due to the not quite as archaic sound of many of the labels releases, this debut album from Holland’s Desensitised is one of the labels better efforts. Though not purely old school-y, Virus of Violence is a chunky throwback European death metal […]

After their debut album, Devouring the Prophecy on Unique Leader records, what could be a better fit than signing to Willowtip records, already the home to other such masters of technical brutality such as Gorod, Dim Mak, Illogicist Carpharnaum, and delivering Willowtip’s first, eagerly awaited release of 2007? Plying a similar form of complex yet, […]

I’m not sure what “It” is and how it is prevailing, but in the case of the debut record from this Portland melodic metalcore/hardcore act, “It” is a damn fine metalcore album for fans of Misery Signals, Means and Life in Your Way. Soaring, shimmering, layered melodies injected with some burlier moments, arguably more burly […]

I’m not a ‘rock’ guy, not at all. So when confronted by this Los Angeles alternative rock three piece featuring Queens of the Stoneage and Karma To Burn drummer, Rob Oswald, I was hardly quivering with excitement. The thing is though, Twenty-Six is really good and there are several songs I simply can’t get out […]

There’s nothing wrong with the fourth release from Michigan’s relatively veteran hardcore act Today I Wait, but there’s nothing that completely enamors me either. Basically culling from every big name in hardcore and metalcore, TID’s mix of intense, burly metallic hardcore and a few melodic metalcore elements and even a hint of more death metal […]

So here is the first release on Galactic Records, the label recently formed by Mithras main man Leon Macy, and let me tell you it’s a fucking doozy. Formed from the ashes of a few obscure English death metal bands (Infant Bile, Dark Earth), Birmingham’s Sarpanitum look to, (along with the new Mithras and Man […]

I honestly never saw the big deal with Embalmer. 3 ultra cult demos, then a ‘Best of..’ on Relapse Records back when death metal was a its very peak? Bug Whup. And apparently the rest of the metal world doesn’t see the big deal with them either seeing as they re-united in 2005 with little […]

Ireland’s Cruachan, for me, has always been a band of unfulfilled promise and annoyingly un-reached potential. Also, their ability to never quite settle of a style of metal, (be it the black metal of Tuatha Na Gael of the thrash of The Middle Kingdom or even just heavy metal for the Skyclad-ish Pagan) to back […]

Spinefarm/The End The fact its taken me this long to review this album despite the fact Moonsorrow is responsible for two of the greatest Viking metal records ever (Voimasta Ja Kunniasta and Kivenkantaja) as well as my rather non-committal response to the bands last, grittier album, Verisäkeet sort of shows what a hard time I’m […]

So this spring sees two fairly important melodic death records released from two once ‘rising’; bands; Omnium Gatherum on a new label, with a new vocalist looking to rebound from the lackluster Years In Waste after a genre defining debut, Spirits and August Light, and super group of sorts Nightrage. Arguably Nightrage lost their ‘supergroup’ […]

In the early 1970’s the British Government was reprimanded by the European Convention on Human Rights for torturing suspected IRA members by using a Sensory Deprivation method know as “White Noise”. Well, I think the European Convention on Human Rights needs to investigate Crucial Blast and France’s Monarch! for similar offenses. What’s better than 1 […]