One look at the gothic font of this California band’s logo and even some of their press photos and one word springs to mind: Entombed (or realistically, two words if you include Nihilist). The only this missing is Dan Seagrave artwork. Then you press play, and other words like Stockholm, Sunlight and mid-range jump into […]
And so, The Warren of Snares trilogy is complete and the UKs sadly short lived and now defunct (at least according to a farewell show back in October) Fall of Efrafa have a trilogy to their legacy that can be called truly special. Starting with 2006s more crusty, D beat based Owsla (‘Warrior’), then the […]
The critically acclaimed self titled debut from Krallice was an excellent and artistic addition to US black metal, not surprising considering the involvement of Mick Barr (Orthrelm)and Colin Marston (Behold… the Arctopus/Dysrhythmia) on guitars and bass (joined by drummer Lev Weinstein). However, with an even more technical and noodling, busy approach and less vocals and […]
One of the most revered bands in the Australian metal scene, the mucky, mysterious musical cist that is Portal seems to be one of those ‘cool’ bands to like because they are such an anti thesis of all that is popular and trendy in metal. And with their third insidious album of churning, seemingly unstructured […]
With 2007s Antithesis, Germany’s Secrets of the Moon flirted with the black metal elite, mixing blackened atmospherics, death metal and depressive ambience into long slithering tracks and memorable set pieces that hinted at greatness. However, with the 65 minute run time, and even longer songs that emphasize mood over intensity, Privilegivm, feels more drawn out […]
Man, not only has death metal seen some excellent , label released goodness in 2009 (Augury, Gorod, Obscura, Ulcerate, Man Must Die, Nile, As You Drown, The Red Shore to name just a few), along come bands like Cephalectomy, Avicularia, Unconventional Disruption, Burial Ritual, Zealotry and Quebec’s Vengeful to self release some death metal awesomeness […]
You know its been a great year for metal when the fifth album from Between the Buried and Me arrives with relatively little fanfare, takes two weeks for me to review and wont be an immediate shoo in for my album of the year like 2007s Colors and 2005s Alaska. Not that The Great Misdirect […]
So a couple of recent Rise Records releases have broken away from the label’s recent trend of emo vocals filled metal or Hot Topic core (Attack Attack!, The Devils Wears Prada, The Bled, Sleeping With Sirens, Miss May I, etc). With two stout death metal/deathcore releases by way of Australia’s impressive The Red Shore and […]
Though Cleveland Ohio’s Salt the Wound fit the annoying template of modern teen metal band complete with ever changing line up, cocked hats, tight jeans, pierced lips, pre packaged logo and loud shirt designs and an obsession of The Black Dahlia Murder, the bands 2008 debut was OK, and the follow up, complete with promising […]
I’ve been eager to hear the debut full length from Canada’s Weapon since I read an article about them from the indomitable Nathan T Birk in Metal Maniacs Magazine (before its untimely demise). And while an excellent release, Draconian Paradigm is still a bit of a mystery to me, but I imagine that was the […]
Struck By Lightning is the new project of former Mouth of the Architect frontman/keyboardist Gregory Lahm, but those expecting an ambient, massive wall of post rock will be sorely disappointed. Instead, Lahm’s new iteration is a more traditional, dissonant, caustic form of angular hard core based metal rooted in the likes of Coalesce, Botch, Cable […]
On paper, the combination of female vocalist London Wilde (an experienced metal lass with various writing, engineering and vocal credits to her name since 1994, even performing bass tracks on the 2004 Chastain album In An Outage) and Dave Starr, a 25 year metal veteran who served as bassist for relatively legendary Bay area Thrashers […]
I kinda dug the last album from these young Minneapolis pseudo grinders, back when they were called A Second From the Surface. Though it was still sort of squealing, chaotic nu grind at its core, it had a hearty punk backbone and some surprising melodies thrown into the mix. Little has changed other than the […]
Another release on my hometown’s September Riot Records, this time from Dubuque Iowa three piece Lost Apparitions, and while label mates Estrus called themselves progressive, Lost Apparitions are actually a much more progressive, experimental act. Plying a sort of catchall, angular and jangly post rock/post hardcore that reminded me of instrumental acts like Sleeping In […]
How the fuck is it that 3 my favorite albums of 2009 are self released (two being Kalisia and Be’lakor) and one of them, Cephalectomy’s An Epitaph to Tranquility is a FREE FUCKING DOWNLOAD????? That’s right. The full length follow up to 2004 excellent Eclipsing the Dawn (not counting the 28 minute single track, The Dream […]
I have a very vague recollection of this Swedish bands full length debut 2006, Serene Catharsis as a mix of gruff Swedish death metal with a slight melodic, progressive lean, and this re-issue of their 2005 WIll and Perception demo EP along with two new tracks and a reworked 2004 demo track (“Common Walls”) seems […]
Ok, I’ll admit I’m reviewing this because September Riot Records is based in my hometown, and even though the band Estrus hail from Central Illinois, its always nice to see some local folks get involved in an otherwise barren Central Missouri metal scene, even if it is pretty standard modern hot topic styled metalcore/screamo. Despite […]
Ugh. I feel queasy. While not overly impressed with the last offering from this Netherlands madman who goes by the name of Mories, there’s something about this album that literally hooks me, reels me in an gives me a tangible sense of disgust and self loathing. Maybe it’s the more perverse, sexually depraved nature of […]
The last couple of years has been spectacular for old school classic Swedish styled death metal; you’ve had albums from the likes of veterans such as Bloodbath, Séance, Necrovation, Evocation, Dismember as well as new blood from Hail of Bullets, DeathEvocation and Fatalist just to name a few. Heck, even Entombed returned from the land of suck on 2007s Serpent Saints. What was missing was a big name reunion- a glorious name from the past, the return of a legend (Séance doesn’t quite count). And that happened earlier this year (at least here in the US) when Ibex Moon Records released Death …the Brutal Way from Dutch death metal legends, Asphyx. Complete with the duo that was mostly responsible for the legendary The Rack, suddenly busy vocalist Martin Van Drunen, founding member Rob Bagchus returned to the fray in spectacular fashion and I caught up with Mr. Bagchus to find out how this legendary comeback came about and other things….
As when I heard the re-issue of Marduk’s Dark Endless last year, I had no idea that the current iteration of one of Sweden’s more respected second tier black/death metal acts, Necrophobic was so different from their more recognized, current sound. Like Marduk, Necrophobic’s first sound was one rooted in early Swedish death metal, namely […]
You’d expect competent Opeth worship to come from Sweden and such, but not necessarily from the US, however as bands like Daylight Dies, Iron Thrones and Gwynbleidd showed on 2006 excellent Amaranthine EP back in 2006, Opeth worship can come from anywhere. In the case of Gwynbleidd, the depths of Brooklyn, NY (albeit by way […]
My only real knowledge or experience with Boston’s Doomriders is that they feature Converge bassist Nate Newton and Cave In Drummer JR Conners, two bands I like but aren’t awfully obsessed with, so when I gathered that this outfit was a more rock based band to boot, my hopes weren’t extremely high. That all changed […]
Though plying the same basic musical style and shtick as the relatively enjoyable 2008 debut, Total Brutal, Tim Lambesis’s (As I Lay Dying) Arnold Schwarzenegger themed metal act has grown somewhat. First off, professional Arnold impersonator Josh Robert Thompson (The Howard Stern Show, The Late Late Show) now provides the excellent and amusing Arnold quips […]
Death metal is full of brilliant, legendary songs. Songs that helped shape the genre, define a band or create a classic album. These are songs that every death metal fan knows by heart or can name at the mere hearing of a single note or chord; “Left Hand Path”, “Override of the Overture”, “Black Winter Day”, “Unas, Slayer of Gods”, “You’ll Never See”, “Infecting the Crypts”, “Hammer Smashed Face”, “Chopped In Half”, “Leprosy”, “Corporeal Jigsaw Quandary”, “Chapel of Ghouls” – “Victory March”- the list goes on and on. But what about those other songs that fleshed out albums both classic and overlooked? Songs by bands revered and unheard of that simply never caught the ear of the public, the fans or the critics?
A new Dying Fetus album isn’t quite the event is once was as since the bands crowning moment, 2000s Destroying the Opposition a revolving line up has kept John Gallagher from attainting perfect chemistry that was achieved with the classic Netherton, Voyles (who of course left after Destroy the Opposition to form Misery Index) and […]