So the label change from Voice of Life to the uber experimental Prophecy Productions looks to have made a slight impact on this German band that displayed huge promise on their Swanlike debut. The main change? The vocals. Vocalist/drummer Niko Knappe, despite saying otherwise in an interview I did with him, has now adopted the […]

For a label that already has Unearth, the signing of this band and release of their debut album seems odd considering that this band are virtually identical in every way to Unearth. With the exception of a sterner vocalist and a more gravelly production, Winter Solstice have the very same dual Swedish melodic death metal […]

At the end of my review for this band’s debut EP, Means by Which the End is Justified, on Love Lost Records, I stated that a full length album from this Florida based, Dillinger Escape Plan inspired tech core band would be pretty impressive. I didn’t know it would be on Metal Blade, but I […]

Canada’s favorite hardcore sons return with imaginatively titled II to follow up the buzz causing debut One. Playing a form of stark, barren post hardcore, that I call ‘minimalist core’, Cursed’s noisy Converge meets newer Entombed meets Motorhead form of brooding metal isn’t for the casual hardcore/punk fans as it’s dirty, grimy and vitriolic. With […]

Adding to 2005’s already promising death metal crop, come Austria’s Belphegor with their 5th blasphemous offering. While this is my first exposure to this rather revered European act, it won’t be my last as Goatreich-Fleshcult is a prime of example of death metal done Fuckin’ A right. With a hint of black metal (a few […]

What’s not to like about an album emblazoned with the logo of my beloved New Orleans Saints? After almost 4 years of silence, the follow up to 2001’s ‘return to form’ album Sonic Excess in its Purest Form is here and ready to sit on your chest and slap you repeatedly. With their 8th album […]

There are few things in the reviewing world as satisfying as a really well done, no frills death metal album. Oh sure, discovering new bands and experiencing originality and genre expanding acts is nice, but the visceral, pulse quickening feeling of perfectly rendered death metal is still a rewarding experience. And Chaostream is such an […]

Residing on a label formed by members of He Who Corrupts, you should have little doubt as to how noisy this 11 song, 10 minute “album” is. Strictly for those that become erect listening to the likes of Daughters, As the Sun Sets and The Number 12 Looks Like You, Illinois’ Tower of Rome is […]

Good things come to those who wait. Originally released on Empire Records in 2003, this superb slab of Polish brutality was licensed by Adipocere for a wider release in late 2004. Great move as it will expose more of the world to one of Poland’s undiscovered death metal gems. While Vader and Behemoth arguably stake […]

If there’s any band that can rebound from the ill timing of a album called Dead Yuppies, (it came out right after 9/11) it’s NYHC veterans, no, NYHC pioneers Agnostic Front. After almost a two decades of angry, genre defining political rants and brotherhood, the Front return on a major label with a new facelift […]

Rewarded for the widespread acclaim of Zos Kia Cultus, Poland’s Behemoth were promoted from Olympic Records to the big daddy, Century Media and also arguably surpassed Vader as Poland’s most important extreme export. So how do you follow that kind of success up? You don’t. You merely deliver what’s expected and continue with the sound […]

Littered with metalcore clichés in the form of calligraphy album title and forlorn song titles, my expectations weren’t to high for this album ,especially considering the rather average effort that preceded it, the death metal tinged metalcore musings of Black Sands of the Hourglass. However, with a change in label (from Tribunal to Eulogy) and […]

While most of Finland is obsessed with trolls and tooth harps, only a handful of Finnish acts have veered into more brutal territory, Scent of Flesh being the only recent band that immediately springs to mind above and beyond older acts like Disgrace and early manifestations of Amorphis and Sentenced. Until now. Enter Sotajumala (Finnish […]

With the album opening salvo of ‘The Shining’, France’s Anorexia Nervosa graced my ears with one of the most epic, grandiose and powerful song openings I’ve heard in 2004. The sheer scale of the synth laden dramatics and thunderous buzz of the guitars is the introduction to one superb album and a black metal album, […]

Highly touted by Willowtip as the second coming of Cynic and Pestilence, Australia’s Alarum has some mighty big expectations to fill with their progressive, tech infused metal. But whereas prior tech death attempt by label mates Carpharnaum floundered in overdone tech frivolity, and Necrophagist took the more brutal route of technical death metal, Eventuality actually […]

An Isis clone from….Switzerland on an English record label. Yup, you read it right, and a pretty solid clone at that. Fledging UK label Codebreaker Records, somehow found this lot amid all the chocolate and cheese, and unearthed a pretty punishing, draining three-piece with their influences firmly emblazoned on their sleeve. Centered around droning, mid […]

I could take up half of this review discussing the viability of Cradle of Filth as a bonafide black metal act and their subsequent litany of either crazed fans or haters that pass them of as pop stars slithering under the banner of a more extreme exterior. But instead, let’s just talk about the album […]

I’m not normally that impressed with album artwork, but with band named after Horiyoshi’s epic book and equally Eastern themed artwork, 100 Demons piqued my attention. Hailing from Connecticut and with one album, In the Eyes of the Lord under their belt courtesy of Goodlife Recordings, 100 Demons should not surprise with their style; angry, […]

Around since 1989, New Jersey’s Vicious Circle has been rather unprolific with only 2 full length albums (including this one) in their rather long and unspectacular tenure. Well, like a fine wine, age has graced Vicious Circle with the ability to grow better with age. And while The Art of Agony is hardly a world […]

Roughly translated as ‘Lord, You Are Not Worthy’, Domine Non Es Dignus is the highly anticipated follow up to the utterly devastating debut The Codex Necro which due to its caustic, barren and apocalyptic sound, arguably made England’s Anaal Nathrakh one of the most extreme black metal acts around. So how does album number 2 […]

Orange County straightedge bruisers Throwdown have been filming themselves since their first ever show. Now, all of the footage has been artfully edited and interlaced with interviews to chronicle the band’s history in typical Jackass meets Behind the Music fashion. With footage from their first 1999 tour, Warped Tour in 2003, European and Australian tours, […]

Any band using a Michael Moorcock character is OK in my books and where Moorcock sought to invigorate the cliche-ridden, stagnant, Conan knock off fantasy realm, France’s Yyrkoon seek to invigorate death metal, and do so with a measure of success. If like me, you were (or will be) disappointed by Behemoth’s strangely pompous Demigod, […]

With former members of now defunct act Serberus, expectations were high for this Colorado band’s second album of self titled battle metal. Instead though, despite some fine individual performances the end results is nothing more than the usual Scandinavian influenced black metal, and while it might satisfy the most heavily corpse painted and spike ridden […]

On paper this thing sounds promising; a cool monikered folk metal album (albeit from Greece) with a cool cover, based on the Celtic legend of the Tuanna De Dannan tribe and the silver arm of their king, Nuada. Heck, it even starts promisingly with the epic intro to ‘Guardian of the Ancient Deeds’, but all […]

METAL!!! I’ve got absolutely NO business liking this album. By all rights, due to the Rob Halford/King Diamond-like squeals of Cam Pipes alone I shouldn’t have even made it past the first song. However, a few things not only keep me listening but actually end up making this a damn fine METAL!!! album. First, to […]