Considering my love of Between the Buried and Me, you’d think I’d be all over the debut from Indiana’s Exotic Animal Petting Zoo; Off kilter, jazzy, Dillenger-ish styled alternative rock and impossibly scattershot structures littered with lengthy ambient, introspective strains of clean vocals and progressive experimental textures. A must have right? Well not just yet. […]
Based on the 18-minute burst of a debut ‘full length’ that was Parasite , I didn’t exactly have high expectations for the sophomore album from this Michigan deathcore act. However, once I saw the cover, titles, new producers Dan Kenny and John Cinotta (Suffocation) and the mastering credits of Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed), […]
Arguably, The Fathomless Mastery is one of the most anticipated death metal records of year, partly due to the return of Mikael Åkerfeldt to vocal duties (which cancels out the loss of Dan Swano), and partly due to the fact that the bands two full length’s (2002s Resurrection Through Carnage and superb but slight step […]
Released with relatively little fanfare, Unearth’s fourth studio album shows that this Boston band, while certainly never able to attain the level of magnificence of The Stings of Conscience, is one of the most consistent and predictably satisfying American metal acts around. The formula, as with like minded act Killswitch Engage, is simple; deft Swedish […]
3 months ago, this was the perfect summer album; peppy, energetic, uplifting melodic hardcore with injections of pop/punk catchiness that you hummed along to while driving with the windows open that came across like a Christian Bane mixed with any popular pop punk act (Blink 182, Yellowcard, Sum 41, etc) but now in the grey […]
Anymore with Facedown Records, you know what you are getting; some form of quality Christian metal, whether it be the melodic death metal (War of Ages, A Plea For Purging), catchy poppy metalcore/hardcore (Take It back, Kingston Falls), or traditional hardcore (Call to Preserve, Sleeping Giant), and now we have Wrench in the Works (basically […]
After a relatively quiet 2008, Willowtip has literally unleashed the hounds with three top notch grindcore releases; Phobia’s 22 random Acts of Violence, Maruta’s In Narcosis, and this the devastating follow up to Kill the Clients impressive debut Escalation of Hostility. Though still steeped in the steroid fueled, punky Napalm Death -ish grind and blast […]
While technically stunning, Beneath the Massacre’s transition from deathcore to a more technical death metal band on Mechanics of Dysfunction was a little short on memorability. So here is the follow up and while stylistically the band has continued their batshit insane musical pyrotechnics and uber busy delivery, they have managed to deliver a slightly […]
It doesn’t get more succinct than that title for the third album from Australia’s down-tuned, grind masters, The Day Everything Became Nothing. Plain white cover, 10 unnamed numbered tracks and 27 minutes of gurgling, groove filled, monstrously mid paced grindcore. While admittedly this sort of stuff appeals to a niche audience that laps up the […]
As a stop gap between albums, Obituary and Candlelight have given us this tasty little 4 track EP; two new tracks (“Forces Realign” and “Left to Die””), a recording of the posthumous debut album’s title track, “Slowly We Rot” and a cover of Celtic Frost’s “Dethroned Emperor”. There’s also video for “Evil Ways” from the […]
Despite the fact that this group of Riverside, California kids play the now overdone form of The Black Dahlia Murder worship, like say, Salt the Wound and Sons of Azrael, the fact is, they do it really, fucking well, and possibly even better. Quite simply, from start to finish, Lamentation is a blazing, relentless and […]
As I stated in my review of All Thats Remains’ latest album Overcome, I was a little nervous talking to vocalist Phil Labonte, considering my lukewarm feelings toward the album. However, after meeting Phil in the tour bus before All That Remains headlining show with Trivium, The Human Abstract and 36 Crazyfists in Columbia , MO, all fears were set aside as we had a lengthy interview and Phil proved to be the consummate professional…
With their second album, the aptly titled This Grand Show, Grayceon have once again delivered a stunning, sumptous opus of cello flocked, introspective and progressive music that defies categorization. And having communicated with cello player and vocalist Jackie Perez Gratz in the past, and found her to an absolutely delightful individual, I thought I’d ask a few question via email about the new album, her other projects and other more amorous endeavors…
Jackie Perez Gratz (Amber Asylum) and her two pals, Max Doyle and Zack Farwell (of skaterock band Walken) have returned to give us yet another stunning record that, like its debut will be in the running for album of the year. Stylistically, not much has changed in the Grayceon camp. They still play a dreamy, […]
While Gojira’s The Way of All Flesh and All That Remains Overcome (and possibly Light This City’s swansong, Stormchaser) are arguably Prosthetic’s bread and butter in 2008, the fact remains; Withered’s Folie Circulaire and now the second album from Seattle’s Book of Black Earth are simply Prosthetics best releases of 2008 so far, and shows Prosthetic as […]
So, in lieu of the recent All That Remains disappointment, two records have stepped in to fill the commercial American Metal void somewhat; The Fight Within From Better Left Unsaid and the third album from California’s Antagonist. I’m by no mean saying Antagonist is a better band than All That Remains, but as far as […]
After having a great interview with All That Remains vocalist Phil Labonte a couple of days ago and discovering him to be a super nice dude, and a superb live performer to boot, it sucks that I then have to turn around write this less than complementary review. Granted, I knew how I felt about […]
Hailing from Lawrence, Kansas, Samothrace (not sure if named after the Greek Island or a race of Emperor guitarists) have come out of nowhere with a stunning debut album that mixes the girth and throb of psychedelic sludge/Post Rock (think Minsk and Rwake) with the utterly rending, layered harmonies and beautiful yet wilting melody of […]
From the label that brought you the excellent Lo-Ruhamah comes another Christian black metal release, this way on the form of Puerto Rico’s Azmaveth (named after one of King David’s strongest warriors) and their symphonic, challenging take on black metal. Christian black metal from Puerto Rico? Yeah, I know, but amid the glut of symphonic […]
I have to admit, I’m starting to get a little cranky on this island. My balls are chaffed raw from the sand, I’m sick of eating fish and my mind is playing tricks on me: For example, yesterday I hallucinated that Anna Nicole Smith gave me a Cleveland Steamer.
Still, I’m allowed these CDs though, and this time it’s death metal albums that were simply overlooked, under-rated or under appreciated for whatever reasons. Sure everyone knows of the seminal Entombed, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Deicide, Dismember, Pestilence, Carcass, Nile and other band’s albums that are widely known and considered certified classics within the death metal pantheons. But here are some albums that while nor genre defining or legendary, are certainly kickass albums in their own right, but for a plethora of circumstances, just seemed to slip under the radar when they were originally released. Some got renewed interest via re-issues, but for the most part, these albums simply did not get the audience they deserved.
Yeah, I knows there’s 11 albums here, but fuck you!-my island, my rules, Wilson!
What’s this? A hefty, experimental metal band from France on Prosthetic Records? Is it the new Gojira? Nope, but close. Originally released on Dental Records in 2007, it appears Prosthetic Records has snapped up this Alsace band’s debut in order to whet everyone’s appetite for the upcoming The Way of All Flesh, and good thing […]
Like Hollow Corp’s recent The Cloister of Radiance album, the third album from Denmark’s The Psyke Project was originally released in Europe last year and now has a stateside distribution. Also like Hollow Corp, The Psyke Project mix harsh, caustic metal with a few injections of post rock, and gain the results, while solid are […]
Here’s a solid if unspectacular record from Britain’s Frightener who mix hardcore, grindcore and death metal into one crusty, rumbling album that on paper comes across as a mix of Napalm Death, Integrity and Entombed, but just lacking some creative brilliance to make it more than a mere mix of those appealing bands. With a […]
For those that don’t know, in the mid/late 90’s Overcast were a respected crossover/hardcore/metalcore band who had a couple of somewhat revered albums and EPs that some considered the start of the early metalcore movement (not the trite fashion show of today). However, when the band split up in 1996, vocalist Brian Fair joined Shadows […]
While I enjoyed Misery Signal’s recent Controller effort, I have to admit the debut from this Lancaster, PA act stole some of that album’s thunder by delivering a very similar and almost as competent delivery of melodic, layered and emotional metalcore. While bands like It Prevails, Rosesdead and more recently November 5, 1955 have tried […]