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 […]
There’s nothing really wrong with the debut from this Philadelphia deathcore act, as their debut is a competent delivery of now familiar genre traits; dual vocals, choppy squealing thrashing, some techy noodling and a plethora of breakdowns. However, on the whole, it really sorta bored me and I found my self reaching for After the […]
Here’s one of Ironclads better and more mellow releases of late, the Back to the Future named metalcore/post rock act from Boston, Mass who deliver a fine debut of emotional, melodic metalcore with threads of delicate passion and elegance. With busy, melodic guitar work and vocal cadence of Shai Hulud, shimmery emotional layers of Misery […]
While I generally don’t care too much for female fronted, sugary Gothic metal, a couple of releases of late have broken from the ‘Naplam Records’ formula and piqued my interest; the debut from Jennie Tebler’s Out of Oblivion (Quorthon’s little sister) and this 2007 debut from the gorgeous French artist Eilera. With a voice as unique […]
There’s been somewhat of a negative buzz about this album for sometime time now, so I thought, as a huge fan of The Price of Existence (my #1 album of 2006) I’d better look into it and see what all the negativity was about and see if it was warranted based on a couple of […]
There are three ‘core’ records I was really looking forward to this year; Ligeia’s Bad News, the new All Shall Perish and this follow up to the excellent Nocturne. Well, with Bad News being a huge disappointment and the jury still out on Awaken the Dreamers (which I’m still trying to figure out), where does […]
Oh dear. As much as I dug the debut from these Massachusetts metalcore lads and as much as I actually like the guys themselves after meeting them and subsequently staying in contact with them, it pains me to write this review. I knew something was awry when I saw the cover, but I held out […]
As I first heard Milwaukee’s Protestant on their As Dead As We Look release and now their latest full length, I’m more confident in anointing this group as the heir to the mantle left by Cursed; crumbling, antagonistic and sludgy but intelligent hardcore with a few segments of well placed and thoughtful ambience, all wrapped […]
Yeah I know this came out 2 years ago, but as mush as I enjoyed 2005s Abode of the Dead I thought I’d give this some props. Plus, I’m not responsible for when stuff arrives in my mailbox, OK Either way, this slab of crusty, earthy Canadian hardcore with members of In Dying Days, The […]
Hot on the heels of the bands recent 2008 release, Peasant, Gilead Media gives us a CD digi-pack re-issue of the this Louisiana sludge band’s 2007 LP only debut, originally released on One Eye Records. I love everything about this band; their simple name, their logo, their artwork (the new artwork even seems to match the […]
I know I’ll upset a lot of thrash purists by saying this but, for me, the fourth album from Detroit’s Walls of Jericho, despite the bands early metallic hardcore, Crisis wanna be sound, actually has more in common with the current thrash revival than anything else. Sure, they are still fronted by the female Jamey […]
For me, the allure of Falconer, one of the handful of power metal acts I can tolerate, was they were essentially a power metal continuation of Mithotyn, one of the best Viking metal acts of their time. However, after three well received albums, internal strife resulted in a new vocalist and the stylistically different Grime […]
Well, Profound Lore has done it again, uncovering another gem of a black metal record, this time from the depths of Cork, Ireland.Though cut from the same cloth as label mates Cobalt and Krallice, and with some similarities to the likes of Wolves in the Throne room, and to some extent, the new Withered, as […]
Damn this island. After two lists of positive albums, I came up with 10 albums that almost made me lose my faith in metal. In most cases, these aren’t necessarily bad albums per say, especially as I listen to them now and my tastes have evolved and grown, but at the time of their release, […]
Here’s a fine folk metal album from Russia’s Arkona that continues Napalm’s recent run of solid folk metal albums (Svartsot, Heidevolk, Alestorm and to some extent Hollenthon) and should please fans of typically Russian/Eastern European bands like Butterfly Temple, Obtest, Skyforger Pagan Reign as well as the usual folk overload fare like Finntroll and Asmegin. […]
Adding to Metal Blade’s fine 2008 death metal releases like Hail of Bullets, Hate Eternal, Brain Drill and The Rotted comes this low key artwork and logo clad, out of nowhere, debut release from the UK’s Trigger the Bloodshed. While the likes of Mithras, Spearhead, Man Must Die, Detrimentium and Sarpanitum have slowly exhumed the […]
Metal Blade is having a good year, even in the crowded metalcore/deathcore genre. They already have the likes of The Black Dahlia Murder, Job For a Cowboy and The Red Chord on their roster then, 2008 has also seen solid releases by Whitechapel and Fate as well as future releases by the likes of Rose […]
Here is a very tasty little17 minute, 6 track EP of fierce, angular but intelligent hardcore featuring former Reversal of Man vocalist Matt Coplon as well as other veterans from the Tampa, Florida hardcore scene and even former Brutality demo drummer Ken Karg (yes, that Brutality). With a darkly nihilistic tone and atmosphere littered with […]
Originally released on The Flood Records back in 2007, Deepsend has dug up this collection of Ulcerate’s first two demo CD’s and given fans a chance to hear the bands early material, before 2007s blisteringly impressive Of Fracture and Failure. Consisting of 8 tracks, four from the band’s untitled 2003 demo and four from 2004’s […]
I hate to break up all the metal here of late, but here’s some impassioned, intelligent hardcore for fans of Killing the Dream, Have Heart, Dead Hearts and Passion. Laced with political angst, Verse’s third album is a collective of confrontational hymns and personal struggles delivered with a sense of melancholy amid the expected power […]
So here I am again stranded on a desert Island and despite the fact there is no food electricity or porn, I can have 10 albums with me and this time, I have come up with 10 albums that changed the way I listened to metal; Albums that to me, truly thought outside the blast […]