If found a new game to play and it’s called “Six Degrees of Erik Rutan”. Aurora Borealis is the self-financed project of guitarist Ron Vento, who then just hires session musicians to play other instruments. Former members include Tony Laureano and (Nile, Angelcorpse), Derek Roddy (Hate Eternal and too many bands to mention) and now […]

So Gothicized symphonic black metal has been done to death right? Bands like Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and Old Mans Child have essentially set the bar for others to follow, and follow they have-in droves. Graveworm, Apostasy, Ninnumaum, Agathodaimon, Chthonic, Tidfall, and too many others to name have all delivered their own takes on […]

A Belgian band I’ve never heard of and A Finnish label I’ve never heard of equals an album of the year contender? Weird, huh? Doom metal has been in kind of a slump over the last few years, never able to find the glory of the early 1990’s, despite welcome recent efforts by Shape of […]

Is this band really even relevant anymore? Somehow a band of cult status since 1988 despite a less than prolific album output (considering the length of time they’ve been around), not including hosts of compilations and underground rare recordings. Acheron is the very definition of a cult underground band. That being said , this is […]

Starting with a classic Pinhead quote from the Hellraiser movies, you know exactly what your getting here: pure, unabashed old school death metal. With a guitar tone that mixes Stockholm’s buzz and Sinister’s razor sharp sound as well as dirty, chugging riffs and nary a blastbeat in sight, this is 1992 revisited. Despite the obvious […]

Life has a funny way of doing things. One minute you are in a band that has released one of the better albums of 2003, you’ve just signed new record deal, and then you die. And while, the rumors circulating around the apparent suicide of Windir’s frontman, Valfar, certainly will effect the writing of this […]

As Carl Jung paved his existential path through the mass of behavioral psychology, so have Scholomance have carved their own path through the generic fields of satanic black metal and gore-ridden American death metal. They have forged a path of individuality that breaks the mold and challenges the American extreme metal scene. With a deeply intellectual approach and a musical ability that sometimes dazzles and confuses, Scholomance look to take a place among American metal as a leader, not a follower. The three piece consisting of Scott Crinklaw (guitars, percussion, and keyboards), Jimmy Pitts (vocals and keyboards) and bassist Jerry Twyford seem poised at the edge of abyss of greatness, just waiting for a push over the edge. The latest album The Immortality Murder, might be the album to do just that. Residing on The End records, Scholomance seem to fit the progressive nature of the label, I visited with guitarist and keyboardist Scott Crinklaw about The End records, lyrical influences and the promising future for Scholomance.

Rhetorically, I imagine I you meet death metal bands in a bar, Origin would try to impress you with clever sleight of hand tricks. Bolt Thrower might lumber over and give you a gruff nod and mumbled brummie greeting. Nile may strike up a deep conversation concerning mummies, pyramids, Isis and such. Deranged however would […]

NFL Football and heavy metal music are inherently linked. From the rebellious souls of the sport’s fledgling athletes decades ago, to the rebellious spirits in heavy metal that terrified the general public, hard-hitting sports and music are bound to find each other. Both are beautiful and brutal simultaneously, and both are the extreme of sports […]

I’m pretty sure the same virus that infected Gothenburg in the mid-’90s has mutated an infected musicians on the East Coast. Some of the music comes from that area is just phenomenal, and for me at the top of the rapidly growing pack are newcomers Beyond The Sixth Seal.BTSS started as a thrash band in […]

I personally had no idea Bathory were doing a new album, let alone a two part double release (Part II is to be released early in 2003). When I initially got this album in the mail and tore into it with glee, I was full of youthful memories so you’ll have to excuse my initial […]

Here’s an interesting one, Polish death metal ala Behemoth and Lost Soul, mixed with Nocturnus-like futuristic “spacey” synths. The result isn’t all bad, which is mainly due to the merits of convincing death metal played under all the superfluous keyboards. The mix is a little odd but the synth/death mix never is as engaging or […]

Quick. Name five current good recognized death metal bands from The Netherlands that excludes Pestilence and Gorefest. Well, Sinister, God Dethroned…er, Occult. Here was one of those little surprises that arrived in my mailbox, along with a huge dose of skepticism, mainly due to the band name and horrid cover. I.N.R.I. stands for Insane Non-Commercial […]

Recently I’ve been wading knee deep in mediocre death metal and to be honest with you, the constant pounding, blasting and gurgling was wearing thin. What I needed was a musical respite of sorts, something uplifting, glorious and stress free. I needed some Italian power metal! While it would be easy to call Thy Majestie […]

Council Of The Fallen is the blackened death metal project involving numerous high-profile names from the U.S. death metal scene. We have Sean Baxter (Broken Hope, Em Simfonia), drummer Derek Roddy (Malevolent Creation, Hate eternal, Divine Empire, Nile), and Kevin Quirion (Aurora Borealis) – all U.S. death metal veterans, so I was more than a […]

Ah yes, Nile. The band that has recently joined the “trendy to hate club” (founded by Cradle Of Filth). Whether it’s the false pretense of the Egyptian “gimmick”, the large label affiliation, or after two good albums, fickle metal fans are ready to move onto the next band, Nile are suddenly a hotbed of criticism. […]

Let me tell you something – The End Records has become a monster label in U.S. metal. Not content with Epoch of Unlight and Scholomance reigning American black metal, Green Carnation taking the doom scene by storm and Virgin Black bringing goth and darkwave to their collective knees, The End now gives you Winds, a surefire […]

Here is a seven piece band from the Netherlands that is attempting to join Slovakia’s Thalarion and Seventh Moon as the top bands in the emotive doom/goth/death genre that uses female vocals to complement the male growl (the beauty and the beast effect). While this a decent album within that ever so cumbersome genre, Thalarion […]

It wasn’t until I discovered the literal translation of the album’s title that the full depth of this album really hit me. After numerous listens, the darker, heavier approach had me a little stunned, and to be honest, a little disappointed. But after discovering Vansinnesvisor , means “Songs of Madness” (or “Lunacy”), it all came […]

You’ve got to give Metal Blade credit. Rather than searching overseas for the latest In Flames clone, they have simply stayed in the homeland and discovered an In Flames clone, and very good they are too.BYE resides in the mini Sweden we called Massachusetts, which is suddenly home to a plethora of death metal bands. […]

God Was Created is the second album from Arizona’s Vehemence, and upon looking upon the typical death metal cover and spiky logo, I was bracing for another assault of U.S.-styled Immolation copycat blasting or Suffocation worship. Man, was I fucking wrong! Instead I was graced with quite possibly one of the best U.S. death metal […]

Top 3 reasons why this album is fucking amazing. 1) It’s produced at Sunlight Studios by Tomas Skogsberg. 2) It has a sample of a steel clashing battle. 3) It has the most killer, blood-boiling riffs this side of The Crown. Ok that’s pretty much it, but I guess your wanting a little more detail.This […]

“Anyone who isn’t dead or from another plane of existence, would do well to cover their ears, right about now.” This superbly appropriate sample from the move “Dogma,” opens the song “Inhuman,” on Origin’s second album, Informis, Infinitas, Inhumanitas. Never has a sample been so fitting. I’ll be the first to tell you, I wasn’t […]

All hail albums covers that have heads on spikes! Vomitory are a well-known but cult veteran death metal band from Sweden and have released this year’s equivalent to Fleshcrawl‘s Soulskinner. Pure old school unabashed death metal; no frills, no intro, no atmospherics and you know what? It kicks ass. Blood Rapture is Vomitory‘s fourth album […]

During the Swedish death metal explosion of the early ’90s, after the initial assault of Entombed and Carnage and Dismember, a second wave of acts erupted. Grave, Seance and Unleashed found the coattails, and promptly were taken for a ride. Each act attained some kind of recognition and status, with perhaps Unleashed being the most […]