What are you expecting from a band discovered and signed by As I Lay Dying’s vocalist Tim Lambesis and subsequently signed to Metal Blade? Satanic, primal black metal? Political grindcore? Nope, this is decent quality Christian metalcore, and it comes dangerously close to being as good as if not better than As I Lay Dying’s […]
First off, I’d like to warn and apologize to Digitalmetal readers about the impending influx of contemporary hardcore/punk reviews about to inundate the site. It is fall after all. Second I’d like to tell Digitalmetal readers about the best of the bunch of this aforementioned contemporary hardcore/punk I’ve received in the mail in the from […]
Yet more sludgy, earthy, rectum splitting noise to add to my stack of Lair of the Minotaur, Ultralord, Black Cobra, Starkweather and Desolate Void. Honestly, I think I’m losing my hearing, and TAIS is partly responsible as listening to this album repeatedly made me kind of feel like that first torture victim in the movie […]
I’ve always thought there was something pretentious and lazy about self titled albums. A self titled alum smacks of either “This album is so good we don’t need to put any thought into what it is called” or “This album is so bad we couldn’t be bothered to name it”. Luckily, Suffocation’s much anticipated 5th […]
Many, many year before they turned into rock stars, I saw Korn in concert to support their debut album. The opening act was this wretched electro-nu-metal, programmed pile of puke called Cradle of Thorns. Upon listening to the god awful Anticore I briefly thought I was listening to the same band. This album only further […]
Of all the big metalcore releases this year, the sophomore album from Misery Signals was arguably my most anticipated, however with the superb, similarly styled debut from Rosesdead basically stealing some of this bands thunder, I was wondering how Mirrors would stack up in the melodic, layered and emotional metalcore sweepstakes. It stacks up just […]
Finally a re-issue from Paragon Records that’s a worthwhile release (sorry, the Rigor Sardonicus and Black Crucifixion releases didn’t cut it for me). Originally released in 1998 on Mascot Records, this Latvian pagan metal gem is arguably, along with the more infamous Nokturnal Mortum, the godfather of Eastern Europe’s Pagan metal movement that took some […]
If you, like me, wish that Protest the Hero’s excellent Kezia was a little harsher (especially vocally) and less emo or that Between the Buried and Me’s Alaska had even more sweeping arpeggios and less chaos, the fine debut from LA’s The Human Abstract should be right up your alley. Right now I’ll tell you, […]
Here is album number two from French tech deathsters Gorod (formerly known as Gorgasm) and in a year that has seen such tech death metal luminaries as Decapitated, Gory Blister, Spawn of Possession, Psycroptic and Anata deliver arguably their finest efforts, Gorod enter the fray with their own equally exceptional offering to the genre.Though they […]
Is it bad that I want to see who would win in a fight/make out session between Walls of Jericho’s Candace Kucsulain and Bloodlined Calligraphy’s Ally French? Anyways, arguably Kucsulain is one of the most venomous female mouths in modern metal and it appears that the band, with their third album, is on par with […]
I’m not sure if there is a more perfect marriage of label and band than The End Records re-recording and releasing Giant Squid’s 4 year old debut record. Though certainly falling under the doom/sludge/ambient umbrella of the likes of Isis, Neurosis, Pelican and Mogwai, as you’d expect from a band on The End, Giant Squid […]
Like Deathcore with a hint of melody? Dig bruising breakdowns? Enjoy Through the Eyes of the Dead, Job For Cowboy, All Shall Perish, Antagony, The Classic Struggle, Embrace the End, Winds of Plague and Iscariot? Get this CD. I could leave my review at that and honestly feel that the correct audience is indeed going […]
It’s become increasingly apparent to me that the tech-core, discordant metalcore movement seems to be entering a second generation of sorts. While the first generation thrived on pure Dillinger/Converge discord and angular complexity, this second generation, taking more than a nod from Between the Buried and Me, is more willing to experiment and evolve their […]
I don’t think I need to rehash the history of Deicide here, but the short version is pretty much; great- (Deicide, Legion), suck -(Once Upon the Cross, Serpents of the Light, Insineratehymn, In Torment in Hell) and back to form -(Scars of the Crucifix). Then you have this years very public and very nasty split […]
Here is a very competent, visceral and exceedingly tight death/black metal record, but what would you expect from a band featuring drummer Dallas Toler Wade (who plays guitar in Nile) and bassist Mike Poggione (Monstrosity)?That being said, credit should not be taken from the other members (guitarists Christian Lofgren and Chris Hollis and vocalist Hohenstein) […]
Apparently seeing enough in this California Deathcore act to re-issue their Amputated Vein debut Hate. Malice. Revenge, Nuclear Blast must have known they were on to something special. They most certainly were, as I can safely say, The Price of Existence is a massive improvement from breakdown heavy singularity of the solid the debut, and […]
The End is a perfect fit for these unclassifiable Canadian oddities, as unless you frequent the Cirque D’Soleil while tripping balls and listening to Emperor and Mr Bungle on your head phones, I’ll almost guarantee you’ve never heard anything like this.I will try my best to sum this 7 piece entourage up for you as […]
On one hand, the debut full length album from Switzerland’s Nucleus Torn is a fitting addition to Prophecy’s legacy of artistically exquisite, female fronted, avant garde, folk, ambient music, but at times it also awkwardly tries to be something a bit more progressively ‘metal’ or rock, and ultimately fails. When Nihil is delivering delicate and […]
Wow. The last time I heard this Belgian band on 2001’s Codex Barathri, they were playing a solid but unspectacular form of fantasy tinged pagan/folk black metal. Well, apparently starting with 2004’s genre shifting EP Incognition and after some substantial line-up changes, the band decided to play a form of progressive, technical melodic death metal. […]
The End has been relatively quiet in 2006 thus far, but with August and beyond unveiling amazing releases like Agalloch, Unexpect, Giant Squid, Virgin Black and Stolen Babies albums, The End looks to again to back on track and dominate year end lists with their brand of superbly unclassifiable music. Starting with Agalloch’s third masterpiece, […]
Album number three from this highly underrated Italian Melodic Death metal band that features Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid of Soilwork fame on vocals, and ol’ Bjorn has to be pissed that his little Italian side project blows his full time band out of the water.Yeah I said it. Disarmonia Mundi, and this album especially, blows (recent) […]
Unfortunately, despite Victory Records spurt of semi metal here recently, (Beneath The Sky, Emmure), Florida’s A Day to Remember, following up their tepidly commercial debut, And Their Name Was Treason, deliver a predictably mundane yet Victory styled sophomore album that will appeal to the Hot Topic crowd. Whereas label mates Beneath The Sky seem genuinely […]
You’ve got to give FASSW some credit for trying something a bit new here. After the incredibly heavy debut EP, Not One Word Has Been Omitted, the Ohio act had a bit of a line up change with vocalist Will Jackson coming over from St. Louis act End Of All and bringing with him a […]
San Diego’s Cattle Decapitation have always been in the periphery of my death metal vision, lurking outside my favorite band circle, inching closer with every release due to my usual lack of affinity for grindcore. However, with Karma. Bloody. Karma Cattle Decapitation have burst into the circle, wide eyed and drooling with a full on […]
Rising from the tragic ashes of Windir, Norway’s Vreid (Wrath) continue to move away from the pagan/Viking tones of Windir and build on the fine debut, Kraft.Pitch Black Brigade is a black metal album at its dark, pulsing heart, but it’s a bold and creative form of black metal that introduces some grimy black ‘n’ […]