I’ve interviewed Alestorm twice over the years, both at this very site. And in both interviews, legendary Brit fantasy metal act Bal-Sagoth comes up as a huge influence on Alestorm’s Chris Bowes. Now, he developed that influence a little bit in his power metal outfit Gloryhammer, but I’ve been waiting for him to truly flesh […]

I rather enjoyed 2019s Tyrannotophia, from this Dutch downtempo band, as it ended up being one of the better deathcore/ downtempo releases I have still heard. Then I found the follow-up EP, Dawn of Curruption a bit boring, and the band got surpassed by label mates Bound In Fear as the best band in the […]

In my 20 plus years of music ‘journalism’,  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting lots of folks at shows, for interviews, over the phone, etc. However, a few dudes standout out as absolutely the nicest , chillest guys I’ve met; all the chaps from Between the Buried and Me, Carnifex drummer Shawn Cameron, and Mike […]

I had high hopes for this, the second album from Sweden’s Deathswarm. It’s on FDA records, which is almost always a good sign. !t features members of cult Swedish act Sarcasm, and the promotional materials threw out words like ‘Bolt Thrower’ and ‘Dismember’. And even after opening tracks “We Still Burn” and “Unshackle the Jackal”, […]

Oh Spotify, you know me so well. Your algorithms get me. Your daily playlists are the perfect blend of stuff you know that I already like, and stuff you think I might like, but and occasionally throw something in my Daily Mix that makes me instantly buy stuff, case and point, when you played “Awakening […]

So I’m finally getting to a couple of FDA Record’s releases from earlier this summer, Deathswarm’s Forward Into Oblivion, and this, the third full length album from Greece’s Rapture, a band I have not heard before. Both deliver what you’d expect from FDA Records at this point, but Rapture certainly has a bit of a […]

You kind of know what you are getting into here from the get-go: the band name taken from a Vlad Tepes song, the album title, the corpse painted, armored promo shots of lone Finnish member, Lord Vrăjitor, (also of Old Sorcery and doom act Musta Risti) the logo, the cool artwork, prior releases named Burning […]

Wow, there is a lot to unpack from this Italian duo’s third EP, Царепоклонство – Il culto degli Zar (Cult of The Tsars). At its core, it’s symphonic black metal. Musically, I’m reminded of 2 recent symphonic black metal EPs that were a little out side the box; First Lamentari’s Missa pro Defuncrtis from last […]

In theory, I should have been all over this release, the debut from Oregon’s Felled (formerly known as Moss of Moonlight). It’s Cascadian, atmospheric black metal with a violin. Not an occasional violin, but like My Dying Bride, Exulansis or Hung, a full-on, full-time, violin, courtesy of Tiffany Holliday who along with some of the […]

Every time I’m ready to signal the death knell for deathcore, along comes a release that kinda gets me excited about the genre again, whether it’s a veteran band like Despised Icon coming back from the dead or a newcomer like Anime Terror. Right now it happens to be the Unique Leader duo of Mental […]

I have to admit I’m a little bored of brutal death metal. Especially the stuff Comatose puts out on the regular basis; gurgle, squeal, rape, cunt, gore, blast etc. I  mean I don’t dislike it, there is a time and a place for it, but the last album they released that remotely stuck with me […]

I’ve reviewed both the prior albums from Indiana’s Yellowtooth, fronted by the ever-busy Pete Clemens (Invasion, Corporation SS, Nocturnal Torment), each better than the predecessor, and that trend continues with album number 3 (complete with a redesigned logo), a full-on jump to the next level in quality. Describing Yellowtooth is difficult as they shift around […]

Thank goodness for variant releases. The CD version of this French band’s second effort somehow passed me by last year. But here’s to second chances, as War Anthem Records has picked up the vinyl version of one of the better Swedish, HM2 sounding bands of the last couple of years. If you are a fan […]

I rather enjoyed the 2017 debut, Flesh Hammer Prophecy, from this German Dismember-loving band. However, I somehow completely missed the 2019 follow-up, The Harvest, (which has since been rectified) where the band made the jump from FDA Records to Metal Blade, much like Entrails, and have now unleashed album number 3. From the opening strains of […]

I’m not gonna lie. I grabbed this debut album promo as it said it was current and former members of Allegaeon,  Unflesh (who recently released one of my favorite albums of the year so far) and Seven Spires, and I was really hoping it was vocalist Adrienne Cowan. However, it was not, but still it […]

I’m really enjoying what French label, Antiq Records is doing of late. I first discovered them with 2019s Par le sang versé from Véhémence, which made my 2019 year-end list. And now, here is 2021, they have a trio of excellent releases that could all end up on my year-end list from Hanteroz, Ascète, and […]

So here is my second American symphonic metal album released this spring, the other being Dead World Reclamation‘s solid The Black Dahlia Murder with keyboards effort, Aura of Iniquity. I have no idea what or who a Wythersake is (google was no help), but on their debut album they offer up some solid if unspectacular […]

In folklore/mythology, a cambion is the unholy offspring of a Succubus or Incubus and a human sexing it up. In this case, for this particular Cambion, the Succubus is The Netherlands’ Centurian (yes, I made Centurian the female sex-demon in this scenario) and that human vessel is Pete Helmkamp of Angelcorpse/Abhomine fame as this Texas […]

Listen, I’ll be quite upfront- Heralds of Strife is my most anticipated album of the year. Both the previous albums from this criminally underrated Indonesian black metal act, (2015s Homeward Path and 2018s Fortress of Primal Grace) were my top albums of the year respectively. So this review not going to be very objective, as […]

As I made clear in my review of 2018s Nyárutó, Hungary’s Dalriada is one of my new favorite discoveries of the last few years. Their infectious brand of bouncy but still crunchy, ethnic folk metal is just fun as heck even after 10 albums. And album number 11 is no different. Continuing the seasonal/month named […]

The tragic death of Entombed/Entombed AD/Firespawn/Comecon vocalist LG Petrov (RIP), has me digging into any recent, HM2, Sunlight Sounding death metal I can find in the teethofthedivine promo inbox. And 3, in particular, have caught my ear early in 2021; Endseeker’s Mount Carcass, the LP reissue of Iron Flesh‘s second album, Summoning the Putrid (I […]

Throne is a relatively new blackened death metal band (2017) from the depths of Michigan with members from other local acts like Winterus, Mourning Wolf and Inevitable Frost. But Throne is clearly the new prime focus of the members, and deservedly so, as it’s a blistering debut album of searing, militant and commanding black/death metal. […]

Like many, I’ve been waiting on a new Vildhjarta album for almost a decade now as the band has yet to release anything other than a few teasers and track or an EP since 2011’s, Masstaden. But little did I know there has been a perfectly good (and more productive) stand-in band lurking in the […]

Generally speaking, when Black Metal introduced classically inspired symphonics (Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle fo Filth,  etc) to its frosty or satanic visages in the early 90ss, it was broad, epic, Wagnerian, tempestuous brush strokes that matched the more often than not, darker atmospheres with regal bombast. Some exceptions came about as symphonic black metal branched […]

You have to hand it to Memoriam, the Bolt Thrower drummer Martin Hearns tribute band featuring original Bolt Thrower vocalist Karl Willets  and long time Benediction member Frank Healy; 4 albums in 4 years, same cover artist (Dan Seagrave) and almost the same line up for the whole time (only former BT Drummer Andy Whale […]