The harsh winters and glorious landscapes, in Romania, are not only hiding the hardworking citizens of this particular country, but are also known to house vampires.  That’s right those long toothed bastards, feasting on the blood, of their human prey, in the wee hours of the morning, before the sun comes up.  However for the last decade or so, the vampire population has been slowly diminishing.  It seems that the brutality of Romania’s death metal act, Necrovile, has been the cause of this.  Calin Paraschiv, Necrovile’s guitarist/vocalist/bassist, had enough of the vampire’s feasting on his fellow friends and family members, that he said ‘enough is enough’.  In 2009 he unleashed The Pungency of Carnage, a brutal, yet primitive death metal debut, with his band Necrovile.  This album crushed a lot of the vampire population, the music too brutal for them to endure. 

Danish blackened death thrash merchants, Deus Otiosus return with their 3rd full length, Rise, and second album with the awesome Deepsend Records. When Graham told me he had signed them a few years ago I had just purchased their 2010 debut, Murderer. To this day I still feel this is their best album. A monstrous […]

Lacerated Enemy records sent me one of their releases, not too long ago, The Murderous Inception EP, from Australian one man death metal machine Gaped. The man behind Gaped is Ryan Huthnance. He programs the drums, plays the instruments and does the vocals. Whole nine yards. I found a lot of old school Cannibal Corpse influence on the EP, which also incorporates some original guitar tones and well placed groove sections. The music is mostly mid-paced to a fast death/thrash pace and I really enjoy this EP. Well produced and well written, simply, it kicks serious arse! Ryan is now working on the debut full-length for Gaped and I’m sure it will be just as great as the EP. So pick up the EP, fire up some Outback steak and blooming onions and read this interview with Ryan Huthnance, from Gaped.

Astral Domine is an Italian power metal band and Arcanum Gloriae is their debut album.  After a huge build up instrumental/intro, “Holy Nights” comes on with an acoustic opening before going into a cool power metal infused double bass gallop. Guitars sound really good and so do the keyboards. The emphasis throughout the album is symphonic […]

Remember the likes of Cryptic Slaughter, Wehrmacht and Beyond Possession, from years past??  Well Gammacide, from Texas, kind of got lost in the shuffle back in the day, which is a shame, since their only album, Victims of Science was a brutal blend of thrash, hardcore influences and blast beats. Also some Rigor Mortis influence, […]

Cognitive is a brutal technical death metal hailing from New Jersey.  I met guitarist, Rob Wharton, through Internal Bleeding guitarist, Chris Pervelis, last year and Rob and I hit it off pretty quickly with our sarcastic sense of humor.  He sent me their ep, The Horrid Swarm and I was an instant fan.  I met up with him on their tour with Wormed, last fall, and was able to talk at length with him, regarding the band and everyday life.  Cognitive put on a blistering set that night and it was awesome to see them crush!  I even picked myself up a shirt, that has some vicious looking demon on it, with sharp teeth, giving a gruesome smile.  Scares the hell outta my kids everytime I wear the shirt.

A while back I was chatting with Bob Bagchus from Soulburn, ex-Asphyx and I asked him, in an interview, about what it would be like for Asphyx to do a blast beat and than go into an abrupt doom laden part, that I thought it would be pretty interesting.  He said he was not opposed to the idea, however he was fairly certain it probably would not happen.  So than I get Philadelphia’s own, Trench Rot’s debut album Necronomic Warfare and was like the band is in my head, because they did just that.  The heavy doom laden crushing bulldozer sound of Asphyx and Bolt Thrower is prevalent on the album, however than the band will go into a vicious blast beats.  The timing of the tempo shifts is dramatic and really adds to the intensity of this excellent debut album.

Internal Bleeding-so where do I go with this intro…Well the band has been around for over 20 years, in various formats with various members.  I bought their ’92 demo, Invocation of Evil, from guitarist Chris Pervelis, at a show back then.  I was already friends with drummer Bill Tolley and saw IB countess times in NY opening up for a lot of bands.  Chris was the epitome of the DIY mentality and his passion for the scene and IB was and still is undeniable.  This was one of my favorite demos, when I packed my gear and left for college and cranked this sucker all the time.  Imagine that graduating in ’94 with a Bachelor’s Degree and than seeing local record store, Slipped Disc promoting an IB flyer about them seeking a new singer.  They put me through hell in the practice sessions, just wanting me to get better but also seeing if I was the right fit and it turned out I was.  I was in IB from ’94-’97, played countless shows and toured with Immolation and Six Feet Under throughout the U.S. and Canada. I was on the first 2 IB albums, Voracious Contempt and The Extinction of Benevolence.  We saw a lot of stuff together, including a wrongful multi million dollar civil lawsuit that was eventually thrown out but took a huge toll on us.  The period I was with IB was some of the greatest moments of my life, meeting fans, being best friends with my fellow band mates and conquering cities and having a blast with the bands.  Little did we know all these years later how IB would influence a generation of bands.  IB put their stamp on what is now called slam death metal. 

In 1991 Wild Rags Records released the debut album from Los Angeles, California, grind/punk act Nausea.  I bought it on cassette and cd.  The album is essential grind and we all know that guitarist/singer, Oscar Garcia, had already sang on one of the greatest grindcore albums of all time, World Downfall, from Terrorizer, in 1989.  […]

Near Death Condition is a brutal Swiss death metal band who have just released their 3rd brutal offering, Evolving Towards Extinction. It’s one of the best in brutal tech death metal for 2014, for sure and the band has grown quite a lot since their debut album, Delusional Perception of Reality back in 2004. Their second album, in 2011, The Disembodied – In Spiritual Spheres, was one of the standout releases for that year. However the band expanded on that sound, became heavier and added a human drummer to the mix, the new cd really crushes

California’s Deathevokation released The Chalice of Ages, back in 2007. It has been finally repressed and comes with a bonus second disc containing their infamous 2005 Blood demo, their split eps (with Graveyard and Lie In Ruins) and some live songs. All of their music ever recorded is on here and I have to say when I […]

Hiss From The Moat is a pretty intense death metal band from Italy. Incorporating brutal blackened death metal, alongside a few corish sounds, similar to Whitechapel, but by and large this is ferocious evil death metal. Their debut 2013 album, Misanthropy is quite a brutal offering and there are a lot of brutal elements on the album. While there are plenty of blast beats and such the band does give the songs a chance to breathe. There are some incredible groove elements that are beyond heavy and just kicks ass.

Convulse return from the grave with their long over due 3rd album, Evil Prevails.  I had never heard the band before until recently until a friend recommended I get up off my rear and get the reissue of their 1991 debut, World Without God and I love the album.  I heard their second album, Reflections […]

Cognitive is an up and coming young band from New Jersey, playing death metal that is of the brutal variety with a strong emphasis on technicality.  Their self released 2012 ep, The Horrid Swarm is an incredible piece of Tri-State area brutality.  They have finally secured a record deal with Spanish label, Pathologically Explicit Recordings; […]

Thanatos were the first extreme metal band to burst onto the scene, from the Netherlands, in 1984. As any band that has been around for so long they have had their highs and lows in the metal scene, seeing the band breaking up in 1992, then reforming 7 years later. I first heard the band in 1990/91 with their debut album, Emerging from the Netherworlds and I really enjoyed their blend of thrash metal with sprinklings of death metal. The band would then take their songwriting to another level on their 1992 album, Realm of Ecstasy, with even more memorable songs and the death/thrashiness still kicking asses all over the place. Their reformation album, Angelic Encounters, in 2000, is a phenomenal piece of music but the production, during that time period, hindered the drum sound quite a bit. That album saw more of an emergence of their old school death metal influences. 2004 saw the band expand on their brutality as well as having a pretty sick looking album cover, with Undead.Unholy.Divine. Justified Genocide, in 2009, saw Thanatos just getting better as the years ticked on by.

Angelic Encounters 8 long years had passed since the second album, Realm of Ecstasy, was released from Thanatos and I had eagerly anticipated Angelic Encounters, but was let down by the production and this had nothing to do with the songs, as they are some of the best the band had ever done.  Armed with […]

Sweden’s Sorcery is considered one of the more obscure founding fathers of the Swedish death metal sound.  This compilation was released 2 years ago, but towards the end of 2013 Hells Headbangers Records reissued this onto a deluxe 2 cd set, with a new cover and this includes all their demo material. Disc 1 contains:  […]

Without going into an entire back story of Thomas (Warrior) Gabriel Fischer’s musical back story, I will save that for my forthcoming interview with him, it is undeniable the impact he has had on the metal community.  The Celtic Frost reformation album from 2006, Monotheist, is one of my all time favorite extreme metal albums […]

Finland’s Demilich are considered a legendary band, yet only released 1 album, the 1993, Nespithe.  How can this be??  Well if you have lived under a rock your entire existence and never heard this album, you need to be dealt with.  This is a classic album in the sense that after its release it is […]

Last year when Lacerated Enemy Records were back in business, one of the smartest things Zdenek did was sign Arizona brutal slam death metal act, Necrambulant. The band unleashed Infernal Infectious Necro-Ambulatory Pandemic, their debut album, which contains 8 vile gore soaked secretions that can give any band a run for their money, when it comes to sheer heaviness. The music is well crafted with extremely memorable songs. Plus what more could you want than the absolutely disgusting toilet bowl brown effect vocals that will fill your ears with filth and pustulating sores? The answer is nothing, because, as I stated in my review, not too long ago, this album is one of the heaviest and best slam death metal albums I have heard in a long time and I’ve pretty much heard ‘em all.

Cognizance is a brutal technical death metal duo from the UK.  Their 2013 debut release was a 4 song ep that the record label just sent me and my god this is some of the best and most memorable tech-death metal music you will hear.  The ep features some guest musicians, with The Faceless drummer […]

Los Angeles Californian, grind/punk/crust act Nausea, FINALLY return with their sophomore album, hell it’s been over 2 decades since the unleashing of Crime Against Humanity, for crissakes.  But we know how life is.  It’s really tough to keep a band going, especially when you throw in life responsibilities, on top of band responsibilities.  I will […]

Chalk up yet another winner in the Finnish death metal community, with Desecresy, a 2 piece act. In 5 years they have released 2 full length albums. The 2010, Arches of Entropy and 2012 The Doom Skeptron are among some of the finest death metal you will find anywhere. I agree with Tommi’s answer, when you read it, that they do have a strong Bolt Thrower influence. This is in terms of their rumbling mid paced heaviness that steamrolls all in its path, taking no prisoners. The band also has a thick Finnish atmosphere in terms of the riffs in that they’re heavy, memorable and played with feeling.

Hailing from AustraliaGaped is 1 man death metal project, from Ryan Huthnance, & is some killer death metal.  He was formerly in Mortal Sin and my forthcoming interview with him will delve into how he does all the instruments, etc… The Murderous Inception is a 6 song ep that all lovers of Chris Barnes era […]

2008 saw the emergence of this Arizona based guttural death metal act, that due to line-up troubles saw the band almost breaking up. Necrambulant put the pieces back together and their signing to Lacerated Enemy Records helped bring about Infernal Infectious Necro-Ambulatory Pandemic, their debut album. If you have bands like Epicardiectomy, Abominable Putridity or […]