HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS. We need to talk about this. As I’m sure you’re all well aware, the world of metal is often filled with dominating trends – a band will grab everyone’s attention and a specific subgenre will start blowing the hell up as record labels scramble to find the next best example. As […]

OK OK OK OK WAIT. Just what the sweet hell is this?! Our friend Erik T messages me recently, telling me to check out this Cynik Scald promo that just came in. Doesn’t say anything else, no indication to what I might be getting myself into here, but the guy knows my tastes pretty damn […]

Oh gosh. Here were go again. Remember last year when Greyhawk surprised you, me and everyone else with an album that looked like it should just be some innocent, nerdy fun – and turned out to be one of the most surprisingly compelling and righteous traditional power metal albums of the year? Well damned if […]

It’s always fun reading through the greetings that bands, promoters and labels write when sending out promotional materials. There’s a lot of “ETERNAL HAILS!” and “GREETINGS!” and “Dear media partners,” followed by some description like “born from the feral wastelands of Poland…” or superlative tropes like “the metal underground’s best kept secret…” yadda yadda yadda. […]

“What’s up with that fart box guitar tone?” This is the response I received from one of my best friends when I sent him the promo video for the Bloody Hammers song “What’s Haunting You.” He is a producer, engineer, musician, sometimes front of house for a large metal band, and an overall audiophile. His […]

What happens when you get members of Gravehill together, throw in some female vocals, keyboards and the drummer from past bands like Morgion and Crimson Relic?  Well you get a doom metal outfit called Stygian Crown releasing their self-titled debut album….and it’s heavy. This is a 2020 release and yes I know it’s 2021, but […]

Welp, that didn’t take long. Maybe things really are looking up? I know everyone had a shit 2020 – I won’t bore you with the personal details of my god-forsaken year – but while lots of folks have been ready to kick 2020 off a cliff and welcome the new year with open arms, I […]

2020 has been an unbelievable year for the new wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, with the last quarter of the year especially being a veritable battleground of bands vying to solidify their place on everyone’s year-end list. Wytch Hazel, Spirit Adrift, Megaton Sword, and of course Eternal (FUCKING) Champion have all landed monstrous haymakers that […]

I like tradition in my metal, just like everything else. In my shaving (dry shave only), my food (well done steak with ketchup only, please), and of course sex (missionary only-no eye contact ever, for reproduction purposes only). While none of that’s true, it’s also not true when it comes to my metal. However, I […]

Here’s the deal. As I write to you, I’m fucking stressed. Aside from some of the normal holiday season bullshit, I’m also currently facing a reality where, due to a whole goddamn mess of circumstances, there’s a very strong chance I’m going to be working out of my car every other week for the foreseeable […]

Chalk up another winner from the Cruz del Sur Music record label.  Witch Hazel was a band from 2007-2020, but now a new band has been formed called SpellBook.  Hailing from Pennsylvania Spellbook play an earlier form of Heavy Metal mixed in with NWOBHM and some slight power metal elements.  Think: Blue Oyster Cult/early Maiden/Priest/Rainbow/Angelwitch […]

Is Kristoffer Göbel really tall? This is the second full length from his project called Six Foot Six and I am going to assume it is some sort of height reference. Perhaps he and I can tour sometime with my project the Five Foot Six Project (not a thing). This is the second album from […]

‘Tis the year 2020 – and the world, more than ever, needs a hero. From the depths of despair, uncertainty and great tyranny, rises a champion. An unflinching, uncompromising force of great power. An iron-willed warrior spurred on by mighty battle hymns of honor and glory, marching boldly into a sadistic hellscape without the burden […]

It happens every year; temperatures start cooling down, the leaves start changing colors, days start having an oddly not-at-all-unpleasant feeling of melancholic gloom as the world’s flora begins its decent towards decay – and inevitably my music rotation turns to that of a much doomier variety. Ghost Brigade and Sentenced are always big fall time […]

Ohhhhhhhh, yessssss! The new Paul Bearer record. Wait, that’s not right. Pallbearer. There it is. There’s no Undertaker here. Although, this album may make you sit up like him when you hear it for the first time. So, this is another mainstream metal release that probably has received glowing reviews in Pitchfork as well as […]

I gotta hand it to Cruz del Sur – this label keeps taking me by surprise. Granted, this might be more to do with my apparent inability to just retain what is an obvious, unmistakable truth, but it seems like every time I venture into one of their new releases, I start off chuckling to […]

Andrew D’Cagna is in many bands (Nechochwen, Brimstone Coven, Icarus Witch, Unwilling Flesh etc) out of Ohio and seems to be some sort of musical maestro genius.  With Ironflame he plays all the instruments and also sings.  He does have an actual live line-up, but in terms of putting out the three Ironflame albums, Lightning Strikes the Crown in 2017, Tales of Splendor […]

Redemption can come in a lot of different forms. Maybe it’s a worker who was overlooked for a much-deserved promotion, who leaves goes on to find a better job in a better environment. Maybe it’s the closer who gave a up a game-winning home run to a bitter rival during the regular season, only to […]

I swear to Christ. I don’t know what it is, but I just cannot seem to get enough of this whole NWOTHM thing going on right now (that’s New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, for those of you who don’t know or just hate inane acronyms). I guess it’s just the overall tongue-in-cheek, no-fucks-given attitude […]

It seems inevitable that by the end of every year, we’re all grateful to be moving on… uh, wait, this seems awfully familiar… Now is a good time to cozy up to the familiar sounds of yesteryear… man, why do I feel like I’ve already done this? Why is a band called Night boasting a […]

Power metal. I don’t think there’s a single metalhead I have met who doesn’t have a soft spot for it. When speaking with other metalheads, there are many favorites who come to mind; Helloween, Blind Guardian, Sabaton, Manowar, Iced Earth, and, hell, even Judas Priest. One’s favorite or favorites sometimes has to do with when […]

Let’s just go ahead and address the elephant in the room. THAT COVER. HOLY SHIT. Listen, I’m not afraid of indulging some full-on campy fantastical Power Metal tropes. Shit, I not only reviewed Victorius’ Space Ninjas From Hell earlier in the year, I loved it. So clearly, I’m in no way above nerding the fuck […]

I’m so very happy, but I’M ALSO FUCKING PISSED. I’m happy as I always am any time I discover a new band I’ve never heard, especially one that falls in that sweet thrashy death wheelhouse that makes me all giddy and tingly inside. And I’m doubly happy to discover one that includes a female lead […]

When I discover a new act that I really connect with musically, as a completist, will get their discography and study their albums.  With today’s ever evolving and oversaturated metal scene a band must never forget to create real music, which incorporates great song writing, catchy guitar riffs and great vocals with well-placed vocal patterns. […]

Talk about a surprise band for me. This 4-piece British band has been around for close to 20 years, flying under my radar as they have released 4 prior albums to this fifth one Oak, Ash & Thorn. Dark Forest play a brand of Heavy/Power Metal. Think early Iron Maiden mixed with early Fates Warning […]