The first time I heard The Ukraine’s Hate Forest was back in the early 2000s. I had found a Russian MP3 site that had Arkona, Nokturnal Mortum, Lucifugum, Astrofaes, and hundreds of other European bands I had never heard of; Hate Forest is one of those bands that I latched onto because with a name […]

The forests of Eastern Europe hold secrets, the landscape wears the scars of battle like badges of honor; trenches and bunkers dot the countryside where years of war have done their worst. This region has contributed numerous bands to the Pagan Black Metal scene over the years, they stand out for their use of traditional […]

Sometimes you hear an album, and it awakens something in you. It pulls you in with long, skeletal arms and shows you sights you never imagined. Cursed lands where Black Metal reigns supreme, and the sky is always overcast with storm clouds. Allow me to introduce Wormgod, two insane Motherfuckers from Bucharest playing uncompromising Black […]

New year, new reviews, right? That’s the name of this tune, anyway. December of 2022 had a lot of surprises, and this tight little cassette split was one of them. Seven tracks, the longest being Fluids’ “Heaven-Sent” (3:17) and the shortest being Nunslaughter’s “It’s You I Hate” (.31). Neither band needs an introduction, Nunslaughter has […]

What do you get when two powerhouse Death Metal legends come together? A fucking blistering Death Metal album that would make the nineties blush. Marc Grewe (ex- Morgoth, Insidious Disease) and Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Revolting, Ribspreader) have joined together to create Leper Colony, a healthy slab of chest-bursting brutality that has… melody and manages to […]

Occasionally I get an album that paints a picture of the world, angry and frustrated; wishing that shit would just get better while summarily knowing that it won’t and will only get worse. A bleak outlook on humanity is how I would describe Snipers of Babel’s powerhouse “Gabriel”.  After producing the “Redemption” ep and a […]

Formed in 2004 Aldaaron are legends of the French Black Metal scene. In fact, it’s hard for me to talk about the likes of Deathspell Omega, Anorexia Nervosa or Ad Hominem without mentioning these Grenoble, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes based titans. With their initial full-length Nous Reviendrons Immortels (2010) and follow up Suprême Silence (2012) then nothing for […]

My love for French Black/Death Metal is not a secret by this point. Will Fall of Seraphs grow on me like a slimy fungus? I mean, 2022 has turned out to be quite the year for grimy, bleak Metal. From Dust to Creation sees Fall of Seraphs Blackened/Death machine blasting like there’s no tomorrow or […]

I’m sure you’re familiar with the snare crack at the beginning of Cannibal Corpse’s “Devoured by Vermin”, 1,2,3, 4… BLAAAAAARGGGGHHHH! Well, that’s how Sedimentum start off their debut Suppuration Morphogenesiaque, with a quick snare count and then the brutality of “Krypto Chronique II” KICKS (yes capitals) into automatic, 0-60 overdrive. The track slows to a […]

I realize that some bands just aren’t for everyone. Japan has always been a solid part of the world of Metal. Loudness and Sigh are the first two that come to mind for me. Metalucifer, not so much. A side project conceived by Gezol (Sabbat), Metalucifer have a body of work that dates to 1996 […]

France has a dark history. Uprisings, wars, and more wars; have left the countryside pockmarked with craters, and flowers grow in the places where blood had been spilled. It makes sense that France has a solid Black Metal history steeped in that revolutionary blood. Deathspell Omega, Mutiilation, Aldaaron, and the infamous Black Legions; forged a […]

In the history of Death Metal, a solid debut album is a must. Bands have lived and died on the quality of that crucial first release, and luckily for international, all-female collective Castrator, they have a brutal as fuck first release that is like a Venom Prison-styled punch to the gut. Not a knockoff by any […]

Let me just say straight away that this is not a metal album. Its hard to describe what it is, exactly. Argh! Ok, its fair to say I have never done any sort of Classical music review… ever. While this is a Satyricon album, and their name is on the tin. This is part of […]

One-man bands are sometimes a hit-or-miss affair. I often picture one dude frantically recording everything at the same time, which I know isn’t true (looking at Burzum). Turm is a singular affair conceived by Tyrst and I have got to say it’s not disappointing at all. This has a classic Black Metal feel, and from […]

When I saw that these two bands were doing this 2 song split, my ears perked up. The early nineties are considered the golden years of Black Metal with so many bands emerging from the pits of hell to either reign or fall. nd these 2 bands don’t need an introduction because they are titans […]

I’ve always been a Gwar fan. The Brockie albums are classics, the first two, Hell-o and Scumdogs of the Universe are undeniable required listening. Their shows are legendary, copious amounts of blood, piss and sperm being sprayed across the crowd with wild, reckless abandon. They were the last show I saw before the world went […]

The first time I heard Indiana’s Demiricous was their debut One (Hellbound). I remember thinking that if the Bay Area bands had an orgy; Demiricous would be the outcome of that unholy union. They are undeniably heavy, with razor sharp riffs and often soaring solos, some impressive drum work makes it a total package that’ll […]

I had never heard of these guys prior to this release, full disclosure; I didn’t know they existed. They’ve been around since 1999, and since demo Opus I of that year, they’ve been extremely busy putting out a veritable shit load of music including 3 Eps, 4 split albums, 2 live albums and 6 full […]

Very little is known about French Black Metal collective Deathspell Omega. Its members are unknown, there was a singer change due to a change in Satanic views; add to that absolutely no live performances… ever. France has had a solid output of Black Metal over the years with Anorexia Nervosa, Blut Aus Nord, Mutiilation, and […]

Writing a review is a bit like dissecting a body. The initial sentences are like the first incisions, same with the opening tracks of an album. An album opener should plant the flag for the sonic terrain about to be navigated. This can be applied liberally over genres, but with a Black Metal album it […]

I love Morbid Angel, so do the guys in Azaab (pronounced “aa-zaab” which roughly translates to “cataclysm”). This isn’t a bad thing at all, and they show this love in the form of their debut album Summoning the Cataclysm. Yes, I read their bio, and Morbid Angel, Vader and Decapitated are among the bands mentioned. […]

I haven’t written a review in ages, literally seven years. I’ve come back to TOTD after only seven reviews back in 2014, and I’m super thrilled to be back, writing about metal and hearing bands I’ve never heard before. I picked Morgue Supplier for my first review back, and since I had started following vocalist/guitarist […]

I got this brutal little nugget in my email and wasn’t exactly sure what the hell I was in for. Judging a book by the cover isn’t always trustworthy in a literary sense, but with Metal you can usually gauge what your experience is going to be. So, by that rationale Sangus doesn’t disappoint; because […]

Seven years. That’s how long it’s been since there has been a new Mayhem album. Seven…Years. But I have to say that it was worth the wait, because Esoteric Warfare is a really good album and a worthy addition to their legacy. Obviously, this isn’t the Mayhem that we know from De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas […]

It’s been over twenty years since Massacre released their ground breaking album From Beyond, and just over that time period since Promise, which many of us would rather not even remember as part of their catalog. But here, I can safely say that Back From Beyond is NOT Promise, it is in fact a lesson […]