Returning after what many feel were two rather lackluster, sub-par albums in Anthems of Rebellion and Doomsday Machine, Sweden’s Arch Enemy is back with Rise of the Tyrant, a surprisingly (though most welcomed) impressive slab of Gothenburg influenced thrash. The chemistry of brothers Chris and Michael Amott on guitar is unmistakable and hard to match, […]
Hailing from Seattle, Himsa have returned with their fourth full length album, Summon In Thunder, their debut offering with metal giants Century Media. Like a crushing blow to the gut, Summon In Thunder delivers melodic yet heavy as a ton of bricks modern thrash that their prior releases didn’t seem to quite deliver. Johnny Pettibone’s […]
2005’s debut offering from Hurtlocker, Fear In a Handful of Dust was among my top ten favorite releases of the year – an excellent entry in the field of death/thrash, they showed a great deal of influence ranging from classic Bay Area and German thrash, to early Swedish death metal, topped off with a hint […]
Many metalheads, including myself, think that metal is approaching a second “golden age” here in the new millennium, with many new, young talented bands popping up virtually everywhere, and some even invading the mainstream. Thrash in particular, especially this year, is experiencing a rebirth of sorts, with several bands surfacing playing that classic 80’s inspired […]
The short review: Bleed Someone Dry sounds like a band of hardcore kids who worship at the alter of Pantera and Slayer. I really wish I could leave it at that, but something tells me that wont pass for a review. The World Is Falling In Tragedy is the Italian bands first full recording under […]
This is a bit of a tough review to write for me, as I dig the tunes laid out here by Italy’s Neurasthenia while playing, but as soon as it’s over I don’t remember much about it, even after 10 plus listens. This gives me mixed feelings about it leaves me wondering what to write. […]
If there’s one thing you can count on from the Danish death/thrash band Hatesphere, it’s consistency. Five albums in now, showing absolutely no signs of wearing or watering down their tried and true sound, though are beginning to display a bit more versatility, incorporating some slower, more groove oriented songs into the mix on their […]
When a band comes right out the gate with a spectacular and critically acclaimed debut album, there tends to be a great pressure in bringing forth a worthy follow up. Most bands crumple under that pressure and release a lackluster album, then either split up or spend a great deal of time trying to recreate […]
The days of true innovators are nearly over with. Sure, on occasion, a band comes along that really is completely fresh sounding and new, but those times are becoming fewer and farer in between. This is an opinion I’ve come to over time, after hearing band after band that sound like this band, this band […]
Bullet belts. Combat boots. Leather. Stone washed jeans – Reanimator’s debut EP Thrashin’ the Neighborhood reeks of these things from the moment you push play. Pure, unadulterated ‘80’s thrash metal, and more specifically, the Bay area style. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think you were listening to a thrash album from that time […]
Stomp on the accelerator and don’t let up – judging from the sounds emanating from my speakers, I’d have to guess this is the band motto for Canadian thrashers Shatterpoint. Dead Precedence is the band’s first full length album, following their 2005 EP Consequences, which is also included here as a bonus at the tail […]
Dauntless are a Helsinki, Finland based band that find their beginnings as far back as 1991. Since that time, they have gone through a few member change ups, and have recorded no less than seven demos, passing shitty record deal after shitty record deal along the way. In 2006, the band finally scored with Firebox […]
Surely there were a lot of disappointed Fear Factory fans out there when the band broke up a few years back and reformed several months later without guitarist and co-founder Dino Cazeres in the fold. Their next album, Archetype however was very promising, standing among the bands finest work, though the follow up, Transgression, was […]