I have to admit, past the Chris Barnes era, I am hardly a Cannibal Corpse fanboy.I mean I reviewed 2009s Evisceration Plague, and have steadily picked up used versions of Gallery of Suicide, Bloodthirst and Gore Obsessed over the years, but I have not even heard 2006s Kill or 2012s Torture. It’s not that don’t care […]

Goatwhore have well and truly established themselves as a consistent, well-oiled recording and touring metal machine, with an impressive output of six albums in fourteen years (despite singer Benjamin Falgoust’s involvement as shrieker with fellow NOLA extreme metallers, Soilent Green). Constricting Rage of the Merciless is their latest effort, and is another excellent addition to […]

Deathcore poster children Whitechapel are back with  album number five, a nice shiny clean logo, a contrived album title and cover and the waning hopes of a fading genre resting on their shoulders. How will they fare? To be honest you either like Whitechapel and deathcore or you don’t, and I’m not about to convince […]

The Satanist is a tale of redemption, of perseverance.  Not solely for Nergal and Behemoth, but for this author as well.  I’ll go ahead and get the fact that I’ve been an absolute unflinching Behemoth fanboy for well over a decade now.  I love everything, the early black metal days, the masterfully blackened Grom, the […]

When samples of this relatively hyped Metal Blade release started dropping, I had several folks hit me up via email, Facebook and even Myspace telling me I should check these guys out and they were something I’d enjoy. And to some extent, they were all right: The Conscious Seed of Light is a pretty solid […]

Church of Misery are an institution. When it comes to big, bluesy doom riffs they are untouchable, and if you’re into metal and have yet to hear the band’s serial killer-inspired doom boogie then I suggest you head over to Youtube, punch in “Killifornia” and give a good listen. I’ll wait… All set? Now if […]

Over the years I’ve failed to give The Ocean much attention, and quite possibly attention they strongly deserved. Having initially learned of their existence and being purveyors of the sound championed by bands as Neurosis, Isis, Cult Of Luna, Iron Thrones and even my personal favourite from home, Helm, I made an attempt on 2007’s […]

GWAR, GWAR, GWAR… What would the world do without such a band? Regardless of what any detractors might feel or say about the Richmond, Virginia veterans, GWAR is easily one of the most important, most crucial bands in metal today. Check that: ever. Aside from putting on the best live show in the history of […]

Despite their proven ability to shift loads of albums and headline tours from their lofty position at the forefront of the modern metal scene, Michigan’s The Black Dahlia Murder continue to divide the broader metal community. To their credit the band doesn’t give a shit about detractors writing them off as a second rate At […]

A prolific band, Neaera is. Already on their sixth full-length release since forming in 2003, the German quintet is back to doing what they’ve done throughout their career, which is write solid, slightly more abrasive melodic death metal. On Ours is the Storm, the band’s first album in three years, Neaera has released possibly their […]

After two lauded albums that arguably spear headed the Swededeath revival, Sweden’s Entrails is playing with the big boys now. Residing on Metal Blade Records, (a fitting replacement for Vomitory methinks)  and sitting atop the heap of retro Swedish/Sunlight inspired death metal bands. But the pressure is now even more, especially with the all important […]

Really testing our patience with the falsetto here, and it’s not even the good kind of falsetto ala King Diamond or pre-Fight Rob Halford. Rather, Australia’s Raven Black Night have rolled out what could be one of the more purposely annoying brands of high-wattage, ball-grabbing power metal in recent memory with their sophomore Barbarian Winter. […]

Ho Hum- another semi super group plying old school Swedish death metal and amazingly this one doesn’t feature Rogga Johanssen, though it  sounds just like one of his many projects  and does feature one of his other projects’ cohorts- namely P.Myrén (Paganizer, Facebreaker) and R Karlsson (Facebreaker, Edge of Sanity, Scar Symmetry, Devian, Incapacity) – […]

Florida’s Abiotic are a deathcore band leaning more on the technical side of things, and have managed to create quite a buzz with only an EP under their belt before this outing, their first full length album. The hype got them snatched up by Metal Blade, and their style is a touch Veil of Maya, […]

Sweden’s Aeon is back with another brutal slab of their blasphemous brand of Floridian-styled death metal.  Aeons Black is their fourth album, and not a great deal has changed since dropping their Unique Leader debut Bleeding the False, back in 2005.  Aeon have never really had progression in mind, instead following a tried and true […]

Germany’s Downfall of Gaia is a new act to me and one of Metal Blade’s more recent, under the radar signings, but I was curious about this release due to the artwork and creative album title resulting in me checking out the digital promo we received. And after only a few listens, it resulted in […]

The guys in BTBAM are absolutely adamant about one ultimate goal with this very singular monkey of a release; doing whatever the heck they damned well please with absolutely each and every opportunity opening they get throughout the 70+ minute-span. They also happen to seriously succeed in the art of having the music truly express […]

If my memory doesn’t fail me, I was a pretty damned vocal fan of King of Asgard‘s even before they signed on to Metal Blade. They made an extremely impactful entrance in the industry with their first record, and were quick to establish themselves as one of the modern driving forces of the Viking metal […]

It goes without saying that The Cory Smoot Experiment is truly a fitting name for the material found on When Worlds Collide (for absolutely all the material on here is one daring science project in its own right). It was initially going to be a collaboration between Smoot and a good number of his mates […]

Evolution in metal is an interesting beast, and one that has three distinct paths for bands who decide to travel down its twisty road. Evolve too far and you risk alienating your fan base, and in extreme cases become a virtual laughingstock (Morbid Angel, Machine Head,  Cryptopsy – you all should know exactly which albums […]

The sophomore release, Formshifter, from Allegaeon refines and polishes what they had established with their debut on Fragments of Form and Function – tight, technical, groove and hook-laden riffs with catchy choruses and blazing shredding all along the fretboard and deep, commanding death growls. Unlike a lot of other technical death metal bands, that like […]

Astra is a psychedelic/progressive group from San Diego with just a couple releases under their belt, but they sure have created a mighty mature sound in the short period of time that they’ve existed. 2009’s The Weirding, the debut, was a sublime welding of earthy layers of sound with ’70s prog rock. The Black Chord […]

The round-up of dudes busting their chops behind Barnes this time around certainly is bringing the Six Feet Under sound into one much needed metamorphosis on Undead, making it one impressively varied and positively lethiferous affair that took me aback. The addition of Rob Arnold (ex-Chimaira) to the band’s ranks has been breathing a considerable […]

Cattle Decapitation is a band that has grown a lot on me the past few years.  I wasn’t keen on their early work, but starting with Karma Bloody Karma and continuing with The Harvest Floor, this vegetable-loving four piece have continued to flesh out their crushing style on Monolith of Inhumanity. What is so interesting […]

Oh Yay! Another boring release from Job For a Cowboy, however this time they add a little more nuances to their sound for a little bit of an enjoyable experience. I tend to wonder why this band gets as much attention as Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse. Because for one all their albums were utter crap […]