Though only a 5 year wait, down from the 7 year wait for Old Morning’ s Dawn, Summoning are back with another effort of their now predictable, but effective Tolkien inspired, dungeon synth based black metal and there is very little deviation from the last few efforts. And to many, the minimalist, tinny guitars and […]

Scotland’s (I guess now Tennessee’s?) favorite Pirate sons are back with album number 5. And I have to admit after 2014s Sunset on the Golden Age, I thought Chris Bowes might be winding the project down, but boy was I wrong. No Grave But the Sea sees Bowes and co (inc new guitarist Máté Bodor) deliver […]

So Maurizio Iacono and his Kataklysm crew are back with album number 3 of his Roman themed, epic, symphonic death metal project, Ex Deo. And while album number 2, Caligula was better than the debut, Romulus, and album number 3 is similarly incremental in its improvement, I’m still not enamored with a project that I really […]

I have to hand it to Germany’s Finsterforst, purveyors of epic, rangy Bathory/Monnsorrow sounding viking/pagan metal. They have taken quite a gamble here with this EP and while it is hopefully a one off effort, it is certainly going to upset a lot of fans. What we have here is a release of 4 new, […]

I had the pleasure of interviewing Nervosa when their debut album, Victim of Yourself dropped 2 years ago, on the allabouttherock.uk site and review their album.  The ladies were accommodating and I felt that they had released such a strong album, how could they top it a mere 2 years later?? Well, they did!  These ladies thrash […]

While a fine label, Napalm Records isn’t exactly a death metal powerhouse, but with the recent release of Be’lakor‘s Vessels and now this, the third album from Germany’s Dawn of Disease, they appear to be getting into the flow. And while not into brutal, guttural death metal just yet, they have an ear for the […]

Over the course of three excellent albums, Australia’s Be’lakor rose to the forefront of the melodic death metal scene. Now some four years since their Of Breath and Bone album dropped, the lads return with their anticipated fourth offering, entitled Vessels. On something of a continuous hot streak and particularly in the context of the […]

It’s been eight years since Walls of Jericho released their last album, The American Dream, at the height of the metalcore movement and when female vocalists in extreme metal bands were still gathering steam. That release had more in common with the thrash revival of the time; the band was cleaner and more concise. Well, here […]

Ive enjoyed watching Germany’s Finsterforst (Dark Forest) evolve from a pretty blatant, if incredibly enjoyable Equilibrium clone  on their first two releases into a more epic, rangy and cinematic mix of Moonsorrow and Bathory, as heard on 2012s Rastlos, where the band delivered vast 20 minute songs and more epic orchestration, clean choirs and mid paced […]

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, Canada has a killer, underrated folk viking metal scene; Battlesoul, Vesperia , Valknacht, Will of the Ancients, Valfreya, Trollwar, Nordheim, Battlesoul, and of course Blackguard are all fine acts to rival their Finnish peers. Well, poised to make a move to the top of the scene is Toronto’s Crimson Shadows […]

The whole female fronted doom/occult rock format has reached saturation point in recent years, with it becoming more and more difficult to isolate the more credible bands with some actual decent songwriting talent amidst the scores of pretenders. Birmingham’s Alunah have been kicking around on the doom scene since 2008, but up until now have […]

Coming out of left field (well, Sweden) is the second album from Gormathon, a band I had never heard of but has provided me with an early Christmas present, as this album is absolutely phenomenal and easily one of the best I have heard all year.  Pulling all the best elements from power, thrash, melodic […]

Unique Leader, one of my favorite labels, has smashed yet another home run. The sophomore album by California tech-death metallers Inanimate Existence is an absolutely stunning effort on every level. After going through this album a few times, what struck me the most is the dense, ambient, dare I say beautiful (!) song structures and […]

Four albums into their career and Alestorm have outgrown and honed their ‘Scottish Pirate Metal’ sound and become arguably one of Scotland’s more famous metal acts. And the all important contract album, album number 4 certainly cements that with a larger than life collection of  drinking songs and Pirate-y raucous  rockers, but also a sense of impending […]

Conan have been making waves in the thriving UK doom metal scene for a number of years, making appearances at my former local, The Royal Park pub in Leeds, in a dingy basement no bigger than your living room. They were rewarded for their persistence with a slot at the esteemed Roadburn festival in April […]

The debut album from Vista Chino has arrived with minimal fuss, especially considering the pedigree of their key members. A Kyuss reunion of sorts, Peace features the killer line-up of John Garcia, Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri (since replaced by Corrosion of Conformity’s Mike Dean) and relatively unknown guitarist Bruno Fevery. Following a bitter lawsuit waged […]

Considering how popular the entire folk metal subgenre has become over the past several years, it’s a wonder how a band like Fejd can continually fly under the radar. Having been an official band for over a decade and released three full-lengths and an EP, one would think that the Swedish quintet would be more […]

In early 2007 there was a massive change within the ranks of Norwegian gothic/symphonic metal veterans Tristania. Long-time female vocalist (and face of the band) Vibeke Stene departed Tristania, which elicited shrieks of horror and shock throughout the band’s fanbase. It was assumed that nobody would be able to replace her angelic voice and carry […]

Huntress, huh. Semi-cool name, female vocals not descended from heaven on angel wings. Worth a shot. Interestingly enough, the music player has labeled Starbound Beast as Blues. This is clearly incorrect…though hoping this album would be interesting and then listening to it has caused a case of the blues. The lowdown: Starbound Beast is essentially […]

After a 7 year wait, a considerable amount of hype and build up, something strange happened to Summoning‘s eagerly awaited 7th album. After the teaser trailers, after the first song was revealed, the metal world was brimming with anticipation and then the album came out a couple of weeks ago……..and there were *crickets*. Now I […]

This actually might be the greatest album ever recorded and I’m not kidding around, either. Now, ten seconds into Energia!, the stone-faced, grizzled and too-serious metalhead out there will turn it off and squawk something along the lines of, “What the fuck is this shit?!” and quickly reach for his can of Old Milwaukee and […]

It appears Finntroll have been out troll’d. With Finntroll becoming a bit less ‘trolly’ on their latest effort Blodsvept, dumping the fur and bones in favor of a steam-punk meets Pirate of the Caribbean visage and branching out into more symphonic, circus-ish and experimental realms and less polka/humpa inspired fun (though still a fine album), […]

Christopher Bowes may be on the verge of becoming a new musical hero of mine. First he gave us Scottish pirate metal, now Scottish epic fantasy metal, and it’s just as much fun. If you’re familiar with Bowes’ other band, Alestorm, it will be no surprise that Gloryhammer’s music is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it’s […]

Have to feel some type of pity for Norway’s Audrey Horne. Thanks to the current onslaught of retro-minded, bellbottom-lovin rock, they’ve cast as an afterthought while Rival Sons, Graveyard, and Witchcraft prance around like they’ve been doing this since the 70’s, while AH has been doing it since 2002, which in some weird twisted way, […]

Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve waited almost 4 years, but it’s finally arrived:  the new Behemoth album!  Nergal has thankfully returned back to full health following his illness, and he and his fellow band mates are… wait… what is that?  You’re telling me this is NOT the new Behemoth?!?  Huh?!  Get through the intro, and there’s […]