And so the killer, 2021 Bolt Thrower/ Hail of Bullets worship/homage continues, this time from notable Australian duo, Dave Haley (drums/recording) and Jason Peppiatt (vocals, guitar, bass, artwork) of Psycroptic. And if the prospect of these two delivering 8 songs about various battles in history doesn’t give you a howitzer-sized boner, then move along. Of […]

Back in 2016, New Hampshire’s Vattnet Viskar looked poised to break out in a BIG friggin’ way. While genre darlings Deafheaven were indeed the face and forefront of a blooming Blackgaze scene, the Granite Staters had made some giant strides to make a name for themselves in An increasingly packed field, leading up to 2015’s […]

“Come up front! You’re going to do it later anyway! Just do it now!” This was the beckon of Wolf King’s frontman Tim Wilson when I saw his band open for Conjurer, Entheos, and Rivers of Nihil. I did not answer this call. Well, at least not favorably. See, I’m about 5’6”, was sitting at […]

What a Time to Be Alive, indeed, Werewolves. If you missed last year’s  The Dead Are Screaming from these guys, you’re a damned fool and no friend of mine. If you had told me before this promo dropped in my hands (figuratively, of course) that we would see another album from these Australians so soon, […]

Listen, hear me out. 2020 was bullshit. I KNOW! Wild claim. One that certainly hasn’t been used to frame the context of endless metal album reviews. No sir. This is Grade-A original material here! So, why do I bring the 2020 thing up THIS time? Well, for a while there, it seemed like maybe, JUST […]

“That was filthier than expected” is not a phrase often uttered as a compliment. Unless, of course we’re talking about Pittsburgh Nellie (a Welsh whore who can do things with her one good arm that would make you forget that thing on her neck). It is, however, frequently a compliment when it comes to metal. […]

Virginia’s Foretoken is the new technical, symphonic black/melodic death metal bans from Steve Redmond (guitars/orchestration) and Dan Cooley (vocals), who both serve in technical death metal band Cyaegha (whose debut Steps to Descent, I reviewed here way back in 2009). They are aided by drummer Hannes Grossman (Obscura, Necrophagist),  as well as a couple of […]

Fires in the Distance just a few short years ago could have been a metaphor for the United States. Everything was going to burn, but it not yet. I doubt that was the inspiration behind the band’s moniker, but if it was and they decided to change it today, might I recommend the more appropriate […]

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 […]

Originally self released last year, but picked up by Prosthetic Records for a CD and gorgeous baby blue/purple swirl LP, Eternity’s End is the debut from this Ohio based melodic death metal trio featuring 2 members of Viking metal band Hammer Horde and 1 from Blood of the Prophets. Don’t let the term melodic death […]

Werewolves is a new blackened death metal super group of sorts from Australia featuring Sam Bean (The Berzerker, The Senseless,The Antichirst Imperium ) on vocals/bass, Matt Wilcock (The Berzerker, Abramalin, The Antichirst Imperium) and most notably drummer Dave Haley (Abramelin, The Amenta, Psycroptic, Ruins). According to the promotional materials , the album was written and […]

I don’t want to kickstart an existential crisis by getting too far into how old I am, but let’s just say that if I had a dime for all the different fads and trends that the world of heavy music has gone through in my lifetime, I’d have a lot more free time to impart […]

Sometimes as a reviewer social networking helps.  A YouTube link from a record label might pop across your timeline and give you the choice to listen to or not.   Thus was the case with Atlanta’s Paladin and their video for their tune, “Shoot for the Sun”.  First off, the riffing is so over the top […]

To me, the career path of Australia’s Psycroptic has somewhat mirrored Poland’s Decapitated: 7 albums in, early career highlighted by a couple of critically acclaimed technical death metal albums, then both had a divisive vocalist change with Psycroptic moving to the Jason Pepiatt  and Decapitated moving from Sauron to Cowan then a slight style shift into less tech death metal realms. Those familiar […]

So two major label, modern tech death metal bands are going to be vying for your attention this spring. On Metal Blade we have Rivers of Nihil and their  ambitiously evolved Where Owls Know My Name, on Prosthetic Records,  we have Orlando’s ‘philosophical’ (not all of the band members are Christian),  progressive death metal new comers, […]

I’ve been keeping tabs on this Minnesota act since the demise of With Dead Hands Rising, one of the oos early and better deathcore/metalcore acts, as they feature some former WDHR members. And finally they have released a follow up to 2014s self released debut,  Poison of the Earth, and it’s quite the follow up. […]

In my year end list for this site, the two albums I put on my “Please Don’t Disappoint in 2017” list were Analepsy (the first glimpses of that one sound incredible), and Hour of Penance. I have been a big fan of Hour of Penance since The Vile Conception and the two LPs following that […]

Speaking for myself and when listening to metal, I look for the energy, speed and aggression, well most of the time, there’s also time for nuance and subtleties in the darkness but still nothing is quite like in your face aggression, speed and bombast. Spain’s Noctem have been on my radar for a bit, I […]

Despite playing Swedish death metal, my favorite genre ever, the 2015 debut EP, The Insurrection, from these veteran Swedes really didn’t grab my attention and seemed a little like Prosthetic Records desperately dipping their toe belatedly into the genre to grab some of its resurgent popularity. So here is the full length follow up, and it appears […]

Crikey. If you thought the second album, Contradiction, from these Swiss dark metallers was ambitious at 2 CDs and 80 minutes, wait till you get a load of their third album, Triangle. 3 CDs, exactly  100 minutes, each CD clocking in at 33 minutes and change and each covering a different musical style and concept. You have CD I: The […]

Last Poem/First Light, the 2013 debut from these NYC blackgazers, was a gorgeous affair, layering dramatic (and real) orchestration and choirs on top of a Deafheaven-y black metal backbone. Since signing on with Prosthetic Records, the band is reaping the rewards, and has increased the orchestra size from 10 to 30 for their second release – which is a full-on […]

Switzerland’s Schammasch made quite stir last year with their second album, Contradiction (it made my 2014 year end list), so Prosthetic Records has reached back and dug up the band’s 2010 Black Tower Productions debut Sic Lvceat Lvx  (meaning ‘Thus, let the Light shine’), given it a nice new mix and remaster and new cover. And […]

Blackened quartet Wayfarer hail from Colorado, and put on a melodic, mental institution clinic on their debut Children of the Iron Age.  Formerly an independent release, Children of the Iron Age has been picked up for CD/LP distribution by Prosthetic Records, which should help the band’s mixture of midtempo, tuneful chaos, despondent doom and rural, […]

After listening to Harbinger, I am kicking myself for not having listened to Mutilation Rites earlier. Apparently this is their second full-length. From what I can gather of their previous work, Harbinger seems to represent a significant step in a more caustic, less melodic direction in the vein of many a band nowadays purveying in […]

So, if like me you were underwhelmed by the last Triptykon record, here is another Swiss metal act to fulfill your needs for controlled, slower, moody and progressive dark metal that is a real undiscovered gem in 2014s metal releases. Contradiction is Schammasch’s second album albeit my first introduction to this trio, but it won’t be my […]