Welp, I had literally forgotten about Italy’s slamtastic drum machined Vulvectomy!  With three albums already under their belt, the last one being 12 years ago, I just kinda figured they packed up their slam sammiches and boogied on outta here.  Main man Mario Di Giambattista is still kicking it with his guitars and programmed drums, […]

This spring/summer, two mid-era Behemoth-inspired acts will be vying for your attention: the always reliable Hate, and this French death metal act and their third album, although I have not heard the first two self-released albums. But Transcending Obscurity saw enough to sign them, and that label usually does not miss. And they certainly have […]

Ghost Bath hath returned with Rose Thorn Necklace, which is my second favorite type. They went hard this time on those DSBM vocals, as the torture, not quite Silencer-level shrieks, can be heard throughout the first real track, “Rose Thorn Necklace.” What stands out immediately is the production, highlighting the guitars, front and center. It’s […]

Avast ye salty dogs, I have a tale to tell ya! It’s about a band of hearty fucking pirates, who have returned after an eight-fucking year hiatus! Must be nice, aye?! At any rate, ye can forget about Alestorm (even though they’re still technically Pirate Metal, they sound more like Party/Bro Metal at this point.) […]

I love gore. Not real gore, mind you; movie gore. The scene from Gates to Hell when the woman vomits her intestines, you know that sort of thing. Haemorrhage hail from beautiful Spain and they love gore as well, they also love Carcass and it’s evident on this five tracker. It’s not just Carcass, though. […]

My bud Alex, the owner of Dolorem Records, has sent me yet another promo for one of his bands, and this time it’s Supreme Void, a Polish death metal band playing a dissonant style of extreme music.  Fans of Ulcerate, Immolation, and Gorguts take heed of this bad boy. “Remnants of Hope” opens this six-song […]

I knew absolutely nothing about Toronto trio A Flock Named Murder or their label, Hypaethral Records, other than they play post/atmospheric black metal, which has kind of been my jam lately, so I randomly grabbed the promo. Then, because I’m a goddamn professional (sometimes) I actually did some research on the band, only to find […]

Sweden’s Wombbath experienced quite a resurgence when they came back into the fold in 2014 and a year later released Downfall Rising, their long overdue sophomore release to their classic 1993 debut Internal Caustic Torments. I reviewed Downfall Rising on this very site of ours, too.  Since then, they have released four other albums and […]

Personally, I feel like we are in a new golden era of metalcore/deathcore/death metal female vocalists. Sure, the path was forged by the likes of Dawn Crosby (Fear of God), Karen Crisis (Crisis), Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy), Krista Curry (Landmine Marathon), Laura Nichol and Grace Perry (Light This City), Maria Kolokouri (Astarte), Courtney LaPlante (Iwrestledabearonce […]

Who said that Switzerland was only known for Celtic Frost, Coroner, and Swiss Cheese?  Enter in Pusboil, who in 2022 crafted a real heavy demo and their debut album in 2023, Ancient Stories of Suffering and Disease, expanded on that full scope. The band has brutal influences ranging from Sanguisugabogg, Undergang, and Cephalotripsy.  Indictment is […]

I’m sure everyone reading this remembers the scene from the first Faces of Death where the ‘blood cult’ eats the dead body, right? Okay, so keep that image in your head and then go listen to Profanatica’s new album Wreathed in Dead Angels. Maybe playing the two together will result in some sort of evil […]

Back in 2022, these French maniacs, formerly known as Herpes, dropped their excellent debut, Blood Red Tentacle. A fine Swedeath album with a foul reek of Autopsy that reminded me of the short-lived super group Murder Squad. And with their second effort, not much has changed. If anything, the stench of Autopsy is even thicker […]

Black metal is about the atmosphere it creates. There’s even a sub-genre dubbed atmospheric black metal. It’s very difficult to do well, and for some reason, it’s immediately apparent when a band isn’t serious about it or isn’t “kvlt.” You just can’t replicate what was going on in Norway in the early 90s, and it’s […]

I was drawn to the debut album from Belgium’s Coffin Feeder by the album cover featuring some awesomely iconic 80s movie and TV characters from the likes of  Cobra, Commando, Predator, They Live, Gremlins, The Running Man, Total Recall, Big Trouble in Little China, He -Man, GI Joe and others all who seem to be […]

My fall down the Tech-Death rabbit hole continues. It’s been a wild ride, and it seems to have no end because another killer band has come across my radar. They are called Changeling, and this is a new project from Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger. Most recently he wrote  “Weltseelee”, the 15-minute epic that he composed for […]

I’m not the only one for whom melodic death metal hits that sweet spot. I reviewed Buried Realm’s Embodiment of the Divine, and it did an exemplary job. That album hinted at some of the influences, specifically two of my favorite melodic death metal bands, Scar Symmetry and Soilwork, but The Dormant Darkness features Bjorn […]

You’d be forgiven (by me anyway) for thinking that Imperial Triumphant were a Nile ubër concept band based on their masks. You’d be wrong as the day is long, because they certainly are not doing anything remotely Egyptian, especially on Goldstar. During my time with it I got these images from the movie Metropolis, and […]

In my review of Wythersake’s 2021 debut, Antiquity, I said (paraphrasing here) the band had delivered some solid symphonic melodic black/death metal, and with some tweaks, (namely some of the vocals and better synths) could develop into a really promising band. Well, they listened to some of my suggestions. Just kidding. I know my opinion […]

UK’s underrated Cancer return with their seventh full-length album, Inverted World.  I saw Cancer on their US tour in 1991 in support of their second album, Death Shall Rise, which is still their best album, and with James Murphy on guitar nonetheless. After their third album, The Sins of Mankind, in 1993, the band, as […]

Cartilage is a real cool death/grind band out of San Francisco, California. They’ve had a few albums and EPs prior and this new EP Tales from the Entrails: A Necrology, appears to be a stop-gap release before their third album hits.  Their second album, The Deader the Better, from 2022, was pretty damn good.  The […]

I quite enjoyed the self-released debut from Aversed, Impermanent, back in 2021. It was an unabashed homage to Arch Enemy‘s styled melodic death, from members of Alleageon and Begat the Nephillim complete with Haydee Irizarry doing her best Alyssa White-Gluz impression. Well, there are a couple of changes in the Aversed camp. First, the jump up a […]

Spiritworld is back and leaning hard into some cowboy shit. They experimented with it on Deathwestern, but multiple conversations afterward with friends concluded that Wayfarer released the album Deathwestern should have been. In hindsight, I’m not so sure that’s the case, but Helldorado could be. What stands out over their previous album is the commitment. […]

It took 6 years, but we finally have a new ADE album, their 5th, titled Supplicium (‘Punishment’) on a new label, Time To Kill records, and with yet another new lineup. Entering the fray is Hideous Divinity Drummer Edoardo Di Santo (as ‘Atticvs’ here), and Eyeconoclast bassist Gabriele Vellucci. What hasn’t changed is that ADE […]

It’s been since 2020, with Blodiga Skald‘s The Undrunken Curse, that I got truly excited about a folk metal album. *sigh* there was a time when any album with horns, strings, or an accordion would have got me all sorts of worked up. Sure Ensiferum, sort of does it for me, but when I say […]

Wrath of Logarius was first named Martyr Logarius.  It’s some video game character from a game called Bloodborne.  The band started in 2021, released the Necrotic Assimilation ep in 2023, and then changed the name to Wrath of Logarius.  The band logo is still the same style, however. This California based band plays a pretty […]