Deformatory is a band that caught my eye a few years ago, as their debut album, In the Wake of Pestilence, was a must-buy brutal death album the minute I heard it. For the first LP in a band’s career, that one far exceeded expectations. So when I heard that they were coming out with […]
Spain is known for a lot of things; its history, its culture, its cuisine and even to some extent it has a respectable death and black metal scene. But I’m not sure sunny Spain is the country people thing of when it comes to despondent, depressive doom/death metal. Well, once again Canada’s Hypnotic Dirge (arguably […]
As a longtime fan of these digitized, Maryland filth-grinders, I’m used to Agoraphobic Nosebleed slowing down with big, tumbling dirge riffs and back breaking weight. They’ve showcased the tactic as early as The Poacher Diaries (split with Converge) and even back in the Honky Reduction days Scott Hull had a knack for busting his knuckles […]
Since transforming into a fully orchestral, symphonic death metal band with 2011 Agony (my very top album of that year), the band has been pretty divisive with an either love them or hate them approach. Some claim the band is soulless, forgetful tech death with no riffs, simply window dressed with symphonics. Others, myself included […]
When listening to the debut from Greece’s Caelestia I’m reminded of a release I covered earlier this year; Dysrider’s Bury the Omen . Big, polished, modern take on melodic death metal, both using operatic female and gruff male vocals and both heavy on the synths and orchestration. Where Caelestia add something is a more Gothic metal vibe with […]
Londoners HAG work up a twitchy, Ritalin necessitating din on their debut full-length Fear of Man. Though I knew virtually nothing of the trio going into this review, it’s without question that I came out as a fan. The highly melodic, walls n’ waves of My Bloody Valentine-esque guitar squalor that runs lockstep with the […]
I can’t say I’m overly familiar with the Lithuanian blackened doom/sludge scene, but the debut, Dugne (seabed? bottom of the sea?) from Deprivacija certainly holds some promise if the rest of the scene is as competent. 6 songs, 55 minutes, a gritty, feedback laden, gravelly guitar tone and delivery despondent slower, crawling riffs and pained raspy screams will give […]
An interesting thing has happened in extreme metal over the last twenty or so years. As a genre, death metal once looked like it was limitless- not necessarily in terms of speed, technicality or the abstract idea of “brutality” but regarding where the style could go creatively. The aforementioned traits no doubt were going to […]
Suppressive Fire is a new, slightly blackened 3 piece death/thrash metal band from North Carolina, and while I’ve never been a huge fan of black/thrash, Suppressive Fire lean a little more to the thrash side and their war laden themes and imagery had me more intrigued than I usually would be with something this style. With […]
The multi-instrumentalist Kris Force and her spacey juggernaut, vapor trail institution Amber Asylum has over 20 years in the music world and stints on known labels such as Relapse, Neurot and Profound Lore for a reason. Never once in the group’s career have they compromised their vision. While the “band’s” line-up is often changing, […]
Recalling the glory years of Scandinavian 90s melodic death metal, Finland’s Suotana and their debut album hearken back to an era of early Children of Bodom, Norther, Lothlorien, Ensiferum, Kalmah and such. Big, epic, keyboard drenched, catchy, bouncy slightly blackened melodic death metal is the order of the day, and while there is nary a […]
When Satan emerged from the dead with their exceptional comeback album Life Sentence in 2013, one of the early pioneers of the NWOBHM triumphed emphatically, bringing their old school retro formula into the modern era with spectacular results. While I’m sure long-time fans were particularly enthralled, I was surprised by the impact it had on […]
While driving to see King Diamond on their most recent tour I was playing 2015s Hole Below and discussing the record with my friend. I had been listening to the album a hell of a lot and was finding it a little difficult to explain why I thought it was so enjoyable yet not particularly […]
Whoa! Reykjavik Iceland’s Cult of Lilith has made quite the debut with their nearly twenty minute Arkanum EP. I honestly did not know what to expect from this group as I was expecting something completely different when I saw the cover artwork. I was thinking that this was going to be more of a symphonic […]
I have to admit, I was quite hesitant when it came to reviewing the self-titled debut from Abbath. Immortal was/is a band I’ve always held in high regard, and honestly, Abbath is one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Between high expectations and a critiquing ear, I just knew things were going to […]
If Volume I era Sleep was signed to Am-Rep in the 90s and recorded Sleep’s Holy Mountain under Haze’s supervision, you’d probably have something like Connecticut’s Bedroom Rehab Corporation. Simply a duo comprised of Adam Wujtewicz on bass and drummer Meghan Killimade, the band’s second studio slab Fortunate Some is full of hypnotic groove meditations […]
Spellbook, the 2012 debut from this Canadian/Balkan one man project was a pretty solid slab of thrash/death/black metal. Not much has changed in 3 years. The sound is a tight, almost robotic (due to programmed drums), death/thrash release with gruff almost Chris Barnes is growls. There’s no wasted sound, no intros, no interludes, and while […]
No arguments that Finland’s Purtenance put out one of the finest death metal albums in the 90’s, Member of Immortal Damnation. To argue would be stupid. A few years ago the band put the pieces back together and …to Spread the Flame of the Ancients is their third release, & second full length since the […]
When considering the importance of the classic Florida death metal scene, unfortunately and rather undeservedly, Brutality is often left off the list of luminaries that grew said scene into possibly the most influential hub of creativity on the planet, yet they were there from the beginning and played just as big a part as their […]
Despite the founder Mika Mage originally hailing from Finland, Finnish moniker and album based on the Kalevala poems, Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus hails from deepest , darkest Philadelphia and have ties with some other USBM bands such as Shadow in the Crypt and others. However, despite a real, honest attempt at early 90s European symphonic black metal, the album […]
Italy’s Void of Sleep stormed out of the blocks with their accomplished 2013 debut album, Tales Between Reality and Madness. It was a hugely impressive, potential packed debut which certainly got me excited about their future. The sound was a versatile mixture of progressive sludge rock and thick stoner metal groove coupled with the band’s […]
When I first fired up the (at the time) self-released album from New Jersey tech-death quartet Dystrophy, I was blown away by the first track “Apex”. Sporting a very well done Gorguts/Ulcerate impersonation, that first track actually reminded me very much of my favorite track “Forgotten Arrows” from Gorguts’ last album. It had the haunting, […]
Well slap my ass and call me Sally, Belgium’s Serial Butcher just surprised the hell right out of me with their sophomore album for Unique Leader Records, Brute Force Lobotomy. Though I had previously never heard Serial Butcher before, I pretty much could guess their sound, this is a Unique Leader release after all. So […]
One could argue that the 2015 debut album from super group Gruesome, Savage Lands, is the current pinnacle of early Death worship, to the point where they actually almost recreated actual songs from Scream, Bloody Gore, Leprosy and Spiritual Healing. But also tucked away in 2015 was the second effort from California’s Skeletal Remains, who […]
Beginning with a warped, psychedelic drug manifesto in the form of instrumental phasing and back-masking, Colorado doom metallers Dead Temple make their intent clear from the very first notes on opener “Shadow of a Thousand Faces.” The band’s deadly twin guitar attack creates some elements of old school metal akin to Maiden, Priest, Lizzy and […]