The debut Where Distant Spirits Remain, from Glasgow’s Falloch was an interesting post rock/black metal/grey metal opus with Agalloch-ian hues. However it was the work of a duo, Andy Marshall and Scott Mclean, and Marshall since left the band (creating more atmospheric black/Celtic metal with Saor, which I highly recommend) leaving McLean to rebuild, and rebuild he has […]
The ability to convey mood is a technique that may be lacking in metal more than it ever has. As with any art form when it becomes oversaturated, the superficial elements that make up its basic skeleton get amplified over actual substance, making a hollow representation of what could have been a unique statement by […]
I first heard England’s Sylosis when reviewing their 2008 debut, Conclusion of an Age for Metal Maniacs. As I recall is was a pretty average Unearth/All That Remains clone, that left me with fair to middling opinion of the band. Fast forward to 2012 and the band’s third album Monolith (I missed 2011s Edge of the […]
2014 will go down as the year that Orthodox Black Metal’s literal Satan picked up and headed East out of France. Spending most of his time in Poland, the great deceiver made an early splash in the headlines with Behemoth’s The Satanist, an album with an extra touch of earnestness for the dark lord. Being […]
I have reviewed both the first and second albums from Finland’s Decaying, both delivering a stout war mongering style of death metal that delivers a mix of Bolt Thrower/Hail of Bullets and Asphyx (particularity the very Van Drunen-ish is shrieks of Matias Nastolin). And the productive Fins keep producing and getting incrementally better with each release, as the […]
Bloomington, Indiana’s hypothermic quartet Thorr-Axe makes a helluva racket on their second LP, Gates of Winter. Self-described as “blackened-doom” I’m not about to argue with them and set myself up for some Viking justice. The grinding rhythms grease their gears with sludgy grooves, knee-deep trudges and begotten abandon while the tonality of the riffage, agoraphobic […]
Much like label and country mates Destroying Divinity, the Czech Republic’s aptly named Heaving Earth make no bones about their primary influences, and any death metal fan can quickly ascertain such simply based on the track names, album name cover art and palette. And then you press play and while the instantly recognizable throes of […]
I absolutely love brutal death metal, but after going through this record no less than 20 times, I’m struggling a bit with how to approach it. Does it check all the boxes? Guttural vocals? Check. Double bass and blast beats? Check. Lack of any real bass guitar or bottom end in the mix? Check. The […]
From Germany’s creatively named new-ish label, Go Fuck Yourself Productions, comes the debut from Stockholm’s Obscyria a band trying not to completely wear their geographical locale’s sound on their sleeve, being old school death metal, but with a bit of a blackened thrash sneer. This the kind of release that Unspeakable Axe or FDA Rekotz should have released, […]
I’ve been waiting on new material from the Czech Republic’s Morbider since 2009s When Darkness Returns, one of the better, if unheralded examples of Swedish death metal of that year (I actually didn’t hear it until a couple of years later) . And while 5 years is a long time to wait just for 4 songs on […]
Holy shit, Brazil’s Nervochaos are still going? That’s pretty amazing, honestly. These guys were always like the death metal band that was just right there biting at the larger pack, but never could seem to totally sink teeth into the flesh of the alphas. I’ve had one of their albums, heard at least 3 more […]
There is definitely a time and place for no-frills death metal. It can probably be argued that that style might be the last true take on the genre now that death metal has been splintered into the factions of overly complex posturing or equally heartless Incantation worship. It’s hard to not judge a record nowadays […]
As usual, here we are in 2015, and we are unearthing a few 2014 releases worth your time. Amid the many 2014 releases I overlooked is this album I randomly downloaded amid all of the digital promos we get sent having no idea about the band at all. But the internet helped me out… Apparently, despite being […]
Despite their spikey Satanic imagery and artwork, Portugal’s Martelo Negro (Black Hammer- their former moniker), present a far more varied and catchy sound on their second album than their presentation would have you believe. Rather than lo-fi black thrash, the band’s sound is a curiously addictive take on death n roll or black n roll […]
Thanatos formed in 1984, under the watchful eye of a youthful Stephan Gebédi, in the Netherlands. So essentially one could make the argument that he is responsible for starting the death/thrash movement in that part of the world. Without going into too much history I’ll just say Century Media, from 2013-2014 re-issued and remastered all […]
Owl is a German duo that has three prior offenses under their belt and on their record. I haven’t heard a single lick of anything they’ve done to date, so I’m drawn into their forest bewildered and untainted by past opinion for this new release. Patrick Schroeder handles drums/percussion and Christian Kolf multitasks on guitars, […]
Here’s a nice little 2014, self released gem of blackened death metal from the depths of Austin, Texas spawned from a few obscure Texas veteran acts like Disfigured, Scattered Remains and Carnal Befoulment.But the group has come together to form a pretty impressive debut album that lies somewhere between Behemoth, Morbid Angel and Goatwhore ( […]
In 2011 Finland’s Desolate Shrine released their debut album, Tenebrous Towers. To this day I still feel this is their best work. It could be partly due to the song “The Brightest Night”, which for me, is not only their finest song ever, but one of the best death metal songs, that has come out […]
“Listen here you beautiful bitch, I’m about to fuck you up with some truth”– Kenny Flowers (“I Can’t Believe She Got in the Van with Me”) In 2013 , I reviewed the second album ..The Dissection of Christ, from these Kansas City death metalers, it was a solid hodge-podge of death metal styles that showed some […]
Filthy Finnish stalwarts Satanic Warmaster are back with fifth full length Fimbulwinter, with 8 more songs about wolves, snow, Satan, and their usual mix of everything that makes underground black metal both great and simultaneously cringe inducing. If you haven’t ever checked them out, the name alone (either the best or worst name ever) might […]
The whole orthodox black metal scene has gotten to a point where individual bands are nearly indistinguishable from one another, but despite that, I don’t think I’ve ever really heard anyone imitate the ones who started all this shit in the first place, Deathspell Omega… until now. Enter Plebeian Grandstand. Filled with immense, searing rage, […]
2014 was an quietly decent year for high quality folk/viking with Eluveitie’s Origins, Crimson Shadows‘ Kings Among Men, Nothgards, Age of Pandora, Skalmond’s Með vættum, Valknacht’s Le Sacrifice d’Ymir and Equilibrium’s Erdentempel (with only Equilibrium making my 2014 year end list). And I wish I could say that Denmark’s Vanir and their 3rd album would be included in that list but unfortunately it’s a […]
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, […]
So, this old-school/retro/classic death metal movement has been going on for over a decade now. It’s so ubiquitous that I’m not sure if we can really call it a thing anymore; It’s just what death metal is now. The principle of it makes me happy, but the practice has left me feeling a little unfulfilled […]
Remember in the late ’90s and early ’00s when The End records was changing metal by releasing fresh, genre challenging invigorating and exiting bands like Nokturnal Mortum, Love History, Epoch of Unlight, Scholomance, Frantic Bleep, Novembers Doom, Agalloch, Giant Squid, Enslaved, Virgin Black, The Gathering, Sculptured, Green Carnation, Winds and even Arcturus‘s masterpiece The Sham Mirrors? My god […]