“Allo…………cunt” And so begins “Upon Your Mountains of Flesh My River of Life Shall Flow” the opening track from Australia’s Wretch, a grindcore band featuring Duncan Beard, former drummer for doom act Futility, and this is a hell of a departure from that project. And as you’d expect any grindcore from Australia to sound like, […]

The debut album from Italians Hiss from the Moat has been described as blackened deathcore, because that’s exactly what we need in the metal world is another sub-genre.  Well fear not and don’t stop reading now, as I’m here to tell you there’s nary a ‘core element to this one, and if you’re a fan […]

From the always reliable purveyors of fine vinyl, Halo of Flies, comes a repress of the second album from Germany’s Deathrite. It strays a little away from the label’s norm delivering less hardcore and a more crust/d-beat/grind/death metal assault that will appeal to fans of Trap Them, Enabler, Nails, Dead in the Dirt and Black Breath, […]

I started this review with the feeling that after about seven listens I had grasped what was being conveyed and therefore I would be able judge and critique. The more I kept on listening, though, the more this album seemed to present itself; as if it were a shy child (who had tendencies of acting […]

Following their self titled LP in 2009, The Strange Innerdweller is Romanian post-metal Kultika‘s debut album, and despite being a decent effort, it doesn’t really grab you by the balls as much as you’d want it to. Unlike fellow countrymen Negura Bunget, who create music that isn’t just unique but that also pays tribute to their […]

Aeon of Horus is a progressive metal band that has built a solid reputation on the Australian metal scene in recent years.  Formed back in 2006 the band released their solid yet understated debut, The Embodiment of Darkness and Light in 2008, and despite a rather limited recorded output (their debut is wedged between a […]

Cynic’s polarising shift away from their technical death metal roots has created enormous debate since they reunited with the largely successful but divisive Traced In Air in 2008. The trio of Paul Masdival, Sean Malone and Sean Reinhert made their new found intentions very clear with the increased experimentation, strong melodic sensibilities and progressive bent […]

I have not really got into the whole smokey female fronted , cultish, 70s inspired ‘vest’ metal  scene that’s been prevalent over the last few years. Other than the first Serpentcult album and a smattering of Blood Ceremony or Demon Lung, it just has not sucked me in. And it’s a shame, as Texas’s excellently […]

For the most part, Cyber or Industrial Death Metal has a pretty rigid formula: Beefy, chunky guitars, mechanical pounding drums and the odd whirr or beep and sample here and there with some growled vocals. The Netherlands’ Empire of the Scourged, while generally following those paradigms also manage to changes things up a bit on […]

Wow, my first review for TOTD, and I just happen to pick a split album. Spawn of the Sacrilege? Hmmmm, sounds interesting. Now, normally I like split albums, especially with HPGD since they usually put out some pretty quality ones, but every once in awhile I’ll get one that just doesn’t work out as possibly […]

Back in 2009 I reviewed the second album, The End of an Era from this Tennessean melodic black/death metal act. It was a solid The Black Dahlia Murder inspired slab of shredding metal, but nothing that really upped the game at all. Well, with a significant lineup change (now with even more former and current […]

Apparently a few of the strange Swedes in experimental black metal act, Bergraven, felt like doing something more traditional when they teamed up with their buddy, A. Peterson of De Arma and Lönndom to form Stilla. The project’s 2013 debut, Till stilla falla, was a nice surprise of cold, Polish-sounding (Furia, Mgła) black metal. Ensamhetens […]

It’s pretty simple really- if you look me/my site up, ask politely  and personally for a review, send a CD and follow up equally as politely, chances are I will give your album a few listens and publish my worthless opinion on it, good or bad. And the Brothers Guzman, did just that for their […]

Hailing from Philadelphia, PA, Trenchrot’s debut for Dark Descent Records imprint Unspeakable Axe, is an old school death/thrash record that culls from all the old school acts of the late 80s and early 90s from both the US and Europe. Like the recent release from Roarback, it’s a raucous, simple, fun, skeletal affair that makes no […]

Firstly, my apologies to the band for not punching out the review of this early year release a little sooner. Tardiness aside, the debut album from Sweden’s Astrophobos taps into the melodic black metal vein, championed by the likes of Dissection and Naglfar in the 90’s, and does a very capable job of refreshing what […]

Hailing from AustraliaGaped is 1 man death metal project, from Ryan Huthnance, & is some killer death metal.  He was formerly in Mortal Sin and my forthcoming interview with him will delve into how he does all the instruments, etc… The Murderous Inception is a 6 song ep that all lovers of Chris Barnes era […]

Formerly known as Bolero, Toronto’s newly remaned Vesperia are part of a suddenly surprisingly strong Canadian folk/Viking metal scene that includes the likes of Will of the Ancients, Crimson Shadows, Valfreya, Trollwar, Nordheim, Battlesoul, and of course Blackguard just to name a few.  I’m not sure why the canucks have latched into the sound and delivered […]

How this band isn’t more well-known is beyond me. In a world of musical styles being constantly blended, theirs seems to be a sound wholly their own. A slight mix of down tempo grunge and what could be misconstrued as shoegaze, they manage to not only be consistently rhythmic but also, in a cerebral sense, […]

Switzerland’s Impure Wilhemina have been dark since 2008s excellent  Prayers and Arsons, where the band delivered a gorgeous take on elegant post rock a la Burst and The Ocean. However, the band has undergone a large line up shift, resulting in a bit of a style change since that release, and tempered their sound a bit, […]

Rounding out Dark Descent’s excellent trio of early 2014 releases (inc. Corpsessed and Lvcifyre) in the sophomore album from Finland’s long running death metalers, Lie In Ruins (formerly Dissected back in the 90s). And while not as crushing or cavernous as their label mates above, Lie In Ruins still deliver a powerful if more traditional, […]

2008 saw the emergence of this Arizona based guttural death metal act, that due to line-up troubles saw the band almost breaking up. Necrambulant put the pieces back together and their signing to Lacerated Enemy Records helped bring about Infernal Infectious Necro-Ambulatory Pandemic, their debut album. If you have bands like Epicardiectomy, Abominable Putridity or […]

If you’re a death metal fan, one of the Dutch scene in particular, you’ve likely heard of the band Prostitute Disfigurement.  In addition to their catchy name, they’ve managed to produce some pretty good albums.  The last one of theirs I got into was 2008’s Descendants of Depravity, but then the band broke up in […]

Back in 2002, 7 years before Fleshgod Apocalypse‘s debut Oracles, before Scrambled Defuncts, before. Ex Deo, The Monolith Deathcult, there was a brutal death metal band from the US called Agiel and they were using full on orchestration in their death metal. Now, bands like Hollenthon and Septicflesh were using orchestration and such, but Agiel were […]

Like many FDA Rekotz bands, California’s Morfin play old school death metal but, rather than the Swedish/Stockholm old school sound played by Harm, Wound, Revel in Flesh, Massive Assault etc , Morfin went right for an older, American influence similar to Skeletal Remains, Slaughterday, Deus Otiosus,  and Chapel of Disease: good ol’ Death. And let […]

Rogga Johansson is ubiquitous, numerous bands, numerous projects. Are they really necessary? Let’s look at the music – this man knows his Death Metal, he’s doing nothing wrong. He’s not diluting the essence, so to speak, he’s not doing anything ridiculous. Yes, he’s prolific but he’s keeping it interesting between his projects, be it say Revolting, Paganizer […]