For all of the subgenre division going on in metal, there is an equal amount of incestuous cross-breeding. A growing number of bands now practice a fusion of crust punk, grindcore, and a dash of black/death metal–notably Nails, among others. Trap Them made a significant impact themselves a few years ago with their previous album, […]
Continuing the old timey, dusty death metal vibe of the label’s previous releases by Trenchrot and Omnivore, Canada’s Sabbatory are here to deliver some no nonsense old school death/thrash metal. And like this years earlier release from Morfin, the primary influence is an easy one to hear: (very)early Death. Sure, there is lots of other old […]
Are my ears ringing? Why is everything in this style sounding so similar? It’s like déjà vu all over again for the umpteenth time. I remember listening to this everywhere – in my car, in the room, even in the bathroom. I listen to metal a lot. I’ve heard this as Liturgy, I’ve heard this […]
Sometimes I just need a break from all the brutal music I listen to. Whether it’s some bouncy folk/viking metal, some melodic black metal or just something else to reset to internal brutality meter. Recently, it’s a few choice releases- the debut from Moldavia’s Arcturus worshiping Chordewa, Deathpoint’s soaring metalcore, Barishi’s prog waft and this, the second album […]
Remember the likes of Cryptic Slaughter, Wehrmacht and Beyond Possession, from years past?? Well Gammacide, from Texas, kind of got lost in the shuffle back in the day, which is a shame, since their only album, Victims of Science was a brutal blend of thrash, hardcore influences and blast beats. Also some Rigor Mortis influence, […]
Despite their ever snowballing popularity, Mastodon has gained their fair share of detractors during the post-Leviathan phase of their career. The bombastic showmanship and scattershot songwriting of Blood Mountain proved a bit too left field for some listeners, while the tangled prog-rock odyssey of the brilliant Crack the Skye no doubt left some portions of […]
Où est le boeuf? Apparently it’s in Montreal, Canada an it’s all located on the second, fun as hell record from the awfully named Dark Century. But luckily the band’s tongue in check delivery allows for the moniker and the album name and the album cover, but the music itself is where its at here. Dark Century play […]
I have to admit that I am positively delighted by the proliferation of the two piece over the past decade of heavy music. Perhaps it’s because the setup has become fairly pervasive in the genres that are nearest and dearest to me, sludge, stoner rock, noise, and doom, but its effect is not all that […]
It would be impossible to avoid mentioning Neurosis in this review, so let’s get it over with at the beginning. The bassist and singer from Stoneburner, Damon Kelly, is none other than the son of Scott Kelly, founding member of experimental metal titans Neurosis. Damon has been on tour with his father’s band a few […]
Willowtip’s entry into 2014 early/Spring run of superlative tech/brutal death metal comes by way of the tiny country of Malta and the third album from Abysmal Torment, a band previously unknown to me. And boy is it a doozie. Using Floridan death metal as a very broad template, Abysmal Torment manage to dirty the core sound […]
I am only casually familiar with Wretched‘s previous release, Son of Perdition, which struck me as a more technical, less core-ish Carnifex, and belonging to that sort of ilk that has all the right ingredients but somehow didn’t manage to make it stick. With their fourth full-length offering, Cannibal, Wretched has stepped up the game […]
It is a rare and beautiful thing when a band is heavy not for heaviness’ sake, but as a necessity to reaching a deeper, more worthy goal of expression. Both the post-sludge and post-black genres of metal are oft-exploited templates for such explorations, and therein lies their crossover appeal. With Savage Gold, Brooklyn’s Tombs joins […]
The second album from the reformed Pillory, (who released one album, No Lifeguard at the Gene Pool back in 2005 then broke up in 2008) isn’t quite what you’d expect from Unique Leader. And while it continues the label’s excellent run of simply killer 2014 releases, it does it from a slightly different angle. Rather […]
I was ecstatic when Ice-T’s and Ernie C’s heavy metal syndicate, Body Count made a comeback eight years ago with their Murder 4 Hire album. Unfortunately that disc turned out to be a dud and became the bastard child no one speaks about in the group’s discography. Despite Ice-T, the music simply wasn’t that interesting […]
I got this brutal little nugget in my email and wasn’t exactly sure what the hell I was in for. Judging a book by the cover isn’t always trustworthy in a literary sense, but with Metal you can usually gauge what your experience is going to be. So, by that rationale Sangus doesn’t disappoint; because […]
Chronicles of Oblivion is the third full-length offering from France’s Deep in Hate, newly signed to Kaotoxin. A progression from the band’s initial sound, Chronicles of Oblivion sees the band playing a somewhat technical style of deathcore in the vein of Thy Art is Murder injected with a lethal strain of Decapitated-influenced modern death metal. […]
If you simply cannot wait to get your hands on Crowbar’s impending Symmetry in Black, need another Neurosis album now, or if you enjoyed the second under the radar excellence from Finnish doom sludgster’s Lurk, Kaldera, or was underwhelmed by last years Morne effort, Shadows (as I was…), then the debut album from France’s Oruga (or larva) is […]
The sludge scene is very active in France, with bands like Year of No Light and Dirge releasing surprisingly, relevant post-metal, and other bands like Carne and Overmars (RIP) churning out music that pays more debt to the genre’s roots in hardcore. Newly established band Mur, hailing from Paris, falls into this latter camp, and […]
After a 6 year layoff, death metal legends Incantation returned in 2012 rather triumphantly with Vanquish in Vengeance, one of the more successful reunion/ comebacks of the last few years. But how would the band respond after the comeback/reunion glow and excitement that often fogs objective reactions after long layoffs has faded and the band […]
Uk supergroup Vallenfyre caused a minor ripple in the metal scene back in 2011 with their debut, A Fragile King, a pretty solid doom death outfit with nods to the bands primary members Gregor Mackintosh of Paradise Lost and Hamish Glencross of My Dying Bride and drummer Daniel Erlandsson. It was a solid effort but not great, especially considering the […]
I typically have loved and probably will love everything and anything that Dark Descent Records releases. Their 2014 thus far has been stunning with the likes of Corpsessed, Lie In Ruins, Lvcifyre Thantifaxath, and a Binah EP. However, here is the third album from blackened death thrashers Gravehill, the second for Dark Descent, and as with […]
Here are five 7 ” EPs from Atlanta based Boris Records and all three are rooted in denim and beer or Satan, being retro, old school thrash at their core with various elements of either death or black metal. Up first is home grown thrashers, Sadistic Ritual the label’s very own home town in Atlanta […]
Despite being a mid level Swedish super group of sorts featuring former and current members of the likes of Nominon, Just Before Dawn and Killaman, Puteraeon have never really registered with me. I have a vague recollection of their 2011 debut, The Esoteric Order, but I neither own it or really remember much about it, […]
Sagas, the 2008 second album from Germany’s Equilibrium remains a hall mark of epic folk/Viking metal, but the follow up Rekreatur, fell a tad short and we’ve had to wait four years for a follow up. Granted, last years Waldschrein EP was a nice teaser, if only for the (3 years too late) cover of […]
Poland’s Vader is a death metal institution, long ago confirming their status as one of the genre’s true legends and most durable bands. Over 30 years have passed since the band’s formation and Piotr “Peter” Wiwczarek and co are showing no signs of weariness as they soldier on with their 10th full length album, entitled […]