One could argue that all of the iconic, old school death metal bands that took time off, or broke up then came back (Grave, Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Obituary, Fear Factory etc) , Autopsy has had the most successful return of all without a single hiccup or misstep in their comeback. . Three albums in after […]
Convulse return from the grave with their long over due 3rd album, Evil Prevails. I had never heard the band before until recently until a friend recommended I get up off my rear and get the reissue of their 1991 debut, World Without God and I love the album. I heard their second album, Reflections […]
When Killswitch Engage very publically parted ways with lead singer Howard Jones, I was worried about how the new KSE album would sound. Well last year’s Disarm the Descent was to me a massive disappointment, even with the return of original vocalist Jesse Leach. The vocals were easily the biggest letdown on that album, and I […]
Hailing from Iceland, Beneath is a tech death metal band who share two ex members with the only other death metal band from Iceland I have ever heard,the pretty damn solid Ophidian I, who released their debut back in 2012 on Soulflesh Collector Records. The Barren Throne is the band’s second album, and it’s no surprise […]
Wow. Fucking wow. Aleph Null, a Germanic trio of sludge-like proportions, mix the best of everything you remember best about grunge combined with a whole lot of sludge, 70’s rock freewheelin’ experimentalism, and just enough catchiness to give Torche a run for their money in the “we’re sludgy-yet-grungy-yet-catchy” department. This album is equal parts fuzz, […]
Gamma Ray have been pumping out quality Power Metal for almost twenty years with a workman-like attitude that only Germany could produce. So at this point in their career they don’t have much, if anything to prove, and Empire of the Undead is the perfect album to show that fact. Gamma Ray wasted no time […]
Back in 2009, Spain’s Teitanblood erupted onto the scene with their debut full length album, Seven Chalices, and gave everyone nightmares with a disturbingly filthy take on bestial black/death metal. Well now they have returned with the simply and aptly titled Death, and while it isn’t as nauseatingly ritualistic as Seven Chalices, it is far […]
As I detailed in my review of 2011s One for Sorrow, Finland’s Insomnium have become a predictable but brilliant stalwart of melancholic melodic death metal, a gradual, subtle shift from their more doomy beginnings. They have their sound and they know how to wield it perfectly, even at the expense of progression or growth, instead […]
Cognitive is an up and coming young band from New Jersey, playing death metal that is of the brutal variety with a strong emphasis on technicality. Their self released 2012 ep, The Horrid Swarm is an incredible piece of Tri-State area brutality. They have finally secured a record deal with Spanish label, Pathologically Explicit Recordings; […]
Spring and summer bring blooming flowers and whatnot, but Kaunis Kuolematon (‘Beautiful Immortal’) manages to slip in a bit of gloomy darkness just before everything turns to green and people forget their rotten misery and empty lives. Not surprisingly, the Finnish group skips picking up dandelions and instead throws in a melodic death/doom mix with […]
Unique Leader Records is on a definite upswing. Dating back to last year’s Rings of Saturn, Pyrexia, Deeds of Flesh and Deprecated releases and opening up 2014 with Soreption’s killer Engineering the Void (one of my contenders for album of the year), Alterbeast, and Iceland’s Beneath (review coming soon) and this, the third album (though the first I have heard) from […]
Ever-increasing globalization has led to a decline of the development and endurance of regional sounds. The stylings of Bay Area thrash, Swedish death metal, and Norwegian black metal can come from anywhere now. Bucking that trend is the Québécois black metal scene, where a proud yet unpretentious style has evolved and remained unique to the […]
Coming seemingly out of nowhere, Germany’s Hangatyr has exploded into 2014 with a superb slab of Norse black metal that is as infectious as it is intense. Bristling with a sonic ferocity as it should in this genre of metal, Hangatyr also has crafted their music around swirling melodies and catchy, simplistic riffs. While the […]
Deathcore poster children Whitechapel are back with album number five, a nice shiny clean logo, a contrived album title and cover and the waning hopes of a fading genre resting on their shoulders. How will they fare? To be honest you either like Whitechapel and deathcore or you don’t, and I’m not about to convince […]
Angelic Encounters 8 long years had passed since the second album, Realm of Ecstasy, was released from Thanatos and I had eagerly anticipated Angelic Encounters, but was let down by the production and this had nothing to do with the songs, as they are some of the best the band had ever done. Armed with […]
USBM is an interesting animal. When placed next to it’s European counterparts it seems more savage, feral if you will. Like it feels like it has to prove something in order to be accepted. Sad but true, and while there are great American Black Metal bands, Helgardh is going to have to work to be […]
After storming out of the gate with their first two releases, Brutally Deceased‘s Grave worshiping Dead Lovers Guide and Chaos Inception’s excellent, Nile busting The Abrogation, Czech label Lavadome productions went quiet for a bit. However, they are back in business in 2014 with new releases from Chaos Inception and Destroying Divinity in the works […]
This tasty little Italian brutal death EP comes to us from two members of Vomit the Soul, Beheaded, Antropofagus, Septycal Gorge, and Putridity. To be honest, I had only heard Antropofagus before checking out this EP, but given that this has been a steady player for me all month, I will have to look into the others. […]
Sweden’s Sorcery is considered one of the more obscure founding fathers of the Swedish death metal sound. This compilation was released 2 years ago, but towards the end of 2013 Hells Headbangers Records reissued this onto a deluxe 2 cd set, with a new cover and this includes all their demo material. Disc 1 contains: […]
I’m usually not one to step outside of my usual metal fare of death metal black metal and their various sub genres. However, a little prog band from Vermont named after a Magic the Gathering card has really captured my attention with their self titled 2013 debut. It’s my understanding that the band started out […]
Bite Your Head Off, the debut album from Australian extreme metal troupe King Parrot, was released domestically back in 2012 amidst largely positive reactions. Now after deservedly landing a multiple record deal with Candlelight Records, and currently carving their path through a string of shows in North America, King Parrot are making significant waves and […]
Those of the Cursed Light is the second album from this Spanish black metal act who have been around since 2006. . The first band that comes to your mind is obviously the unmistakable Dissection but then we haven’t heard any such bands of late, save for a couple of exceptions (Astrophobos), in this decade at least. Dissection itself hasn’t […]
Like the Embludgeonment album, this is another Frank Rini special, recommended to me way after the fact, but certainly worth my and your time. Hailing from Poland, Feto In Fetus is a death metal/grindcore band and this is their second album, and its a scorching album that throws out some killer Belgian/European styled chunky death metal […]
Without going into an entire back story of Thomas (Warrior) Gabriel Fischer’s musical back story, I will save that for my forthcoming interview with him, it is undeniable the impact he has had on the metal community. The Celtic Frost reformation album from 2006, Monotheist, is one of my all time favorite extreme metal albums […]
From the ever improving Blast Head Records comes the second album from Virginia’a Human Infection and from the artwork and lyrics to the vocals, to the song writing and production everything has improved from the solid but forgetful debut, Infest to Ingest. Not that Curvatures In Time will be on an year end lists, but […]