If you were to listen to the second album from Serocs blindly, with no knowledge of the band at all, you would be forgiven for assuming the band was from Canada rather than Mexico. The band has a distinct Canadian tech death metal sound akin (OK, not akin, exactly like) to mid era Cryptopsy (Whisper […]
Whores, a band from Atlanta, play a sweaty, fuzzed-out version of Unsane-like noise rock. There is also a heavy 90s vibe- Helmet being the second-closest possible comparison. Their previous record, Ruiner, seemed to center on the absolute bludgeoning power of their tone, but on Clean there is more focus on vocal hooks and catchiness, coming […]
Black and Blood marks the second full-length release in a decade long existence from Boston death metal mercenaries Soul Remnants. And it’s a formidable beast of a death metal album, holding the proud tradition of the genres storied past close to heart. Soul Remnants nail the often elusive knack of songcraft, managing to sound fresh […]
There was nothing particularly striking about the debut from Christian hardcore act Leaders, Now We Are Free back in 2012. It was a pretty standard metalcore/hardcore effort that you’ve come to expect from Facedown. However, on the follow up, Indomitable, California’s Leaders, after a significant lineup shuffle, have taken a page from label mates Those […]
Portland grind metallers Transient have been around since 2007 with a bunch of splits and EPs to their name, and now have released their first self-titled full length. This is the first I’ve heard of the band, and after spinning this one a few times I have no desire to look up their past work. […]
Well, it isn’t exactly easy to review less than 9 minutes of music in any meaningful way. But Phasm’s 2013 demo absolutely smashes together 4 triumphant songs in this time frame. Call it frantic, frenetic, frenzied, or hysterical; each word has a worthy place among the pantheon of eligible descriptors for this wonderfully energetic debut. […]
I completely disregarded this release for a few months because the recording level on this album was so damn quiet, that I could barely hear the music in regular volume. However, while jamming some songs on a large home stereo, these guys popped up and I was actually able to hear the album without really […]
While most of the current old school death metal revival leans towards either the Stockholm worship side or the Incantation-y, ‘caverncore’ side, a few bands are simply going pure old school. The likes of Deserted Fear, Skeletal Remains, Chapel of Disease, Navalm, Resurgency, Wound, Deus Otiosus, are culling from classic death and thrash metal. Add […]
This is my first exposure to Italy’s Lorn. Apparently, they were once a fairly straightforward, traditional black metal act. With no knowledge of their back catalogue, I can’t comment on the band’s change from past to present, but the music on this album is anything but straightforward, and anything but traditional. Wasting no time, “Definitive […]
When samples of this relatively hyped Metal Blade release started dropping, I had several folks hit me up via email, Facebook and even Myspace telling me I should check these guys out and they were something I’d enjoy. And to some extent, they were all right: The Conscious Seed of Light is a pretty solid […]
Profound Lore Records are putting out some killer bands over the last several years and you can add London’s Grave Miasma to that ever growing list. In 2009 they released the outstanding Exalted Emanation ep and followed it up a year later with another ep, Realm of Evoked Doom. I can say without a shadow […]
Calmed By The Tides Of Rain is what I would dub the Russian equivalent of U.S. deathcore/metalcore band The Acacia Strain, but with more of a death metal vibe and with more staying power. Listen, I know when some of you are seeing deathcore/metalcore in a review you’re gonna want to run for the hills, […]
Willowtip’s strength as a label has long been their association with forward thinking and technically proficient metal bands willing to push the envelope and challenge the listener. Naturally they have wisely broadened their roster over the years to include artists of a more cut-throat and straight-forward brand of extremity. Yet my original attraction, and continued […]
Back in 2009 I reviewed the debut EP from this aptly named Italian act, and came away rather impressed with the heavy, lurching salvo and a after a 4 year wait, a debut full length via Italy’s own Memorial Records album has surfaced and it was well worth the wait. The band’s moniker fits perfectly […]
Church of Misery are an institution. When it comes to big, bluesy doom riffs they are untouchable, and if you’re into metal and have yet to hear the band’s serial killer-inspired doom boogie then I suggest you head over to Youtube, punch in “Killifornia” and give a good listen. I’ll wait… All set? Now if […]
After giving the Prosthetic records debut of Skeletonwitch, Beyond the Permafrost a relatively lukewarm review, I simply didn’t give the band’s follow ups, Breathing the Fire or Forever Abomination, the time of day, despite the band growing immensely in popularity with their modern, black thrash meets melodic death metal spin off. I simply lumped them […]
Portland’s Red Fang are a band I feel I should like more than I actually do. On the surface their style of greasy heavy rock meets stoner metal jams holds great appeal. Yet the significant hype that has been bestowed upon Red Fang and the commercial headway they have made suggests something extra special boils […]
Ossuary Anex is a brutal death metal band from Russia, so you know what to expect, since Russia is putting out some of the most vicious slam death metal bands right now. My iTunes, when, I loaded the cd in, said it was a 2013 release, this was released pretty much on New Year’s Eve […]
What we have here is the complete discography, 26 songs in total, of now defunct Swedish act, Fulmination, who were around for a few short years in the early 90’s and featured yet to be members of Uncanny, Centinex and Entrails but never actually releasing a full length album. The band played a pretty straightforward […]
This is fucking ugly. A bleak, miserable, experience fit only for the most masochistic listeners. Those uninitiated should stay away. If you’re still reading, you’ll be rewarded. Starting off as a way for 2 incredibly talented and classically trained musicians to take out their frustrations with music in general, Venowl was spat forth from hell […]
Somewhere in the Ukraine, Metal Scrap Records must have unearthed a lost cache of mid to late ’90s melodic death metal and just now unleashed it on the world. That or the label and the underground metal scene in Eastern Europe has just now discovered the genre, as the label has recently released a slew […]
In music, there are said to be innovators and consummators. Consummators perfect pre-existing forms; innovators pave the way for new movements. However, to draw the line that distinctly is misleading; innovators always build upon previous forms. They never innovate from scratch. Beethoven, one of the most important innovators in music, first went through an entirely […]
Mr. Dan Swanö, the renowned Swedish vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/producer (Edge Of Sanity, Nightingale, Moontower and Bloodbath, among many others) has been rather quiet for some time. Recently, it was revealed he had been working on a new collaboration with the rather unknown fellow Swede and multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg after they worked together in a Swedish music store. […]
“Art of the ugly soul. One is limiting art much too severely when one demands that only the composed soul, suspended in moral balance, may express itself there. As in the plastic arts, there is in music and poetry an art of the ugly soul, as well as an art of the beautiful soul; and […]
With UK metal and death metal in particular being in a full and impressive resurgence, one only need to look to Scotland’s Man Must Die for arguably the catalyst for the current swath of killer death metal coming from the fair isle. With 2004’s …Start Killing and then two subsequent releases on Relapse Records (2007’s […]