Wow. This is REALLY good. A self released EP from  Wisconsin based symphonic black metal band, usually would not set my expectations very high, but on their debut effort Warseid has blown me away with this downright epic 4 song EP. Though only 4 songs, the release is still 30 minutes long with songs ranging […]

Italy’s Void of Sleep is a relatively new entity that looks set to make significant waves when this excellent debut album hits the streets in early 2013.  They have been together since 2010, with their only prior release being a short promo EP titled Giants and Killers.But there is enough evidence on this debut full-length […]

Here’s a unique and challenging album from the usually predictable Unique Leader Records. Hailing from Australia but residing in Los Angeles, Devolved have 3 previous full length albums under their belts, none of which I’ve heard, so I had nothing to compare this blind purchase to. My last blind purchase was also a Unique Leader […]

I recently had the good fortune to attend a reunion show featuring some nigh forgotten stalwarts of eastern Pennsylvania’s hardcore scene; Inkling, Dysphoria, and Chine. The show was a nostalgic punch in the face (Oh, late 90’s pit kung fu) and left me asking a question familiar to us all after we hear seemingly forgotten […]

While seemingly everyone has been gushing over the new Evoken album this year, another comparable death/doom masterpiece floated by with nary a mention. It’s amazing what a difference the support of Profound Lore and Decibel can make. It’s not that Evoken isn’t more than deserving of all the praise they’re receiving, but what Faal has […]

While bands like Entombed, The Generals, Calmsite, Six Feet Under and others are sometimes classified as “death ‘n’ roll”, the truth is it’s just death metal with a little groove and some catchy hooks. However, Finland’s Rocking Corpses are here to truly deliver death ‘n’ roll, and a weird but strangely enjoyable sound it is. […]

I had initially filed this under “did we really need this reunion?” category when I got it for review. I mean, while I realize that the band’s sole release, 1998’s Prophecies Foretold  was a solid entry into the New Yawk style of death metal and the band got them briefly mentioned in the same breath […]

From the minute I first heard Germany’s Chapel of Disease, I immediately thought they’re not only a great fit for FDA Rekotz (that label has a ton of affection for Death-tinged, 90s inspired death-thrash) but also that without attempting to shoot for the hilltop or reinvent the wheel and all of its components, they truly […]

I’ve long championed Facedown Records and their oft maligned Christian metal, but of late other than  Your Memorial, Hands and A Home for Home, the label seems to have really fallen into a rut- with the likes of For Today, Gideon, Altars, War of Ages, Leaders and Onwards to Olympas, they seem to basically be […]

Sometimes all you need is some cool cover art to pull you in. A black and wraith-like six-armed winged deity, bristling with weapons and riding a flying serpent past a rotting Lovecraftian cairn piled high with skulls. Part Frazetta and part 18th-century woodcut, lovingly created by Chilean illustrator Daniel Desecrator. It’s simple and stark and […]

Despite my general disdain for instrumental music, 2009s Immeasurable , the debut by this  Wisconsin instrumental act , really caught my ear. Featuring a former metal journalist and member of post rockers Northless and death metal act Ara, Jerry Hauppa and cello player James Becker, the follow up, V is a 5 song concept piece  […]

Florida’s Abiotic are a deathcore band leaning more on the technical side of things, and have managed to create quite a buzz with only an EP under their belt before this outing, their first full length album. The hype got them snatched up by Metal Blade, and their style is a touch Veil of Maya, […]

Nachtmystium´s progression has been almost Odyssian in nature. Starting as relatively by-the-numbers black metal, the Chicago act, led by vocalist/guitarist Blake Judd, took a fork in the road to explore their own experimental and progressive journey over the course of a few releases while the glut of black metal dabbled in post-metalisms and writing aimless […]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I never really got Incantation or Immolation in the early 9os. I was obsessed with Swedish death metal and Cradle of Filth  and both bands murky, muddy styles never really sat well with me. Heck, the only Incantation album I own and have really heard is […]

“Ævangelist does not intend to play death metal, black metal, or any other type of ‘music’ for your enjoyment. In fact, we hope that there are decidedly few discernible riffs, we hope this appeals to no superficial underground interests, and we hope to make no impression on any current musical trends, because in the scope […]

It’s been a while since I heard some good skronky discordant, math metal, maybe going back to Brazen Bull‘s early 2012 release, The Traveling Parasite, which I’m still trying to get my head around for review. Well, here is French noise mongers Dacast, and their 2 track 35 minute assault on the ears, Dédale. Early […]

Average doom, thy name is Witchsorrow. Not much has changed since their debut in 2010. They are still plying the same straightforward style of doom rooted in classic St. Vitus and Cathedral. God Curse Us is as decent as their debut and unfortunately just as unremarkable. And that’s really as far as it goes. Nothing […]

Tired of overly clean, triggered production jobs and some of the more generic, sterile aspects of modern death metal?  Finland’s Desolate Shrine might just be the antidote you are looking for.  Hot on the heels of their 2011 debut Tenebrous Towers; the gut-wrenching The Sanctum of Human Darkness is the depraved follow-up.   This is dark […]

Dynfari is a new band to the blackish metal scene, but they are a prolific one. After forming in 2010, the Icelandic duo of Jón Emil (percussion, guitars) and Jóhann Örn (vocals, bass, guitars) have already released two full-length albums. Their self-titled debut ran just under the 45-minute mark, but their latest release, Sem Skugginn […]

Trust me, there is nothing Stagnant about the debut from  this avant garde black metal French-Norwegian collaboration. On a label run by a guy with ties to the likes of  Mayhem, Darkthrone, Ulver, Ved Buens Ende, Virus, Fleurety, Ihsahn, Arcturus, Manes and Solefald and featuring Svein Egil Hatlevik of Fleurety and Dødheimsgard fame, you might […]

Cult of Fire are described as “the new Czech masters of atmospheric black metal,” following in the tradition of forebears like Master’s Hammer and Root. A lofty statement, but once you hear Triumvirát, it’s an undeniable one as well. (And if those names aren’t enough for you, drummer Tom Coroner also led a previous life […]

Stoner rock seems to be leaking into death metal a bit more and more these days. Coffins, Acid Witch, and Hooded Menace have all managed to incorporate weedy grooves in to traditionally dark and dreary doomy death metal and have done it pretty damn well. With a member of death metallers Invasion and Nocturnal Torment […]

Compelled to check this release out by an excellent review by my good friends over at metalreview.com, I was greeted by a very intriguing but also polarizing release. Touted as experimental black metal, I was expecting something, well black metal-y from this anonymous, robe and mask clad UK act (for some reason, I want to […]

Beyond Threshold sounds like a fitting moniker for a thrash, or perhaps melodic death, or maybe even a metalcore band.  Instead, on their second album Who We Are, Beyond Threshold dish out a perplexing blend of commercially-inclined heavy rock with a big dose of late 90’s to early 00’s nu-metal.  Not exactly a musical recipe […]

Haiduk is the Canadian, one man project of one Luca Milojica. And while the trend for most one man metal is of the blackened or depressive kind with a few exceptions, Haiduk (apparently a term for Balkan freedom fighters)  is actually rather good thrash/death metal  and you wouldn’t really know it was a one man […]