It’s kind of hard to be a death metal band in the 21st century. You know you want to play something that is heavy, brutal and has growling in it. The question is, how brutal do you want to be? How technical should you play? Should you be more experimental and throw in some saxophone? […]
“This should not be seen as a gathering of two humans playing music, for it doesn’t simply stand for “music” but a real Communication between an incarnated being and vibrations coming from a non-manifested paradigma where the Essence of what has suffered thousands of incarnations and names wanders eternally through the halls of it’s last […]
So here is a 9 song, 23 minute EP or short LP from France’s Years of Tyrants, and one thing is incredibly clear, these guys really like Beneath the Massacre. So much so, that when a track started playing, I had a hard time telling who they were seeing as I still have Beneath the […]
As the big name bands continue to put out disappointing albums (looking at you most recently Blood Red Throne… I mean wtf?!?), it has allowed the underground to show where the action’s at. You can be forgiven if you’ve never heard of these Ohio broot-brewers, as it’s been almost 10 years since their last full […]
In this day and age of super speed, mega brutality and throwbacks there is something to be said for just riffs. Simple, catchy, driving riffs. And on their second effort of largely mid paced black ‘n’ roll styled metal, Germany’s Sonic Reign deliver them in spades. Those who hated Satyricon‘s last couple of outings, Now […]
Dark Descent Records has been on an absolute tear of killer releases in the past few years. Off the top of my head they have put out great records by: Ritual Necromancy, Entrails, Burial Invocation, Mitrochondrion, and Thantifaxath. If the rest of their catalog is as good as the aforementioned, or Lantern’s spectacular debut Below, […]
It feels a little odd reviewing Abyssal‘s re-released debut, Denouement so close to the excellent review of their second offering Novit Enim Dominus Quie Sunt Eius, but here I am listening to and enjoying Denouement actually a little more than the band’s latest Profound Lore release. Originally self released by the band on individual, hand […]
Last year was a rough one for Sofy Major. They made a trip from France to the States to record Idolize at producer Andrew Schneider’s (Keelhaul, Cave In, Unsane) brand new studio in Brooklyn and tour. Unfortunately, their trip coincided with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy and the studio was wiped out just a few […]
Norway’s Blood Red Throne achieved a little attention in the 00s, being an American sound death metal band hailing from the then black metal dominated country of Norway and featuring Tchort of Emperor as well as a rotating line up of other Norwegian luminaries. They released a number of solid, well received albums, notably their […]
Another one that slipped through the cracks late last year, Ireland’s Grot are a new grind/death band who, by all accounts, sound like they could be sticking around for a while. Sporting a polished overall production, their debut EP I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is a scorching six songer that clocks in […]
Norway’s Extol seemed to be that rare Christian metal band that were saved the usual ridicule and cries of “Get God out of my metal!” from knuckle dragging satanic metal heads when they surfaced in the late 90s. Whether it is because like thrashers Believer before them, they played a ‘real’ brand of metal (a […]
Life Sentence marks the long-awaited comeback album from one of the underrated spearheads of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Satan were around and kicking at the tail-end of the ’70s before emerging with their debut album, Court In The Act, in 1983. That album has since achieved somewhat of a cult status […]
Well it looks like America and Canada are finally having some profound influence on Black Metal around the world. Last year’s excruciatingly awesome demo by the Russian troupe Kalendae was “Cascadian,” “atmospheric,” Black Metal of the absolute highest caliber. The 20 minute, 2 track demo was absolutely the best slice of such a thing since […]
Hybrid is an apt name for this experimental Spanish metal act. Melding grindcore, djent, death metal, tech/math metal and jazzy experimental flourishes, the band is certainly adventurous with its sound, and on their second effort it creates one challenging, creative , if at times testing listen. This isn’t Azure Emote levels of crazy experimentation, but […]
Better late than never, right? Released as far back as September of last year, this little monster of American blackish metal somehow slipped through the cracks. Cosmic Cataclysms, the debut full-length album from Seattle-based Phalgeron, is a splendid concoction of brutal savagery and sweeping melodies all rolled into one. But lest you think they are […]
With their first 3 albums, A Celebration of Guilt, United in Regret and We Are the Nightmare, James Malone’s Arsis, injected a feral energy and staggering musicianship to a stagnating melodic death metal scene and added the US as major players in the genre. However, personal and line up issues hindered the band’s progress and […]
After a 7 year wait, a considerable amount of hype and build up, something strange happened to Summoning‘s eagerly awaited 7th album. After the teaser trailers, after the first song was revealed, the metal world was brimming with anticipation and then the album came out a couple of weeks ago……..and there were *crickets*. Now I […]
The second EP by Ohio deathcore metallers Death of an Era starts out pretty strong. The first track is a polyrhythmic, syncopated chugfest that fans will instantly gravitate towards. Near the end of that first track you get some almost painful sounding background lyrics, and one might wonder if that’s a sign of things to […]
Portland’s Orca Wolf Records has only been around for two years now, but in that time they’ve released a small catalog of fine music from Oregon’s doom scene and the self titled debut by Usnea is no exception. Similar to label mates Amarok, Usnea ply a style of doom dirge familiar to fans of Samothrace, […]
Facedown records was in a bit of a slump in late 2012 and early 2013, but responded recently and mightily with Hope for the Dying‘s Aletheia, the heavier than thou release from Those Who Fear, Christian metal’s possible savior in the new Extol reunion, and this, the almost as punishing but slightly more experimental second […]
Organs swell. Drums stomp to life. Soaring single notes harmonize and add atmosphere. This is “The Inception.” This funeral march is leading us somewhere. Probably the graves of its victims, who are most likely every single other Doom-cum-Black Metal release this year. Lychgate’s self-titled 2013 debut is surprising, stirring, horrifying, and engrossing. This frightening foursome […]
I am not sure I have ever heard a more perfect marriage on a split release than Sol, the 3 song, almost 70 fucking minute, Sun themed opus from two of the more exiting, new, one man black metal projects going right now. Both released stunning CDs last year; Mare Cognitum‘s An Extraconscious Lucidity, and […]
I believe to be a truly great band / artist; you absolutely have to be great at performing live. I want to see them and be absolutely floored that someone could take an album I love, and turn it into something transcendent that is not just heard, but experienced. Murder By Death (who, despite the […]
Norway has never been short of black metal bands. I read somewhere a few years back that, according to some study, almost 2% of the country’s entire population belongs to a black metal band. Whether that’s actually true remains to be officially verified, though it’d be cool if it was. In any event, Tsjuder remains […]
Expectations can be a bitch. Archon dropped an excellent debut in 2010. Ruins at Dusk was a heady slab of mountainous, hypnotic doom . It was full of spiring psychedelia and layers of wah-drenched guitars and I hoped for more from their follow-up. Ouroboros Collapsing lands on a distinctly darker note, swapping the larger than […]