Despite their proven ability to shift loads of albums and headline tours from their lofty position at the forefront of the modern metal scene, Michigan’s The Black Dahlia Murder continue to divide the broader metal community. To their credit the band doesn’t give a shit about detractors writing them off as a second rate At […]
Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes (roughly translated to War of All Against All) is the debut full length album from one man project based in Harrowgate, England, who goes under the guise of ‘Leviathan’. I was interested in reviewing this because Bal Sagoth‘s Johnny Maulding engineered the album and helped out with some synths, and I’m […]
German, analog-only label, Iron Bonehead Productions, is currently on quite a winning streak with recent and upcoming releases from Unaussprechlichen Kulten, ZOM, Death Karma, Heretic Cult Redeemer, and Beyond (DE), just to name a few. But, one of the most interesting of them all is this 3-song debut EP from Swiss two-piece, Bölzer. Their inconspicuous […]
I’m usually a little leery of reissues of only 5 year old death metal albums. I prefer my reissues to be of a more classic musk, and frankly I don’t think there was much released in 2008 that really needed re-issuing. However, along comes the start up UK Label Wretched Decay Records and their re-issue […]
Full disclosure: I have never listened to a second of Mustasch until this album fell into my lap. I had heard of them, of course, but they always seemed to fly under my own musical radar. On one hand this is a bit crummy because that means I spent the last decade or so not […]
Prophetic marks the debut album from Australian death metal band, Eternal Rest. The young band has crafted a solid, confident album that smacks of potential for a bright future ahead. The band plays with unyielding passion and intensity over the album’s concise duration, displaying their accomplished instrumental chops and growing stature as song-writers. Yet for […]
While most current death metal acts are looking either forward or backward, Philly’s Azure Emote takes us on a trip sideways with their second full-length, The Gravity of Impermanence. Mastermind, Mike Hrubovcak (vocalist for Monstrosity, Vile, Divine Rapture, and Abraxas and illustrator for numerous other bands), conducts a slew of talented musicians along with core […]
As the Monster Becomes… what?!? Another deathcore album? Why yes folks that’s indeed what it is. Now that 4 of you are left reading this review, we can continue. This Italian quintet have dropped an EP that basically is exactly what you’d expect: you get plenty of breakdowns, bass drops, a dual-vocal attack, some djent […]
It’s been a relatively quite three years since Germany’s Imperium Dekadenz released their solid though unspectacular Procella Vadens LP. After unleashing two impressive albums (…und die Welt ward kalt und leer and Dämmerung der Szenarien), Imperium Dekadenz seemed to take a step back with their aforementioned 2010 release. However, with their latest album Meadows of […]
It’s one thing to have some kickass tunes loaded up on your album. It’s another thing entirely to have kickass tunes loaded with more energy than a pack of hyenas. For Scotland’s Cnoc An Tursa, the relative newcomers have delivered an album that is overflowing with hooks, melodies, grooves and an endless surplus of raw […]
With their fifth full-length album reportedly in the pipeline, Portland retro thrashers Toxic Holocaust has pieced together a comprehensive collection of their extensive backlog of non-album material. From the Ashes of Nuclear Destruction features 22 tracks, including numerous raw demo versions of their studio counterparts, and an abundance of material culled from various splits and […]
At this point in Satch’s career, it can be difficult not to take the man’s talent and virtuosic skill for granted. After all, time and again, he’s been called one of the, if not the greatest guitarist in rock music. It’s not hard to agree with that opinion either; for close to thirty years, Joe […]
A prolific band, Neaera is. Already on their sixth full-length release since forming in 2003, the German quintet is back to doing what they’ve done throughout their career, which is write solid, slightly more abrasive melodic death metal. On Ours is the Storm, the band’s first album in three years, Neaera has released possibly their […]
It’s been years since their last full length, but Fistula hasn’t kept quiet. They’ve pumped out an impressive number of splits and EPs over the past five years and in the process evolved in to one of the sickest, meanest bands out there. Their latest EP, Northern Aggression, is no exception, as it sees the […]
Sorry guys, those of who who clicked on this review link expecting or hoping for a melancholic Finnish or Swedish death/doom band based on the moniker, will be a bit disappointed , as this is nothing of the sort. However, while you are here let me introduce you to this multifaceted, progressive metal band from […]
After two lauded albums that arguably spear headed the Swededeath revival, Sweden’s Entrails is playing with the big boys now. Residing on Metal Blade Records, (a fitting replacement for Vomitory methinks) and sitting atop the heap of retro Swedish/Sunlight inspired death metal bands. But the pressure is now even more, especially with the all important […]
I know the same can be said about every genre and subgenre of metal (and for all of music, for that matter), but why does every single goddamned metalcore band have the exact same singer with the exact same voice who sings in the exact same patterns and enunciates the words the exact same way? […]
If there was a musical equivalent to vaudeville (late 19th century variety entertainment) it would be represented in the form of the fourth album from Pensées Nocturnes, Nom d’une Pipe! Like the theatrical genre of years past, this album cobbles together classical, swing, bal-musette, reggae, and jazz in a bleak, disturbing black metal skin. The […]
The creepy Mexicans are back and better than ever! After the splendid Reaper’s Consecration EP last year, the sick duo of Mr. Jacko (bass, guitars) and Mr. Hitchcock (vocals) have returned with their latest slab of Swedish-styled retro death metal in the form of At the Caves of Eternal. Like everything they’ve released thus far […]
One of the bonuses of being a reviewer is that it forces you out of your comfort zone, and as one who listens to an unhealthy amount of death metal, this is a good thing. Looking for a change I grabbed the debut album from In the Silence. This album was actually released last summer, […]
Joel Grind’s Yellowgoat Sessions project pays homage to metal’s formative years and 80’s heyday in all its raw and bare bones glory. The Toxic Holocaust main-man cooks up a feisty mix of fast and straight-forward metal tunes inspired by the punk rock fury of Motorhead and the early works of Venom and Bathory. The formula […]
Here is a band from Norway that is hard to define and review. They grab your attention with that cover and album title, and then the style they play is a form of avant garde, experimental, progressive melodic death metal that’s really difficult to pigeonhole. The only bands I could think of that shared some […]
If you want to have your eardrums shattered due to some of the most brutal and apocalyptic sounding death metal you’ll hear this year, then look no further than the new full length album from the UK’s Abyssal. Not to be confused with the Abyssal from Australia, Brazil, Finland or France, this Abyssal is ready […]
Never judge a book by its cover. In this case, I thought I was going to HATE France’s Kause 4 Konflikt: the name, the excessive Ks, the masked, combat fatigue clad band members, the self described ‘offensive war-core’ styled music, every thing screamed shitty Slipknot clone or awful nu metal tripe. And indeed, the opener […]
Hailing from Quebec, Canada, the youngsters in Pronostic are a technical/melodic death metal band trying their hand at adding a sort of Black Dahlia Murder/Arsis/Allegaeon sound to modern almost deathcore/death metal that’s intricate and busy, but has a few chops and plenty of skill. The thing is, it’s about 5 years too late. Don’t get […]