Bow is a project spawned from the mind of Chris van der Linden, a guy likely better known for his work under the title Fourteen Twentysix. Although Fourteen Twentysix has been called ‘progressive rock’, it may have been more fitting to call it a mix between ambient music and alternative rock; a combination that worked […]

How do I love thee Grave? Let me count the ways. It is the heart and soul of demonic growler, guitarist, and sole original member Ola Lindgren and the way he keeps the machine running in such a well-oiled manner. It is the rottenness and sheer weight of those riffs, the ugly enormousness of the […]

Cryptopsy’s 2008 album,The Unspoken King, was a polarizing album at best, an absolute abomination at worst.  Right or wrong, that output earned the band the dreaded deathcore tag, and the clean vocals of new frontman Matt McGachy (3 Mile Scream) went over like a turd in a punchbowl.  Fans expecting the brutal death metal that […]

Eastern Europe has produced some excellent pagan black metal bands over the last decade or more, the most well-known being Drudkh, Negura Bunget and Nokturnal Mortum. Yet there are undoubtedly dozens of other quality, uniquely Eastern acts still sheltered by those untravelled hills and forests. Ukraine’s Khors is one of those treasures. Wisdom of Centuries is their […]

And the retro Swedish death metal hits keep coming with a second wave of bands like Malfeitor, Mass Burial, Corrosive Carcass, Unconsecrated, Bombs of Hades, Eroded and such continuing the quality laid down by bands like Entrails, Demonical, Bloodbath, Fatalist, Hail of Bullets and others. And while some may tire of the genre’s imminent saturation, […]

About ten years back, I was just starting to test the waters of extreme metal. Shadows Fall was one of the very first bands that was decidedly outside of my norm. I think what drew me to them the most was the thrashiness of the riffs and music, as I had already been a long […]

Whores’ debut EP Ruiner can be summarized with two words: “Fuckin’ riffs”. In fact, that would probably be my review if submitting it wouldn’t make me feel terribly lazy, as well as piss off my Teeth of the Divine overlords. Monstrous, grimy riffs. Riffs that eat bricks and shit lead. Riffs so big, so heavy, […]

Progressive metal may be a something of a stagnant genre nowadays, but there’s still great quality to be found. Metaphysics is an Italian group that have been together since 2005, and though their sound is but a sliver away from the prog metal giants that so clearly influence them, they have created a memorable first […]

Hailing from Minnesota, Lungs are a sludgy, down tempo, post rock/doom band that would fit nicely on Halo of Flies Records, next to a band like Northless , even  more so considering their vinyl based output here. This self titled 10″ release consists of two songs, the 7 minute “The  Pith” and  the 8 minute […]

Xibalba, the 5-piece from southern California, not to be confused with the other half dozen or so bands who share the same name, had already shown potential on their debut, Madre Mia Gracias Por Los Dias, which we reviewed last year, but their sophomore album, Hasta La Muerta, makes good on their stylistic growth in […]

Though many have thought melodic death metal dead for a few years now (thanks, In Flames), a few releases here in late 2011/2012 by the likes of Vale of Pnath, Pictured, December Flower, Darkness By Oath, Allegaeon and Karnak Seti have shown there’s a bit of life in the genre yet. And here is Italy’s […]

It’s been four years since the release of The Faceless’ ambitious last album, Planetary Duality. That’s plenty of time for some kind of musical or sonic metamorphosis (and plenty of band member change-ups as well), and on their new concept album Autotheism, the band truly spreads its mutant wings. I was impressed with Akeldama, their […]

About damned time! Four years for a new Testament album is just too long. After waiting 9 years on previous album The Formation of Damnation (which admittedly, in retrospect, is/was kind of a disappointment – certainly not bad but not one of their best), I had thought these extended breaks between albums were over. Apparently […]

As you all are well aware, there has been a growing trend for a few years now with this whole “Cascadian black metal” thing and it’s just about reached its breaking point. Obviously Wolves in the Throne Room are the supposed pioneers of this subgenre and, like every other nook or cranny of metal,a million […]

If my memory doesn’t fail me, I was a pretty damned vocal fan of King of Asgard‘s even before they signed on to Metal Blade. They made an extremely impactful entrance in the industry with their first record, and were quick to establish themselves as one of the modern driving forces of the Viking metal […]

Hailing from my old college stomping grounds in Kansas City, Missouri, Solace and Stable are a group of young tech metallers cut from the same cloth as bands like Between the Buried and Me, Woe of Tyrants, The Demonstration, Conducting from the Grave, With Passion and such; they play a form of shred filled, melodic […]

I think I’m about the last person to check out Atriarch’s Forever The End, an album that lit up many year-end lists in 2011… What can I say? There are a lot of records to keep up with. However after sampling their craft via this split album, I’ll be looking for that debut ASAP. But not before […]

Here’s a vinyl split LP with some amazing potential. Light Bearer‘s first LP, 2011’s Lapsus was one of the very best releases of last year while Wisconsin’s Northless have steadily improved over the two releases I have heard in 2010’s No Quarter for the Damaged and last year’s Clandestine Abuse LP. I’m not going to […]

Along with Dark Descent and Willowtip, Deepsend Records are one of my favorite independent US based labels, especially when it comes to pure death metal. They’ve had a solid spring summer releasing quality albums by the likes of Offending, Synapses, the always reliable Dawn of Demise and even got into the reissue game with reissues […]

The fact that I was born in 1984 means that I have missed out on a lot of metal history. Sure, it has been documented in the form of records and concert footage, but it’s not the same as actually being at a specific event, such as the early genesis of death metal with early […]

What’s swollen with Swedish pride, rife with heathenism and unabashedly oozing with heavy metal thunder?  Grand Magus‘ newest release, of course.  Sixth full-length The Hunt is a smorgasbord of fine riffs and rhythms that’s certain to please ears the world over.  So it may not be as doomy (okay, there’s really no comparison) as earlier […]

Italy has a surprisingly solid technical/brutal death metal scene.  Of course, there’s the more obvious  monsters like Fleshgod Apocalypse and Hour of Penance, but if you dig a little deeper and actually list bands like Antropofagus, Gory Blister, Illogicist, Vomit the Soul, Unconventional Disruption, Humangled, Psychofagist just to name a few, you start to realize […]

Throw some more incense on the fire, here comes another flaxen-haired acolyte come to join the coven of female-fronted, psychedelic and devil-worshipping hard rock. Last one of these I covered was Finland’s Jess and the Ancient Ones; here are their labelmates/countrymates in Seremonia. This variety of 70s proto-doom is shaggy like a forest nymph in […]

Easily one of the most over-looked albums of the last decade, Epoch of Aquarius will hopefully garner the sort of attention it lacked when it originally was presented to the world in 2006. For those who may not know, Munruthel is a band that fits somewhere inside the whole pagan/folk metal sub-genre but the music […]

Hailing from Texas and featuring The Faceless drummer Lyle Cooper, Absvrdist play a form of vicious modern grind/crust that would sit well on Southern Lord. It will appeal to fans of  Enabler and any other of Southern Lord’s crust/hardcore bands, and it’s got just a dash of black metal (though that might just be the […]