As much as I’ve always liked the Japanese Gods of the Deathly and the Doomed (a.k.a. Coffins), I don’t recall enjoying one of their numerous releases on a multitude of formats (probably even 8-track) quite as much as new EP March of Despair. By that I mean that it ended up being more than a […]

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as the recently reviewed Ectovoid, Alabama’s Chaos Inception have dropped a fine death metal album by way of their sophomore album, The Abrogation. And for those that are a little disappointed with Nile‘s At the Gate of Sethu, (or a least its production) and are still miffed […]

Grindcore mainstays Phobia are back with their 6th full length, and on this newest one they made the odd choice to introduce… clean vocals and female gothic influences?!? Ummm… No. This is straight up ass-melting grindcore, and it’s what these guys have been pummeling eardrums with for over 20 years. When you can personify the […]

In my recent quest to discover as much quality D-beat/crust as possible (in part to Southern Lord’s recent releases by All Nails, Black Breath, Pigs Must Die, Acephalix, Dead in the Dirt, etc) two  names came up over and over again as a must listen band in the genre; Tragedy and their apparent European equivalent […]

Something just crept up out of one of the bogs in balmy Alabama and it’s a hideous monster on the prowl to maim and sever anything in its path. That monster is Ectovoid, a new band more or less formed out of the ashes of Bloated Carcass. Cheesy hyperbole aside, the debut album from Ectovoid […]

Newcastle’s prolific drone-doom team is back with another mesmerizing dose of psychedelic drone. Mana Yood Sushai marks something of a milestone for the band, since it is their first release recorded in a proper studio. Last years Beyond Ancient Space was a crushing piece of lo-fi droning doom, dense with foreboding atmosphere. Despite the music […]

Right after blasting District Destruction, I have this prompting, and deliciously fucking overwhelming need to throw myself into a chaotic, earth-shaking, and universe-rippling moshpit of the bloodiest kind. Mortal Infinity are, quite simply, a new thrash force imposing itself on the very forefront of the game; much like the press releases say it, they’re playing […]

The fifth release from young Canadian label, Blast Head Records is easily their best. It’s the fourth album from veteran, but new to me German death metal act Tombthroat, and it’s a scorcher of a death metal album. The 11 tracks contained on Eden Apocalypse are completely relentless, delivering pretty much blast after blast of […]

Did you hear? Finland’s melodic death metal masters Insomnium have renamed themselves as “Be’lakor”! That’s the name of an evil character from the popular Warhammer franchise by the way. Who would have thought that Finnish dudes actually play games apart from eating, breathing and excreting metal music? I lied. Be’lakor is actually a five-piece melancholic, […]

I feel a little bad for California’s Coffin Texts.  They released a Egyptian/Middle Eastern themed death metal album back in 2000 called Gods of Creation, Death & Afterlife, and by all counts it was a pretty solid affair. The only problem was there was also band around at the same time called Nile, maybe you’ve […]

It goes without saying that The Cory Smoot Experiment is truly a fitting name for the material found on When Worlds Collide (for absolutely all the material on here is one daring science project in its own right). It was initially going to be a collaboration between Smoot and a good number of his mates […]

Evolution in metal is an interesting beast, and one that has three distinct paths for bands who decide to travel down its twisty road. Evolve too far and you risk alienating your fan base, and in extreme cases become a virtual laughingstock (Morbid Angel, Machine Head,  Cryptopsy – you all should know exactly which albums […]

First we were treated to the awesome Mantas compilation, and now this. Long out of print and virtually forgotten about the world over, Svart Records is kind enough to deliver the lost demo collection of Abhorrence, one of the pioneer death metal bands of Finland. Comprised of guys who eventually left to play in Amorphis […]

Summer driving season is almost here and White Orange should be at the top of the playlist for all fans of straightforward, acid-fried rock and roll. Their debut is simple, straightforward stoner rock that pays homage to the influence of Kyuss and Monster Magnet, balanced by the catchy pop influence that Queens of the Stone […]

So after a couple of line up juggling, transitional post Destroy the Opposition albums in Stop at Nothing and War of Attrition,  American stalwarts Dying Fetus trimmed down to a three piece for 2009s Descend into Depravity with impressive results. And now finally, John Gallagher has put together two album with the same line up […]

It’s not for nothing that Acid Death has been getting so many accolades in the Greek scene since day one. Their return, with this fifth release is one that is all about broad and boundary-less sonic landscapes, diverse and, for the most part, intricately-forged experimentations, abstract riffage delivery and absolutely meaty groove, in addition to […]

The sophomore release, Formshifter, from Allegaeon refines and polishes what they had established with their debut on Fragments of Form and Function – tight, technical, groove and hook-laden riffs with catchy choruses and blazing shredding all along the fretboard and deep, commanding death growls. Unlike a lot of other technical death metal bands, that like […]

I love getting my hands on obscure, previously unheard (to me) metal bands, and they turn out to be enjoyable – case and point Malaysia’s Humiliation, and their third full length album, From Strength to Strength.Admittedly I had zero expectation whatsoever, but amid all the proggy, tech death and deathcore ringing in my ears, Humiliation […]

Twice in a row now – for 2009’s Process of a New Decline, and last year’s Transcendence EP – I’ve dubbed France’s Gorod one of, if not the most creative tech death bands on the planet. For my money, they’re certainly the most entertaining – complex yet cogent, brutal yet playful, and limber and listenable […]

Astra is a psychedelic/progressive group from San Diego with just a couple releases under their belt, but they sure have created a mighty mature sound in the short period of time that they’ve existed. 2009’s The Weirding, the debut, was a sublime welding of earthy layers of sound with ’70s prog rock. The Black Chord […]

What is a midnightmare? Is it having a nightmare at midnight? Or a nightmare in the middle of a nightmare? I think that answer lies with Dreaming Dead, and it’s a lot of Death worship with some classic-Swedish metal (particularly Eucharist) thrown into the mix. Normally, this would not at all be a bad thing. […]

Old school death metallers Cardiac Arrest are back for their fourth album, and it’s old school death metal as you would expect it. Semi-decipherable death growl? Check. Buzzsaw guitar tone? Check. Raw production? Check. Horror/death themed lyrics? Check. It’s all here, and that’s all that can be said about this album – it’s just  ‘there’. […]

While Gus G’s debut with Ozzy Osbourne was a pretty disappointing mess, with Gus as primarily a hired gun playing other people’s riffs, his other outfit, Firewind, has yet to disappoint. It’s not that they do anything out of the ordinary or innovative in the power metal world. It’s just that they do what they […]

Hailing from Philadelphia, Fisthammer are a young band who have decided to eschew the current retro, throwback trend and go for a modern, clean take on death metal and throw in a smorgasbord of elements. The result is a pretty solid album that takes a while to get going, but has a lot of promise […]

Pensylvannia’s Order of Nine come up with a particularly proficient record in their fifth offering Seventh Year of the Broken Mirror. It’s a tactical and reflective journey that speaks volumes about large-scale introspection and vivid, tenacious emotion, albeit don’t be mistaken; it ain’t no lyric-centered album that only uses music as a foundation to lay […]