It’s time to play the spin the wheel of metal genre label creation!!!! What do we have here from Seattle’s 7 Horns 7 Eyes? prog-djent-death-core? death-djent–prog-core? Christian-djent-melo-core? Whatever you call it and whatever the hype surrounding this release  what with teaser trailers, a Jeff Loomis (ex- Nevermore, who apparently made Century Media aware of these […]

What the fuck is going on in the midwest? I guess all those cold winter days spent inside listening to Darkthrone and drinking cough syrup have paid off because between Coffinworm, Wolvhammer and the new Lord Mantis they pretty much have the whole blackened sludge thing nailed down tighter than a really good metaphor for […]

Germany’s Dark Suns are a band that are nothing, if not ambitiously eclectic. Although I would feel secure recommending them to a fan of adventurous metal or prog rock, it will be difficult to nail down their sound in just a few words. Regardless, over the past decade, the band has released a slew of […]

For fans of the slower, doomier side of metal, the debut album from Italy’s Blood Red Water should be right up their alley. Sporting a more straightforward approach than that of doom/death legends Celtic Frost and with a less sonic, much less alluring style than Type O Negative, Tales of Addiction and Despair is apparently […]

“Into the dark night of the soul: emotional balance restored” This first line lead singer Bryan Funck screams in “The Unnamed Path” exemplifies one of Thou’s main goals: to dwell in and utilize the power of suffocating sounds and emotions to come away feeling hopeful and empowered. For 24 minutes, Thou’s brand of sludge/drone/doom barely […]

The one-man death metal band just keeps on gaining credibility, the trail having been blazed by the likes of Shawn Whitaker (Insidious Decrepancy), Shaun LaCanne (Putrid Pile), and Peter Hasselbrack (Bloodsoaked). Thirst for Revenge’s Annihilation of Races (Comatose) tickled a few of my fancies as well. Welcome now A.Death, the man responsible for Putrified’s Neurotic […]

North Carolina’s Wretched return with their third album on Victory Records, carrying the flag for the label’s strangely eclectic death metal roster amid the likes of Pathology and Jungle Rot. And while I’ve enjoyed the band’s prior two releases, they remain a band that are just ‘there’ for me, neither overly impressing me or making […]

Kommandant‘s approach to black metal is one that is strongly focused on invoking a particular ambiance and frame of mind. The aim here isn’t to simply grab one by the throat and desecrate; there’s a strongly adamant intention to progressively absorb the listener with the elements present in this sound. Make no mistake, there’s plenty […]

Naglfar’s second album, Diabolical, is still one of the most successful ‘cold’ purchases I’ve ever made. And by cold, I don’t mean frosty black metal, although that obviously applies. No, in this case, I mean that I’d never heard the band before, and bought the album on a whim. This was back in 1999, the […]

There she stands in the darkness, flecks of her golden hair illuminated by candle flicker and lightning flash. The silhouette of a white nightgown spills to her bare feet on the wooden floor. A gold crucifix spins lightly from the beaded chain around her neck, clinking softly. The knife she clutches glints maliciously. You see […]

Sometimes you just need some filth in your life and Swedish band Septekh are all too eager to provide it in buckets. It seems like they pull every stop they can think of to make the whole experience as uncouth as they can, pushing their death-thrash riffs through a sludgy, somewhat dark production and injecting […]

After being with Century Media for four albums, God Forbid marks their debut on Victory Records with a show of defiance and determination on their sixth album, Equilibrium. The positive and indomitably titled “Don’t Tell Me What to Dream” kicks it off with a Meshuggah-style riff over a commanding Byron Davis shouting the song’s name. […]

One thing that I enjoy about music is that it can take you on a journey. Similar to a good book, a band can place you in entire worlds, allowing your imagination to run free. The post-rock instrumental band from Akron, Ohio, If These Trees Could Talk, takes the listener on a journey though a […]

Other than Mithras, Sarpanitum, Trigger the Bloodshed, Fleshrot (RIP) and Detrimentum, I’m not very familiar with the better of the brutal/tech death metal scene coming out of the UK, but here is Hull based newcomer Parasitized and their impressive debut 6 song EP. Though released independently back in 2010, fledgling Canadian label Blast Head Records […]

The debut album Vitriol from the Italian band Evenoire is an interesting beast. They are firmly rooted in the goth and symphonic sub-genres of metal along with some tentative outgrowth into folk territory. Yet, for the goth and symphonic elements being so dominating, I feel that it is of their most uninspired moments. Vitriol is […]

I remember the first time I heard Katatonia and their doom masterpiece, Brave Murder Day. It was off the Century Black Firestarter compilation in 1997, and “Murder,” which was sandwiched between Borknagar and Arcturus, struck me as just completely miserable. It had a dry, dessicated sound, like something left to rot in a dim, airless […]

I’ve always had a soft spot for Borknagar‘s brand of melodic, blackened, folky, progressive, epic metal. That’s not a genre, just a lot of well-deserved adjectives. Their self-titled debut set a blueprint for what was to come, and though they’ve improved their production quality and changed members over time, main man Øystein G. Brun has […]

Brutal blasting death grind, a fitting tag for this brutal death metal gem. That said gem is the new album by Filipino brutal death grind outfit Disastrous entitled Severe Suffering. Severe Suffering is an unrelenting slab of brutal putrid riffs, pregnant women bashing drum battery, and gnarly pus spewing gutturals. This is their second full […]

Almost four months into 2012 and I’ve finally found my first candidate for this year’s top 10. The band in question is Sydney, Australia’s Paradigm, who I’d never heard of before this – and chances are, from the meager exposure out there on the metal web, you haven’t either. However, If you’re a fan of […]

According the Crown‘s website, Crown is “two men, two guitars, a voice and machine, …an extraordinary duo, trio or man-machine, whose compositions clean, direct and catchy, used as raw material to further the noise limits”. And that’s pretty accurate as Crown are in fact a French duo with both members once serving in Hollow Corp, […]

While about 75-80 percent of this ‘job’ is reviewing known or established bands in the same few genres and simply quantifying what most readers already feel, there’s often something that comes along that’s completely, new unexpected and rewarding. Such is the case with Chicago’s Beak. Some research shows that the band features members of a […]

Y’know, I’ve been debating on whether do review the new Asphyx album for a while now, but a few things weighed heavy on my mind; first, Century  Media never sent any sort of promo, digital, physical or otherwise, showing arrogance and confidence in the fact they don’t need press coverage, which considering the band is […]

After six long years, Spawn of Possession are back to toss their hat into the tech-death ring with their third full-length – Incurso. The band has gone through a lineup change since the last album, with drummer Dennis Rondum trading in his sticks for a microphone, and Obscura’s Christian Munzner taking over on guitars. Right […]

I’ll say this for Three Thirteen. They know how to appeal to me. The packaging of their last album, Full Tilt, caught my interest as much as the music. While their latest, Devil Music, a set of covers to hold fans over until the next record, arrived in a slip case, it came with lots […]

Warning: there’s gonna be cursing in this review, because an album like this warrants it, so please check your delicate sensibilities at the door. It’s been quite a while since anything of this ilk has crossed my desk for review, and in preparation I dug out some Morbid Saint and Noia to get me in […]