Willowtip has scored yet another massive-sounding and terrifying band in Australia’s Beyond Terror Beyond Grace. If you want to know what they sound like, well, the name says it all. These guys have created a black/post-metal sound at once brutal and transcendent – full of terror, full of grace and yet beyond both. Nadir pulverizes you with […]

Technical death metal is a unique beast. When pulled off well (Origin, early Neuraxis, Decrepit Birth), it is one of the few genres that can make you stop and go – “Whoa… what the hell was that?!?”; leaving you reaching for the rewind button on your cd player to re-listen to what you just heard. […]

Remember that jaw-dropping moment in your childhood when you saw ex-Green Ranger Tommy Oliver coming back stronger than ever as the badass White Ranger in Season 2 of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers? Yeah, Sigh’s upcoming album certainly did an excellent job at evoking that long-forgotten feeling of inane joy. As always, the Japanese are […]

From Sacred Plague Records, who brought us the excellent Black Hole of Calcutta LP, comes another vinyl slab of filthy, dirty analog crusty metal in the form of Chicago’s self described ‘crustards’, Krang. As with some other Sacred Plague releases I’m getting familiar with, Krang play a noisy, dirty amalgamation of thrash/crust/punk and death metal […]

So, I’m playing a bit of catch up here having just recently received CDs from new label Blast Head Records, based out of Canada and Belgium’s Shiver Records, so expect a few late 2011 releases, seeing as they sent actual CDs not digital files. First up is the first release from Blast Head Records, the […]

In the Midst of Lion have been busy little bees since I reviewed their 2009  Strikefirst records debut, Out of Darkness. They of course moved on and up to Facedown Records and  some time in 2010, released Heart of Man, which I never got around to reviewing, and then in late 2011 released album number […]

The Rotted are finally back with their new full length Ad Nausea, the follow up to Get Dead Or Die Trying and is their second under the new moniker since Gorerotted became The Rotted. They are bringing another dose of crusty death metal to the masses, but besides the heavy as fuck instrumentation, this release […]

France’s Griffar started out as a pagan black metal band; their 2000 release Of Witches and Celts featured lengthy, highly melodic compositions and a buzzy, wall-of-sound approach. After a few aborted attempts to return over the last decade, they’ve finally reformed with an updated and more muscular sound. Griffar now sounds like late 90s melodic black […]

So the band Liberteer came to my attention after reviewing the recent Beaten to Death album, a grindcore album that was grindcore with a difference, and so is the debut album from Liberteer. Comprised of Matt Widener, the grindcore lineage is certainly here considering Widener’s involvement in the likes of Cretin, Citizen, Exhumed and The […]

It’s tough to be a metal band in 2012. Not only does one have to contend with piracy, a shrinking music industry, and a crowded pond filled with the scum of other metal bands, but one has to be able to stand out musically. Some bands take the safe route and pay tribute to their […]

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with a good slab of old school death metal? The debut album for Zombie Inc. was released to the world on February 14, and I am sure it was the soundtrack for many a candlelight dinner. Well ok probably not, but it definitely reeks of ironic humor […]

There’s something about album art drawn in the Marvel Comics style that goes really well with neo-classical power metal. Is it because this particular American comic drawing style is reminiscent of the ‘80s, which reminds one of the group vocals so commonly heard in power metal from that same decade (and for every ‘80s power […]

Metal-jazz fusion or jazz-metal fusion? Or is it neither jazz nor metal? Live Blackjazz is a dvd/ cd release recorded at Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo by Shining. A quick history from the metal context has them forming as a jazz quartet in 1998 and releasing several well received albums before getting to perform with […]

There’s a very fine line as a critic between liking something and disliking something. A production issue, a vocal issue, a song writing issue or any number of things that can sway an opinion between praise and disappointment. Case and point; 40 Watt Sun’s largely revered album, The Inside Room and Pallbearer‘s debut album. Both cathartic, […]

So Mexico is getting in on this retro death metal resurgence with Ominous Crucifix and their take on cavernous, gnarly simple old school Incantation-y death metal. And while Ominous Crucifix don’t really do anything wrong on The Spell of Damnation, the album is still a pretty average effort resulting in one of FDA Rekotz’s weaker […]

So being a huge fan of Gorefest I had to check out the second album from The 11th Hour, a doom metal project featuring former Gorefest (and current Hail of Bullets) drummer Ed Warby and guitarist Frank Harthoon. That respectable duo is joined by Officium Triste growler Pim Blankenstein,  who brings his super deep, typical […]

A new discovery for some and a reaffirmation for others, old school Swedish death metal has achieved a level of appreciation and acceptance these past few years that exceeds that afforded it during its original era. As an admitted fan I’d be the last person to find fault with that, but let’s not forget the […]

The Pacific Northwest gets a lot of USBM love – all those towering primeval forests, rugged coastlines and deep, billowing fog banks conjure the same fascination and mysticism as the old country (i.e. Norway). But what about the Great Northeast? There’s more up there than just Martha’s Vineyard, dropped r’s and lobster rolls. They’ve got […]

France’s Comity constructs lengthy songs from short, violent outbursts of tightly wound riffs. It’s spastic, ragingly violent hardcore with a heavy dose of noise rock and a touch of post rock shimmer. It’s nothing that hasn’t been done many times before, but the restraint they show in the second half of The Journey is Now […]

My relationship with Widow has been up and down. I really liked my introduction to them, On Fire, when they were a female-fronted, horror-themed outfit. Their last outing, Nightlife, just didn’t do anything for me. So I went into Life’s Blood not really knowing what to expect, and that’s probably why it took me so […]

I’ve made no bones about the fact that I’m not a huge fan of A Plea For Purging‘s shift from awesome, twiddly shreddy metalcore to more serious, personal djent styled music. I have not really cared for the band since 2009’s Depravity, and frankly haven’t really cared to, as in my opinion nothing will top […]

Blacks Skies’ stock-in-trade is a blend of early Pentagram-style proto-doom and stoner rock. Their vibe and sound is more rough and tumble rock n’ roll than crushingly heavy. Driving riffs are the theme here, not obliterating heaviness, and the band rumbles forth convincingly, if unexceptionally, on their third full length release. The intro and main […]

The name, Hellcrawler, immediately piqued my interest, while the combination of album title and grim cover art guaranteed that I’d have to give Wastelands a spin or 10. While maybe not as perpetually disappointing as finding out the girl with the sexy voice on the phone looks nothing like she sounds, making the leap from […]

Oh Stéphan Forté, if thou art female, I’d be swooning all over you right now (and you’d probably be the best girl shredder out there). Seriously, how did this album escape the radar of countless popular metal websites and blogs last year? The guitarist of French progressive neo-classical band, Adagio, Stéphan Forté has finally and […]

Israel’s Total Rust Music has carved out a nice little niche for themselves on the black/doom/sludge genre with a number of quality releases from the likes of Highgate, Lords of Bukkake, Pyramido, Funeralium and such. 2012 looks to be of to a similarly high quality start with a trio of releases by Spain’s Tort, French black […]