I’ve been sitting on my review of this simply stunning double LP for a while now for a couple of reasons. First, it’s such a monolithic, emotionally draining and fantastic album that putting it into words is nigh impossible. Second, I just want to listen to and absorb this record over and over again and […]

Despite my relative familiarity with old school Swedish metal, old and new, as well as most of Rogga Johanssen’s many current and former Stockholm-styled projects (Paganizer, Ribspreader, Bone Gnawer, etc.) I actually had never heard of Revolting. It’s even more surprising that their newest effort was released on FDA Rekotz, the label responsible for my […]

I love the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. Being stuck on repeat, so to speak, is an entertaining premise. The film really works, however, because within that framework of repetition, the main character finds a way to vary the program. So, each day, much as it’s similar to the one before, is different enough to […]

Swedish prog death metal band Scar Symmetry comes back with their fifth studio release, The Unseen Empire, a concept album put forth about the Illuminati — or as quoted from drummer Henrik Ohlsson, this album “seeks to expose the hidden hand of the elite that pull the strings of mankind in order to fulfill their […]

Lost in all the controversy and arguing over the new Morbid Angel album is the  fact that another legendary, godfather act of death metal also returned after a long hiatus in 2011. The difference is…these guys did it right. After two certifiably classic death metal albums in Severed Survival and Mental Funeral, Autopsy released two  […]

Ahhhh… Unearth… one of the pioneers of the modern metalcore scene. Every time these guys come out with a new album it’s like an old friend you haven’t seen in a few years coming to visit – you think they might have changed but you’re hoping not by much. How does this, their fifth full […]

Well folks, Dr.Acula are back for another round of nu-grind violence in the form of Slander. Well actually the whole grindcore scheme of things (beer pong massacre anyone? No well I loved that song) is replaced with a deathcore sound meaning longer songs yet still retaining the same snotty attitude of the old. Slander is kind […]

Here’s a nice little surprise in the form of the second album from Chicago’s symphonic black metal act Withering Soul. With ties to one of first US acts plying the style competently, the underrated Veneficum, in keyboardist/guitarist Krystopher, Withering Soul’s sound has a distinct European tone that obviously culls from the likes of early Dimmu […]

Halo of Flies is having a pretty awesome run of LP releases over the last few months. Going back to last year’s The Makai and Protestant LPs, this year they’ve released the sublime debut of Light Bearer (ex Fall of Efrafa) and Northless’ follow up to 2010’s No Quarter for the Damaged CD/EP. As with […]

I missed the 2005 debut from Speed\Kill/Hate, side project of Overkill guitarist Dave Linsk, but I just might have to go back and check it out after hearing their latest effort, Out for Blood. The 2011 lineup of the band is completely different from the 2005 version, which also featured a couple of other Overkill […]

This has to be a late April’s Fools right? Or some sick practical joke and somewhere Trey Azagthoth and David Vincent are laughing it up, and will let us in on the joke, then release a proper album, right? Because if not, I’m going to be pissed, as are lots of other death metal fans. […]

Did anyone happen to get the license plate of the truck that just hit me? Over and over. For about an hour. Growing up in a rural area long before the Internet showed up in every household giving people access to music from around the world, I was a latecomer to Destruction. I was already […]

Acephalix initially caught my attention in 2010 with their album Aporia, released on Prank Records. That record eventually got an honorary mention on my ‘Best of 2010’ list, in no short part because it had a unique combination of metal and hardcore, and while I realize that sounds like nothing new, they turn this seemingly […]

So a member of (our)  TOTD forum asked me if I could review this band–that has some friends of his in Japan–as they are excited for some possible international exposure. I agreed. Though, I admit to not expecting much, but I’ll do a favor for a longtime reader — even if the CD was released […]

Based on the cover art and album name, I was expecting some form of shitty deathcore, but I should have known better than that from Soulflesh Collector Records. Instead, what we have here is some very impressive Dying Fetus -styled (nay, worshiping — the moniker kind of gives it away I guess) slammy, downtuned death […]

Following up on 2010’s Ashes of Angels, former Antaeus vocalist MkM has returned to his Aosoth-project to deliver sermons of blackened fury. And while the last effort had slight tinges of Deathspell Omega/Blut Aus Nord styled discordance and atmospherics, with lengthier songs, more dissonant, harrowing and atonal hues, Aosoth appears to have morphed into a […]

“I See No God Up Here” claimed Yuri Gagarin during the first manned space flight, April 1961. The last really good, pure post-rock/shoegaze albums I heard were Rosetta’s last effort and the last EP by Mouth of the Architect. But in a matter of weeks I’ve heard three; Halo of Flies Records’ excellent LP duo […]

It is in fact failure, and not its rarer though far more popular cousin’s success, which is the most easily identifiable symptom of effort, and Norse explorers Ulver have been long overdue for a good old-fashioned Donner Party after years of casually strolling up and down Everest. Granted, I am not making an argument that […]

Onward to Olympas are back yet again with another dose of Christian metalcore on their second album for Facedown Records, The War Within Us. Adding much more melody and an onslaught of solos, one can tell the band has stepped their game up…big time! “The Continuance” is a short filler intro before the first tune […]

I’ve seen a fair bit of buzz on the old Internet about this Finnish band’s debut EP, and after finally grappling with its criminally short 23-minutes of hellish death metal — the hype is in deed worth it. One could argue that the oddly named Corpsessed are cut from the current cloth of better Incantation […]

There’s just something about black metal guys getting together to jam on some old-fashioned hard rock that works. By all rights it shouldn’t, since the accessible melodies and memorable hooks that go along with the style of music are pretty much the exact opposite of what black metal bands normally do. But every time I […]

I covered Gigan’s debut, The Order of the False Eye, back in 2008, and I remember it being a difficult write-up. Describing music is hard enough, but when it’s complex, undulating tech-death, it really does become a you-have-to-hear-this-to-understand-it kind of deal. The Obscura review I wrote up a few weeks ago was a challenge as […]

I’ve been extremely grateful for each new Amorphis album since Far from the Sun, considering that I basically gave up on the band with that one. Luckily for us, they realized how to play up their strengths and deliver what the fans want, and they’ve done a fantastic job of it ever since. And now, […]

There are those out there that think death metal is dying or dead. That the once proud genre has succumbed into a riffless, soulless, pro tool pandemic and become full of stagnant clones or simply fallen into pure homage and worship. For the record, I am not one of those people. However, if I were, […]

The chances of one liking Emmure is determined if they can withstand an album chock full of breakdowns. Not just a breakdown here or there–no way–this is a situation where the album is one giant breakdown that also gave birth to little breakdowns and… hell, you get the picture. Anyway, Emmure are back with another […]