Despite having plied their brand of Eastern European folk metal since 1995, I’m still relatively unfamiliar with Latvia’s Skyforger, having only heard the Paragon Records 2006 re-issue of their 1998 debut, Kauja Pie Saules (The Battle of Saule). I’ve missed the three albums and a compilation that have been released since 1998. When hearing the […]

The name, logo, album cover and Norweigian origin all say extreme metal, but the music on Nekromantheon’s Divinity of Death is pure candy to the ears of classic thrash fans. Nekromantheon blazes through 11 tracks in about 30 minutes sounding like the bastard child of Show No Mercy-era Slayer and very early Sepultura. The songs are short, […]

Seriously I don’t think it’s possible to give a negative review for bands on Facedown/Strikefirst Records as their roster of bands has been consistently great since their very start. Metalcore to hardcore and even melodic death metal Facedown/Strikefirst Records never disappoints in delivering high quality Christian bands to the masses. With that being said, Ace […]

It appears Eastern Europe is experiencing a resurgence in bands playing old school Swedish death metal. Led by the Czech Republic’s Morbider (who’s 2009 CD When Darkness Returns, I highly recommend, especially if you enjoyed Entrails‘ effort last year) and the debut from Lavadome Records, Brutally Deceased’s Dead Lover’s Guide. Swedish death metal aficionados will […]

Here’s a release I saw on numerous ‘2010 year end’-lists, but I never got around to listen to it in a timely fashion myself and thus, I couldn’t determine if it should be a best of 2010 ‘best of’ contender. But with a 2011 US release date via The Anja Offensive, I can now use […]

Jag Panzer certainly need no introduction to heavy metal fans. Stalwarts of American Heavy Metal for going on 30 years now, Jag Panzer has never failed to deliver epic heavy metal to its awaiting fans; flying under the mainstream radar (due largely, no doubt, to the 10 year gap between its first and second albums), […]

Ever hear an album that strangely rides the line between “dude, this is awesome” and “dude, these guys played at Honky Tonk Hank’s again last weekend and a drunk fat chick barfed all over the bass player”?  Well, unfortunately, Elliott’s Keep‘s Sine Qua Non (which apparently translates to “without this, nothing”) appears to fall into […]

Other than Metallica, I wasn’t really that much into the Bay Area thrash of the late ’80s, preferring the European likes of Sabbat, Xentrix and Kreator and the more extreme sounds of Slayer. As the genre has made a denim clad comeback, albeit now somewhat over saturated, I’m slightly surprised that Arizona’s Hemoptysis hasn’t garnered […]

I know it may seem this site has turned into metalcoreofthedivine.com as of late, but in all fairness we are A) trying to clean out the backlog of 2010s releases, and B) we are traffic whores and the ‘core be bringing the traffic, yo. In all seriousness, just click on the review of Hate‘s Erebos […]

I’m having a tough time with the debut record from The Shadow Theory. On one hand, I love the mashup of soft atmospherics, driving heaviness and the occasional hit of weirdness. It’s all very well-played and put together. Those qualities make me want to call it the first candidate for best of 2011. On the […]

It’s time to chalk another one up to the Midwestern metal scene with Minnesota’s After the Burial and their second release on Sumerian Records, In Dreams. This is definitely going to be a favorite for fans of the math metal variety with Meshuggah inevitably being the prime example that comes to mind. And rightfully so, […]

Blood Magick Necromance. Clean and polished. The sound is massive and full and the clarity is excellent, all of which bears witness to one hell of a death metal album. But this is black metal. Belphegor has flowed back and forth from death to black to black death to blackened death to whatever you want […]

There’s an old adage in American Football: You should never lose your staring job to injury. While Drew Bledsoe, Trent Green and Joe Montana might beg to differ, here comes Poland’s Hate to ably replace Behemoth while Nergal recovers from his recently diagnosed leukemia (get well soon!). Long waiting in the shadows of the likes […]

For those who have ever wondered what Killswitch Engage would be like―and I know every fan has―if original vocalist Jesse Leach had stayed with them, you may finally get a little bit of an idea with the release of Hymn of a Broken Man by Times of Grace. It’s the creative collaboration of lead Killswitch […]

Listen, I have no excuses as to why I didn’t get around to listening to and reviewing this album on a more timely basis. It’s even more baffling when you consider that I thoroughly enjoyed Withered‘s previous efforts, 2005’s Memento Mori and 2008’s critically acclaimed Folie Circulaire (which made my 2008 year end list). I […]

Are you ready for the Necro Pummel? You damn well better be because on Pissed on Resurrectine Baton Rouge’s Slime in the Current brings it cold, hard and with extreme malice. What a great debut album from a band that formed in 2006, yet whose members have been in “several noteworthy musical projects with over […]

Emerging from a dank cave, reeking of rot and weed, a hideous crone hobbles toward you, a fat cauldron in her arms, bubbling over with a foul-smelling concoction. As she approaches, the smell of death on her breath wafts toward you, encircling you; your vision goes fuzzy.”Driiiiiiiink,” she rasps, “drink deeeeeeeeeply,” her gnarled and greasy […]

Buried under 2010’s avalanche of Old School Swedish death metal awesomeness―from the likes of Entrails, Interment, Nominon and Brutally Deceased―was the third effort from Sweden’s  Evocation. Like Entrails, Evocation were actually around in the early ’90s, and included members from the relatively successful Cemetery, but never quite took off until their resurrection with 2007’s excellent […]

I vaguely recall being asked to review a DarkBlack’s The Barbarian’s Hammer EP for the old Digital Metal and being quite unimpressed. While I don’t, to be honest, remember much about that record, I’m a little more intrigued by the material on Midnight Wraith. I’m not quite won over by it, but it certainly shows […]

Progressive metal has taken on many new side streets over the last several years. No longer does the tag necessarily mean a band trying to recreate/reinterpret Rush‘s or Dream Theater‘s music. These days, bands like Opeth, Bigelf, and even Katatonia and Enslaved get included even within the outer fringes of the genre. Opeth in particular […]

Vocalist Wrath (Dodsferd) plus guitarist Nadir (Stellar Darkness), equals Greece’s Nadiwrath and their greasy, punk infused take on black metal. Nihilistic Stench has some pretty rollicking moments and fun little riffs scattered here and there, but as a 50-minute black metal album—even for the target Darkthrone fans—it’s a little bit of a drag. Nadiwrath are […]

OK, Forcefield Records, you’ve got my attention! Having just returned from a blissful trip through the vinyl corridors of the Cough/The Wounded Kings split LP, An Introduction to the Black Arts, I’m thrown for an even bigger loop by Inter Arma’s Sundown. At least I had some idea of the quality that awaited me with […]

Not counting former Meads member Jaldaboath and his recent solo effort, my last experience with England’s The Meads of Asphodel was 2001’s The Excommunication of Christ, an album that I still find very difficult to absorb, but still enjoy in spurts (particularly “Bene He Elohim”). That still appears to be the case with the band’s […]

Here is yet another black metal super group, this time originating from the UK/France and featuring B.S.T of Aborted, Balrog and Aosoth fame, aided by guitarist James Mcllroy (Cradle of Filth), drummer James Wilding (Aborted, Aosoth, Trigger the Bloodshed) and bassist Peter Benjamin of Akercocke. If that lineup gets you harder than a pedophile at […]

I have no qualms admitting that along with Halo of Flies and Deepsend Records, Michigan’s Saw Her Ghost Records, despite their relatively unprolific schedule is one of my favorite truly independent record labels. However, their 2010 roster―that included odd releases by the likes of Hellas Mounds and Lost Coves―didn’t really tickle my fancy per se, […]