The Mire are a band from the UK that play a form of post-metal that’s similar to their brethren in Devil Sold His Soul. With their second album on Eyes of Sound records, The Mire have a created an album that is emotionally direct yet progressive and intelligent. The album opens with a short but […]
It seems so easy. Take some folk, mix it with some metal, add some tribal-this, some ethno-that, heat until fused and ta-da!–awesomeness. But as Finntroll, Korpiklaani, Moonsorrow or even the relatively rougher Eluveitie prove in endless genre-mix soufflés, things usually collapse under the weight of whimsy, uneven beauty/beasting, or heavy-pretense (yes, I’m thinking of the new Agalloch‘s tendency to meander, or Swan‘s pointlessly […]
It has been three years since Helrunar‘s Baldr Ok Íss. This follow-up album was started in the summer of 2008. According to the label’s press packet: “Helrunar set about erecting a memorial in their own honor. Sól are two conceptually linked albums of tremendous depth, combining contradictory attributes such as catchiness and complexity in the […]
Old-school fans of Southern sludge bands like Eyehategod, Buzzov*en and Crowbar might not like all the dreamy post-rock that’s been mixed into that genre of late (Isis, Burst, Cult of Luna, etc), so here comes Virginia’s Salome to drag things back into the mud again. Armed only with a seriously down-tuned guitar (no bass!), drums […]
I’ve been get a lot of CDs sent to me by truly independent bands – small but talented bands just wanting some press. Luckily it’s my and Teeth of the Divine’s pleasure to give some exposure to quality acts like At Dusk, Iron Thrones, Johan Wolfgang Pozoj, The Sequence of Prime, Karnak Seti, Ironwood and […]
As much of a fan of Faroese Viking metal act Tyr and frontman Henri Joensen that I am, I was excited to finally hear a CD/retail version of his side project, Heljareyga, which has been available digitally since February. With Tyr becoming a bit more streamlined and catchy on By the Light of the Northern […]
Recipe for Viking metal: A dash of black metal, heavy metal and a huge helping of folk with all the lore one can handle. Falkenbach are back with another album entitled Tiurida and to be honest it’s no different than their other releases — besides a few touches here and there. The album opens with […]
Originally self released back in 2009, the reissue of this Aussie trio’s second full-length CD comes to us thanks to the fine folks responsible for Diabolical Conquest ‘zine (so, whose up for Teeth of the Divine records?), and it does much the same their 2007 self-titled debut did: Old school, simple death metal with a […]
Normally when I go into a review listen on a band that’s new to me, I’m looking for something that I haven’t heard before. Sometimes, though, something very familiar that’s done very well can make an impact. That’s the case with the Slovenian thrashers Negligence. There’s not really a moment on this album that will […]
With White Wizzard’s Over the Top being one of my favorite records of the year, I couldn’t help but look forward to the debut release from Holy Grail, Crisis in Utopia. What you have here is a band made up partially of former members of White Wizzard who moved on with a new name after an […]
For me 2010 was where everything went far more digital and I’m not talking about just promotional CDs! Bands and labels started actually releasing their music digitally too: Shadow of the Colossus, Martolea, Origin of Darkness, We Are the Illusion, Demise of Gideon to name a few. All quality releases… but only available digitally. Adding […]
While many have waved the flag for trad metal in recent years, one man has perhaps done a bit more than the rest: “Professor” Chris Black, owner/curator of Planet Metal Records, member of Superchrist, Pharaoh, and High Spirits, and head honcho of Dawnbringer, the latter project being the subject of this review. Nucleus was this […]
Massive Slavery are a young and talented Canadian band with a lot going on – too much going on. Fusing melodic death metal with metalcore/deathcore, tech death and even a few hints of thrash, their sound is all over the place and more times than not, lacks cohesion. When they’re on though, they’re really on. […]
When Oregon’s Agalloch first appeared in 1999 with Pale Folklore and its haunting blend of folk and black metal, the metal community quickly drew comparisons to now-landmark releases like Ulver’s Bergtatt and Opeth’s Orchid. At the time, we all knew how special the album was, but I don’t think we sensed how iconoclastic the band […]
This album starts off with “to meet again,” I never met them the first time. Here is obscure metal from Mexico, care of Moribund, with a nicely detailed album cover that screams bash and bellow war metal. In that sense I am not disappointed. These guys can bash with the best of them, but the […]
Michigan Christian metal act As They Sleep are back with vengeance on their new album Dynasty. This is their first album on an actual label and with a take no prisoner’s attitude, As They Sleep has managed to make an enjoyable record even though it does have its faults. A rather noticeable trait on Dynasty […]
Listen, I get sent a lot of things in the mail from bands, labels and PR companies; stickers, CDs, shirts, candy and all that, but the main man behind Santa Cruz’s one man black metal act At Dusk, Korihor, has done a first. The cover art of his split CD-R with fellow Santa Cruz act […]
The Way Of Purity is a fairly young Christian metal band from Norway. Crosscore is the name of there debut album and it’s probably one of the weirdest bands I have covered as of late. They look like members of Mushroomhead and sound like a mix between In This Moment and Cradle Of Filth. Just […]
Good Polish death metal (seems redundant, doesn’t it?) on a good Polish metal label. I needed this, as from what I can recall it’s been a while since I’ve had a filling meal from one of Poland’s head chefs. Calm Hatchery’s Sacrilege of Humanity is modern, chunky, and memorable. Chew your food for Christ’s sake! […]
Finally some new jams by Canadian technical death metal act Beneath The Massacre, in the form of an EP entitled Marée Noire. One would tend to think the well could have run dry with a lot of their songs but nope these guys are still alive and kicking. Two years after their second full length […]
Drug Honkey; that name is just so right on so many levels. Perhaps we shouldn’t even delve into the specifics of those levels and instead focus on Death Dub, a series of brain-warping hits from the world’s acidic blotter. There is doom, there is death/doom, there is experimental/death/doom, and then there is this. Experimentally wandering […]
Like a toy that’s temporarily lost its fun factor — maybe a torched doll with plastic skin bunched at the bottom of its fire-mutated face, laying underneath the bed waiting for a facelift — this Dead Neon review got tossed to the wayside until I could come up with the right words to bring it […]
Sometimes I tend to enjoy a poppy metal record or two when it’s done right and when the album bleeds passion. Here we are with the debut album This Is War by the Australian act Forgiven Rival who play modern metalcore akin to All That Remains and Trivium. Catchy songs be damned, this young metalcore […]
Nine albums into their rather underrated career and it’s safe to say that The Netherlands’ God Dethroned have entered into the metal elite inhabited by the likes of Bolt Thrower, Dismember, Obituary and such. No, not quite the genre defining metal royalty, but that small club of bands who have ascended into such a level […]
If you remember that old song “Mama, Don’t let your babies grow up to be Satanists,” then you’ll have an idea about the message conveyed on Nocturnal Blood’s Devastated Graves – The Morbid Celebration. Well, except for the “don’t” part. The work of a lone (like in the sense of “lone gunman”) Californian, this half-hour […]