On May 16th of this year, the heavy metal community was dealt a crushing blow with the passing of one of its true living legends, Ronnie James Dio. As the vocalist for Rainbow, Black Sabbath/Heaven And Hell and his own band Dio, he was an integral part of some bonafide classic albums. The man was, […]

I was curious as to how Germany’s Equilibrium would fare with the follow up to 2008’s critically acclaimed Sagas. Not only because of that album’s brilliance, but also due to a line-up changes, as original vocalist/founding member Helge Stang is replaced by Robert Dahn, and the band has their third drummer in as many albums. […]

So the debut from this super group (or super duet really, as Jamey Jasta and Kirk Windstein are the main guys) was an expected mix of Hatebreed and Crowbar; it was a pretty fun but underwhelming listen. On their second effort, however, the duet, now working with a different backing group, appears to have really […]

Mixing brutal, technical death metal with classical elements, Italy’s Fleshgod Apocalypse exploded onto the scene last year with their debut full length player, Oracles (if you have yet to hear it, do yourself a favor and buy it now). Thankfully, the band isn’t letting us forget about them in 2010, unleashing arguably the best EP […]

1349 is a true violent passion that lost its violence on Revelations of the Black Flame but not its passion. I seem to be the definite minority in that I actually liked the last album. I think if you listened to this new one first and then went back to Revelations of the Black Flame […]

Early on in my metal listening years, there were plenty of bands that were pushing the envelope in extreme metal. Bands that truly changed what I expected from death metal, black metal and such. Bands like Pan-Thy-Monium, Visceral Evisceration, Ephel Duath,  Summoning, Lykathea Aflame, Septicflesh, Arcturus, Emperor, Bal-Sagoth and such were just some of the […]

Apparently Earache was so impressed with the record breaking sales of Oceano’s Depths last year, and unable to wait for the bands follow up, Contagion, the label has gone and signed Detroit’s And Hell Followed With ― an almost identical act to Oceano. So now most of you have left, and those who remain are […]

Listen, I’m not much of a power metal/heavy metal guy. My enjoyment of the genre is pretty much limited to Iron Maiden, Manowar and Rhapsody of Fire, with maybe short bursts of Dragonforce. I simply can’t get into the vocals, even with the admitted skill within bands like Tarot, Avantasia, Kamelot, Pharoah, Sonata Arctica and […]

When it comes to Danzig, the first three records, in my book, are certified classics. After that, it’s a mixed bag. Yeah, I know most everybody loves IV, but I’m in the minority that thinks it’s just a mediocre record with a few great songs. Blackacidevil, well, let’s just not go there. Satan’s Child and […]

In listening to Scream, one has to wonder why Ozzy was in such a rush to change guitar players. Just about every guitar riff on the record was quite obviously written by Zakk Wylde, and though Gus G. plays them, it still sounds, with the exception of a few notable moments, more or less like […]

For over half a decade now, Germany’s The Ocean has been churching out some of the most forward thinking, textured, aurally massive sounds in metal. Following the path of the truly progressive, each of The Ocean‘s successive releases finds the band adding more layers, more tangible space and more shifting dynamics. Having had nearly 40 […]

Keep of Kalessin’s last album, 2008’s Kolossus, blended the typical heavy, harsh elements of blackened death metal with tasteful acoustic passages that had a jazz-meets-prog flavor to them. Make no mistake: the brutal was brutal, from second track “A New Empire’s Birth” and onward. The mix of very dense, heavy passages/songs with lighter pieces/sections was, to […]

I’m not much for gimmicks, but when a CD is sent to me with the ‘jewel case’ cut from a 12-pack of beer, and the track listing is printed on a Camels lights -pack, I’ll admit it: Well played, good sirs! Delivering a proggy shimmery take of spacey, indie/alt rock/punk, mixed with some post-rock, some […]

Jorn Lande makes his return to Masterplan on their latest effort, Time to Be King, and it makes all the difference. The band’s 2007 outing, MKII, without Lande at the helm, was an OK effort, but he was definitely missed. This record makes the absence obvious. With Lande on the mic, they’re a much more […]

Following up on the old school death metal successes of 2009 (Fatalist, Asphyx, Banished From Inferno, Hod, Rape Pillage & Burn, etc), Ibex Moon Records has unleashed two quality, pure old school records this summer in the form of Cardiac Arrest’s Haven for the Insane and this reissued debut from Germany’s Lifeless. While Beyond the […]

I understand that there are some people out there who don’t like Rob Dukes-era Exodus, and I get that. But I, for one, love it. The three records that feature Dukes, including this latest effort, have been some of the heaviest and most aggressive in the band’s entire catalog. If you didn’t like The Atrocity […]

I’ve been digging some d-beat/crust of late such as Masakari, D.I.S, Warvictims, Early Graves, and even pulling out some old Victims and Disfear records, but the best of the bunch has to be this blistering little 15 minute record from South Carolina’s Nails. Due to a super crunchy, mid-range buzzing guitar tone to die for, […]

There’s not a single original note on the debut from the Ukraine’s Acephala, but what they do deliver is a solid slab of slamming Eastern European brutal death metal that should fit right in with the likes of label mates Katalepsy, Murder Intentions and of course, Devourment. With twelve bludgeoning songs (as well as an […]

Assassins: Black Meddle Part I, the first chapter in Nachtmystium’s post-black metal transformation, was aptly named in that it mashed up Floydian psychedelia with the band’s gritty, scuzzy and vaguely punk brand of USBM. When I reviewed the album two years ago, I latched more onto the rippling, expansive sections than the fiercer black-punk explosions […]

I’m willing to stretch my metal arms pretty wide to accommodate a wide variety of the sub-genres that have sprung up in the past decade. This new wave of black metal that Nachtmystium has been courting for a couple albums now was a pretty big deal a few years ago. I still remember the first […]

Looks like the guys in Soilwork have finally dug themselves out of their hole. Opener “Late for the Kill, Early for the Slaughter” is the fastest, most relentless thing they’ve done in a long time, and from that very first blastbeat, it’s clear that Soilwork wants you to forget about Sworn to a Great Divide. […]

The Guessing Game, for all of its metal pedigree has (like the band Cathedral itself) roots equally as deep in early (read: Syd Barrett era) Pink Floyd as in doom progenitor Black Sabbath. In fact, an open-eared listener will hear (uh oh… sit down, metal people) references to ‘70s-‘80s Britpop bands like XTC and The […]

The latest Fates Warning album to be given the reissue/deluxe treatment is 1991’s Parallels. At the time, it was lauded as Fates‘ “commercial” release and certainly cuts like “Eye To Eye” and “Point Of View” (which both received extensive MTV airplay) were examples of more streamlined material from this prog metal band. Listening now, 19 […]

Back in 2000, I was pretty disappointed to hear that Morten Veland was leaving Tristania after their brilliant second album, Beyond the Veil – an album I still consider to be one of the triumphs of the entire goth-metal genre. (I was, however, lucky enough to see the band in one of their few US […]

Hailing from Tennessee, As Hell Retreats is one of the recent addictions to the Strikefirst/Facedown Records family, so you know they play some form of quality Christian metal, and in this case it’s a hybrid of melodic metalcore and crumbling deathcore. Not as utterly devastating as label mates Impending Doom or Earth From Above and […]