Ulver‘s made some great ambient and electronic albums since their big genre switch, but don’t you wish they’d also turned out another Bergtatt or Kveldssanger before leaving metal behind for good? (Or at least took a bass with them when they recorded Nattens Madrigal in that forest?) Well, now you can take a hike into those same misty, […]

It occurred to me a while back that a lot of the stuff that I converse with the most is one way or another—if only barely—connected to black metal. This was a revelation of sorts to me, as I’ve never considered myself a fan or particularly open to the genre. I have no interest for […]

In itself, the formula for a successful female fronted gothic metal act is simple; lush production, lavish synths, some catchy riffs, a ballad or two and all of it sung by some buxom, corset clad beauty. It’s been done to death, resulting in somewhat of a saturation of the genre over the last few years. […]

When I started writing for the now-defunct Digital Metal (around 2002), France seemed like an insular metal nation. There weren’t too many Tricolore-bands that I could mention by name. The bands that did get some airtime, were marginal and quite frankly, seemed to require an exquisite taste simply because they were very—lack of a better […]

So, Christian Älvestam delved into a few projects after departing from Scar Symmetry. The standard melo-death of Miseration, the more aggressive The Few Against Many, and now the Swede is involved in (restrained and commercial) supergroup Solution .45. The presence of Älvestam’s Miseration and The Few Against Many cohorts (guitarists Patrik Gardberg and Tom Gardiner, […]

If you enjoyed Aeon’s recent Path of Fire opus or even thought is was a bit safe, then be sure to check out the debut from fellow Swedes Syn:drom (all the –tion and –blood names are officially taken I guess?) as it delivers a high quality death metal assault that competently mixes brutality, technicality and […]

A 30th Anniversary Special Edition with bonus tracks of an album I’ve never heard of. If you’re going to be obscure, it doesn’t get much more obscure than Christian prog rock. The only other band of this kind I had ever heard of (not counting Neal Morse) is Arkangel, but even that I’ve never actually […]

Projects that feature a who’s who of artists from a genre usually disappoint me. No matter the gathering of talent, it usually just doesn’t quite gel. One exception to that rule in the past has been Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia. Once again, for the most part, he overcomes that with the double release of The Wicked […]

The other half of Tobias Sammet’s two-album Avantasia release, The Wicked Symphony, doesn’t fare quite as well as its counterpart Angel of Babylon. It, too, has its moments, but overall seems just a little too generic power metal in places. Like its companion piece, The Wicked Symphony opens with a longer, more epic number in […]

When you are reviewing an album that has tracks called “Spitting in Infinity’s Asshole” and “Strip Nude for Your Killer”, you know you are in for a good time… and by good time, I mean a sickening black/sludge/doom affair that falls under the same umbrella as Cough, Negative Reaction, Highgate and such. The formula for […]

Montreal based death metallers NEURAXIS have finished writing for their upcoming album and offer a final update before entering the Wildsound Studio next week with producer Chris Donaldson (Cryptopsy, The Last Felony, The Agonist) to start the recording process for their 6th studio album. Vocalist Alex Leblanc comments: “Time for an update… First of all, […]

I’ve been a fan of Jon Oliva since the first time I heard Savatage, and I honestly don’t think that anything he’s ever touched has turned out remotely bad. (OK, I do try to block out Fight for the Rock). In my mind, he’s one of only a handful of creative geniuses in metal, and […]

Had it not been for Britney Spears, the world wouldn’t have been introduced to bad boy gone good Kevin Federline and his monumental release Playing with Fire. What a random statement to pop in my head. In completely unrelated news, I was stunned to find out Finland’s pixie rock outfit Indica had secured a deal […]

Germany’s Twilight Vertrieb is having a solid few months with releases by the likes of Lost Dreams, Mastic Scum, Abrogation, In Slumber, Requiem and the re-issue of The Monolith Deathcult’s White Crematorium album. Nothing ground breaking, but a solid slew of local death metal releases. However, mixed in with all those is the debut full […]

There’s a really dumb old riddle. Goes like this: Q: Where does an eight-hundred-pound gorilla sleep? A: Anywhere he wants. There’s a corollary: That may be, but it doesn’t mean I want that gorilla in my house! Okay, I’ll get to the point. Order of Ennead’s new album is a whole lot more satisfying and impressive than […]

Last week I reviewed the latest from Icarus Witch, a traditionally-minded band from Pittsburgh who’s got the old-school heavy metal attitude down to a T.  This week, Teeth of the Divine welcomes back Sweden’s NWOTM leaders Enforcer to the reviews list (debut Into the Night got a review from us in 2008) with Diamonds.  So […]

Compared to 2009, this year hasn’t been quite the landslide of killer tech/brutal death metal. But over the last few weeks the likes of Aeon, Brain Drill, Fleshrot, Syn:Drom and Deivos have made 2010 slightly more respectable. As with 2008’s Apocalyptic Feasting, Brain Drill are still plying  a form of über technical, noodly, Origin-like death […]

I’ve been a thrall in Tom’s world for thousands of hours over the past nearly three decades. I do not see that changing any time soon. He has created his kingdom, I shall live in it. I am yours eternally. The deep resounding roar of Tom G. Warrior is back. Crushing riffs supply the ultimate […]

Forget the history lesson on Tom Gabriel Fischer, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost. Turn up the volume, push the play button, and settle in for a harrowing journey. This is one of the heaviest, angriest, gloomiest releases ever. And guess what? All of that heaviness, anger, and gloom add up to one of the most refreshing […]

The amount of music that gets released each year is staggering. Thus, it’s not a surprise that while 2010 is well underway, we still find worthwhile releases from 2009 land in our laps. What’s more, during the past few years Australia has become so much more to the metal crowd―particularly Alchemist, Cemetery Urn and Destroyer […]

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Goldilocks who went for a walk in the woods to look for  black metal. After a while she stumbled upon a small cabin, and in front of the cabin was a sign that read ‘ATMF Records’. Being a curious child, she entered the cabin, hoping […]

Icarus Witch is a bit of a hard group to pigeonhole.  For one, even though they could be dumped into the traditional metal category, the mysticism pervading their albums hints at the notion that something else is at play behind the music, something you can’t quite hear, but can feel instead.  This sixth sense, combined […]

Documentary by Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell This 2009 feature documentary covers the lurid beginnings of the Norwegian black metal scene in the early 90s: the murders, the church burnings, and the media panic that accompanied them. Many of us are familiar with these stories, but this is the first time I’ve heard these accounts […]

Just because you are a French black metal act, have your songs in Latin and French, have ambient intros, outros and 8 minute songs, does not make you the next Deathspell Omega. And when your style is actually a more straightforward ‘wall of noise’ black metal in line with Marduk and Dark Funeral, the 6-8 […]

I could really use a new Sentenced album about now. Unfortunately, that won’t be happening, so I have to settle for the next best thing – singer Ville Laihiala’s Poisonblack. My relationship with Laihiala’s side project turned main project has been up and down. I wasn’t wild about the debut record with a different vocalist, […]