Pretty much every source labels Carach Angren as symphonic black metal, but in all honesty I disagree. The band’s latest album Death Came Through a Phantom Ship goes way beyond the darkness and blackness that the word pair ‘black metal’ holds. But for the sake of being a conformist, let’s play along and call it […]

I tried to forgive Eluveitie for last years Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion. Though it wasn’t a bad record, it wasn’t a metal record either. Now the band takes the obvious leap back into metal, but what we get is no comparison to 2008’s Slania. Unless you are a diehard fan of this band, Everything […]

Well, here is 2010s first top notch tech death metal release (the re-issue of Obscura’s Retribution does not count). After 2008s promising little The Nameless, The Faceless EP, this California trio have made all the necessary improvements and developments to start flirting with the likes of Severed Savior, Odious Mortem, Abysmal Dawn and such: busy […]

With only 100 copies pressed, I never would have heard about Midnight Odyssey had it not been for TOTD-forum member timshel, who has a bloodhound’s knack for sniffing out obscure, arty avant-garde black metal gems. In this case, it’s a one-man ambient black metal project from Brisbane, Australia that blends the mysterious wanderings and tortured […]

It seems that a lot of the albums I’ve gotten early this year have a heavy 1980s influence to them. Most have been surprisingly very good, a couple have been awful and then there’s the middle ground, where the full-length debut from Finland’s Armour falls.  There’s some fairly solid early-to-mid 1980s hard rock here, falling […]

In the tradition of other Facedown/Strikefirst releases, North Carolina’s Onwards to Olympas deliver solid Christian metalcore/ hardcore/ deathcore that straddles the line between burlier, heavier acts like label mates Earth From Above and slightly more melodic styled stuff like For Today and such. Now most of you have left, I’ll continue… There’s nothing to earth […]

I’ve spent a lot of time with this record. New Moon is the definition of a “grower.” Swallow the Suns’ sound has progressed since their debut, yielding dynamics in writing that ultimately has lead them to this point in their career. This band is no longer a straight up death/doom outfit. The Swallow the Sun […]

I’ve been on a bit of a black metal kick of late, jamming the likes of Carach Angren, Unholy Ritual, Oblomov, Lux Divina and other more amicable, often symphonic versions of black metal. And while France’s Aldaaron are not Symphonic black metal, they do have some keyboards here and there, and their delivery is just […]

In a visual comparison, both Gwar and Green Jellÿ wear elaborately goofy costumes onstage (Gwar actually taught Green Jellÿ how to make their own latex costumes). Musically, the bands share the comedy shtick, though as Gwar leans toward metal, Green Jellÿ seem satisfied to play loud punk rock. The biggest difference is that Gwar has […]

After one spin of the new Alice in Chains album, it’s screamingly apparent that our dearly departed Layne Staley did not quite make this band—guitarist Jerry Cantrell did. However, none of Cantrell’s numerous post-AIC solo tunes seriously gelled with fans, either. But there are two truisms evident in each note of Black Gives Way to […]

I truly thought that the self released EP from Australia’s Brazen Bull would be the most absolutely bat shit insane band I would hear in 2009.  Wrong.  Apparently this is this Italian band’s second album (along with 4 Ep/splits), and it has to be some off the most of the wall, experimental grindcore/spazz tech metal […]

Ive always championed Italy’s Disharmonia Mundi as one of the more underrated melodic death metal bands in the scene. Obviously overshadowed by the likes In Flames, Dark Tranquility and Soilwork, the band has still managed to hang around and are now on album number 4 (not including last years re-issue of Nebularium and The Restless […]

Deathcore is off to an explosive start in 2010 with the new, improved Annotations of an Autopsy, the solid new Carnifex, the keyboard drenched The Breathing Process and the full length debut from Utah’s Chelsea Grin. After a promising EP (off which two tracks “Cheyne Stokes” and Recreant”, reappear on this album) Utah’s now three […]

Imagine getting trampled by a galloping horse, no, imagine getting stomped by a prancing pony, each hoof raised high and thumped on your head over and over and over because that pony is not making forward progress, that is “Osiris”. Monstrously oppressive riffing with enticing melodies that make you dare the collapsing sky, this is […]

The full-length debut from Italy’s Future is Tomorrow certainly shows some promise, if not much innovation. It’s a concept record that looks at a funeral through the eyes of the deceased, and apparently only the first part of the concept. On a positive note, Future is Tomorrow plays a brand of power/prog without a lot […]

I’ve been occupied with thinking of the prospect of the arrival of a followup to Wrathrash for about fifteen seconds total over the past few years. I enjoyed both eps and the demo but sadly never think of playing them without a gentle nudge like popping open a package and seeing the cool cover to […]

In all honesty, when I think of Austin, Texas, power metal isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Witches Mark, apparently, is making a valiant attempt to change that. This four-song EP doesn’t convince me that can happen, but it’s also not a bad set of songs either. In fact, if I didn’t know […]

Re-issues are a hit or miss affair, but Poland’s Metal Mind have generally been spot on with their re-issue catalog (Godgory, Annihilator, Artillery, Atrophy, Believer, Brutality, Defiance just to name a few) but when the source material is as oddball and divisive as the 2002 release from Disharmonic Orchestra, they are a bit hamstrung. I […]

Ive always been a fan of the underrated Danish death metal scene; Chunky, simple (and often intertwined) acts like Illdisposed, Iniquity, Corpus Mortale, Usipian, Koldborn, The Cleansing, and arguably one of the better recent additions, Dawn of Demise. After a solid debut in 2008s Hate Will Take Its Form and a cover based EP in […]

As part of the second tier of melodic death metal in the mid to late 90, Sweden’s Godgory never got the international acclaim or attention of their more energetic peers despite a solid four album catalog from 1996 to 2001. Partly mired in the middle of Nuclear Blast releasing endless mediocre stuff like Agathodaimon, Crematory, […]

So raw it’s bleeding, Visions of Death from Moravia, NY’s Disfigured Dead is the antithesis of Pro-Tools death metal. As such, it comes across as an album on which guitar, bass, drums, and vocals electrify and eviscerate in complete contradiction with recordings that are polished and surgically precise. Stylistically, you are a treated to a […]

It’s no real surprise that this unsigned Austin, TX based group is vying desperately to win a competition that would have them open for Killswitch Engage, but truth be told- if they did play right before, fans might think they are seeing a KsE cover band or a group of KsE imposters. Not that Die […]

If that title does not aptly sum up the career and music of Sweden’s Bestial Mockery (R.I.P.), then I’m at a complete loss as to what would. 2007’s swansong full-length, Slaying the Life, might have been the final fuck-you nail in the coffin, a demonstration of the group at its black thrashing war metal best, […]

These days, if you want to find out about a band – or a whole label’s roster – there are plenty of options. Websites, Myspace, streaming e-cards, YouTube, you name it. The days of picking up a compilation are pretty much over. So it was a pleasant surprise to receive Better Undead than Alive 2, […]

In the grand French tradition of eclectic, experimental and mindfuckingly heavy acts like Gojira, Comity, Overmars and more recently Erin Non Dae, come Hypno5e and their debut full length album which bundles dreamy ambience, crushing angular heft and musically artistic curveballs into one unpredictably brilliant and bipolar release of typically avant-garde French metal. I’d throw […]