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 […]

Well, this is it, the final album from the Baton Rouge blasphemers known as Catholicon. Of Ages Past caps a career of some of the most unique black/death metal ever recorded and the band has done it while remaining fiercely independent, firmly underground, and resolute in its disgust for the three major white-light religions (Christianity, […]

Ive been is somewhat of a musical/critical funk recently, unable to filter the stacks of avant-garde black metal, tech death metal and acoustic non metal that’s filled my head of late. Its time to strip down to bare basics, and listen to some simple bludgeoning music that requires no thought, no in depth analysis and […]

I’ve noticed a bit of trend in hardcore/metalcore/American metal of late; First, some really good clean vocalist are starting to surface in these acts and second some bands seem to be injecting true blue progressive metal into their sound. Not just piecemeal stuff or even scatter shot BTBAM styled stuff, but actual, structured, epic and […]

After being particularly impressed by Elis’ Catharsis recently, I was anxious to check out the latest from Siegfried, Nibelung, featuring vocalist Sandra Schleret from the Elis record. It also didn’t hurt that I happen to be a fan of Wagner, the original metal musician, so I was intrigued by the theme of the record. This […]

This is why I love this gig. Every month or so, I get a package of random CD promos. Sometimes I know of the bands or the label, but more often than not, it’s yet more mystery discs from the vast reaches of the metal underground. And once in awhile, you wind up with a […]

Now here’s something you don’t hear every day. A Russian guy from Chelyabinsk doing a mixture of ambient-natured neo-folk on top of a post-rock foundation (think of Tenhi’s most ‘rocking’ songs.) And the best of all, it’s all in Finnish! Needless to say, I was skeptical. I was more than skeptical. In fact, when I […]

It looked like Divine Eve had called it a career three years ago with the glorious compilation Upon These Ashes Scorn The World, a gem packed with tracks like “The Last Of The Sunset Faded” and “Harlequin of Perpetual Destiny.” However, metal is a genre where comebacks are pretty much guaranteed – even if your […]

I’ve had high hopes for just about every project that Tim Owens has been involved in since his departure from Iced Earth, and they’ve been largely lackluster. Finally, though, the cycle of disappointment is broken with the debut of Charred Walls of the Damned. The new project was founded by former Death and Iced Earth […]

Sweden’s In Mourning made a grand entrance into the melodic death/doom arena with their 2008 debut Shrouded Divine. Their even blend of earthy, rumbling doom and agile progressive death drew a lot of comparisons to Finnish heavyweights like Rapture, Swallow the Sun and Insomnium, but they most resembled a more straightforward, less adventurous version of […]

This four-track EP comes by way of the apparently now defunct Enucleation Records (the cassette was released on Detest Records), and yes, it’s from 2009. The cover, which brings to mind the artwork for Morbid Angel’s Domination, depicts an adorned and rather slimy-looking entrance to a temple, what one can only assume to be the […]

I only recently discovered Iceland’s Sólstafir, a band that I wish I had gotten to know earlier. Their previous album, 2005’s Masterpiece Of Bitterness became one of my all time favorite records as the band seemed to blend post-rock with their blackened heavy metal heritage flawlessly for a truly mind-expanding experience; sharing a similarity to […]

Inferno’s Black Devotion is another 2009 release that got stuck in my pile of discs that didn’t see the light of day until recently. Better late than never, right? Anyway, it seems appropriate that this one stayed buried until the coldest time of the year because it is utterly without warmth. These 11 tracks of […]

Italy’s Absentia Lunae bills itself as warlike, hateful avant-garde black metal – yeah, that’s a mouthful, but it’s also pretty accurate. Warlike, definitely – especially with Belphegor’s Blastphemer turning in a blistering and surprisingly technical drum performance. Hateful? Absolutely. Vocalist Ildanach rants, sneers and screams as if he’s gripping and slamming the sides of a […]

Over the last ten years, Fear Factory has tarnished even the most dedicated fans’ view of the band. Under pressure from Roadrunner, the band bridged a gap between their heavy industrialized sound and the mainstream, causing a downward spiral of events that eventually led to what we all thought was the band’s ultimate demise. Chug-master Dino Cazares left the band due to mounting tension with lead vocalist Burton C. Bell, and pursued Divine Heresy, which was a lackluster copycat of Fear Factory in most fans’ eyes. Though Bell and company kept the motor running with Archetype, 2005’s Transgression was a clusterfuck of an album that sealed the deal for most followers. Well, those days are ancient history and I am ecstatic to say that the machine has returned, and someone has switched it to kill mode.

I think there are a few comparisons between Snowblood and Fall of Efrafa. Both are from the UK (Snowblood hail from Glasgow) and are (were) relatively unknown. Both have a trilogy of Cds, both have the same recycled, cardboard Cd sleeves with simple effective artwork, and both are utterly magnificent. And unfortunately both have called […]

Spewing forth from the same sick Dutch mind as Gnaw Their Tongues’ Mories, Migdal Bavel is the second album that Mories has created under this moniker and while still a sick, nasty record, its more of a black metal based record than the droning insanity of Gnaw Their Tongues. And I say that very loosely […]

Talk about black sheep. While the rest of their countrymates are content to make a clattery, blastbeating black metal racket, this Bergen, Norway-based act crunch out a mix of groovy doom and gravelly 90s Swedish death. Call it Entombed in ice. Although A Dark Burial is only Syrach’s third full-length in thirteen years (there was […]

We live in a time where certain aspects of metal music are having an identity crisis. I’m an open-minded person and I do enjoy some of these more unique sub-genres that are manifesting, but some leave me utterly confused and perplexed. Most noticeable experimentation is happening in the black, sludge/noise, and post rock divisions. With […]

If you play death metal, getting endorsed by Possessed’s Jeff Becerra is a bit like getting a nod from American Idol’s Simon Cowell. Headhunter D.C.’s label Ibex Moon even drafted a press release trumpeting the news. While an endorsement like this can raise your profile it can also bring the critics out ready to bat […]

So, here we have the third album from Day of Fire, my introduction to the band. It’s apparently the new project of Josh Brown, former singer of Full Devil Jacket, a nu-metal outfit that I vaguely remember from the late 1990s. Apparently Brown got a little big-headed in his previous band and then overdosed on […]

It never fails. Every year when I put my year end list together and get it posted, an album comes along within days that knocks my socks off and could have easily made my top 10. Metal of Honor, the fourth full length from Detroit’s Nocturnal Fear is that album this year. You know something […]

Any package that includes releases from Napalm Records always gives me mixed feelings. On the one hand, I’m pretty sure that I’ll enjoy most of them, on the other, I know I’ll have to deal with voiceovers on at least half the songs. (Come on, guys, the watermark is sufficient for most everyone these days). […]

Here’s another album that caught me completely off guard near the end of the year. Hailing from Arizona, Vektor are yet another young entry into the retro thrash craze, but have a decidedly different approach than most of their peers. The first thing many will notice before even pushing play are the similarities of Vektor‘s […]

While The Fallen Within’s debut comes with the melodic death tag, but it’s certainly much more to the melodic side of the coin than the death side. The band obviously takes its cues from two of the giants of that genre, In Flames and Soilwork, but generally speaking, there are far lighter moments than you’d […]