I’ve learned over the years that I am too quick to judge. Actually, most would probably confess to hastily disregarding a certain CD or band, only to find down the road that you neglected something you really enjoy. This is where we start with Timeline Symmetry. This thing sat in my review pile, shunned, while […]

Though Cleveland Ohio’s Salt the Wound fit the annoying template of modern teen metal band complete with ever changing line up, cocked hats, tight jeans, pierced lips, pre packaged logo and loud shirt designs and an obsession of The Black Dahlia Murder, the bands 2008 debut was OK, and the follow up, complete with promising […]

Sometimes an evocative band name and a striking piece of cover art is all you need to guess at the music within. No, I’m not talking about your average goregrind album either – anyone can figure that sort of thing out. I’m talking about the more esoteric treasures out there, such as this peculiar release […]

Slayer bashing. What’s up with that these days? If they’re not being hailed as the best metal band ever, it seems they’re everybody’s favorite whipping post. I myself don’t get it. Sure, their output over the past 15 years hasn’t always been of the greatest quality, but they’ve always undoubtedly been Slayer. Through cries of […]

Like death metal, if you’re into metallic hardcore, you’ve been pretty spoiled this year, what with various amazing comebacks (Earth Crisis, Kickback, Merauder), the underground churning out a plentiful amount of high quality releases (a lot you will probably not know) and even the genre’s principal mainstream standard bearer (yes, Hatebreed) coming back with a […]

I’ve been eager to hear the debut full length from Canada’s Weapon since I read an article about them from the indomitable Nathan T Birk in Metal Maniacs Magazine (before its untimely demise). And while an excellent release, Draconian Paradigm is still a bit of a mystery to me, but I imagine that was the […]

Century Media must be stock piled with cash, absolute mountains of it I reckon. The question that keeps popping in my brain is how this has come to be? Is it thanks to their massive back catalog bringing in the bacon, or something more sinister ala a takeover by a middle eastern monolith or some […]

Poland’s prog scene is a proximate successor to the UK premier representation of the genre, which is expansively reflected in the music conveyed by Polish most ardent disciples, among whom Riverside certainly march in the first ranks, never ceasing to stun progheads all over the globe with their demonically beautiful amalgam of Pink Floyd, early […]

I’ll come clean. I love Converge. Ever since discovering them when The Poacher Diaries came out, I became a manic obsessive, drooling over Petitioning the Empty Sky, and When Forever Comes Crashing, frequently and almost to a point, lovingly. Now, since Jane Doe, came out, my interest hasn’t waned in the band. Far from it, […]

While all the ‘retro’ thrash bands are trying to sound just like 1988, Skeletonwitch has a different take. Sure, their sound hearkens back to the same time period, but a carbon copy they ain’t. Fusing thrash riffs and rhythms with a distinctly black metal vibe (both musically and vocally) and NWOBHM flavored melodies here an […]

When reviewing the latest release by a group with a back catalogue such as Hypocrisy‘s, the question comes up of whether to compare it to previous releases in terms of “success” or whether to let it stand alone. I’ll try to do a bit of both in this review, because it’s only fair. Hypocrisy‘s timeline […]

Italy’s Faust brought in the big dogs for the recording of From Glory to Infinity. Luckily, the musical aspects of said disc far exceed the visual ones (i.e. the cartoon cover of the amply bosomed nun). Feast your eyes on this lineup and you will understand why the musicianship on the album is top notch: […]

The staying power of Nile, not to mention its rightful place among death metal royalty, has been firmly established for years now. They have never released a bad album – not even close – and in many ways redefined the brutal/traditional end of technical death metal (compared to, for example, a band like Necrophagist). Then […]

This is the debut album from these Luxembourg-based thrashers, and at first, Democadencia seems like another rehash of chunky, down-tuned mid ‘00s groove-metal. Devildriver immediately comes to mind. Vocals also stir up some déjà vu – first with the clipped phrasing and bark of Wayne Static (of Static X), and then, in the more melodic […]

Following the departure of Christian Alvestam, Scar Symmetry were left with some big shoes to fill. So what do they do? The hire not one, but two new vocalists, one specializing in clean vocals and providing back up growls (the relatively unknown Lars Palmqvist), the other handling primary growls and back up cleans (Roberth Karlsson […]

It’s not too surprising that Luxembourg act Le Grand Guignol shares a label with Carach Angren – both play a melodramatic, heavily ornamented style of symphonic black metal that’s sure to send the troo and kvlt into paroxysms of bile-spewing rage. However, where Carach Angren is steeped in horror-movie theatrics – all furious strings and […]

Struck By Lightning is the new project of former Mouth of the Architect frontman/keyboardist Gregory Lahm, but those expecting an ambient, massive wall of post rock will be sorely disappointed. Instead, Lahm’s new iteration is a more traditional, dissonant, caustic form of angular hard core based metal rooted in the likes of Coalesce, Botch, Cable […]

Not to make excuses, but Subarachnoid Space isn’t exactly the hardest band to lose track of. Having released three good-bordering on-excellent albums on Relapse’s experimental imprint, Release Entertainment, the instrumental group led by guitarist Melynda Jackson (that’s not her on the cover) has sort of always floated on the periphery of the experimental space rock […]

I’ve always considered myself an open minded music fan. While admittedly, I have always most enjoyed those artists who are innovative and creative while still focusing on song craft which is coherent and relatively accessible, I have also always had a yen for the off-the-wall and experimental. John Zorn making his sax sound like a […]

On paper, the combination of female vocalist London Wilde (an experienced metal lass with various writing, engineering and vocal credits to her name since 1994, even performing bass tracks on the 2004 Chastain album In An Outage) and Dave Starr, a 25 year metal veteran who served as bassist for relatively legendary Bay area Thrashers […]

Writing this review was difficult due to the fact that Croire, Décroître sucked my brain into a black, abysmal hole from which no reasonable thought could come (at least temporarily). Initially the whole thing felt without emotion, like something glossy that could be appreciated but not cherished, but once I got to the core I […]

I kinda dug the last album from these young Minneapolis pseudo grinders, back when they were called A Second From the Surface. Though it was still sort of squealing, chaotic nu grind at its core, it had a hearty punk backbone and some surprising melodies thrown into the mix. Little has changed other than the […]

Post Mortem were the perennial underdogs of the 1980s underground metal scene. They recorded one bona fide classic – Coroner’s Office – yet never received credit for being years ahead of most bands now regarded as the godfathers of death metal. Their follow-up albums Festival of Fun and Destined For Failure were wildly experimental. Instead […]

Another release on my hometown’s September Riot Records, this time from Dubuque Iowa three piece Lost Apparitions, and while label mates Estrus called themselves progressive, Lost Apparitions are actually a much more progressive, experimental act. Plying a sort of catchall, angular and jangly post rock/post hardcore that reminded me of instrumental acts like Sleeping In […]

I caught Rammstein‘s first US tour about twelve years ago (before the Family Values tour really introduced them to America), and it was one of the funniest, most entertaining shows I’ve ever seen. Explosions during every song. Dummies lit on fire and flung about on wires above the crowd. Vocalist Till Lindemann stalking around the […]