An hour and a half of new recordings from Horna. Sanojesi Äärelle, (‘to the fount of thy word’), presents the Finnish  masters of minimalism at their current best. They are still maintaining that live in the studio feel, vocals in one take, cracks and slips kept intact, etc. Motorhead lives. Corvus has been with the […]

There’s a recent thread on the boards decrying the shitty scenester music that kids today are listening to, including the infamous BrokeNCYDE (which Erik Thomas just wiped his ass with a few weeks ago). Now, I’ve ignored the vast majority of all this stuff for the past ten years, going back to when pop punk […]

When it comes to contemporary Power Metal from Germany, Primal Fear seem to be an outfit that nearly every fan of the genre holds in great respect and keeps an eye on. Everything Mr. Sinner & Co have been bringing out since their highly-acclaimed self-titled debut is top-class, perfectly-crafted material. Even if you’re not too […]

2006’s debut release Deceptive Awareness seems to have flown under the radar of many fans of epic, atmospheric doom metal despite having been released by Firebox, to my mind the premier label for that sound, based appropriately out of Finland and also boasting releases from scene icons such as Saturnus, Until Death Overtakes Me, Swallow […]

Here’s another project from the Strapping Young Lad guys. Essentially guitarist Jed Simon’s baby, the group also consists of SYL members Byron Stroud (bass) and legendary journeyman drummer Gene Hoglan (seriously, how many projects can this man juggle? He’s a machine!), as well as thrash legends Glen Alvelais of Forbidden and Testament fame on guitars […]

Yet another new young thrash band trying their hand at the 80’s sound and feel. Conniption hail from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and A Method to Madness is the bands debut self-released LP originally released last year. Though since I’ve received the album for review, they’ve been signed by Germany’s Rock It Up Records, who are to […]

Boy do I love me some Death Angel, but I’ve never been much for live albums – I’d rather be there, or simply listen to the studio disc. Live recordings usually sound pretty terrible, and even if they don’t, the set list and songs included almost always leave something to be desired. It’s pretty much […]

Sam Dunn and Scot McFayden, oh how I envy you guys. Not only do you get to travel the world, making great documentaries, but you make them about metal. You hang out with legendary bands, meet up-and-coming acts, and oh yeah, it doesn’t hurt that the films are thoughtful, interesting and well-produced. By now, most […]

Bringer of Plagues is the second album from Dino Cazeres’ post Fear Factory (though it appears he’s back in the fold with BC Bell) baby Divine Heresy, and it’s basically more of the same, though now fronted by Travis Neal of The Bereaved, who replaced original screamer/crooner Tommy “Vext” Cummings last year after a rather […]

For those not in the know, I hate to break it to you but Trapped Under Ice is not another throwback thrash band. Far, far, far from it in fact, rather, this is some of the meanest, tuffest hardcore you’ll hear this year, probably next year too and the year after that. What’s more Trapped Under […]

Like a parent seeing a child grow, I’ve enjoyed watching Scotland’s Man Must Die blossom over the last 6 years. From their impressive 2003 demo, through the killer debut album, …Start Killing (one of 2004s very best death metal albums), to being the first UK band signed to Relapse Records for The Inhuman Condition, to […]

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Winds of Plague have become one of the poster children for modern American metal. And to be honest I rather enjoyed their 2005 debut, A Cold Day in Hell, (which at the time was pretty fresh sounding) and the 2008 Century Media debut, Decimate the Weak. I also enjoyed the […]

Devildriver is a band that gets a lot of shit from the “troo” crowd, mostly because of frontman Dez Fafara’s previous band Coal Chamber it seems. Supposedly that band called it quits because Mr. Fafara wanted to pursue heavier sounds while his bandmates wanted to head in a more mainstream direction. If that’s the case, […]

Swedish metal with all its forms and branches has been in an exceptionally flourishing state for the last decade or so, and I dare to claim its Power Metal scene would be the real pick of the basket for any first-timer to the genre. You no longer need to turn to the pathfinders like Helloween, […]

I’ve heard of saving the best for last, but on a record, it’s not usually the best idea. That’s unfortunately what Darkness Dynamite have done on The Astonishing Fury of Mankind, though. After nine tracks of OK but fairly uninventive metalcore, the last two songs on the album finally show show sparks of life and […]

This Greek band first hit my radar because of the Enshadowed connections. I was compelled to seek out the other bands those god fearing, fine upstanding members of christiandom were involved with. War, Revenge & Total Annihilation just greased the rails with christian blood for a boat launching of Scandinavian proportions. Raw nordic black metal […]

For me, Merauder was a lost, lost band for a number of years. 2003s Bluetality was a flat, flaccid record and not representative of one of New York’s hardest bands. What’s more, I saw them at Pressure Fest in Germany in 2005 and they were equally flat, uninterested and to be frank out of their […]

The End of an Era marks the final document of the Tarja’s Nightwish reign. I’m fairly certain fans held the original standard-def DVD in high regard, as the performance, track selection (“The Kinslayer”, “Bless the Child”, and Gary Moore cover “Over the Hills and Far Away”) and production values are very high. Well, kids it’s […]

I knew little about Canada’s Augury prior to hearing this album but was aware that their Galy Records debut caused quite a stir in the tech death metal world. My interest was however truly piqued when I discovered that vocalist/guitarist Patrick Loisel was in Canadian act Kralizec who were responsible for one of my very […]

A good portion of the first decade of the new millenium marketing in both underground and mainstream rock music has been a question of labelling all the new, increasingly interchangable product of independent and corporate labels. It used to be readily apparent which bands were indie and which mainstream, but those lines have been blurred […]

Released as digital only EP, Warsaw Rising is a stop gap release from this Dutch super group (members of Asphyx, Gorefest, Thanatos) with 2 new songs, a cover song (Twisted Sister’s “Destroyer”) and three live songs (“Red Wolves of Stalin”, “Nachthexen” and “The Crucial Offensive”) from the excellent …Of Frost and War debut. To be […]

What to make of Brazil’s Dark Celebration and its sophomore full-length, Phlegeton: The Transcendence of Demon Lords; that is indeed the question. It’s actually not that complicated. First and foremost, the vibe is one of vintage death metal with blackened edges and an atmosphere that approaches that whole Latin American dark ‘n dirty death metal […]

Continuing their trend of releasing solid Christian metal in environmentally friendly digipacks (A Hope for Home, Earth From Above, The Great Commission, Hope for the Dying), Facedown Records, subsidiary label, Strikefirst Records has come up with yet another thunderous Christian deathcore outfit akin to Earth From Above. Right, now that 90% of you have left. […]

*Rant mode ON* You know, I love thrash, and when this whole thrash resurgence came about, I was pretty damn excited. But truth be told, I’m flat out tired of it now. Why? Because the labels won’t stop signing every last one of them they find. Every label has to have one in order to […]

I’ve been swamped in quality Australian metal of late: Destruktor, Defamer, Futility, Be’lakor, Orpheus, and now my first exposure to Adelaide’s doom metal veterans Mournful Congregation. Despite being around since 1994, this is only the bands 3rd full length album and has certainly delivered a top notch doom effort that will have me seeking out […]