Hailing from the craggy depths of New Jersey, Helcaraxë are one of the resurgent US bands plying Viking inspired forms of metal (Oakhelm, Hammer Horde, etc) and is one of US metal very best kept secrets. After their impressive debut, Triumph and Revenge, the trio has tightened up their form of gruff, dense and loose […]
I say “goddamn, I like it!” When I noted that the astutely named Blood I Bleed would be unleashing 23 songs in 17 minutes I wondered, “Can they pull it off and make the arrangements come alive?” The answer is a resounding “yes,” by grindcore standards anyway. Like the best grinders, in my humble opinion, […]
My introduction to Tyr came a few years back when I was asked to take on Eric the Red. I’d read rave reviews about it all over the Web, but personally, I was unimpressed. In all honesty, I found the record fairly boring. It’s been a while since that review, and I really hadn’t thought […]
Upon receiving Swashbuckle’s album Back To The Noose for review I sharpened my best Jack Sparrow cutlass for the inevitable disembowlment of the latest in the growing list of pirate metal bands. I have a general disdain for pirate metal. When I see an album I feel like I’m looking at an advertisement for a […]
The little bit I did gather from the long-ass, convoluted bio for Italy’s Carnal Rapture is that they’ve been around in one form or another since 1992. What they play on the mysteriously titled Promo 2008 is a mid-paced, jazzy tech death that is all twisted, turning, and lopsided with mid-range scratchy growls that fall […]
One wouldn’t think it would be the crushing weight of despair that brings couples together, yet here in the wake of Nadja‘s many successes we find ourselves with another product of unholy matrimony in the form of Laudanum‘s The Coronation. The apparently unhappily married Judd and Becky on guitar and drums/vocals respectively form the core […]
Godless Noise might be one of the most appropriate album titles in the history of underground metal; I‘m surprised some enterprising young hesher hasn’t used it before. What young metalhead blasting their older brother’s copy of Haunting The Chapel didn’t have their parents yell “turn off that godless noise” at the upstairs bedroom? I’m sure […]
Just what I needed – something to tear into. Interrogate play what’s basically nu-metal trying it’s best to disguise itself as groove based death/thrash, but fails miserably. Angsty, simple and meat-headed sum it up pretty good. There’s also gratuitous use of the word ‘fuck’, which doesn’t do it any favors. It’s funny because ‘fuck’ is […]
As many of you faithful death/doom fans will recall, previous album Above the Weeping World largely dropped the flowing acoustic passages that made Since the Day It All Came Down such a haunting (and enduring) listen. It was actually a smart move, because there are more ways to communicate grace and introspection than by simply […]
First impressions are very important, never having a second chance to make them and all, as the saying goes. After hearing some hype about Bloody Panda, my immediate reaction was of disdain, seeing the band members engaged in the extremely tacky act of sound checking their gear in the intimate confines of the Mill Creek […]
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 […]