First and foremost, massive improvement from their debut Ekklesia and whilst For Today show growth in their musical capabilities they are some way off the top of the mound in the metalcore circles, even the Christian ones.They continue to build on their solid foundation of choice influences, taking the stutter and lurch of most modern […]
I’ll be the first to admit I’ve never been a drone fan and despite being seven albums into their career the apparent pinnacle of the genre, this is my first exposure to the duo of Greg Anderson and Stephen O’ Malley. However, what intrigued me about this release and prompted me to check Sunn O))) […]
As one of the many who hyped Pelican’s self-titled EP from the rooftops, I held out great hope for the band at their inception, but unlike many who continue to hold them in high opinion, my enthusiasm was short-lived due their frankly anemic debut full-length, Australasia. Even more frankly, the live performances I witnessed were […]
You’ve got to respect what Markus Eck and his German webzine have accomplished with the fifth installment of their Metal Message folk/pagan/Viking compilation CDs. For this lavishly packaged release, legendary artist Ed Repka (Megadeath, Death, Atheist, 3 Inches of Blood) has provided the cover and the DVD packaged material is full of endearing artwork, including […]
Metal Blade is a wonderfully sharp company. What better time to rerelease one of their more popular band’s older material than now (y’know, when they’re finally popular)? And in retrospect, it’s really bizarre that it took an audience this long to take notice of Amon Amarth. Certainly they now can be mentioned in the same […]
Maurizio Iacono and the Canadian hyper blasters Kataklysm have spread their wings in 2009 and ventured away from their usually reliable racket to deliver us a tasty concept album on the fall of Rome, dubbed Romulus. Ex Deo consists of the entire Kataklysm line-up and Jonathan Leduc (Blackguard) on keyboards. The idea was the brainchild […]
Beginning with the 1998 debut EP from Isis, a perpetually expanding number of bands criss-crossing the metal and hardcore scenes have successively attempted to snatch the torch from the hands of slow-core, for lack of a better word, godfathers Neurosis. Isis’s Mosquito Control was tribute bordering on plagiarism, and having suceeded in creating a buzz, […]
Comprised of former members of unsung underground metal stalwarts Kalibas & Anodyne, Defeatist has been relentlessly pursuing the kind of revered status in the American grindcore scene that European and Japanese bands have achieved by virtue of their comprably more prolific and superior output to their stateside counterparts. Hailing back to the glory days of […]
Ok, let me get this out of the way. I was, and am, a huge Van Hagar fanboy. I know, I know…sacrilege. When everyone else was screaming for DLR’s return, I was on the rooftops shouting “5150!!!”. So, you can imagine my school-girl like excitement at the thought of Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony making […]
Since it’s formation in 1992, New Mexico’s Ultimatum has been steadfast in it’s pursuit of the Metal Dream. This is one of those bands that lives, eats and breathes Heavy Metal on stage and off. For it’s fifth full length studio release, the band has chosen to pay homage to some of it’s heroes and […]
The only thing more satisfying than human misery is a new Impiety disk. You know those days when you are mightily pissed off at the world, bright sun, not a cloud in the sky, smiling faces everywhere you look. Tourist season is upon us and in anticipation I have been out blasting Impiety in public […]
For a band whose whole shtick is rooted in the cinematic prog-synth of 70s forebears like Tangerine Dream and Goblin, nostalgia is an expected part of the experience. Although previous albums Cosmos and Surface to Air are fine on their own merits, they really hit home (at least for me) because they recall those bands’ […]
Let’s get this out of the way: FatTooth’s debut album is kind of a wreck. The riffs are warmed over like a tin of Dinty Moore beef stew and the songs sound like a bad fourth-generation dub of The Sex Pistols. Mixing Green Jelly, The Meatmen and cock rock is either an act of bravery […]
Coexistence, formed in 2008, is a long-distance project between guitarist Gregory Giraudo and vocalist Carl Lindquist. One lives in South France, the other in Stockholm, Sweden. Considering the distance between the two, and the fact that the music was recorded in France and the vocals in Sweden, this four-song EP is not a bad little […]
It would be easy for me to simply cut and paste my review Obituary’s real comeback album, 2007s Xecutioner’s Return considering this has the same sort of throwback glorious artwork, sense of album ranging classic Obituary riffage, Ralph Santolla’s leads and oppressive, murky production that made Xecutioner’s Return so good. Ultimately that’s what most of […]
This album is one fucking weird cocktail of styles. Stoner rock mixed with a vocalist similar to John Joseph (Cro-Mags) and tiny touches of crust added in for good measure. As I judged this book by its cover I thought I was in for a d-beat treat, mainly because the cover art and layout are […]
Poland’s Pagan Records did not have to go far to farm their fellow countrymen Gortal from their own back yard. Occasionally the “homeboy syndrome” clouds a label heads judgement and I’m happy to say that does not appear to be the case with Gortal. These fuckers and this recording deserve the contract. When I put […]
Formed by members of the decidedly non death metal act Ananda (and other hardcore acts), Carmina is the full of death metal assault and only the second release on fledgling Rewolucja Records (owned by Carmina bassist Bif), and it’s a pretty scorching little EP. Clocking in at 25 minutes, the 7 no nonsense songs that […]
So here is the first and last album from Amesoeurs, another genre pushing French act featuring Neige from Alcest and Peste Noire fame, and if you enjoy Alcest’s gentler take on black metal as well as the current trend of organic artistic black metal like Wolves In The Throne Room, Fen and Altar of Plagues, […]
The first thing that grabs you with Battle Dagorath is the Christophe Szpajdel logo. Next is the fact that they fail from California. Sure they have mountains out there but not really the land of Cosmic Frozen Landscapes. Another notable tidbit, at least for us Vinterriket fans, is that Christoph Ziegler is the keyboardist. Eternal […]
I was only recently introduced to Ireland’s Primordial by way of 2005s The Gathering Wilderness and 2007s To the Nameless Dead, and only in the last month or so have I had a chance to go back and check out the Candlelight reissues of 2000s Spirit the Earth Aflame and 2002s Storm Before Calm. However, […]
I like what Tribunal records has done recently; Asecretdeath’s impressive debut, re-releasing Inferi’s solid 2009 self released debut then re-issuing two of 2008s better self released efforts; Iron Thrones’ brilliant Visions of Light, and the self titled debut EP from this young but immensely talented Denver, Colorado quartet. Though only 4 songs and 18 minutes in length, […]
My only previous exposure to this grinding Swedish trio was their 2007 split with Relevant Few, and I immediately thought the likes of Gadget and Rotten Sound finally had some competition to be Nasum’s heir apparent. Now I have not heard the full length debut Svarta Dagar, so I can’t compare Vid Helvetets Grindar, but […]
Slick, sick, catchy and hook-laden songs swollen flush with incisively razor-sharp riffs, wailing leads, crushing breakdowns and vicious vocalizations spewing acidic critiques of this mediocre and moronic zeitgeist. 53 of them. In 22 minutes. Thus the epic saga of “Japanese Action Hero Fighting Game” (still my favorite translation to date) continues, a journey in which […]
One only need look at the Jon Baizley-ish artwork, the Scott Hull mastering and the label to have a guess as to the style of this solid full length debut from this Florida duo: droning, psychedelic, doomy post rock styled sludge cut from the same cloth as Deadbird, Rwake, Samothrace, Minsk and such. While hardly […]