The only good thing about Page 26, a five-track cd from Italian Heavy Metal quintet Ibridoma, is that these guys are really lucky to have such a good vocalist as Christian Bartolacci at their disposal. The man does have what it takes and even reminds me of great Robert Plant at his most inspired moments. […]

Iscariah is not a newcomer to the world of metal; after all, the bugger was on Immortal’s last two records playing oft-inaudible bass, as well as the more bass-aware black metal troupe Wurdulak, who added, if nothing else, another couple of metal albums with a ravaged nun on the cover. He’s also been in Necrophagia, […]

I like it when material to be reviewed is not only supplied with complete info about the band but also with a multipage booklet and full cover art. Apparently, such a disc is supposed to get an extra point from a reviewer as it can always be reckoned as a worthy collectible item and a […]

Hailing from Italy, Concept Project is an instrumental trio on a young domestic label SG Records that play a rather unpretentious fusion of Blues, Rock’n’Roll and Funk with a bit of Hard Rock and Jazz components. I doubt this style of music will go down too well with the average Metal fan, yet it might […]

So what if you took the three guitar, Brown note devastation of The Acacia Strain and mixed it with the worshipful heft of Sleeping Giant and other Christian hardcore bands? You’d get The Great Commission and Strikefirst’s best (and heaviest) release since their re-ignition and arguably heavier than anything parent label Facedown Record has released. […]

More Christian metal here, though this time more in the form of the choppy, technical deathcore with melodic chops akin to For Today, A Thousand Time Repent, Hereafter An Odyssey and such. Obviously, folks that hate deathcore and Christian metal have already clicked of this review, but if you enjoy both or either your could […]

I’ve never been a huge God Forbid fan. I’ve given their albums cursory listens, but essentially lumped them in with the likes of All That Remains, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage and such as far as they ply chorus driven American Metal that has one foot in the mainstream and one foot in the underground, and […]

I didn’t even try pronouncing Mictlantecuhtli – Aztec God of the Dead – and it’s a bitch to spell too. You may want to learn the pronunciation because if you dig Warriors of the Black Sun as much as I do you’ll not want to sound moronic when that name falls out of your mouth. […]

While Willowtip’s trio of releases from Maruta, Kill the Client and Phobia certainly stole a lot of the acclaim for grindcore in 2008, here comes this belated release in my mailbox (along with the new Birdflesh) from the always quality grindmongers over in Czech Republic, Obscene Productions, and I’ll be damned if it isn’t one […]

Death metal from Congo? Really? When I reviewed Devast’s Art of Extermination a while ago it stood as the only death metal act from the continent of Africa (Algeria to be exact) I’d come across at the time. Now comes Postulate of Mass Genocide by Infertile Surrogacy and the question becomes, “Is African brutal death […]

Ladies (if there any that read this) and Gentlemen: I give you the first album of 2009 that will be vying for a spot on my 2009 year end list. I’ll admit, my expectations weren’t too awful high for the sophomore release from Ohio’s Christian melodeath/thrashers Woe of Tyrants as their Tribunal Records debut, Behold the […]

With 2006s Karma. Bloody. Karma, San Diego’s Vegetarian grinders added a sickly pallor to their chaotic deathgrind, and while that element seem to have been reigned in and the cleaner tones of Humanure and To Serve Man making a return, the resulting balance between sludgy oozing throes and deft caustic grindcore makes for an album […]

Billy and Jill – Razorback Records’ dynamic duo – continue to unearth gore-splattered death metal and thrash. And don’t even start with the goregrind thing, as the vast majority of Razorback acts have fallen into one or both of the aforementioned categories. Anyway, Dallas’s Decrepitaph are a fine addition to the roster and continue a […]

The great Absu moving from ideal to actual. The ideal lineup we all know, the actual lineup is now on display. The question is is the comparative equivalent Candlemass with just Leif, or Gorgoroth with no founders? Take one member from an acclaimed lineup and give him the band name and the reigns, disaster awaits. […]

These are the sound waves we should be blasting out into space for other cultures to hear, not Elvis and the Beatles. Other worlds might actually send emissaries instead of shunning us. Way back in 2001 Vindsval announced the title of his next Blut aus Nord album as Dialogue With The Stars. After several side […]

The haters can hate all they want, but I stand by my conviction that As the Palaces Burn and Ashes of the Wake are two of the most satisfying metal albums of the past decade. Lamb of God‘s (official) debut New American Gospel was impressive just for its caustic, spastic fury, but Palaces took that […]

Halo of Flies Records are not particularly productive when it comes to releases, but when they do release something it usually gets my attention-for example Fall of Efrafa, Protestant and now Wisconsin’s Malachi and this release which consists of the bands previous two 2008 vinyl only releases (Malachi and Wither to Cover the Tread) on […]

So if you took the angular, earthy percussive assault of Kylesa or Leviathan era Mastodon, threw in the stoner heft of High On Fire, the sorrowful dirges of Crowbar and a very slight hint of psychedelic doom like Rwake, Minsk or Samothrace then name the band after Ivan Drago’s famous line from Rocky IV, you […]

While you don’t have to be depressed to enjoy depressive black metal, there’s probably only so much Walknut and Ruins of Beverast-style grimness you can take. That’s why a band like Svarti Loghin is a nice find. Like Drudkh, Alcest or Agalloch, they bring a warmer, more pleasantly wistful sound to the black metal experience […]

If you still think of classic Metal bands as veritable dinosaurs, not dying off soon enough to make way for more advanced and sophisticated contemporaries, then you are sadly misinformed about the current state of the genre. In fact, it’s as large as ever, and more often than not, a trove of new ideas being […]

The debut album, Hate Takes its Form, from this Danish death metal act was a pleasant surprise back in 2007 and a nice find for Deepsend Records. So I was really looking forward to this EP, especially after hearing from the label owner that is was to contain 3 rather tasty cover tracks as well […]

Formerly a medieval black metal act, this Italian three-piece has followed an Ulver-like trajectory to become something much more ambient, experimental and textural. I’m usually not quite sure to expect from this sort of thing, as it could either be 45 minutes of indulgent, formless studio wankery or an actual album experience. Luckily, Vuoto Spazio […]

From the opening moments of that chainsaw riff and bruising bass/drum propulsion on “Smoke of Death” you just know that you are hearing something some of us like to call “the real deal.” It is just something about that raw, live-like production and bullshit-free bass/drum/guitar attack on Dishammer’s Vintage Addiction that cannot be copied by […]

Ugh. I rather enjoyed the 2006 debut, Existence from North Carolina’s The Demonstration as it displayed the melodic chops of the North Carolina metalcore scene with a confidence and heavy dose of Prayer For Cleansing/Between the Buried and Me guitar work. However, guitarists Charles Matheny and vocalist Trevor Underwood have since left the band, replaced […]

Here’s another one I’ve been putting off for some time. Each time I put it on, I just couldn’t quite wrap my head around it, and had to shut it off. But as of late, I’ve been digging on a little more oddball, left of center and/or progressive stuff from my norm, and Frozen Circus […]