I’m not a big Moonspell fan. Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard they’re back in top form with their recent releases, but I still haven’t heard them. In fact, I never listened to the band back in their Wolfheart heyday, so I recently checked that one out – and was terribly bored by the whole thing. I […]

Like Satyricon and Thorns? Then you’re bound to like this Polish act, who combine their mechanized brand of black metal with a variety of spacey effects and add-ons. Maniacal, undulating saxophones, distorted vocal samples and early 80s synth effects are thrown into the black metal mix on “Axis of Diagram.” Some carnivalesque, Arcturus-style menace and […]

Fifteen years and nine albums in, Suidakra’s Crogacht is not only exactly what you would expect form the band but an inviting return to their earlier sound. The past few albums had some missteps (2005’s Command to Charge comes to mind) but 2006’s Caledonia showed the band coming around. What is displayed on 2009’s Crogacht […]

Apt title, Janvs. Naming your band after the two-faced Roman deity is a good way to underscore the dual nature of your identity. In this case, it’s a fresh blend of black metal’s speedy ferocity with a more contemplative, emotional side. It might be too early to call these guys the Italian black metal Opeth, […]

This is the first release by a one-man project out of Germany. 24-year old Pius Grave handles songwriting, vocals and all instruments, including a triple guitar attack. Before putting this in, I had no idea what to expect, but this was a nice surprise. Soulthreat performs a combination of progressive and classic heavy metal, with […]

I avoided this one for awhile, because well, truth be told I haven’t really dug on any new metalcore in quite some time, and all the albums I actually wanted to check out, with expectations and everything, failed me. So here we have this fresh band from the UK, The Eyes of a Traitor (TEOAT […]

First off, I’d like to congratulate Australia’s Brazen Bull (an ancient torture device) for the incredibly professional and well done promotional package they sent me; a folder complete with a professional, full digipack CD EP, glossy photo, a CDR with images, press sheet, logo as well as a very nice letter asking to be reviewed. In […]

So to coincide with the band’s current US Pagan Knights run with Suidakra and Tyr, Scotland’s purveyors of Pirate metal have given us a 4 song EP to tide us over until the next album, slated for a 2009 release. The EP consists of 1 new song (the 6 minute title track), a reworked track […]

Though the third release from the newly restarted Strikefirst Records won’t appeal to too many readers of this site, it will appeal to fans of the first As Cities Burn album as well as the likes of Misery Signals, Means and such; jangly, layered, melodic worshipcore with an overabundance of emo/clean vocals, that as usual […]

Coming from Phoenix, Arizona we have Fracture Point with their independently released debut full-length, Inherit the Downfall. A four piece, Fracture Point blend elements of thrash, groove and semi-technical playing in a style that is distinctly American, drawing comparison to Lamb of God, Pantera and Meshuggah. What you won’t find on Inherit the Downfall is […]

Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. Seen Through the Veils of Darkness. The Somberlain. In the Nightside Eclipse. If you already own or know these albums, then there’s nothing here that’s new or fresh – or that you haven’t already heard recycled elsewhere over and over. I hate to start off a review on a negative note, but […]

Three nasty, noisy albums into their career, Sweden’s Crowpath continue to make caustic, brittle attack that seems to be a perfect fit for Willowtip and gives the label’s relatively quiet 2008, a noisy, discordant ending. With a turbulent, chaotic sound akin to a being stuck in a sonic landslide, Crowpath’s largely unclassifiable mix of grind, […]

Where as most deathcore in 2008 was content to prolapse your bowels with breakdowns and little else, the full length debut from Belgium’s Days of Betrayal is actually one of the more complete deathcore albums I’ve heard, with an actual focus on songs and riffs and opposed to endless open note beat downs. Released in […]

Vocalist Andreas Hedlund, also known as the infamous Mr. V or Vintersorg, is probably the busiest man I can think of in Metal music. His ever-lengthening discography always seems to impress me in some fashion, though his style is an acquired taste at times. His bands Borknagar and Vintersorg alone are regarded as some of […]

Imagine a Civil War battlefield, littered with the lumpen shapes of fallen soldiers from each side. As twilight falls and cries rise up, one man – barely out of boyhood – squirms in the blood-matted grass. His lips cracked with thirst and his stomach knotted in hunger, he drags himself to the canteens and rucksacks […]

Before starting this review proper, I have a small rant to get off my chest: what the fuck is up with all the delayed North American release dates? This album was released in Europe way back in October, and here we are in February finally getting it in the US. There are several albums I […]

The much maligned deathcore genre looks to be off to an explosive start in 2009 with the likes of Oceano and this sophomore release from Rose Funeral. I was actually surprised at this album, not only because Metal Blade signed them after the band virtually split up after 2007s Crucify Kill Rot, only leaving guitarist […]

I’m not usually one for stoner doom sludge rock or whatever, as A) I don’t partake of illegal drugs, and B) I’m usually too highly strung and easily distracted to let myself fall into a half sleep, red eyed stupor for any length of time. However with their self released debut (Tualatin Records is the […]

It’s about time for those who still haven’t heard Swedish old-school Death Metal veterans Seance to finally join the club. Having vanished into thin air in the early 90’s they resurfaced in 2008, more than fifteen years after their well-acclaimed sophomore release Saltrubbed Eyes. Sadly, I never had the chance to become familiar with them […]

Classic, or “old school” Heavy Metal, has managed to maintain a pulse, however faint, within the Metal underground despite being, well, “old school”. They employ no modern elements at all in their music rather they carry the mantle set forth by our NWOBHM forefathers. And, as with any genre, some bands pull it off and […]

It is refreshing to find a band not only with strong convictions but also with a strong thirst for knowledge and a vast foundation of knowledge already learned from which to draw. Belfagor is a true devotee and a student of all religions, realizing all are connected in some fashion. He borrows imagery as he […]

Those out there into pre-93 black metal take note of Germany’s Anael, if you have not already for shame. Anael is a relatively new band that formed about a decade ago that I have been enjoying since 2003 but listening to them is like going back to 1991 and earlier. What first caught my attention […]

Chet Scott’s 2006 self titled debut was an excellent doomy, ambient, almost stoner take on depressive Pacific Northwest, one man black metal, giving the scene an injection of creativity that strayed from typical depressive Wrest and Malefic worship. And the follow up, while taking the same elements, delivers an even more tribal, ritualistic, organic and […]

With 2008s watershed of superb, high profile releases, a number of lower profile but still excellent releases from the likes of Mitochondrion, Hour Of Penance, Celebrant, Battalion, Hackneyed and Virginia’s H.P Lovecraft obsessed act Cyaegha got somewhat overlooked. For a debut, Steps of Descent is a confident, under the radar entry into technical death metal, […]

 Are you ready for this? You better be, because it’s going to be a massacre. Whilst I firmly believe reviews should never be a platform to launch personal diatribes against an artist, I have to admit that its going to be hard to not bitterly lay into Too pure to die here. Not just because […]