If you heard Pharaoh’s last effort, The Longest Night, you probably won’t be very surprised by what you hear on this record. Be Gone is a continuation of what the band has always done, an Americanized power metal that pays heavy tribute to both Iron Maiden and Iced Earth. The record opens with a slight […]

This sophomore release from Swedish outfit Machinery shows a great deal of promise, even if it’s a bit bipolar. There are really two bands at work here. One is a dark, progressive and interesting sounding act. The other is a blazing thrash/melodic death band. Fortunately, both show a good deal of talent and are quite […]

Female-fronted bands, especially the soprano-style, haven’t fared very well in my reviews recently. By and large, I’m a little tired of that style, but just as I’m ready to write it off completely, along will come a record that really connects with me. That’s the case with the latest from Todesbonden. This is how the […]

This might be one of the most unique releases that’s landed on my desk this year. It opens with the funk-thrash mouthful of a song, “When You’ll Realize that the Sun Will Rise Up Being a Black Hole.” Imagine Max Cavalera providing vocals for Primus, and you might have a rough idea of what this […]

“Sieg Hail Satan”, that says it all. This is slow and heavy keep it simple stupid style self proclaimed true Norwegian black metal with a loud bass with a heavy rumble and chug along guitars. Tom Warrior grunts and roaring vocals round out what fast period Marduk would call a ballad. Lyrics are standard fare, […]

Viva la thrash revival! Here’s the Bay Area’s own Hatchet with their debut full length, Awaiting Evil, a real barn stormer filled front to back with face melting riffs, leads, solos and quite possibly my favorite vocalist I’ve heard yet from the movement in Marcus Kirchen. His delivery isn’t entirely unique or distinctive, but he’s […]

I wasn’t expecting much from Man Made Paradise coming in, as a name like Ticket to Hell is as cliché and generic as metal band names come. I thought for sure I was in for something cheesy and/or boring, but the second I pushed play, my jaw dropped and I was locked in. Man Made […]

Personally, (and I’ve thought this way since 2006’s Pride of the Wicked), Pennsylvania’s War of Ages are a far superior act to the far more hyped As I Lay Dying when it comes to Christian metalcore with a heavy Gothenburg lean. That fact is only cemented with the band’s excellent third album (not counting last […]

I hadn’t heard of Venomous Concept before I threw this in, but the atrocious album art gave me the impression it was either going to be very silly, very bad, or both. So you can imagine my surprise when the ragged, chaotic grindcore/punk of opening track “Drop Dead” raped my face with its awesomeness. It […]

It may not be fair, but when I see song titles like “Nymphonomicon” and “Kockstruck,” I tend to develop an opinion on the band before I even hear the music. Unfortunately, what Midnight Idols deliver isn’t all that far from the idea that I had.This is pure, adolescent garage metal. The band rips off the […]

I have to admit to a weakness for swords, dragons and battle metal. Unfortunately, quite a bit of that style also happens to be pretty cheesy, so I always enjoy finding a release that has no more than the required amount of cheese and some pretty solid songs. That’s just what I get with this […]

One could argue that sitting a very top of the deathcore heap are All Shall Perish and Tennessee’s three guitar wielding Whitechapel, who made quite an impressive racket and impressed even some grizzled death metal fans with their debut The Somatic Defilement. Now on Metal Blade Records, youngsters Whitechapel have delivered their anticipated sophomore album, and as […]

Much like the recent release of label mates A Thousand Times Repent, Georgia’s Hereafter An Odyssey deliver an EP (which was originally self released by the band) plying a style that’s been done to death (core), but do it well enough to warrant your attention if you are a fan of the genre, or new […]

I haven’t heard this Belgian black metal band’s previous release, Ultimate Crescendo of Hell, but I understand that they’ve since changed their sound to avoid the Satyricon comparisons they were getting. Odd, considering that a) that’s a good thing, b) they still sound like Satyricon and c) Deathcult Salvation is impressive in its own right. […]

After an acceptable but clichéd, Christian band, As I Lay Dying riff off debut in Saints, Destroy the Runner return with an even more commercial, poppy, mainstream album that makes the likes of Demon Hunter, The Devil Wears Prada, Farewell to Freeway and A Day to Remember look like Nile. Cleaner, whinier vocals and lots […]

After stealing The Funeral Pyre away from Creator Destructor Records and then re-issuing the band’s impressive second offering, here is the Prosthetic Records debut from California black metal act and there have been some slight changes from The Nature of Betrayal. The most obvious change is that keyboardist Daniella Jones is no longer in the […]

As a stop gap between the magnificent Eater of Birds and the next full length album, Cobalt and Profound Lore offer up this oddly titled, limited edition, 3 track, 44-minute EP that delivers one new track, a Nausea cover and the uncut, full 30 minute version of “Ritual Use of Fire”, which was split up […]

Although used sparingly, a distinct, striking psychedelic influence began creeping into USBM act Nachtmystium with their past two albums, Eulogy IV and Instinct:Decay. A rippling soundscape here, a feedback-soaked, emotional solo there – they were just the first tentative tabs under the tongue. On Assassins, we get a handful of the good stuff. (So if […]

Admittedly, I haven’t given Daylight Dies very much attention at all since their debut Tribunal Records EP, entitled Idle. Back then, I saw them as a natural offshoot of Opeth (with hints of early Katatonia). They employed slower tempos, melancholic melodies, and an overall dark presence. With Lost To The Living being the first thing […]

It’s ironic that a band called Dead Congregation, with gleefully offensive song titles like “Feasting Angelcunts” and “Vomitchrist,” can be so pleasurable. The metal-uninitiated may not understand what’s going on in this relentless battery, but they also don’t have the same well-furrowed neural pathways that only comes from years of learning and appreciating all the […]

I remember seeing some pretty wretched reviews for Now, Diabolical when it was released – claims that Satyricon had finally deconstructed and dumbed-down their sound to a simplified parody of their once-feral greatness. I didn’t think so – sure, it was minimalist, but not toothless – it still seethed in the right places, and rocked […]

The debut, Memento Mori, from Atlanta’s Withered was a killer Stockholm sounding Doom/Death effort that got unfairly touted as a Mastodon clone due to the geography of the band. Three years later and Withered have returned with a new label and a slightly tweaked sound. But fear not the tweaking is a blacker, sicker, and […]

With over an hour of pleasure ahead of me, I inserted Massive Conspiracy Against All Life into my cd player, lamenting the demise of the band at the same time. I was fully prepared to bump “Shed This Skin”, “It Comes in Whispers”, “Hanged Man”, “He Whom Shadows Move Towards”, and “Ruminating in Hatemagick” from […]

While being chased after stealing Suttung’s mead, Odin was nearly caught and that close call made him wet himself, the urine raining down upon Midgard to inspire mortal poets. Obviously some spilled directly into Johnny’s glass shard filled drinking horn. Johnny’s vocals are getting harsher again, no mellowing with age here. Hedlund hear my call. […]

I vaguely remember long running Swiss act Sludge and their late 90’s releases (Sweet Daisy, The Well, Scarecrow Messiah), as they had a couple of Tomas Skogsberg/Sunlight Produced efforts, had Samael guitarist Makro in their ranks and plied a dirty mix of death doom and thrash that was a pretty heavy sound coming from the […]