Over the years, I’ve had a few thank you emails from bands for a review or interview, but when I reviewed the debut album from Pennsylvania’s Serious Grind here, and subsequently interviewed them for another publication, main man Josh Ebel thanked me gratuitously and we stayed in fairly regular contact. He seemed one of the […]

I’m sure this release is more in the realms of fellow scribe Grimulfr, however, in an attempt to broaden my black metal horizons, I made myself listen to and review the debut from this German spike and corpse paint clad trio. There’s nothing remotely original going on here, but it is spitefully done and typically […]

There’s not too many high-quality, new, young death or black metal acts coming out of the UK right now. Sarpanitum and Scythian are the only ones that immediately come to mind. However, after Spearhead’s 2005 primal but forgetful debut, Deathless Steel Command, the Brits have returned with a superior follow-up (subtitled The Doctrine of Imperial […]

Forsaking vocalists, a lot of bands these days are opting to stick to instrumental creativity to construct vivid, emotional sonic tapestries. An entire genre & scene has in turn been constructed. Bands such as Red Sparowes, Pelican, Canvas Solaris, Explosions In The Sky & others have built substantial followings over the last few years by […]

While certainly death metal in 2008 is on the upswing with releases by Brain Drill, Decrepit Birth, and Hate Eternal, the fact is death metal is still just death metal. However, Origin, after four albums of complex yet relatively singular and forgetful speed, have now fully embraced and developed songwriting chops hinted ever-so-slightly on 2006’s […]

Well, based on this, (sorry labels, I don’t do digitally released reviews) enjoy possibly the last review of a Victory release on this site. Luckily, it’s is a damn fine surprise. With a new line-up, gone are the gimmicks like songs named after Tom Cruise movies, fairy tales, suits and sense of humor. Instead, fronted […]

So often words like “atmospheric,” “progressive,” and “experimental” get thrown around in extreme metal. It seems like if you add any sort of tangents, acoustics, clean vocal or such you get lumped in with the “progressive” crowd — ask Opeth. But what was the last really experimental but ‘real’ death metal album you heard? An […]

Italy, while certainly a player in the metal genre, isn’t really known for its deathcore/metalcore/melodic death metal (Nail Within and Slowmotion Apocalypse immediately come to mind), so I really wasn’t really looking forward to reviewing the debut from Mondovi’s Stigma. Even more so when I discovered the album is also centered around horror movies and […]

After a couple of releases on Indianola Records, Tennessee’s Across Five Aprils made the expected jump to Victory Records, where their metalcore/hardcore meets post-rock meets emo hues, fit perfectly into the Victory-core style of music so popular with the kids today. You’ve heard this formula thousand times before, and while not quite as sugary as […]

Much like The Devil Wears Prada, Farewell To Freeway suffers greatly from the whole decent metalcore ruined by utterly sniveling, wimpy clean vocals syndrome… Musically, the band has a decent mix of catchy, commercial heavy/clean Killswitch Engage styled metalcore mixed with a dash of Misery Signal-ish layering and harmony. There are some decent riffs and […]

Arising from the ashes of Thorr’s Hammer, Burning Witch is known for being one of the forefathers of extreme doom metal, and featured two of the genres current luminaries in Steven O Malley and Greg Anderson who have served/currently serve in acts such as Sunn O))), Teeth of the Lions Rule The Divine, Khanate, and […]

For a moment I thought this was called We Are the Grim ‘Thong’, and I had some really odd visualizations going through my head, but I digress… Exalted are a USBM act hailing from Chicago and they are eschewing the popular US obsessed, one man mope-fest style of black metal, and instead going for a […]

The White EP is the follow up to 2004’s The Grey EP, (which I never heard) and consists of 7 more acoustic, ambient and instrumental tracks from the leading purveyors of ‘grey metal’. Composed from 2004 to 2007, this limited edition EP is a good place for this batch of material as it’s hardly recognizable […]

Even though I don’t remember much about it now as it’s been so long since I’ve heard it, I recall Naildown’s debut album World Domination to be a relatively enjoyable and even somewhat original affair for melodeath – the same can’t be said about their follow up Dreamcrusher though. First off, the whole album is […]

Beginning life in 1991 as an ultra-heavy, distorted, Drone Doom band, Earth created some of the most mind-numbingly massive instrumental music on the planet. As the years went on Earth found itself developing a few more textures & different tones, yet the band has lost none of the atmosphere it has always been known for. […]

Arguably the most hyped folk metal band of recent memory, Switzerland’s Eluveitie, to coincide with the upcoming Paganfest tour have released their second full-length album on Nuclear Blast and while an entertaining album, Heidevolk’s upcoming Walhalla Wacht is a far superior release as is most of Napalm’s ‘real’ folk bands. The problem is, despite the […]

I think from the time that Max Cavalera left his brother Igor and Sepultura behind in 1996, the entire metal world knew that at some point the two would reunite, either in Sepultura, or in a new project. In his absence, Max spent his time in Soulfly, a band that I was never really sold […]

 Arguably one of the more popular of the new wave of American Metal Acts, Unearth have released this 2 disc DVD to their adoring fans (or a Metal Blade contract filler?), as a stop gap between III: Into the Eyes of Fire and the next no doubt huge album.The main part of the 2 disc […]

As a rule, I generally don’t care for live albums or live DVD’s.  The live metal experience is meant to be seen and heard in person, not via speakers or television.  However, one of the exceptions is Iron Maidens now legendary 1985 release, Live After Death. Recorded over 4 nights at the Long Beach arena […]

I was intrigued when I heard the opening single “Shockwave” from Black Tide’s debut record. Sure, the lyrics were a little corny, but it was hard to get the chorus out of my head anyway. So, I’m torn when listening to the full record. On the one hand, after years of tuneless screaming from new […]

Slap a sticker on the front that says this record will appeal to fans of Savatage, Queensryche and Evergrey, and you’ve got my attention. Of course, then you’ve got a promise to deliver on, and unfortunately Nation Beyond doesn’t. A concept album set following nuclear apocalypse (how original), The Aftermath Odyssey admittedly has its moments, but  […]

Sheesh-I must be getting soft in my old age with the likes of Protest the Hero, Eyes Set To Kill, November 5, 1955, Bury Your Dead and this unassuming yet highly addictive release from Kingston Falls recently getting more airplay than the likes of excellent releases from the likes of Origin, Azaghal and Leviathan. Named […]

Taking two recent vinyl only releases and putting them into one CD is Seventh Rule’s typically noisy and gnarly Chicagoans, Indian who deliver a middle ground effort of rumbling, sludgy, occasionally shoegazer styled metal, that won’t really impress anyone other than fans of the genre, despite its cool artwork. Tracks 1-4 comprise the Slights and […]

There are defining moments in history when you will always remember where you were when it happened; Pearl Harbor, the Berlin Wall coming down, JFK’s assassination, the release of Scandinavian Metal Attack. This short 36 minute album was written in 2004 as a tribute to Bathory but did not get recorded until now. Lord Sargofagian […]

Oh how dearly I miss Strapping Young Lad. Their over the top extremity, and of course the ridiculous/hilarious lyrics of the madman Devin Townsend, I just can’t get enough. The announcement from Townsend that SYL would be going on extended hiatus was both shocking and severely disappointing, especially considering their (at the time) recent spike […]