One of the great things about being on a constant metal scavenger hunt is when you find that golden band that is just full of talent that no one knows about. There’s a sort of pride and gratification in presenting these bands to the unfamiliar. Though I am a reviewer, I do not get as […]

Eschewing the expected ‘Louisiana’ metal sound, Baton Rouge’s long running Black/death metal act Catholicon deliver only their third full length album in their long but rather obscure career, and despite it’s unusual approach, it’s destined to be as unrecognized as their previous offerings. On the surface, Catholicon’s mix of muddy, murky Satanic death metal and […]

Despite really not being a pure black metal act any more, Anaal Nathrakh’s hideous transformation into a more refined but still seething black/death/grind outfit still sees the band delivering some of the most vitriolic and intense yet intelligent extremity around. Where Eschaton had the clean tones of Domine Non Es Dignus, it still reverted to […]

Absolute primal filth. That’s the best way to describe this raggedy, raucous filthgrinder from Poland who put energy, attitude and sheer swagger above any technical musings or to following what’s hot into this, their debut record. Damn, this is so vigorously filthy (that word again) that I can just envisage the smallest basement in a […]

This is my first exposure to Norway’s Pantheon I, the new-ish project of former 1349 guitarist Tjalve (André Kvebek) but I must say I enjoyed the bands mix of traditional and experimental black elements into one, above average, polished and slightly forward thinking slab of blackened extremity. With longer than usual songs and extended segments […]

Austria’s contribution to the thrash revival, Wolfpack Unleashed (WPU) formed in 2005, released a demo, and quickly signed to Napalm. Though throwback thrash is a fitting tag, they don’t quite fit in the same ballpark as say Fueled by Fire or Warbringer. Instead, they seem to fit in nicely beside the likes of Sanctity or […]

It’s a bit surprising that a band formed by former Dimmu Borgir drummer Tjodalv and Satyricon guitarist Cyrus has little or no black metal leanings. Instead it’s very much a classic thrash sound with some interesting compositional choices that add a dark, moody flavor to what could otherwise be easily written off as Metallica/Testament worship […]

Caliban, alongside Heaven Shall Burn, is Germany’s prime export in the field of metal-core, and they’ve been around just as long as any of the well noted originators of the genre, as this is their sixth full length since their inception in 1999. I must say right off the bat that I’m not the most […]

So what if a band from Denmark mixed the happy go drinking folkish pep of Korpiklaani and the earthy, battle weary death metal heft of Amon Amarth or the first Amorphis album? You’d get Svartsot and their simple but thoroughly enjoyable debut album. With a mix of simple, mid paced chunky death metal, deep cavernous […]

So apparently this lot won the 2005 French Rock Hard Magazine contest and as a result got a record deal with Mascot Records. I wonder who the other bands were as this is a pretty mediocre release of solid but uninspiring, progressive, melodic death metal with a hint of thrash. The sort of Death meets […]

Third release from this Polish super-group conceived of members of Behemoth and Vader. Though my knowledge of their previous works is thin, I’m finding some enjoyable moments with 2007’s Distractive Killusions. What I have gathered over the years reading about Vesania is that they failed to impress when compared to other acts in the genre. […]

Arguably the poster child for the current trend of squawking, screeching chaotic pseudo grind, Louisiana’s The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, despite their silly name, song titles, skits and irreverent humor are actually musically more in line with the likes of early Ion Dissonance as well as labelmates From A Second Story Window, Architect and Khann […]

North Carolina’s Jonin are an interesting prospect. They play a sort of haughty and complex Progressive Metal or AOR but with American Metal or metalcore undertones and they have a superb vocalist that sounds like a mix of Maynard from Tool and Tuomas Tuominen from Fall of the Leafe. On paper, it’s a very intriguing […]

I rather enjoyed this Christian metalcore band’s debut LP, Lay Waste the Poets, so I was looking forward to this follow up, but despite a solid attempt at some Life in Your Way/Misery Signals styled harmonics and shimmering guitar work, once again the curse of the clean vocals and commercial acceptability bring the album down […]

Last year, Indiana’s Demiricous burst on the scene with their debut, (One) Hellbound, a thrash homage in a sea of metalcore and rockstars, and while not my personal cup of thrash tea, I can appreciate the follow up, (Two) Poverty, for what it is: an ode to the Bay Area Thrash scene with a little […]

Trustkill and hardcore. That’s got to be a joke right? Well apparently not. In fact it seems that when everyone’s former ‘favourite,’ label isn’t releasing garbage by too many bad bands to name they are unearthing the odd gem, although this is becoming scarcer and scarcer as the years pass on by. Having said that, […]

The latest release from Prong is in some ways refreshing. They’ve dropped most of the industrial, mechanical influence they adopted on Cleansing and have gone for a return to the sound of <i>Beg to Differ</i> or Prove You Wrong. In other ways it’s disappointing – mainly that it’s not as interesting as any of those […]

Quick history lesson for you young’uns out there: Before Shadows Fall had their breakout album, Of One Blood in 2000, they actually released their (far more death metal sounding, and still my favorite SF release) debut album Somber Eyes to the Sky in 1997. That album featured original vocalist Phil Labonte, who, as most of […]

So, in light of Earache recently re-releasing the hugely hyped yet stunningly average debut, Count Your Blessings, from this suddenly popular Yorkshire men, Earache have re-issued the debut EP (both originally released on 30 Days of Night and Visible Music respectively) that got the band signed to Earache in the first place. Yup, I smell […]

When it comes to straight-up death metal, few bands can amuse me. Even when a death metal record strikes me, it surely isn’t because it’s setting the world on fire, but mainly because there’s a little flavor that holds my interest. Poland’s Hate did that for me last year. Norway’s Blood Red Throne hasn’t rattled […]

A horse that has been consistently flagged is how common place the amount of just out of high school/college males bulging with excess testosterone can continue making incomprehensible band logos, oddball names, flashy merch and their by now standardized racket branded as ‘Deathcore,’ i.e. the amalgamation of death metal and metalcore (although sceptics and those […]

Though most may take a look at the band moniker, album title and label and pass this off as yet another Christian metalcore bands trying to clone As I Lay Dying, the fact is with former members of Between the Buried and Me and short lived rock act Terminal in their ranks, Oh, Sleeper are […]

In a nutshell, French newcomers ART 238 really, really like The Berzerker, as their form of industrialized, heavily programmed death metal is a virtual clone of the now maskless Aussies, but aren’t quite up to that standard yet. Churning, down tuned guitars mix with blast beat heavy, (programmed?) robotic drums, deep growls, frenzied shrieks and […]

Despite the promising orchestral, hardcore choir of intro “Enfermeria, Part III: The Recovery”, the second full length effort from political SoCal hardcore stalwarts Underminded is only a slightly above average contemporary hardcore effort. Lying somewhere between the likes of Passion and Dead Hearts as far as emotional, metallic yet melodic hardcore, but with some angular […]

I have read some belittling reviews about this bands works and I was very hesitant to listen to their stuff even though it sounded up my alley. Lucky for me, Digital sent their new CD to my door. “The Dark Bastard of the Finnish Goth Scene.” That’s what Sinamore called themselves on their myspace page. […]