Add ‘Phillip K Dick-core’ or “Sci-Fi-core” to the ever growing sub genres of ‘core’ styled metal, and though I have not read the Philip K. Dick book of the same name, nor any of his other works, this noisy, sci-fi themed slab of noise is mighty impressive. Essentially mixing the likes of Ed Gein and […]

This is the German band named Cerberus, formed in 1998. They play slow to mid paced melodic black metal, like old Hades with a bit of thrash and doom thrown in. Klagelieder – Grabesgesang is their second album and third release. They managed to release a live album before any studio material. The album contains […]

With a legacy forged in -16- and Cavity, the two piece offering up the aptly named Bestial know a thing or two about caustic, sludgy and ear drum dissolving metal, and flex their experience with suitable with their debut record.With an obvious nod to their former bands, Jason Landrian and Rafael martinez stew up some […]

Shed the high profile members, keep the audience. Historically the strength of Keep of Kalessin was drumming and vocals. Both positions changed hands for Reclaim, and both have changed again here, with original drummer Vyl back in the fold where he belongs, replacing Frost. Thebon replaces the pinch hitter Attila, who also jumped on board […]

Album number two from these, grimy, filthy purveyors of Celtic Frost meets Sabbath, meets Slayer, meets Cyanide wrought noise, and everything seems to be upped; the artwork is spectacular, the riffs are sludgier, the bottom end is heavier and the density is more oppressive. A few good crusty records have passed my desk of late; […]

What if a Swedish death metal band decided to give in to its Sabbath influences and admit to even liking the Grateful dead a little bit? Probably something a lot like this. Nar Morkret Valler Over is the third album from The Jam Session, who refer to themselves as “Swedish gods” on their Web site. […]

To be honest, I really haven’t had a whole lot of interest in Sepultura since they split with guitarist/vocalist Max Cavalera in the mid-1990s. I boughtAgainst just to see what the “new” Sepultura was like and wasn’t really that interested in keeping up with them after that. They’ve done a few things here and there I’ve […]

First of all, thanks to Candlelight for giving this album a US deal. I don’t think Nuclear Blast has any idea how many Bal-Sagoth fans there are in the US… Truth be told, as I’ve gotten older, Bal-Sagoth have become less relevant to me. Whether it is my aging process or the fact Bal-Sagoth have […]

Adding to an already stellar year for Candlelight (and it’s only March!), comes the fifth album from Viking metal stalwarts Thyrfing, who with Vansinnesvisor took a far darker, more foreboding, death metal take on the traditionally pompous Viking metal. However, with Farsotstider (Times of Plague), Thyrfing seem to have found some balance. That’s not to […]

The evolution of Amorphis, for me, has been one of the most disappointing musical turns in recent memory. I was a latecomer to the band, only discovering them with Elegy, an album that completely blew me away. It was exactly the kind of music I was searching for at the time, melodic and moody, yet […]

So not only has this Washington, D.C., band changed their name (from Love in a Time of Cholera), we have a pretty significant stylistic change and both are for the better. Their self released full light The Sun Through Glass was solid, catchy of Hot Topic-y styled ‘core record that showed promise, but on this […]

I’ll forgo the usual introductory band history and opinionated opening paragraph and get straight to it; With their second album, North Carolina’s Daylight Dies have masterfully yet subtly elbowed their way into the international metal elite. Not only does Dismantling Devotion separate the band from what is essentially a two band race within the US’s […]

While it might seem that it couldn’t be further away from metal aesthetically, Tenhi remains as one of the heaviest bands around. The weight does not come from razor sharp riffing, bowel-depth vocals or blistering drums for that matter, although percussion does play a big role in the group’s spellbinding sonic witchery. No. The band […]

Dismember need no introduction or lengthy dissection, so I’ll get right to it. Of the patriarchal Swedish death metal bands of the early 90’s they have been the one band that stayed true and stayed together. However, their last effort on the ill-fated Karmageddon Media, Where Ironcrosses Grow was a little disappointing even if still […]

A bland thrash blemish on Candlelight’s exceptional year from ex-members of Einherjer that shows that you should just let sleeping Vikings lie. Norway’s Einherjer were on of Viking metal’s early darlings with a level of creativity and experimentation that set them apart from the sword swinging hordes. Then how is that a thrash band formed […]

It’s been a good year for black metal for me so far; Thyrane, Lugubrum, Grand Belial’s Key, Oblomov, Dark Funeral, Leviathan’s 35 split CD’s and this superb effort all have made black metal interesting for me again. Frankly, I’ve never really delved to far into Aborym’s discography, so this album came as a surprise to […]

For some reason, I always compare France’s Yyrkoon with Poland’s Trauma; both are underrated and in the shadow of their respective country’s other higher profile bands, yet both are just as talented and skilled. I reviewed Trauma’s Imperfect Like a God right around the time I reviewed Yyrkoon’s Occult Medicine and both were excellent releases […]

Furious straight edge hardcore from Ft. Lauderdale on tap here, and while it’s rife with tired hardcore cliches and structures, it?s one of the better and most conviction filled efforts I’ve heard. There’s not much to explain here: 14 angry breakdown laden anthems of societal/political disgust (“Tight Lipped Politics”), straight edge pride (“Let’s Get Free”) […]

Sometimes it amazes me how the music industry has kept itself alive this long. Think about it for a minute. Think about all the great bands you know that have been left to languish in obscurity, and then think about all the crap that gets pushed on listeners by the record companies. I pondered this often […]

Cutting his teeth in primordial heavy outfits Earth and Melvins, bassist Joe Preston is no stranger to avant-garde doom. Before he landed his current gig wielding the thunderstick for Matt Pike’s High on Fire, he was the brainchild behind the one-man-band (cum drum machine) Thrones, who has enjoyed two full-length albums and a slew of […]

Shame on you death metal labels. While busy churning out mindless hordes of gore grind and releasing mediocre efforts from bands like Torture Killer, Hate Eternal, Divine Empire, Bile, Krisiun or even rehashing the past with the likes of Obituary and Cryptopsy and a band like Vore remains criminally unsigned.While most of the underground is […]

Torture’s indie debut Storm Alert was never released in the U.S. That’s a shame, too. If this album had hit me in the late 1980s or early 1990s, it would have blown me away. In 2006, the re-issue from Escapi sounds pretty dated, but for an old thrasher like me, it’s still a quite enjoyable […]

Four guys up in Ontario Canada really , really like Dark Funeral, Immortal and Marduk and they do a pretty admirable job of paying homage to them on their blistering debut (label released) album Black Northern Storm. Now this is my first exposure to these lads, so I’m not sure how Black Northern Storm stands […]

Rounding out my recent gamut of quality sludge/noise comes Wisconsin’s Desolate Void, who measure up favorably to the likes of Lair of the Minotaur, Ultralord and Black Cobra but with bit of a nasty, Southern tinged grindcore sheen that brings about a bit of Eyehategod or Soilent Green.At the center of Desolate Void’s caustic tantrums […]

A taster EP from this progressive, post black, avant-garde, Winds meets Arcturus meets Solefald collaboration. A collaboration, that to me, comes across like a slightly more diverse and edgy version of Winds and has the benefit of Solefald’s Lazare (Lars Nedlund) on vocals rather than Winds’ rather underwhelming Lars Eric Si (who play bass in […]