Canada has done it again. After the initial invasion of Cryptopsy Kataklysm and Gorguts laid the ground work of musical insanity, bands like Neuraxis, Quo Vadis, Ion Dissonance and Despised Icon to continue to pummel these shores with ridicoulously complex metal. Add Beneath the Massacre to the list of impressive Canadian bands that can rip […]
My only other exposure to Eastern European metalcore is Poland’s rather excellent Faust Again, but Croatia’s Amok have also proved to be ample bearers of the metalcore flag with a short but solid and crisp debut album that’s firmly rooted in The Black Dahlia Murder, Darkest Hour and Unearth.With the usual flaws of a young […]
Unshine flashes through the same elven infested, misty forests as their fellow Finns, Battlelore. Pulitzer-worthily titled Earth Magick is yet another stab at female fronted, romantic, mid-paced metal musick (that’s an intentional typo, mind you). Where Finntroll actually sound like trolls on the roll and Korpiklaani like a pack of drunks on a fringe, I’m […]
When I read that Moredhel, long time Horna guitarist, with the help of Horna drummer Gorthaur, was forming a Tolkien inspired band there was no way I wasn’t going to check it out so I bought the debut album expecting possibly early Summoning, and it was immediately obvious this was not going to be a […]
“Give me some baby blood.” This disc is called Tetragrammatical Astygmata and as I listened for the first time I kept hearing King Diamond’s voice in my head, “Elohim… Adonai… Tetragrammaton.” Averse Sefira returns with new material, the long awaited sequel to 2001’s Battle’s Clarion. The most important issue to me is can this possibly […]
I like Obituary, really I do. And I wanted to like their reunion album after an 8-year layoff, really I did. I happen to think that Cause of Death is arguably one of the top five death metal albums ever, but this album (as well as the subsequent albums) only serves to cement one fact; […]
Talk about being kicked into a bleeding pulp. I didn’t see this one coming, even though I had some kind of an idea of what to expect. This Godless Endeavor‘s sheer brutality and power of the contact left me gasping for air, down on my fours, begging for forgiveness in front of a much higher […]
Though most of you may groan, for me, 2005 has been a stellar year for the so called “death-core” genre (I use the term broadly to describe music that mixes death metal, grindcore and hardcore/metalcore); Embrace the End, The Taste of Blood, The Number 12 Looks Like You, Ion Dissonance, The Red Chord, Antagony, Animosity, […]
The re-release of The Window Purpose takes us back to a more active, aggressive Wolvernine. Despite being loaded with influences and various stylistic sounds, the album is nonetheless cohesive, held together especially by Stefan Zell’s vocals.While Wolverine fits into the prog metal label, there are moments of all sorts of musical styles including blues, funk, […]
It seems to be a week for female-fronted bands for me. First the Missbehaviour compilation, then Arch Enemy, now Widow. Though I’m not familiar with their previous album, On Fire is the band’s second album, following up 2004’s Midnight Strikes. The band came together over their love of horror, and that love is evident just […]
Truth be told Atreyu, is the meekest of the Hot Topic ‘metalcore’ triumvirate (rounded out by Avenged Sevenfold and Bleeding Through), being easily more accessible than their peers but having just enough metal seeping into their punky, hardcore laced, catchy visage to be more respectable than Silverstein or Thrice. Still, Atreyu and their ilk remain […]
What hurts this album is already known. There is no “Scrape.” But how was “Scrape,” musically speaking, different from any of their other songs? It’s just the memorable video that will forever haunt the men of Unsane. What a shame too, because Blood Run is my favorite album of theirs because every song stands out […]
A while back I wrote a review for a pretty bad album by Hellfire that said listeners might find some 1980s nostalgia in it, but here’s a much better way to get your fix of ’80s style melodic metal. This is the third album for Finland’s Thunderstone, and it will certainly conjure comparisons to fellow […]
Boy did Victory Records need this. Bayside? Hawthorne Heights? The Black Maria? Give me a break. Not only have Victory broke their heinous un-metal streak with a killer slab of furiously melodic metal, Undoing Ruin is one the first anticipated US ‘core’ albums of the year that actually improves on its predecessor as the likes […]
So what exactly is Sognametal? Well, it’s the name of this DVD, but more importantly it’s the name Valfar gave to his special symbiosis of folk and metal. It’s important because this DVD is a tribute to the Sognametal and the man and behind it, with the added chance of the band he created disappearing […]
Poor old Metal Blade, they can’t catch break. Hoping to bottle the magic of their prior albums, they signed Unearth, The Red Chord and As I Lay Dying, in hopes of riding the hype their debut albums garnered in the metalcore scene. Alas though both, The Oncoming Storm and Clients were over hyped and under […]
Discounting Moonsorrow’s (for me, mildly disappointing) album, its been a pretty barren year for great Viking metal, with even a few rotten eggs thrown in (fellow Germans Iuvenes, Suidakra), so when I finally got my hands on this Germans band’s highly regarded album, I was giddy, boy was it worth the wait. Part Ensiferum, part […]
For many years now, Portland, Oregon has been lucky to have indie prog-popsters 31Knots residing within its boundaries. With three critically-acclaimed releases on Michigan’s 54’40’ or Fight! Records, the band’spearheaded by multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Joe Haege’has moved to the Illinois-based Polyvinyl label and released two excellent discs. 2004’s The Curse of the Longest Day EP was previously […]
The French seem to have found a niche with expansive avant-garde post hard-core noise with the likes of Comity, Amanda Woodward, Bumblebees, etc, but this has to stand out as the best yet. This is soooo damn good folks that I’m not sure simple words can convey its brilliance. With feet firmly planted in the […]
While I enjoy a certain few instrumental bands such as Pelican, Keelhaul, Electro Quarterstaff and Tides I generally like my music with vocals. But Trephine presents a rather interesting take on instrumental mayhem, with a rather eclectic style of instrumental metal. Forsaking the norm of expansive atmospheric droning, Trephine, like Dysrythmia, takes a more spastic, […]
Few bands can claim to have the recent adversity of Soilent Green (the tragic death of bassist Scott Williams), and it shows on this album as Soilent Green is as angry as ever. Admittedly, Soilent Green’s last album A Deleted Symphony for the Beaten Down, had a ‘samey’ quality about you just had to enjoy […]
Quite frankly, the angelic soprano singing over metal riffs is getting a little old to me. Most of the time the bands that are doing it are doing it in an attempt to offer something different (at this point, it’s not really) and the vocals don’t really jibe with the music. But I know there […]
After a four year hiatus, Philly’s All Else Failed return with a revamped line-up and a renewed energy to follow up their Archetype album. And while certainly a solid album of metallic discordant, chaos core and hints of other more commercial ingredients, I’m not quite sure there’s room for All Else Failed at the top. […]
I’ll admit it. This was easily one of my most anticipated released for 2005, and upon looking at the cosmic album artwork and equally celestial song titles, I had some pangs of disappointment as I braced for a cyber/space metal style change from one of my favorite bands. However, upon hitting play and being greeted […]
As the regular visitors to the site might have already realized, I’m not the biggest fan of the current hard/metalcore wave. Too many bands, inflation, no one’s happy, yadda yadda – you get the idea. Far from being original, Canadian Hollow Ground do at least something right to these ears. 6 songs, 12 minutes of […]