This is a strange one. Hailing from the Ukraine, Phantasmagory blends progressive death with jazzy, serpentine synth soundscapes to create a cosmic, darkly whimsical experience. It’s like Cynic playing the soundtrack to a Final Fantasy game. Very odd. Makes Arcturus sound staid and predictable. Released in 2002, Anamorphosis of Dreams features a collection of Edward […]

Hailing from Belgium, newcomer Welkin brings death from below with their debut full-length, Angel Inside. Somehow reminding me of a perverted mid-paced mix between European and American death metal (with some metalcore elements thrown in), the music circles around the listener without losing direct eye contact. Just waiting for an opportunity to strike when the […]

Grinding and grating, obstinate to the point of obnoxiousness, the Unpersons come raging out of the gate with an “everything but the kitchen sink” take on noisy hardcore. The chaos belies their youth which fuels the pure energetic musical misdirection achieved frequently throughout this release. The album starts to move along at break-neck pace, alternately […]

So Gothicized symphonic black metal has been done to death right? Bands like Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and Old Mans Child have essentially set the bar for others to follow, and follow they have-in droves. Graveworm, Apostasy, Ninnumaum, Agathodaimon, Chthonic, Tidfall, and too many others to name have all delivered their own takes on […]

A Belgian band I’ve never heard of and A Finnish label I’ve never heard of equals an album of the year contender? Weird, huh? Doom metal has been in kind of a slump over the last few years, never able to find the glory of the early 1990’s, despite welcome recent efforts by Shape of […]

Is this band really even relevant anymore? Somehow a band of cult status since 1988 despite a less than prolific album output (considering the length of time they’ve been around), not including hosts of compilations and underground rare recordings. Acheron is the very definition of a cult underground band. That being said , this is […]

Starting with a classic Pinhead quote from the Hellraiser movies, you know exactly what your getting here: pure, unabashed old school death metal. With a guitar tone that mixes Stockholm’s buzz and Sinister’s razor sharp sound as well as dirty, chugging riffs and nary a blastbeat in sight, this is 1992 revisited. Despite the obvious […]

Life has a funny way of doing things. One minute you are in a band that has released one of the better albums of 2003, you’ve just signed new record deal, and then you die. And while, the rumors circulating around the apparent suicide of Windir’s frontman, Valfar, certainly will effect the writing of this […]

Would you think a band hailing from Mondeville, France would be the future of black metal as we know it? If you don’t, let me enlighten you. Formed in 1993, and originally know as Vlad until they released their debut album Ultima Thulée in 1995. That album and their second album Memoria Vetusta I – […]

Do you want to “fuck shit up?” Or “jump the fuck up?” Or do something other “[insert verb and a curse here] up” for that matter, in the safety of your home? If so, then perhaps the new Machine Head live album, Hellalive, caters the goods for you. Recorded at Brixton Academy, London, England in […]

I’ll admit to being initially interested in this band because Frost did the drum tracks. I read that tidbit in a catalog selling the self titled cd and ordered it immediately. That was a few years ago and after listening to this new cd Liberation, it should be obvious to all that 1349 is far […]

Does Marduk offer anything new? Do they need to if they deliver their style so perfectly? The sound quality is a vast improvement over La Grande…, pulverizing your vocal chords with an immense wall of sound with drumming so intense you will get bruises. Punishing without overpowering the guitars, they have finally achieved the perfect […]

This is true black metal that will make all posers run screaming from the room, no industrial, no groove, no dark ambient. I first heard about Calvarium in 2002 and was intrigued but never tracked down anything to listen to. Now, thanks to Dynamic Arts I’ve got a promo copy of the debut of one […]

Arma Angelus, featuring ex-members of hardcore luminaries Racetraitor and Extinction, are conveniently Eulogy Recordings new warhorse following the spectacular demise of Santa Sangre. Where most bands in this space use death and thrash metal devices to create a sense of heaviness missing in traditional hardcore, Arma Angelus’ thick, angular attack comes from a rock and […]

Rhetorically, I imagine I you meet death metal bands in a bar, Origin would try to impress you with clever sleight of hand tricks. Bolt Thrower might lumber over and give you a gruff nod and mumbled brummie greeting. Nile may strike up a deep conversation concerning mummies, pyramids, Isis and such. Deranged however would […]

This is the band that calls itself “satanic elitist black metal” and a “necrocult.” As most everyone knows by now, Attila Csihar is an official member of the band, but the practice of guest musicians continues. Nattefrost from Carpathian Forest, Irrumator from Anaal Nathrakh, Bard “Faust” Eithun now with Dissection… The question is whether this […]

On my trip to learn something about the bands featured on this split, I had to put my private investigator skills to the ultimate test. The mission didn’t become any easier thanks to the stubbornness of the French and their inability to write things in English (a certain Samuel L. Jackson line came to my […]

I’m pretty sure the same virus that infected Gothenburg in the mid-’90s has mutated an infected musicians on the East Coast. Some of the music comes from that area is just phenomenal, and for me at the top of the rapidly growing pack are newcomers Beyond The Sixth Seal.BTSS started as a thrash band in […]

I personally had no idea Bathory were doing a new album, let alone a two part double release (Part II is to be released early in 2003). When I initially got this album in the mail and tore into it with glee, I was full of youthful memories so you’ll have to excuse my initial […]

Five years. It has been five years since I had new material from Spain’s atmospheric black metal band Asgaroth. Corpse paint and swords were already a thing of the past for Lord Lupus, Mythral and associates, now they have dropped the pseudonyms as well. Daniel and Chris were joined in 1998 by Oscar and by […]

Here’s an interesting one, Polish death metal ala Behemoth and Lost Soul, mixed with Nocturnus-like futuristic “spacey” synths. The result isn’t all bad, which is mainly due to the merits of convincing death metal played under all the superfluous keyboards. The mix is a little odd but the synth/death mix never is as engaging or […]

What a perfect name for a doom/death album. Slovakia’s Thalarion have been one of the bands I’ve always liked as they have perfected the “beauty and the beast” sound, mixing guttural death metal, atmospheric doom elements, and a hint of goth for three albums now. With their fourth album Tunes Of Despondency, Thalarion appears to […]

Some had hoped that Paradise Lost would return to their roots with the release of Symbol of Life. Not surprisingly, they haven’t and the band continues on the same path that was first introduced to us with their 1997 release, One Second. To me, the problem hasn’t been that big due to the fact that […]

BloodRose, a new black metal band from Finland, have been playing together since 1994. In 2000 they changed from Hatework to BloodRose, and changed styles as well. Finland is well known for melodic black metal lacking in intensity and harshness. BloodRose is no exception. The vocals, as is often the case, have the requisite harsh […]

Behemoth’s gradual transition from cult black metal to world-class death metal outfit is not characterized by one album, but through the maturation of four. Unlike many Polish bashers (Decapitated, Hate, etc.) where Vader is the primary inspirational source, Behemoth, mining the strengths of Morbid Angel, Slayer and recently Nile, forge a high-energy, strikingly confident style […]