Finnish sung metal has become more and popular in Finland (what a surprise!) and one can only hope that the basic trend has reached its highest peak. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with it, but most of the bands of the genre, are boring beyond belief. It all basically started with Timo Rautiainen & […]
Signing to a major label doesn’t necessarily result in the immediate benefits that one might expect, especially if the band in question has spent years developing their sound on the independent circuit. Most of these artists fail to make the transition from underground to mainstream success and Amorphis are certainly no exception to the rule. […]
The Greek trio Bullethole, formerly known as Human Decay, has brought their debut CD Incarceration to the mortal kind, also known as human beings (that is us). According to the band themselves, what we’re given is a mix between The Haunted and Hatebreed. And to my surprise, they’re not that far off with their ‘thrash […]
I admit that I don’t have that much of knowledge (if at all) in grind. Sure, when I was young and vulnerable for all sorts of influences I listened to Napalm Death and Carcass from the tape that I stole from my brother, but I found the Sepultura, Dismember and Cannibal Corpse songs more entertaining. […]
Netherland’s Crustacean have been together since 1989, mainly touring and playing Slayer and have only released a handful of material. Demos included. None the less, Insaniac marks the band’s progress to full- length number dos. First, you can’t avoid the cover artwork on this disc. Cheesy computer generated 3D skeletons, badly modeled demon and bright […]
Hailing from Poland, Delight is yet another name to take a bite of the female-fronted gothic metal cake. And in the light of the recent listening experiences I’ve had with groups of such nature, I couldn’t avoid the emotions of extreme prejudice and skepticism. For the bands benefit I was sure that their third album, […]
Apparently Siegebürgen’s frontman, Marcus Ehlin felt that he couldn’t express all of his emotions with his main band and thus created Devlin to serve these feelings. In the process, Lexi was hired to deal with the lead vocal duties. Musically, the project isn’t the most original thing since sliced bread; female vocals that are sometimes […]
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 […]