Posts Tagged ‘Review’

Carnation – Cursed Mortality

Though 2023 is in our rearview mirror, there’s still a slew of quality late 2023  releases lingering that deserve your attention. One such release is the third album from Belgium’s Carnation, who burst onto the scene with the impressive debut Chapel of Abhorrence back in 2018 and followed it up with the equally impressive Where […]

Atronos – Erwachen

Germany’s Atronos is one of the many projects that feature vocalist ‘Baptist’ who also serves in two other great German black metal acts Mavorim and Eisenkult. Eisenkult used to be his outlet for more triumphant medieval black metal with albums like 2020’s Gedenken wir der Finsternis, but in 2022 Eisenkult did a split demo with his […]

Cognizance – Phantazein

I became a fan of the UK’s technical death metal band Cognizance, from their Inquisition EP, their debut release in 2013, and reviewed it back then.  I was pretty blown away by the array of technical wizardry and monstrously brutal moments.  The band reminding me of Beneath The Massacre/Obscura type of music.  After releasing a […]

Drown In Sulphur – Dark Secrets of the Soul

Italy’s Drown In Sulfur got off to a hot start in the blackened deathcore genre with various EPs including the excellent Blackwind EP, which I really enjoyed and own, and I thought the band was ready to blow up. Then the band literally blew up shortly after with drummer Domenico Tamila kicking out all of […]

Impalement – The Dawn of Blackened Death

Impalement is the Swiss, one-man project from Beliath (who also helps out with Germany’s Nargaroth for live shows).  But unlike the other recent Swiss one-man project I reviewed, Felonie, which was more melodic atmospheric black metal, this, as the apt album title states, is blistering, black/death metal. The Dawn of Blackened Death is the second […]

Dusk- Dissolve into Ash

Mid-West death doomsters Dusk had a cool album back in 1995 …Majestic Thou in Ruin.  After breaking up in the late 90’s they reformed in 2015 and this is the band’s second full-length album Dissolve into Ash, at the end of 2023. The legitimacy of such a reformation, which happened several years back, is the […]

OWDWYR – Receptor

Cripes, I haven’t had an album make me scratch my head as much as this in quite some time. OWDWYR is a technical death metal/grind/djent experimental metal trio (aided by a literal army of guest drummers for almost every track- including Kevin Paradis of Benighted and Kenny Grohowski of Imperial Triumphant) that utilizes classical and […]

Osiah – Kairos

This UK deathcore band has been busy over the last few years in terms of writing and playing shows.  Osiah’s last full-length album in 2021, Loss, I felt was pretty damn monstrous and their best album.  The band somewhat falls into the category of technical deathcore and while there are those prevalent influences, I find […]

Ryujin – Ryujin

Formerly known as ‘Gyze‘, and with four albums under that moniker from 2013-2019, this Japanese melodic death metal band has themed their music as ‘Samurai metal’, using copious Eastern instrumentation and influences (dragon flute, erhu, shamisen, etc) and visuals to bolster their energetic, shredding take on melodic death metal. And now armed with a new […]

Condemned – Daemonium

It’s been a while since San Diego’s brutal death metal band Condemned, released an album, which was their third album, His Divine Shadow, in 2017.  Such a brutal death metal album.  I saw them on that tour as well and hung out with the mastermind behind the band, guitarist Steve Crow, and vocalist Sam Townsley.  […]

Wrath of Logarius – Necrotic Assimilation EP

Los Angeles Infernal Black Metal Wrath of Logarius (formerly Martyr Logarius) returns with Necrotic Assimilation.   This is an EP at a little over nineteen minutes.  Things get kicked off with a ninety-second intro track called “At the Knighted Throne”.  Kind of eerie swelling synth strings.   Tempo builds and builds and segues into track two. […]

Embrace Your Punishment – Made of Stone

France’s Embrace Your Punishment started as a pretty standard hardcore Hatebreed-ish band with some death metal hues back in 2014s Honor Before Glory, but has got progressively heavier with 2019s Nameless King, especially vocally. And now with album number 3, Made of Stone, are an absolute beast of a band that blends hardcore, brutal death […]

Suicide Circle – Bukkake of Souls

I’ve taken a deep dive into Depressive Suicidal Black Metal (hereafter referred to as DSBM) this year with Happy Days and Shining both reviewed in these hallowed pages and coming extremely recommended by yours truly. I sit here on a gloomy Sunday composing this review and ruminating on the French Black Metal scene; the core […]

Nail Within – Sound of Demise

Jesus Fucking Christ. Has it really been 20 years since Israel’s Nail Within released their self-titled debut? That was three jobs ago, I was a baby; only 27 years old, and my daughter was only 3. She’s now graduated college and had a job for almost 2 years….FUCK! I mean the absolutely killer tracks “Dirty […]

TTFA – Kill. Bury. Repeat.

Hey what does TTFA stand for, you might ask?  Well it stands for Torn The Fuck Apart – a brutal American death metal band hailing from Kansas.  The band used to go by their full name years ago but now use the TTFA acronym…because maybe it’s less offensive to some people. This is the first […]

Plaguemace – Reptilian Warlords

Heavy metal is in dire need of appropriate album covers to get tattooed directly above one’s butt crack. Well, Plaguemace is here to provide that reptile you’ve always wanted above your b-hole. They provide some gnarly ass death metal to put up there, too. You’re going to get your typical new wave of old-school death […]

Convalescence, The –   Harvesters of Flesh and Bone  

Unlike my urologist when I was just a little guy, I really dropped the ball here. Don’t think about that one too hard, please. When it comes to The Convalescence, I heard of them but hadn’t listened. On a random Tuesday or Wednesday, I noticed they were playing at my friend’s venue outside of Pittsburgh […]

Æolian – Echoes of The Future

I’m new to Spanish veterans Æolian, but after hearing Echoes of the Future, they, like the recent KING I covered, are one of those bands where I instantly pre-order the album and then go back and purchase the entire back catalog. Fuck this is good. I mean from start to finish, every note and exquisitely […]

A Hill to Die Upon – The Black Nativity

The last time I did a review of a Christmas album, it was Majestica’s take on Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. A largely successful, fun, power metal album with plenty of Xmas cheer and classic Xmas hymns and elements. The Black Nativity is the complete opposite. And not in a good way. Illinois Christian black metallers […]

Warcrab – The Howling Silence

Anytime I think of Warcrab, I can’t help but be reminded of the meme/photo of the crab holding a knife. I sometimes identify with that crab. Crabs in general. Something about a hard shell and tasty insides. Legs spread and eaten. Hold on now before we all get hot and bothered. This isn’t that kind […]

END – The Sins of Human Frailty

Have you ever come upon a band that sounded so hateful and intense that you began asking yourself why has this band slipped past your radar?  Several years ago my good friend Graham sent me a Bandcamp link to End’s Splinters From An Ever​-​Changing Face album.  Honestly, I cannot remember for the life of me […]

Deathcode Society – Unlightenment

What’s in a name? Well, I have to admit I’m shallow enough I passed up this promo when it first showed up in my inbox as the name Deathcode Society did little to draw my interest. Then, while listening to a symphonic black metal playlist on Spotify, the track “Scolopendra”, played, and my attention was […]

Aphelium Aeternum – Dark Interstellar Mysteries

If you’ve read this site for any amount of time you know I’m a sucker for 90s-styled symphonic black metal. And here is the debut from German newcomers Aphelium Aeternum and their excellent debut Dark Interstellar Mysteries, which delivers a perfect rendering of the genre, imbuing the classic acts like Dimmu Borgir, Obtained Enslavement, Old […]

Sorcerer – Reign of the Reaper

One of the surprises being a metal reviewer (not journalist, mind you), is receiving the new promo for a band of whom I have been a fan for a while now. It’s even better when it’s out of nowhere. In this case I am of course referring to Sorcerer and their new, streamlined album Reign […]

Necrosanct – Reprisal in Death – Anthology

Necrosanct was a short-lived death metal band from England, who had a little smattering of success.  In their brief 5 year period they were writing maniacs and released three full-length albums which I will touch on in this review.  In 2019 the compilation Legacy was released which included some demos/rehearsals.  We get UK’s Back on […]