There’s a couple of reasons I checked out the debut from British newcomers Ageless Summoning. 1) it’s on Dark Descent Records. ’nuff said. 2), the promo material dropped Steve Tucker-era Morbid Angel and Immolation as influences, and certainly when the opening lurch of “Usurper of the Void” and its otherworldy Trey Azagthoth solo cemented that […]
There’s been a slight shift in my tastes for Metal since I turned fifty. I look for different things now and I’ve discovered that certain genres aren’t for me. I tried to like Lorna Shore, it didn’t happen, but I tried, and it made me want to punch babies. So, if I’m going to listen […]
Sweden’s Ironmaster is a supergroup featuring a trio of dudes who are ir have been in such bands as Carnal Forge, Facebreaker, Scar Symmetry Dark Funeral and Incapacity. And while Black Lion Records is usually known for their more melodic or symphonic black metal offerings, Ironmaster delivers a savage assault of blistering no frills blackened/death […]
NYDM brutal death metal veterans Pyrexia return with their seventh full-length album, however, it is a retread as the band felt it necessary to re-record their second full-length album, System of the Animal, which came out 26 years ago. So should this not read System of the Animal (26)? When Pyrexia moved on from brutal […]
Fathomage is a one-man, Australian, self-confessed Orthodox Christian who goes by the name of ‘Akul’. But don’t let the orthodox Christian thing put you off, as his music isn’t preachy ‘white metal’ at all but rather a Summoning (he has dabbled in Tolkien themes for prior album Minas Morgul – The Nazgûl Awaken) inspired take […]
The 2022 self-titled debut EP from Italy’s Dead Chasm, was a solid affair of churning, miasmal Dark Descent-styled death metal that hinted at something pretty damn good for the band’s future, and here we are with the band’s full-length debut. And while it continues from the sound of the EP, it’s not quite the jump […]
Man, I don’t know what it is with some of these small European countries. How are they able to produce such great metal? Take Finland for example, be it doom, death, black metal, or anything in between, and you can bet your sweet ass that there is a Finnish master of it. So I guess […]
Chalk up 2023 to Frank reviewing many long albums and with Ohio’s Blackened Tech Death/Thrash metal band Terranoct we get their self-released debut album Icon of Ruin clocking in at over an hour’s length, intertwined into 11 songs. What drew me to this band was the eye-catching album cover and pretty cool logo. Remember bands, […]
Sometimes I need a break from my symphonic addiction and shake things up a bit and get back to basics. Go back to my roots so to speak…how about some relentless, blasting blackened death metal from South Carolina??? Fuck yes. And Olkoth ( a deity from the Cthtulu mythos) with current and ex-members from various […]
When I was still discovering the musical spaces of the internet back in the early 2000s, MP3 sites were my best friend. I discovered bands that I had never heard of before and experienced a whole new genre: Pagan Black Metal/Pagan Folk and holy shit my brain exploded. It wasn’t long before I was butchering […]
Throw in former members of NYDM bands like Pyrexia (Danny Trapani-guitar) and Internal Bleeding (Jerry Lowe), throw in some pizza, mobster shit, the Statue of Liberty, street corner hotdogs and pretzels and throw in a blender with NYHC up your ass and Punchyourface gets plopped out. Street Terrorists is their second full-length and Jerry and […]
Okay, so I know I’m late. When I received the promo before the release date, I expected I would have this done in short order. Life happens and so does this album. To review this properly, one must spend copious amounts of time, so if you’re not into being patient, then don’t bother with Hive […]
So this spring/summer the always reliable FDA records unleashed a couple of lethal debut albums from female-fronted death metal bands. One, was the debut of Itlay’s Dead Chasm, whose solid EP I covered here, and the other from Turkey’s Abolish, who was of interest to me as they feature Lucy Ferra on vocals, who impressed […]
Yesterday I had my ears shredded. It didn’t really hurt, on the contrary, it felt rather good. The bass drum slap fighting with my eardrums, the blistering guitar work, courtesy of seasoned Death Metal veteran Rogga Johansson (Ribspreader, GhoulHouse, Paganizer) and the crushing vocals of Jens Johansson had my head banging in no time flat. […]
Indonesia Vallendusk is one of my favorite atmospheric black metal bands, so when I heard that Numeron was from also Indonesia, played the same style of black metal, AND have a concept album based on Norse mythology, I had to check it out. And while not quite as good as Vallendusk, they are still really […]
Finland’s long-running grindcore band, Rotten Sound have returned with their eighth full-length album, Apocalypse, and crowbarred in between all those albums are some EPs. Over the years they have taken more time in between full-length albums but always release an EP just to whet our grind appetites before another grind power violence album is unleashed […]
So after splitting up shortly after 2011’s Opus Mortis VIII, with most of the members going on to form Cut Up (essentially Vomitory 2.0) and releasing a couple of solid albums, one of Sweden’s most long-running and purely, staunchly death metal (no groove metal or death ‘n’ roll diversions) bands is back together and it’s […]
I admit to being a fan boy. Ever since I got into Heavy Metal I felt the need to collect the merchandise from the bands I love. I fulfill this love by ordering patches from all corners of the globe, and with turning fifty this year,I could see it as a midlife crisis, as most […]
Skull-fucking the expectations. That could be the title of this review were it to have one. When I reviewed their debut, The Art of Morphology, Dawn of Ouroboros had a bright future. However, it felt like their first album, as is frequently the case, was a band attempting to find its voice. I refer to […]
So at 2023s midpoint a few bands and their respective debuts are arguably vying for the year’s best Swedish death metal release (with Iron Flesh Church of the Dead, Angerot and Wretched Fate certainly in the conversation for non debuts). One, Come, Sweet Death’s, hacking, slashing Dismember homage, Imperishable. And two, the debut from Swtizerland’s […]
I reviewed the debut album, Crypt of Ice, in 2021, from newcomers Frozen Soul. I really enjoyed their previous demo material and the debut album furthered their sound in terms of musical ability and the songs fleshed out more. The comparisons to old-school bands like Obituary and mainly Bolt Thrower were some of the reasons […]
Evil Incarnate, from Illinois, has been around, since the 90’s, therefore it should come as no surprise that their brand of extreme music is rooted in that era of death metal. If you enjoy old-school bands like Vital Remains, Deicide, etc….their early efforts, or if you are just looking for some blasphemous old school death […]
OK, there is a lot to get to here; Pronostic is a Canadian progressive/melodic technical death metal project that hasn’t released anything since 2015s , An Atomic Decision, and before that their 2012 debut Deviated Inner Spectrum. The project is the brainchild of both guitarists/vocalists Alexandre Lauzon and Charles Pilotte, both relative unknowns in the […]
The Teeth of the Divine staff is rarely, if ever wrong. For example, when the new Nightmarer album popped up in promos, before I even had the chance to take it and listen, I was told it’s awesome and even better than the first. If you’re not aware, Cacophony of Terror was its own monster, […]
Far be it from me to understand how or why certain bands make it bigger than others, why artists deserving of much more in the way of accolades and acclaim just never quite rise to certain levels of success. I’m sure the truth is probably that any number of factors come into play, not the […]