Up until 2017s The aptly named The Dismal Circle, I was unfamiliar with Germany’s death-doom veterans Ophis (‘snake’), but that album was a solid effort with some suitably crumbling, hefty death/doom that had strains of classic Morgion engrained in the moping lumbers. And that has continued for album number 5, and is possibly even a […]

Canada’s one-man project Haiduk (a term for Balkan freedom fighters) came out of the gate like barnstormers back 2021 with Spellbook, a pretty blistering black/death/thrash combo that had a lot of energy and influences from Dew-Scented Hypocrisy and even Dissection. However, the follow-up, 2015s Demonicon, with an increasing mechanical/programmed tone (especially the drums), came across […]

“What does music mean to you? I don’t know. But it’s full of emotion It’s not happy. No. It’s not happy”- from “Eternal Unrest”. Crikey. so I thought Christian Consentino was the only solo artist from Australia making epic, classically inspired, symphonic progressive black metal. Well, apparently there is another one who has been around a […]

“Good Things Come to Those Who Wait” – Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie. I’m not sure there is a more apt proverb than the above one when it comes to Dessiderium, (loosely meaning ‘an ardent desire or longing for something lost’), the solo project from Alex Haddad, also the guitarist/vocalist for tech-death metallers Arkaik. Both for […]

I’ve enjoyed Tacoma Washington’s Alda for a few albums now, particularly 2011s :Tahoma: and 2015s Passage, their last effort, on a match made in heaven label, Bindrune Recordings. But after 6 years of silence, and a split from Bindrune, I wasn’t sure where the band was at, considering some of their peers (Panopticon, Falls of […]

After several demos, splits, and one full length album, the incredible Desolate Landscape from 2017, Phrenelith has finally returned to what seems like no fanfare. If we didn’t dig our way through the figurative promo bin, this may have been missed altogether. However, if there’s one task at which I am very accomplished, it’s scraping […]

Reveal! Comes from Uppsala, Sweden and Doppelherz is their fourth album.  The cover, a painted face from the perspective of looking up at it from 45 degrees, is reminiscent of a more abstract nod to King Crimson’s In The Court Of The Crimson King. The music of Reveal! Is not ‘progressive’ in the technical, dual […]

Here s a pleasant little surprise in what’s been a pretty dry run of folk/Viking /pagan metal over the last couple of years, as only Blodiga Skald’s 2020 effort, The Undrunken Curse got me remotely excited for that genre recently. Arise is the second album from newish Swiss act, Nidhoeggr (the dragon that’s eternally chewing […]

Houston’s Malignant Altar‘s Retribution of Jealous Gods demo from 2019 perked my ears up quite a bit. I knew the band was going to be a force to be reckoned with. The 3 songs were heavy, dark n cavernous and really filthy and grimy death metal. Realms of Exquisite Morbidity is their debut album and […]

It warms my heart to see a band I have covered for two self-released albums now (2016s Memento Mori and 2019s Prokopton– which made my 2019 year-end list) have all the hard work pay off and get signed to a ‘big ‘ label, in this case, Napalm Records, and now deservedly rubbing shoulders with the […]

I have to hand it to Pathology, after fifteen years of existence the band comes sneaking in here at the end of 2021 with what may just be their best album yet, their eleventh full-length album(???), The Everlasting Plague. Througout the band’s career their consistency can hardly be rivaled. Every album has arguably been a […]

Listen, there’s no denying the place of Peter Tägtgren and Hypocrisy in the pantheons of metal over the last almost 30 years. I personally hold Penetralia, Osculum Obscenum, and The Fourth Dimension in super high regard with the latter arguably being the peak of their career as they shifted into more melodic death metal realms […]

Holy fuck! Talk about a blast from my past!  Back in my early days at DigitalMetal.com, I loved me some Eastern European death/doom.  Back then, I covered a Slovakian band’s 2000 release, Four Elements Mysterium (still one of my favorites from the era/genre), and excellent, but less gothic doom 2002 follow-up, Tunes of Despondency. They […]

Czechia’s Cutterred Flesh are a new band on my radar, thanks to Transcending Obscurity. This is their fifth full length and the first time I’ve heard them. They’re classified as brutal death metal, and that fits. If you’re on board with Aborted or Benighted, this is certainly going to be right up your alley. There […]

Killing Addiction is a Florida death metal band which started in the late 80’s if you can believe that!  After a bunch of demos/ep’s and their excellent 1993 debut album, Omega Factor, they stuck around a few more years until disbanding and then putting the pieces back together in 2006 and since then have released […]

Back in 2020, I reviewed the debut EP from this D & D, Forgotten Realms named, then-unknown act, Galdrum. I loved it and it ended up on my year-end list, and I ended my review stating I was really looking forward to what the band was going to release next. And apparently, the metal world […]

With my recent obsession and onslaught of technical death metal, symphonic deathcore, and black metal in 2021, I thought it was time to return to an old favorite and see what’s going on in the shambling world of moldy, mid-paced death doom metal. The likes of Worm, Hooded Menace, Malignant ALtar, and Outre Tombe, certainly […]

Huronian is an Italian band playing melodic blackened death metal. They released an ep in 2020 and those three songs make their way onto this debut album As Cold as a Stranger Sunset. 9 songs in 41 minutes.  After a brief intro “Portals to the Unspeakable” blasts through the speakers with a great riff and […]

I have reviewed 2 of the 3 last Obscura albums, including the magnificent 2016 magnum opus, Akroasis. But for some reason, we/I never covered 2018s Diluvium album, despite it being yet another standout in the band’s consistently brilliant releases, thought it saw them take a more melodic turn. So I thought I would return to […]

In a year chalked full of incredible technical death metal Minnesota’s Sunless present their second full length album Ylem.   If you are not familiar with Sunless, they are a three piece that features former members of the group Australis and The Body Beneath.  What make Sunless unique are their arrangements.  I cannot think of too […]

The name Churchburn probably brings to mind the 90s black metal scene, but that’s not what you’re getting here, just to get it out of the way. Dave Suzuki of Vital Remains is the main man here, along with members and former members of other prominent acts such as Grief and Howl. Howlever (see what […]

When I look at bands doing covers I enjoy bands injecting their own style n bastardizing the original like Hooded Menace did to  a Celtic Frost song a few years ago. When bands try n do spot on takes of originals it can be dicey especially if I love the originals. Deceased have been doing […]

It’s been 5 years since Swedish/German act Abscession released their excellent debut album, Grave Offerings, one of the best slabs of HM2 Swedish death metal of the last few years, with one of the best songs in the genre “Gargoyle” of the last few years also. And now partnered with Transcending Obscurity Records (allowing for […]

Rotpit contains members from Germany’s Revel in Flesh as well as Sweden’s Wombbath.  Both bands I love, who have not issued a bad album in their discography.  I’m friend’s with Revel in Flesh’s singer Ralf Hauber and we’re always very supportive of one another.  Ralf has a great set of pipes and when he told […]

A couple of years ago, I discovered Argentine Symphonic death metal band Mortuorial Eclipse, but they have not released anything since 2018s excellent Urushdaur. However, it appears Italy’s new act Obscura Qalmah (Hidden meaning/tradition) is a more than adequate stand-in with their burly, bombastic take on symphonic blackened death metal. Formed from the members of […]