I was a bit surprised to find that Spain’s Mistweaver were releasing a new album this year, mainly due to the fact that the band called it quits back in 2017. Unfortunately for us, Swansong, the band’s sixth and ultimately final album is exactly that, a swansong for the group, that founder/guitarist/vocalist Raúl Weaver saw […]

For the newcomers out there Agent Steel are a speed metal band, from California and have gone on hiatuses several times in their close to 40 year existence.  Their 1985 debut Skeptics Apocalypse is still my favorite release by the band and their follow-up Unstoppable Force was also a personal favorite and still their best-selling […]

Listen, I’ll be quite upfront- Heralds of Strife is my most anticipated album of the year. Both the previous albums from this criminally underrated Indonesian black metal act, (2015s Homeward Path and 2018s Fortress of Primal Grace) were my top albums of the year respectively. So this review not going to be very objective, as […]

With Bodom After Midnight, I’ll be honest in saying it’s not easy tackling the topic of one of my favorite musicians passing away… and so young at that. I will admit I had been concerned for Alexi for quite some time as a fan before this occurred. Watching behind the scenes footage of drunken shenanigans […]

The consistency of Everlasting Spew Records knows no bounds!  Imagine if you will putting Broken Hope, Monstrosity and Sinister in a blender.  Here is the thing though, you cannot add any lyrics.  Because they do not have any.  Now, this is a bit of a bold move here, but I think that these songs are […]

There are experts in Greek black metal.  I am not one of them.  But seeing In the Days of Whore pop up in promos I thought Zaratus could be a legitimate gateway into this corner of black metal, for myself and perhaps readers.  Zaratus is a great shortcut to entry because its two members are […]

As I made clear in my review of 2018s Nyárutó, Hungary’s Dalriada is one of my new favorite discoveries of the last few years. Their infectious brand of bouncy but still crunchy, ethnic folk metal is just fun as heck even after 10 albums. And album number 11 is no different. Continuing the seasonal/month named […]

Dyskinesia is a brand new brutal death metal band featuring the majority of Sanguisugabogg.  Cedrik Davis guitars/bass, Cody Davidson guitars/bass/drums and Devin Swank on vocals.  This 3 song little ditty of an ep has been picked up by New Standard Elite and the band has aspirations to record a full-length too.  And even though Sanguisugabogg […]

For whatever reason, I passed over this Dutch avant garde death/doom act in the mid 90s, when they released most of their discography (mainly the respected of 1994s Immense Intense Suspense and 1997s more commercial, quirky  Skycontact). Maybe I had my fill with Pan-Thy-Monium’s output or Celestial Season’s stringed effort or even Visceral Evisceration’s single album, […]

When it comes to metal Indonesia is known for putting out brutal death metal bands and I can split the genres up fairly easily.  On one hand, many of the bands are either the brutal slam variety, such as Internal Bleeding/Devourment or just straight up brutal and fast death metal which are similar to Gorgasm […]

The tragic death of Entombed/Entombed AD/Firespawn/Comecon vocalist LG Petrov (RIP), has me digging into any recent, HM2, Sunlight Sounding death metal I can find in the teethofthedivine promo inbox. And 3, in particular, have caught my ear early in 2021; Endseeker’s Mount Carcass, the LP reissue of Iron Flesh‘s second album, Summoning the Putrid (I […]

“Well, I don’t know how many years on this Earth I got left. I’m gonna get real weird with it.” -Frank Reynolds… and probably Vreid. On full length number 9, Vreid are back to do two things; prove sweaters are metal and get weird. After all, being cold isn’t very metal. It’s difficult to be […]

Throne is a relatively new blackened death metal band (2017) from the depths of Michigan with members from other local acts like Winterus, Mourning Wolf and Inevitable Frost. But Throne is clearly the new prime focus of the members, and deservedly so, as it’s a blistering debut album of searing, militant and commanding black/death metal. […]

From Minnesota comes Obsolete, a technical death thrash project of Lucas Scott (Sunless, Ex-Australis) and Patrick Ruhland (Ex Australis, Grand Demise of Civilization, Ambassador Gun). Opening with “Still” Scott and Ruhland paint a unique atmosphere with the combination of frenzied riffs reminiscent to Anata or Psycroptic.  The material is quite tight and punchy, and I […]

Do You like slam? Do you like Russian slam? Do you like bands like Disfigurement of Flesh and Morphogenetic Malformation? Do you like the killer artwork of Aghy Purakusuma (Gorgatron, Stillbirth), Do you like song titles like “Revival of Ungodly Deformity” or “Evisceration Through the Throat”?  Do you like other Gore House releases by Engutturalment Cephaloslamectomy  and […]

Holy poop on a stick – did you know Chicago’s Trouble have been around since the end of the 1970’s??   – Holy smokes I had no idea.  What we have here is the review/summation of the reissues Psalm 9/The Skull/Trouble/Manic Frustration Hammerheart has put out.  In order, this is the first, second, fourth and fifth […]

This is neat. Stone Healer are about to unleash quite the progressive metal record on the world and I don’t know if I was quite ready for it. Listing as influences such bands as Alice in Chains and Ulcerate, this could have turned out to be a masterpiece or a complete mess. Conquistador is the […]

Well, here is something fun in 2021 I was not expecting.   Hailing from Stavanger Norway Deception play a hybrid stay of technical, melodic death thrash.   As crazy as this sounds.  Picture Yyrkoon mixed Darkane.   Originally called The Art of Deception, The Mire is Deception’s third full length.   Clocking in at over 47 minutes these guys […]

Like many, I’ve been waiting on a new Vildhjarta album for almost a decade now as the band has yet to release anything other than a few teasers and track or an EP since 2011’s, Masstaden. But little did I know there has been a perfectly good (and more productive) stand-in band lurking in the […]

Can you believe Violence Unimagined is the 15th album from Cannibal Corpse?  Talk about an achievement in death metal.  Seriously is they wanted to break-up now who could blame them?  They have accomplished more than enough and have given back to the death metal scene an enormous amount.  Of corpse I do not want that […]

Generally speaking, when Black Metal introduced classically inspired symphonics (Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle fo Filth,  etc) to its frosty or satanic visages in the early 90ss, it was broad, epic, Wagnerian, tempestuous brush strokes that matched the more often than not, darker atmospheres with regal bombast. Some exceptions came about as symphonic black metal branched […]

“Oh, that’s nasty…” I could probably end this review right here with that stellar Cleveland Brown quote and you’d basically know what you have. However, finishing early is just not in my vocabulary (ladies…). Crypts of Despair have already released one album, but this is the first on Transcending Obscurity for this crew from the […]

When Alex, the owner of Dolorem Records, directly contacted me about reviewing one of his bands Creeping Fear.  I said yes, especially since I had never heard of the band.  Creeping Fear is a French death metal band who play an earlier form of Morbid Angel, Immolation and mixed with Hate Eternal – or that’s […]

You have to hand it to Memoriam, the Bolt Thrower drummer Martin Hearns tribute band featuring original Bolt Thrower vocalist Karl Willets  and long time Benediction member Frank Healy; 4 albums in 4 years, same cover artist (Dan Seagrave) and almost the same line up for the whole time (only former BT Drummer Andy Whale […]

Unique Leader has been heavy on the deathcore/downtempo so far in early 2021 with 2 conceptual EPs from Distant (both a bit underwhelming), Australia’s to To The Grave and their debut, Humanity’s Last Breath,  and this the second release from the UKs Bound In Fear, and boy it is  a doozy. Distant might have been […]