One of the greatest pleasures of growing older is the opportunity to get further and further away from the younger idiot you once were. Notice I say “opportunity” – this is by no means a given. The world is (VERY OBVIOUSLY!) filled with an overwhelming amount of assholes with absolutely no interest in taking a […]

Göden is the spiritual successor to Long Island NY’s death/doom band Winter.  Never did I envision this possible and Winter’s 1990 debut and only album Into Darkness is my favorite death/doom album of all time.  I have seen them live prior to their debut and after their debut was released in NY.  So damn heavy […]

The introduction for an album by a band called Rancid Taint Discharge writes itself, but I’m an incredibly serious reviewer. I don’t have time for such childish musings (pushes up glasses). What you’re going to get here is the well-read, researched point of a view of a wise, learned man. So, let’s get right into […]

Sweden’s Mörk Gryning  (‘dark dawn’) were in a bit of a grey area coming up in the late 90s early 00s Scandinavian melodic black metal scene. Never achieving the status of say Dissection or Naglfar or the underground gem status of say Catamenia or  Vinterland years later, but delivering 5 decent albums arguably peaking with […]

First things first. I’m not sure what it is Melbourne, Austrailia’s Mr. Kill is trying to say with their moniker, but whatever it is I don’t think it works. To raise one’s self to the level of bonafide “Mr.” in the entertainment and capitalistic world is quite lofty. You just don’t rise overnight to the […]

I gotta hand it to Cruz del Sur – this label keeps taking me by surprise. Granted, this might be more to do with my apparent inability to just retain what is an obvious, unmistakable truth, but it seems like every time I venture into one of their new releases, I start off chuckling to […]

Gorephilia’s style is most reminiscent, to my ears, of death metal in the mid 00’s.  A time when Death metal sought modernization, and evolution from it’s golden era of 88-94.  The spirit remained but bands strived to enhance, production, speed, and heaviness simultaneously into new dimensions beyond the theoretical planes of heaven or hell into […]

Ok fuckers, get your pitchforks out, it’s female-fronted metal time. It’s been well documented in these pages that my guilty pleasure is peppy, bombastic female-fronted metal. From long time stalwarts Epica to Delain and newcomers like Scardust and Moonlight Haze, I’m a sucker for a catchy chorus and pretty voice. And one of my favorites, […]

I’m a big fan of Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s long running death metal act – Morta Skuld.  All their releases rule and their 1993 debut Dying Remains is still a huge influence on the death metal scene today.  The band, always being more of a mid-paced demolishing type of death metal machine but still never afraid to […]

 The Ocean and I share a lot in common; It’s vast, salty, and sailors consistently die in it (what?). As for the band, the same rings true; They’re progressive, comprised entirely of Germans, and good for a release every couple of years (again, what). Since we share so much in common, it only seems fair […]

2020 continues to throw forearm smashes in my eardrums in the form of awesome Death Metal.  I have been following Incinerate since they started in 1998 which is around the same time that I started my first band Pentagoria.  I had met vocalist Jesse Watson at Milwaukee Metal fest that year and was excited to […]

In the before times, earlier this year, I made it out to two shows. One of those was the Shadow of Intent tour which featured Signs of the Swarm, Brand of Sacrifice, and today’s review subject, Inferi. It was the first date of that tour at a really bad ass venue to which I had […]

I was clued into Scotlands Scordatura a couple of years ago by Paul Shaw, then owner of Blast Head Records who re-released the band’s 2013s debut Torment of the Weak, a solid slab of no frills, American styled, brutal-ish, death metal. I missed the 2017 follow up, Self Created Abyss,  but on album number 3, […]

“Hey, Farva! What’s the name of that restaurant you like with all the goofy shit on the walls and the mozzarella sticks?” “You mean ‘Shenanigans?!’ You guys are talking about ‘Shenanigans,’ right?” “Shenanigans?” “Tomfoolery?” “Fuckery?” All of these could apply in some circumstances to Dethlehem’s latest slab of fantasy, D&D inspired metal, which is called […]

I was a big fan of the 2018 debut ep Our Demise, by Voracious Scourge, in 2018.  Originally planned just to release an ep, Jason McIntyre, pursued the thought of wanting to release a full length and here we are.  Mike Smith, from Suffocation fame, again lays down the drums and Aad Kloosterwaard continuing to […]

You ever find yourself faced with something that’s just unfathomably disgusting? You go reach into the back of the refrigerator and find a container of which it’s origin has been completely forgotten about… Is that Chinese food? When was the last time I even HAD Chinese food?! You know you shouldn’t open that lid. You […]

What if you took the filthy icky ooze and sinewy, punky sneer of Autopsy, gave it a Sunlight Studio Swedish death metal buzz, an obsession with alcohol and puking, and a tongue in cheek sense of sick humor? Well, you’d get Stockholm’s Repuked and their fun little third album , Dawn of Reintoxiation. With some […]

Coming out the starting gates with their seventh full-length album, UK longtime thrashers, Onslaught, know how to do deliver well-crafted and brutal thrash metal music.  I have followed the band since their debut album Power From Hell.  Yes, The Force is my fave album from them and that will never change- sorry, but all their […]

Their new album, Nija, is my introduction to Orbit Culture. Before this, if I had been asked about them, I would have assumed they were a cult-like society dedicated to American astronaut John Glenn. They’re Swedish, so while that’s unlikely, I haven’t personally asked them. Not only am I (probably) incorrect regarding their origin story, […]

In my introduction to Coexistence, I figured I would talk about my introduction to Coexistence. Get it? I first found out about this band when their video for the track “Collateral Dimension,” also the title track of their debut album, randomly played on YouTube. I kind of knew what to expect when I saw the […]

Around three years ago I reviewed this amazing progressive technical death metal band from Amsterdam.  I was absolutely floored by their debut album Esoteric Entity. The band’s second album, Neoconception is a concept album revolving around an asteroid hitting earth. “Downfall” opens things up and the madness begins.  If you are not familiar with Spectrum […]

According to the press release, this is full length number 17 for Smokey McPots (Chris Barnes). Apparently, there are 4 Graveyard Classics albums. Why? Anyway, I have 14 of those albums according to my iTunes library. I hold their debut Haunted in very high esteem, but the first real death metal record I ever heard […]

Hey, listen, far be it from me to criticize or question a band’s creative process. Artists are artists! Some bands can pump out new material every couple of years and avoid having it feel stale or overdone, and good for them! But others like to let things marinate, I mean really stew for years to […]

I’m not sure what made me check out the promo from Glasgow’s Necrocracy (the Exhumed album?). Bland cover, weird band name (I guess the band started out more death metal, which makes the name make a little more sense), unassuming album title, released last year digitally and re-released on CD earlier this summer by a […]

Napalm Death, the greatest grindcore band ever, have just dropped their 16th album, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism.   I have followed ND since Scum in 1987 blew my mind apart. I remember getting the LP and inside had an order form for Napalm Death shirts. I had to have my father get […]