Wehrmacht hailed from Oregon and had a nice underground run in the 80’s.  Other than some demos, their body of work is with their two albums:  The 1987 debut Shark Attack and 1989 follow-up Biērmächt both released on New Renaissance Records.  Wehrmacht played a blistering style of crossover thrash metal, which at the time was […]

“Come up front! You’re going to do it later anyway! Just do it now!” This was the beckon of Wolf King’s frontman Tim Wilson when I saw his band open for Conjurer, Entheos, and Rivers of Nihil. I did not answer this call. Well, at least not favorably. See, I’m about 5’6”, was sitting at […]

Talk about a match made in heaven…….Switzerland’s  Stortregn, a formerly pure 90s melodic black metal band turned more technical, surgical, shredding death metal with some of their black metal remnants left behind, on The Artisan Era, arguably the flagship label for this style with bands like Inferi, Demon King, Enfold Darkness and such. I’ve reviewed […]

The physical reissue of this 2017 digital only release from this Norwegian symphonic black metal band caught my eye as it features Clemens Wijers of Carach Angren doing the symphonic/orchestral arrangements. And boy is this fucking good! Its definitely got a bit of a theatrical/dramatic Carach Angren vibe, with Wiljers rendering some superbly rousing strings […]

So far in 2021, there’s been some excellent symphonic metal from power metal band Dragony, stalwarts Epica, the orchestral bombast of Abstrakt, the majestic Utbyrd, the epic  tales of Aussies Stormtide, the reformed Phlebotomized,  the avant garde chaos of Exanamis and aa few others as well. One such band is Belgium’s InHuman, who were formed […]

I am new to the Thronehammer camp of doom metal and their 2019 debut Usurper of the Oaken Throne was quite a display of monolithic heaviness and plodding doom-laden dirge.  The band gets into doom/death moments with some low vocals and man, Thronehammer are heavy, with a capital H. The band is an international act […]

[A meeting at the Extreme Metal Research & Development Labs, Level 5, The Moon] “Krallice goes Disgorge (US)”…………. “That’s it?” “That’s the pitch.” “Isn’t that just Gorguts?  They share a member” “…No…  Gentlemen, women, and non-human friends present, if you’ll fit your VR headsets on, I’ll explain this incredible breakthrough in today’s presentation. Gorguts recent […]

Abiotic have had an odd trajectory. They released an honestly bland debut in 2012, then a good follow up in 2015. While a little half-baked, it seemed like a step in the right direction, and made me think the only way to go for them was up. Then, silence. Enter 2021 and their new album, […]

I have not heard a lot from Innerstrength Records in the last few years, but back in the heyday of deathcore/ metalcore I dug some of their releases from the likes of The Storm, Shallow Water Grave,  I Killed Everyone and such, but have not heard anything from them in a while. S0 when I […]

The Netherlands have quite a varying style of death metal genres and brutal slam death metal act Korpse were kind of a free-agent last year after releasing 2 prior albums.  Their 2013 self-titled debut and the sophomore Unethical in 2016.  Korpse had amassed, in their relatively short existence, quite a decent following and many of […]

Sometimes I like my black metal delivered in epic, rangy long albums like say Kjeld’s latest offering, Harakiri For the Sky’s vast double album or Utbyrd’s majestic foray. But sometimes I like my black metal in short sharp, icy bursts, like the debut EP, from New Finnish black metal duo Sarvekas, which is a perfect […]

Here’s some tech death from the best heavy metal label in existence, Transcending Obscurity. If you don’t believe my words, you can always check my year end list where I mentioned this. Once again, though, that’s in my words, so if you don’t believe it here, you won’t there. Anyway… Here’s some new tech death […]

So first up, here is your early contender for the year’s most unreadable logo, right? I’m new to California’s Aylwin, though they have a pretty good amount of demos, Eps and splits under their belt since 2012, But the promotional email had buzz words like Alda, Ameseours, Wolves In The Throne Room, and ‘nature-centric atmospheric […]

Okay lets face it, 2020 was…emotional…If I had to pick one word other than “fucked” to describe last year, I ‘d probably have to go with “warped”. For the few good things and the plethora of bad, I can without hesitation claim that the majority of 2020 was indeed a warped fucking year. And that’s […]

Hailing from Texas Frozen Soul came pretty much out of nowhere and got signed to Century Media Records and their new label got their name out with some fabulous promotion and album videos.  The band was previously singed on the awesome Maggot Stomp Records and I really enjoyed their 2019 ep – Encased in Ice.  […]

Hang tight, there is something wrong with the earth’s gravitational pull.  Holy schnikes is this heavy!  Buried’s Oculus Rot has been in my daily rotation for the last few weeks and I am excited to go over how awesome this album is.  First, Buried features Joel Sta and Robbe V (Ex Pyaemia).   I was excited […]

Hulder? I don’t even know her… Now that I have that joke out of the way and you’re recovering from squirting vodka through your nose (burns, doesn’t it), let’s talk about BM. USBM, to be specific. I purchased and somewhat recently finished reading Decibel’s USBM book. To my dismay, the book itself was not about […]

I loved and reviewed Yoth Iria’s 2020 debut ep Under His Sway and it was my favorite ep for 2020.   These ex-members of Rotting Christ and current members from Necromantia and Lucifer’s Child are writing machines as they have now unleashed their first full length As the Flame Withers and this is my first review of […]

I’m embarrassed to say I’m new to this Austrian atmospheric/post-black metal duo and their 4 prior albums, despite some familiarity with their previous band, Viking/Pagan themed black metal act, Bifrost. It appears to be a criminal oversight on my part, as I delved into the band’s back catalog to prepare for this review and the duo […]

The craziness of 2020 just kept rolling in. Did it not? Hell, everytime I thought I was about to get somewhat caught up in my “real” job and life, another curve ball of some shape or form got thrown my direction, ultimately taking time away from one thing to give to another. Nine times out […]

“What’s up with that fart box guitar tone?” This is the response I received from one of my best friends when I sent him the promo video for the Bloody Hammers song “What’s Haunting You.” He is a producer, engineer, musician, sometimes front of house for a large metal band, and an overall audiophile. His […]

I have been a big fan of Brazil’s death/thrash all female band Nervosa since their 2014 Victim of Yourself debut album.  I reviewed that album and interviewed the guitarist Prika Amaral and then vocalist/bassist Fernanda Lira.  Both were super cool and totally into the old school death and thrash metal bands and really loved paying […]

Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way immediately. The man behind Crawl Below goes by the surname of Charlie Sad Eyes. Now, if you’re finished being pretentious and judging a book by its cover, go ahead and push up those black framed glasses. There’s work to do. By work, I mean reviewing, […]

Jeeeezus!  San Francisco California’s Ominous Ruin debut album is here and it’s a hell of a first effort. If it is conceivable to think of a heavier Spawn of Possession or Archspire these guys might very well be in that mix. “Ritual” kicks off this forty-six-minute clinic in riff fury and intensity. Guitarist Alex Bacey […]

Well, Well! 2021 is getting started with some pretty fun metal releases right off the bat.   Founded by former members of Enfold Darkness the Final Tyranny wastes zero time in getting the listener’s attention with opening track Tyrannical Reign of the Deceiver.” The opening drum fill leads to a very aggressive beginning of a very […]