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 […]

Holy Smokes! I was fortunate to review Cult of Lilith’s debut EP Arkanum back in around 2015. Back then Cult of Lilith was still trying to find their sound and were a bit more tech-death oriented. Fast forward to 2020 and we have their first debut full-length album Mara. Hailing from Rejavik Iceland there are […]

Ancst, which is German for “angst (you probably knew that, smarty pants),” describe themselves as “blackened death metal,” “metallic hardcore fusion,” as well as “blackened hardcore.” Honestly, all of these descriptions absolutely nail it. I have a little experience with these dudes (well, dude now), listening to and enjoy one of their previous albums Ghosts […]

So here’s the thing – I’m going to come right out here and say that, in general, Black Metal isn’t really my favorite form of metal, let alone my strong suit. I know! I know. There’s a chance that a certain faction of our audience have already disregarded anything else I have to say on […]

This is a nice little ditty of a release with Matt Harvey leading the way in both bands.  For the Exhumed side it’s 3 songs and 2 for the Gruesome side – “The Gruesome Twosome”…I couldn’t resist.  5 songs in about 20 minutes and I have gone through this split multiple times and it’s a […]

For some reason, we didn’t review the last album from the British stalwarts, Anaal Nathrakh, A New Kind of Horror, despite reviewing the band’s album pretty consistently from blistering the debut, The Codex Necro, through personal favorite Eschaton, more direct Vanitas, to 2017s The Whole of the Law. But let’s be honest, does it really […]

I’m pretty sure everyone goes through some degree of a dinosaur phase during their childhood, right? I know I sure as shit went through a pretty big one. Look around long enough in my parents’ house and you’ll probably still stumble across some plastic dinosaur figurines, dinosaur bed sheets, probably a few books. Then at […]

Andrew D’Cagna is in many bands (Nechochwen, Brimstone Coven, Icarus Witch, Unwilling Flesh etc) out of Ohio and seems to be some sort of musical maestro genius.  With Ironflame he plays all the instruments and also sings.  He does have an actual live line-up, but in terms of putting out the three Ironflame albums, Lightning Strikes the Crown in 2017, Tales of Splendor […]

Lansing Michigan’s Recorruptor return with their 2nd full length release The Funeral Corridor.  I must admit I had not been familiar with these guys but saw in the liner that Josh Moore of Summon is their drummer.  I was a big fan of Summon’s 2005 Fallen album and wanted to see what these guys were […]

It’s 1995 and every Friday night three close teenage friends gather in a typical suburban basement.  Each bring a homespun costume representing their character.  Old drapes for a cape, modified used cowboy boots, metal pans from Goodwill re-worked into armor, and sharp, real weapons bought from the big flee market last summer.  The two 30 […]

Jesus, Unique Leader is having/had a fucking ridiculous summer of releases. From the reliable,  slammy duo of Ingested and Katalepsy to the vastly improved duo of Athme and Exocrine to the monstrous Stillbirth, the label killed it (not even counting the upcoming Humanity’s Last Breath remaster and reissue of Detestor EP and self titled album […]

To say I am a fan of Black Crown Initiate would probably be an understatement. They were originally scheduled to play a small craft beer festival I attended but had to back out. They were replaced by the mighty Byzantine, so no big deal. Regardless, I am a big fan of their previous full lengths […]