The day I stop getting excited about new releases and debuts from bands, I have never heard, is the day I stop writing – I would assume. Once I saw this new band, Consumption advertised as a mix of classic Swedish buzzsaw death metal and Carcass’, best album imo, Symphonies of Sickness, I was like, […]
When I decided to pick up the new album (his second overall) from The Devil’s Trade, I was looking for a bit of a change of pace. You know, the old “listening to nothing but heavy music” into which we metal reviewers sometimes find ourselves. It’s often a good idea to take a step back […]
I don’t think there is any argument when it comes to the upper pantheons of early/mid 90s doom ( the gothic/funeral doom style). The holy British trinity of My Dying Bride, Anathema and Paradise Lost are the clear top acts of the style and era- but what bout that slightly below elite, second tier- ( […]
Due to the stupid pandemic Carcass decided to hold off on releasing their follow-up to their excellent 2013 reunion album – Surgical Steel, until 2021. Smart decision, since pretty much any albums released in 2020 are dead in the water due to no live shows/touring and 2021, at least in Europe, looks to start resuming […]
I’m not sure how many bands are called Undead, but what I do know is that you’ll receive 46 entries if you search for it on Metal Archives. To be fair, only 14 of those are just called Undead. The others just include the phrase in their name. Those are just the ones listed, though. […]
Virginia’s Foretoken is the new technical, symphonic black/melodic death metal bans from Steve Redmond (guitars/orchestration) and Dan Cooley (vocals), who both serve in technical death metal band Cyaegha (whose debut Steps to Descent, I reviewed here way back in 2009). They are aided by drummer Hannes Grossman (Obscura, Necrophagist), as well as a couple of […]
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, […]