I’m not very familiar with the UKs Infant Annihilator, other than the ridiculous prices their first 2 albums are being sold for, and that some of the members are in down tempo act Black Tongue. But The Battle Of Yaldabaoth is my first time actually hearing them, and if it’s any indication, those prices are […]

Greece’s Murder Made God have been on my radar since their 2013 Brutal Bands Release Irreverence. If you are not familiar with the style of death metal Murder Made God play I would describe as quite percussively rhythmic and groovy.  Murder Made God’s 2019 effort Endless Return is no exception.  Kicking things off with “Alive”, […]

Last year, I reviewed the fourth album, Emptiness Fills the Void, (Non Serviam Records) from this Swiss melodic black metal band, And was rather impressed with band’s tight, modern take on classic Scandinavian (Dissection, Naglfar, Catamenia, Dawn etc) melodic black metal from the 90s. So when I heard Non Serviam Records was reissuing the band’s […]

Lots of long overdue comeback albums this year: Possessed, Sacred Reich, Nocturnus and add Exhorder to that growing list too. Longtime original members from the first 2 classic albums Slaughter in the Vatican from 1990 and The Law in 1992, Kyle Thomas-vocals and Vinnie LaBella-guitar return to the fold to resurrect this once great, but […]

When a promo manages to name drop Insomnium, Turisas, Monnsorrow and Omnium Gatherum it its one sheet press release, you get my attention, if just to see how bloated the claims are. But this Finnish act has somehow managed to cull from all of their fellow Finns and drop a solid third album full of […]

What can I say about Bones and their new, and third full-length album, Diseased, that hasn’t already been said before about a few other bands; namely, the ones that seem to influence Bones and their trade of crusty and sometimes even punky, no frills, basic, bare boned death metal. If Terrorizer/Nausea meets Celtic Frost/Obituary by […]

The Artisan Era is really starting to come into its own as a label, and is starting to hone in on a pretty specific sound. With bands like Inferi, Equipoise, Warforged, The Odious Construct, Arkaik, Aethereus, Oubliette, Flub, Enfold Darkness, Mordant Rapture and The Zenith Passage, the label certainly has some of the better technical […]

Spain’s Wormed, I can’t believe it, have already been around for 20 years.  Holy crap how time flies.  I would assume this little ditty of an ep, in the spherical form of Metaportal is a precursor to Wormed’s fourth full-length album.  I have been a huge fan of the band and have met them on […]

The debut from this musty, old school Swedish death metal act, What Lies Beyond, was a solid record, but none one I’ve really revisited since I purchased it. And the same can be said true of the follow up: a solid old school Swedish death metal record, but one that’s likely to get lost in […]

Coming with the dreaded ‘groove/thrash metal’ tag, and some 80s B grade cover artwork (intentional I’m sure), I didn’t have very high expectations for the debut from this Netherlands act, but the old  adage  ‘never judge a book by its cover’, was pretty appropriate here, as I actually ended up rather enjoying this thrashy little […]

Wow! I know I talk up Everlasting Spew Records quite a bit when I review their artists but I cannot help it. They put out such amazing releases! The trend doesn’t stop with Italian brutal tech death metallers Demiurgon and their 2019 2nd full length album The Oblivious Lure. It has been four years since […]

I’m not going to lie, I’ve been waiting for ICS Vortex to be the full time singer again in Borknagar for a while now. No disrespect to Andreas Hedlund (Vintersorg) and his contributions on the last few albums, or even Garm’s superb early efforts, but I think most would agree the ICS Vortex albums (Quintessence, […]

Finland’s Desecresy return with their 6th album and second as a one man act after Jarno Nurmi, vocals, departed after the Stoic Death album. Tommi Grönqvist continues along playing all instruments and singing and Towards Nebulae continues with the depressive, atmospheric and bulldozer heaviness we have come to expect from this great act. Opening with “The Gate”, this is one of […]

I’m not sure what is more surprising- that this is Pathology’s 10th album since 2006, or that its released on Pavement Music/Entertainment, once a prolific extreme metal label, now home to the likes of Dishwalla, Puddle of Mud, Flaw and Tantric. Either way, album number 10 sticks to the tenets of the last few albums, […]

Virginia’s blackened death metal band, Warthrone, return with their second album, and this follow-up to their debut: Venomassacre, showcases the band pummel the listener again and again and again.  The band further stream lining their line-up with now Erik and his wife Kristel as the members.  Erik plays drums, guitars and now is back to […]

While most are out there blowing their loads over the Tool album, I’ve been sitting here patiently awaiting the arrival of another long awaited progressive metal album, Disillusion’s reunion effort after 13 years!. Yep- it’s been 13 years since the divisive Gloria, which while a solid album, had the herculean task of following up a […]

Texas has quite a nice death metal scene.  With Devourment, Kill Everything,   and many others…but don’t forget about Prophecy.  With Foreseen Scriptures as their 5th album, being newly released I would love to see them do some major touring, because this album destroys from beginning to end.  You want pure brutal American blood-flowing death […]

Do you pine for the grimy years of Blasphemy?  Have you always hoped they would drop one last dirty bomb of skinhead ignorance?  Did you spend month’s booze budget for die hard versions of the last reissues?  If so, then dudes… there are a LOT of options in lo-fi bestial bands who have adopted that […]

Well,  at least I know that Germany’s Unholy Conspiracy Deathwork label knows how to package an album. As with label mate’s Der Rote Milan‘s Moritat, the fourth album from home land act Stellar Master Elite comes in some intriguing packaging, a black embossed  2mm black carton premium digipack, with 3 black foil prints on all sides […]

Arizona Thrash veterans , Sacred Reich, return with their first full length since, Heal, from 1996.  Awakening is their 5th full length and after reforming years ago the band has made it more than a reunion, because unlike a lot of bands reuniting Sacred Reich actually recorded a new album, rather than continuing to rest on their laurels and tour […]

You’ve heard of the Six Degrees of Separation right? Hell, you’ve probably even heard of the quirky, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Well, I guess you could say that it was the Six Degrees of Dave Ingram that led to my introduction of  Cropsy Maniac. You see, it goes like this: I’m a big Benediction […]

I’m unfamiliar with female fronted Minnesotan black metal act False, but seeing as their second effort was released on the usually reliable Gilead Media, who recently dropped the magnificent third Falls of Rauros album, I though Id give this a go. And what I was greeted with was some fantastic 90s styled , Scandinavian semi […]

Virginia’s Witch-Hunt were together for 10 years from 1992-2002 and played a very early form of death metal/thrash, which eventually went towards a black metal sound towards the last few years of their existence.  This anthology collection compiles the majority of their songs throughout their releases, which are: Both 1993 demo’s Born Dead and Fearless,  […]

Most will roll their eyes at blackened deathcore with symphonic elements , but Arizonians Ov Lustra (“Of Glory? Of Shining?”Of Mirrors?) has absolutely knocked it out of the park with this ‘debut’ EP, utilizing some of the most effective orchestration I’ve heard in any metal genre with perfect results. Formerly known as Sun Speaker and […]

New Yorks’ Immortal Suffering return with their second full-length album and a real nice follow-up to their long awaited debut in 2015, the awesome, yet very short Asylum.  Since that record the newest member is Randall Reekstin on drums.  The rest of the band staying intact with Joe Provvisiero and Leo Bakman on guitars, John […]