Well this was a pleasant surprise.  To be quite honest I had never heard of this group prior to delving into massive quantities of new 2017 releases.  Sweden’s Below have been around since 2012 and Upon a Pale Horse is their second full length release.  Opening up with “The Plague Within”. The beginning of this […]

After a pretty long dryspell for deathcore, I get 2 releases from Swiss label Tenacity Music- first, the impressive  Swiss bruisers Conjonctive and their female fronted down tuned assault of In the Mouth of the Devil, and this, the second full length album from France’s oddly named Hybrid Sheep, a band I have never heard of […]

If you’re a fan of the brutal death scene, you’ve likely heard of Aborted Fetus.  These Russians have been honing their craft since 2000, and have always seemed to hover just on the outer edge of the genre trying to really break out as one of the better known of the bunch.  Brutal death has […]

Admittedly, with the album name, the more Fallujah ish cover, yet more turnover (veterans Guy Marchais and Kevin Talley have left replaced by young guns Charlie Errigo and Eric Morotti respectively) and the first single “Your Last Breaths” not impressing me very much, I had pretty low expectations for this album. But for album number 8, mainstays Frank […]

Since Aversion’s Crown‘s Xenocide back in January no ‘real’ deathcore has really grabbed me. I know the genre is on the downswing and cross contaminating with other styles, but sometimes I crave a simple, downtuned beatdown, and Switzerland’s sextet Conjonctive is just what the doctor ordered. Conjonctive are a six piece because they have two vocalists, […]

Though labeled simply as “doom/stoner” metal, Texan duo Cursus deliver an album that plays out more akin to an expansive, ever-changing soundtrack as opposed to a collection of headbanging riff-y groove assaults.  Those looking for instant gratification might not make it past the first track but those hunting for an explorative exercise in atmosphere (that […]

So it appears that some HM Boss pedals have finally found their way all the way down under. They have surfaced all over Europe (Greece, France, Czech Republic, Poland etc) and the USA (Fatalist, Sentient Horror, etc), but now Australia can get in on the mid range action. However, Perth’s Earth Rot are not a […]

California’s Rude, put out a pretty killer debut 3 years ago, Soul Recall.  The follow-up, again on F.D.A. Records, Remnants… continues along the same path.  Rude play a death metal style rooted in early 90’s death metal, rooted in the Floridian Morrisound Recording style.  So think of the sounds of Brutality, Pestilence, Death, Disincarnate and […]

As I continue dip my plated sabatons into power metal, a genre I have ignored for many years, amid the older, expected suspects I am enjoying like Blind Guardian, Thy Majestie, Orden Ogan, Freedom Call, Rhapsody and Sabaton, some relative new comers have caught my ear such as Twilight Force, Pathfinder, Grimgotts, Lör, Brothers of Metal and my […]

I am new to the Power Trip camp, thanks to my brother-n-law Jason “I Ran the Hucklebuck, before you were able to walk around the Brambles”.   Hailing from Texas, this crossover-thrash band released a pretty ass-kicking debut album, Manifest Decimation in 2013, which they now have bested with Nightmare Logic.  If you were a […]

California’s Morfin are back after a 3 year wait with their second album of pure, old school Death worship and the old school -o-meter has been been turned back even more for an even more musty, raw and primal take on Leprosy era Death. Not much as changed from the debut, Inoculation. Jesus Romero still […]

After a 13 year wait between albums, Italy’s Antropofagus  dropped their sophomore effort Architecture of Lust in 2012, and it ended up being one of 2012s better death metal records. and while the 5 year wait is a little easier to swallow, the result is the same. Sheer death metal destruction. As I mentioned in my […]

Well this is a bit of an under the radar tech/death surprise.   Germany’s Profanity have certainly been around for a while with The Art of Sickness being their 3rd full length release and have been around since 1994. The Art of Sickness kicks off with “The Great Obstacle” which will leave you dizzy from all […]

I’d like to buy a vowel please, Pat. Looks like Finnish moody, melodic death metal bands have given up on vowels this year. First Wolfheart’s Tyhjyys and now Noumena’s Myrrys. And the other commonality between the two, is that both are excellent albums. Noumena have been lurking around since the late 90s, but with only 4 […]

More often than not, I can formulate and knock out a review of an album fairly quickly- 4 to 5 listens on the average. However, the second effort from the Netherlands’ Dodecahdron has me flummoxed, but in a good way. A twisty, suffocating, avante garde black/death metal record that’s hard to get a grip on, […]

Well this is definitely something I have been missing for a while. Awesome! Veteran Swedish melodic blackened death metallers Sarcasm have returned with their 2nd full length album Within the Sphere of Ethereal Minds.  It is interesting that these guys started off way back in ’92 and continued to gradually continue releasing smaller released pieces […]

I’m not sure why i have not heard of New Jersey’s Kalopsia up until now. They have been around since 1999, have a handful of releases, including two full length albums and feature current and ex members of the likes of Abacinate, Deteriorot, Dehumanized and recent Dark Descent act, Ruinous. So here is the band’s third […]

Man, it never ceases to amaze me how much Italian Death Metal Bands love the Floridian style of death metal.  Not that is by any means a bad thing by any means and it most certainly has been a busy year for Italian Death Metal with Hour of Penance releasing Cast a First Stone on […]

Scotland’s (I guess now Tennessee’s?) favorite Pirate sons are back with album number 5. And I have to admit after 2014s Sunset on the Golden Age, I thought Chris Bowes might be winding the project down, but boy was I wrong. No Grave But the Sea sees Bowes and co (inc new guitarist Máté Bodor) deliver […]

Lets be honest. There is simply too much metal out there nowadays for a fan to stay on top of it all. Thirty years ago? No problem. Twenty years ago? Difficult, but still do-able. Today? Fuhgeddaboudit… Even the most devout of metal collectors (which most us are) will find it nigh impossible to stay afloat […]

It’s been 5 years since Sweden’s Evocation released Illusions of Grandeur in 2012, and frankly I thought the band was done. After transitioning from a  pure, mid range, Swedish death metal band akin to their Cemetery/90s roots, to a more melodeath/Amon Amarth-ish styled band the band has returned with only 3 remaining members from Illusions of Grandeur, […]

Germany’s Wound released a pretty kick ass debut album in 2013, Inhale the Void.  I was and still am a huge fan of the album.  Massive production with excellent chunky guitars and a sound borrowing a little from the Swedish scene and a few nods to Autopsy and At the Gates.  A really killer death […]

Last year I reviewed Neurogenic’s Ouroboric Stagnation which was a bit of an international death metal supergroup featuring Lord Marco Pitruzella of Six Feet Under on drums.   Fast forward, present date, April 2017 and Comatose has birthed a new offering from Vancouver Canada in the form of Abuse, also featuring Lord Marco Pitruzella on drums. […]

Has it really been 15 years since Colorado’s Excommunion released Superion? I reviewed the album for digitalmetal, and the review has been lost on the mists of time, but I recall really liking it. The two members (Christbutcher- bass/vocals and less creatively named Kyle Spanswick- guitars/vocals) have since blown up in Nightbringer, releasing 5 fine […]

Poland’s Azarath return with their sixth studio album, In Extremis.  Founded by Behemoth’s drummer Inferno, Azarath play a style of blackened death metal a kin to Krisiun, Behemoth, and maybe Diabolic to throw an American band in there. In Extremis opens up with “The Truimph of Ascending Majesty” which opens up with cackling whammy bar […]