Somewhere between Soilent Green, Poison Idea and Monster Magnet you will find the sound of Columbian Necktie, and maybe that sound will really appeal to you. It has its moments, no doubt; solid riffing, varied – if somewhat traditional – rhythms, and a lot of attitude. And it is a nice palate cleanser after an […]

Opeth’s 12th album is upon us, and as promised, Sorceress is their heaviest in years – certainly since Watershed. It is also their best since then. The pendulum has not swung back to 2008, though. This is still not a metal album, per se – certainly not the progressive death that made them so beloved […]

From the label that brought us Flamenco inspired deathcore in Bolu2Death and some blackened crust in Absenta, comes 2 more releases a little more similar to each other. Both from Spain, we have Goddamn and Blinded For Lies, both residing in the metalcore realm, but both being rather good- if you are into that sort […]

Say what one will about the Melodic Swedish death metal movement of the 1990’s but it hard to not look at the impact of this particular genre going all the back to groups like In Flames, Dark Tranquility and Soilwork.  You had your first wave of bands and then your secondary waves of groups coming […]

It’s been a busy couple of years since Italian death metal act ADE released their widely acclaimed second effort, Spartacus on Canada’s Blast Head Records in 2013. The band has switched to a label a little closer to home with Xtreem Music and undergone a significant line up change, with only two members from Spartacus remaining. […]

  I’ve come to realize that the metal scene needs their equivalent of big name movie blockbusters. The thing moviegoers live for is to be able to see that latest megahit with it’s visual explosions and to get their senses pummeled and eyeballs melted. I think now is the time for the record companies to […]

One of the things I love about this reviewing gig is being completely blindsided by a new young act. Sure, you get to hear new Nile albums early and the occasional guest passes, but when a bright eyed young band has poured all their money and energy into a self released CD, send it to you […]

This has been a busy year for Unique leader Records with releases like First Fragment, The Zenith Passage, Inanimate Existence, Lord of War, Deceptionist, Destroying the Devoid and Carnophage. With as chaotic as their summer release schedule it would be quite easy to have missed out on this one. Woah! This one of definitely a rager! Formerly […]

Coscradh is a black/death metal band from Ireland, fittingly signed to Irish label Invictus Productions.  Ireland has always seemed to be a perpetually overlooked, but feisty, country for metal.  This is strange considering it’s rather unique and concentrated history even in relation to the wealth of cultural legacies throughout Europe.  Ireland, due to it’s end-of-the-known-map […]

The hot, humid sweltering jungles of Brazil have spawned another bullet spiked, leather clad beast and granted this beast has been lurking in the jungles since 2001, they have been creating and dispersing their own brand of pestilence with various full lengths, compilations and e.p’s since that point. Now with 2016 upon us we have […]

Germany’s Equilibrium has resided atop the viking/folk metal hill for a while now, with 2005s Turis Fratyr and  2008s Sagas remaining two of the very top albums in the genre. And while Rekreatur was a transitional solid release after a line up shift, the band stormed back with Erdentempel in 2014. So now here with album […]

Man, there is just no replacing the classic sludge bands.  Bands like Grief, Negative Reaction, Cavity, Eyehategod, Buzzov*en, Crowbar, Acid Bath, Cable, Green Machine, Noothgrush Kilara, Iron Monkey, Sour Vein, etc. still resonate with me just like they did in the 90s when I first got into all of them; each one had a unique, […]

Nucleus is an interesting band. Therefore you could easily wager that Sentient, the debut album from this Chicago quartet, is guaranteed to be an interesting listen, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Though what I deem to be the most interesting thing about Nucleus, is the fact that they play old school death metal, but they […]

Crack open a bottle of Mead, wash it down with a few shots of Absinthe (the kind with wormwood, not that wimpy shit), slash both of your wrists and slowly bleed out while the debut full-length Fiber from dreary Georgian dirge merchants Dead Register takes you off to the land of no light.  The band’s […]

Tucked in between all the high profile technical and brutal death metal that labels like Comatose and Unique Leader has churned out in 2016 is this solid little debut record from France’s new act Red Dawn,  and no it’s not a concept band based on the movie. What it is though is well crafted and well […]

Mr. Matt Calvert’s overall goal must be be to have his Dark Descent label put every  underground label out of business.  Blood Incantation are yet another special band, that he found a few years ago.  2015 saw the band put out a pretty killer 4 song ep, Interdimensional Extinction.  I am new to the Blood […]

I was pretty disappointing with the latest Hatebreed record, and thusly it left a void in my metal psyche that was craving some pure beatdown hardcore. So when this showed up in my promo emails, citing Hatebreed and as a bonus, The Acacia Strain, I thought I’d give it a listen. And beat down hard core […]

Tee Pee Records always puts on a helluva duchess and the proverbial mind spread.  Hell, I still listen to Titan’s A Raining Sun of Light and Love for You and You and You on an almost weekly basis.  Why Relapse never seemed to give Titan’s stellar follow-up Sweet Dreams any big sort of push is […]

Plutonium is the brain child of one J. Carlsson who does everything in this Swedish industrialized black metal project. It’s been a while since I’ve heard a good example of the style (Havoc Unit  maybe?) , and while Plutonium checks all the boxes, it’s not a release I’m enamored with. The check boxes that Carlsson fills […]

Ahh, the death metal explosion of the late ’80’s and early ’90’s…if you were there to experience any of it, then you know it was a magical time for metal music. A time when a new guard was coming up and pushing the old guard aside, whether the old liked/wanted it or not. It was […]

Musician, artist and writer Alex CF has provided some of my favorite, emotional moments in music over the last few years. From Fall of Efrafa‘s Warren of Snares trilogy, to the incomplete Light Bearer saga, to the more recent Anopheli and Archivist releases, his deep concepts and various takes on crust/d-beat and post rock have been, […]

  Unique Leader has been one of my favorite labels for a long time, and any of their outputs are one that I know I must listen to regardless of the band, as most everything they put out generally ranges from good to great.  Italian tech-death outfit Deceptionist have their debut album on such a […]

Much like my reviews, most pre release press and PR one sheets or emails are pure, hyped up drivel about the best album ever released that will change metal for ever. However, sometime the press sheet has a simple to the point RIYL section that I usually got right too. In the case of Virginia’s […]

Switzerland quartet Buried Souls self-proclaim their love for New Orleans sludgecore on this Self-Titled debut and I’m not going to argue with them.  They might just shoot me up with black tar and then drag my lifeless corpse to drown face first in the swamps of Switzerland.  I am hearing shades of Eyehategod, Soilent Green, […]

For metal heads, there are few things in life an satisfying as pure, simple death metal. No orchestration, no tech overload no deep meanings or ritualistic interludes. Just pure death metal. And Dave Rotten of Avulsed and owner of Xtreem Music knows a little about it himself, as he and his band has been delivering the […]