It’s rare I get to have the pleasure of reviewing all the releases from an active band. Cognitive are one such band. I reviewed their ep, The Horrid Swarm and interviewed guitarist Rob Wharton several years ago. The band dropped their self-titled debut 2 years ago and I was pleasantly surprised to hear more technical […]
I have to hand it to Germany’s Finsterforst, purveyors of epic, rangy Bathory/Monnsorrow sounding viking/pagan metal. They have taken quite a gamble here with this EP and while it is hopefully a one off effort, it is certainly going to upset a lot of fans. What we have here is a release of 4 new, […]
The word super group gets thrown around a lot, but in the case of Crator, it’s pretty fitting as Crator features Colin Marston (Gorguts, Withered, Krallice Etc) on bass, Jason Keyser (Skinless, Origin) on vocals and Jon Longstreth (Origin and everyone else) on drums. The only member who I didn’t instantly recognize is guitarist Jeff Liefer, who […]
I can remember cruising through my local record store some 20 years ago as a young teenager and blindly purchasing Testaments Souls of Black solely on the cover art. It was a rewarding purchase to say the least, and so began my admiration for one of heavy metals finest acts. What I now have […]
Amid all the black and death metal I get sent to review, occasionally I get some more off the wall stuff that gets my attention (i.e Duobetic Homunkulus). Here is one such release from France’s Stangala, and its not just off the wall, it’s out of the house and running naked in the yard. I really […]
Eidolon is the third overall release from New Brunswick doom bruisers Zaum and it’s certainly something different. I must sadly declare ignorance of the debut full-length Oracles and the split with Shooting Guns, so I come into this review with negative brain cells in terms of their past work. Opting for the increasingly popular duo […]
Khemmis made a hell of an impression when they dropped their impressive debut LP Absolution in 2015. The album was worthy of hype and praise, boasting a formidable modern doom sound comparable to the mighty Pallbearer and embellished by some sweet stoner and trad metal elements. It certainly put the Colorado lads on the map, […]
After a long hiatus, NYDM act Dehumanized finally took up shop again and in 2012 unleashed Controlled Elite, an exceptional brutal slammin’ death metal album. 4 years later, not content to rest on their laurels Dehumanized packed their crap went to Joe Cincotta’s NY studio and have recorded Beyond the Mind. This is 10 songs […]
More often than not, supergroups are a collective of guys or gals trying to get out side the box and deliver something more outside the realm of their full time endeavors as the folks try and spread their creative wings or whatever. But sometimes, one only need look at the members involved and get a […]
I had the pleasure of interviewing Nervosa when their debut album, Victim of Yourself dropped 2 years ago, on the allabouttherock.uk site and review their album. The ladies were accommodating and I felt that they had released such a strong album, how could they top it a mere 2 years later?? Well, they did! These ladies thrash […]
You’d think a post black metal band featuring Rob Morey of Fallujah and young upcoming drummer Alex Bent who has performed for Arkaik, Brain Drill, Battlecross and Dragonlord would get a little more attention considering Fallujah’s popularity and post black metal is still relatively popular. But here we are and the band’s debut album, self released […]
Stroudsburg, PA doom champions King Dead are another band that recently won me over in the live-setting; clogging my arteries with their twin bass carnage and slicing my gut wide open with a broken feedback bottle as the band gleefully watched my innards spill out on the club floor. The instrumental trio excels on the […]
Unless You live under a rock, and this is the first time you have ever visited this site or another heavy metal/extreme metal webzine, I’m going to assume you have heard of Arizona’s Gatecreeper, Relapse Records latest heavily hyped darlings. Partly because this is the first new band playing old school death metal Relapse has pushed in a while (let’s […]
Nine years is a mere nanosecond compared to the endless expanse of space and time, but that’s how long it has been since Mithras’ last full album, Behind the Shadows Lie Madness. That was my #1 album for 2007, and it still gets frequent play (its album cover also still gets regular desktop background honors), as there […]
Multinational act Akani play a form of groovy hardcore and this, their first full-length album, is one that grows with more listens and fits in nicely within the genre as a whole. Their sound is similar to early Hatebreed, with some heavy lurches and breakdowns to complement the strong vocal style of Jorge Rosado (Merauder). […]
Largely a punk rock band with tones that live up to their moniker, I.E. overdriven with fuzz and swimming in an ocean of beer suds, Arizona power trio Fuzz Evil doesn’t bring anything too complex to the table but they don’t really need to. Sporting a greasy, brain-burnt riff onslaught that will latch onto the […]
Swedish styled death metal is coming from all over the globe now. And adding to Polish bands playing the style like Ulcer and labelmates Kingdom, is the debut album from Eteritus. I have not heard the band’s previous 2014 EP Tales of Death, but Following the Ancient Path is a solid if unspectacular take on the […]
Brazil’s, Marquee Records, is one of the elite labels dealing with reissues. Owner, Armanda Pereira, knows the love and respect needed for a true reissue. With that being said I will say Austria’s Miasma were kind of a one hit wonder releasing an obscure album in 1992 on Lethal Records. For some reason the record stores […]
Lets face it, the term super-group has been thrown around haplessly and needlessly an umpteen amount of times in the genres of metal. Though of any band was actually deserved of this title, it would have to be Charred Walls of the Damned. Its members (drummer, Richard Christy, vocalist, Tim “Ripper” Owens, bassist, Steve DiGiorgio, […]
With Finntroll taking their sweet time between albums, Ensiferum going a little bit off the beaten path and Equilibrium’s latest album, Armageddon being a bit of a let down, I have been searching for new and under the radar bouncy, happy folk metal bands to get me by, as the genre appears to be in […]
Nothing quite beats the feeling of seeing a band live (that you knew nothing about prior to the show) and getting your head completely beaten in with a wet mackerel. That was my experience with DC punk/doom/psychedelic rock trio Caustic Casanova. The band has a pretty extensive discography and they’ve been at it for a […]
Vektor have been around since 2003 and are defined as progressive thrash with sci-fi elements. I never heard them until 2015, but this past year picked up all 3 of their outstanding albums. 2009 Black Future and the 2011 follow-up Outer Iisolation are great starting points. I agree with their musical description and they are […]
Tardive Dyskinesia is an affliction that causes the lower half of the face to droop over time. The Greek djent band – now prog-djent-sludge – captures this with one of the best album covers of the year. Unfortunately, the cover captured my own frustrations with the album as well. Despite the swirls of color and […]
A number of bands are vying to replace Dismember; Notably Interment, Infected Chaos, Smothered, Unwilling Flesh and others. However, here come the Czech Republic’s Brutally Deceased, formerly a much more Grave/Entombed inspired band with album number 3 to arguably jump ahead of everyone and claim the Dismember throne. Whereas the band’s last two fine albums, […]
If you travel in the metal circles, suffice to say you have heard of Baptism. If not, you have most certainly been exposed to Lord Sargofagian in some way. Be it either with his main group Baptism but also his other projects and or associations; Calvarium, Horna, Behexen, Black Death Ritual, needless to say, the […]
