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 […]
I like to think I’m fairly familiar with bands playing Swedish styled Stockholm buzzed death metal from all corners of the world. I’ve heard bands from France, Denmark, UK, Greece, Poland, Czech Republic etc, but other than Mexico’s Zombiefication, Central/South America seems a bit lacking in that style. Well here is a new addition, Venezuela’s Nocturnal […]
The reborn Cacophonous records continues to find solid new UK bands amid its quality reissues and deliver solid releases early into its reactivation. Not only did we have the impressive The Infernal Sea, Eastern Front, Old Corpse Road and The King is Blind with Necronautical , like label mates Old Corpse Road, we get something to remind […]
Boy, I’m a shameful idiot for missing out on Italian death metal decapitators Dominhate and their debut full-length Towards the Light. What I’m hearing on the band’s EP follow-up Emissaries of Morning is a band in complete control of the craft with every switch, flinch and twitch that made me a fan of the style […]
I’m not familiar with Ontario’s Falsifier, not being hugely connected to the down tempo/beatdown scene, but seeing these guys compared to Black Tongue and The Acacia Strain piqued my interest and the fact this EP is a free download from Artery Recordings (to celebrate singing with the label) only made it more appealing. And I’m always […]
One way to get my attention is to open an album with a glorious epic, galloping melodic black metal riff, even if only 47 seconds log. And that is how Beansidhe ( Celtic/Gaelic for ‘banshee’) debut full length Mont opens, and from that point I’m hooked as the rest of these Swiss metallers’ take on various forms […]
You’re walking alone on a desert highway. The last of your water ran out around 3 hours ago and the sign you saw 5 minutes ago said “Rest Stop 50 Miles.” You think you get a break when you see a dustcloud of human life, but end up getting rundown by a ruthless gang of […]
Defeated Sanity return to us with an unorthodox dual e.p. release. As they should. With a discography of stellar releases they have an earned reputation for reaching beyond the death metal abyss and fans expect more from them than even the nearest band to their rank. Last we heard from these dastardly villains was 2013’s […]
So here is yet more symphonic, keyboard drenched metal adding to this year’s plethora of quality orchestra and keyboard filled releases, they cover all genres. This time it’s in the form of the third album from Israel’s 7 piece act, Winterhorde, and it resides in a sort of melodic, symphonic black metal, but with expansive, progressive […]
I have been ruminating as to how best to tackle Oniric Delusions. If you want the easy and probably most useful aspects, they are this: This death metal record is fantastic, though not groundbreaking, and deserves attention. My issue lies with the phenomena I have been experiencing lately when it comes to death metal records. […]
Though not normally recognized for its black metal scene outside of Cradle of Filth and maybe Wodensthrone and Winterfylleth, there’s is something foul afoot in the English black metal underground. Cacophonous has exposed gems like Necronautical, Old Corpse Road and The Infernal Sea. And now Halo of Flies has chipped in with the vinyl release of the stunning […]
Kansas natives Unmerciful released their first full length album, the awesomely titled Unmercifully Beaten, way back in 2006. After picking it up and listening to it many times over, I knew this would be a band to keep an eye out for. Well that eye (or both) ended up going to sleep, as these guys […]
Despite featuring Steve Tucker from Morbid Angel (whose return to Morbid Angel is fantastic news), the debut of then, post Morbid Angel project Warfather Orchestrating the Apocalypse was surprisingly bland. It was just OK USDM with a few orchestral flourishes that didn’t have anything really memorable to hangs its hat on other than Tucker’s involvement. […]
As I have said ad nausea, modern metal is almost entirely good. I am old enough to remember when bands would put a metal song – one song – on an otherwise hard rock album, or they would release a killer track and you would buy the album and it would be a shit-ton of […]
Those in the know are aware that Lay Down Rotten were one of Germany’s most consistent but underrated death metal bands, releasing 7 fine albums from 2003 to 2015, when they split up. Well, 4 Lay Down Rotten members have regrouped and formed Demonbreed and continued the former bands chunky take on death metal, but […]
Well this one was well worth the wait as Comatose presents a really good one with Neurogenic, an international technical slam death super group (If there is such a group. These guys are it and there are a ton of guest musicians on this).Featuring Marco Pitruzzella of Six Feet Under/Sleep Terror/Anomalous handling the drum work […]
The last time I heard this long standing but overlooked Swedish melodic death metal act was 2008s The Gallery of Bleeding Art, a promising album that scattered some orchestral/symphonic and choral flourishes around a sold Swedish death metal/melodic death metal backbone. I missed 2013s Neogenesis, so I can’t comment on the bands development between those two […]
If only other bands’ cutting room floors looked like Soilwork’s. When they released The Living Infinite in 2013, I marveled at how many superb songs they had turned out during those writing sessions – enough for an absurdly generous double album that was also my #1 pick for the year. And then some, it turns out, when they […]
For me, Sweden’s Vanhelgd , are a lot like label mates Undergang; a bit of an anomaly to me. They seem to be critical darlings, I enjoy and own all the albums, but never seem smitten with them. When I’m listening to them, I’m truly digging the big Finnish crumble meet old school Swedish must, but never crave […]
Positioned at the forefront of the modern metal scene, Revocation’s endless creative streak and strong work ethic shows no signs of faltering on the band’s sixth LP, Great Is Our Sin. I must admit to a touch of bias bordering on fanboyism, as from my perspective the band has never disappointed across a decade long […]
I recently discovered Texas’s Vex on a Bindrune/Eihwaz Recordings compilation as the track “To Anacreon (Strangling the Muse)” completely enthralled me, and reminded me of Cales, (a killer, folky Root side project from a few years ago). So I picked up the band’s 2013 album Memorious, and immediately loved it and waited with baited breath for the […]