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 […]
Unlike Necromance’s last batch of 2 releases I reviewed (Bolu2 Death and Absenta) which were completely different, the labels next pair of releases is at least in the same wheelhouse. While both hail from Spain, Blinded For Lies is a classic old school take on US metalcore and Goddamn’s debut, More Human Than Us is a […]
It’s a goddamn shame when you just lose track of a great band. I’ve got a pretty sweet, silver-screened, fancy dancy version of Seattle’s crusty sludgers Into the Storm’s debut LP Amidst a Sea of Chaos that still gets playtime in 2016. In the meantime, it looks like my blind eye missed at least two […]
Here is yet another awesome band from Switzerland, adding to the countries fine 2016 efforts from Beansidhe, Buried Side, Deathcult, Schammasch, Colossus Fall and others (and hopefully Bolzer). This time it’s in the form of progressive tech death metal cut from the same cloth as First Fragment, The Faceless, Decrepit Birth, Gorod and Obscura in […]
Well, I’m going to go ahead and say it. I know we still have a few more months left to this year, but I am going to go out on a limb and say it. Mephistopheles‘ new EP release, In Reverence of Forever, is hands down my favorite metal album released this year, and quite […]
Good fuckin’ lord my ears! That’s praise by the way. This two-way grindcore orgy is some of the foulest, filthiest, fastest and most fucked up stuff I’ve heard in a long time. You get your organs embalmed twice; a pair of incisions by Michigan’s manic lords of grind, Sunlight’s Bane (formerly known as Traitor) and […]
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 […]