Poland’s Bloodthirst have a bit of history behind them, having been in circulation since 2001 and they have a number of splits, full-length albums and EP’s under their belt, so they are definitely not the new kids on the block. So with that history and back catalogue, they give us a well oiled thrash metal […]
After shifting from a gore/pure slam band into a more rounded, complete death metal band with Autopsychosis, these Russians made my 2013 year end -list in a year full of great, brutal metal. With their new album, Gravenous Hour, the band have elevated themselves once again, with an album that is sure to be considered one […]
Though listed as “brutal death metal” at Metal Archives, Milwaukee’s Casket Robbery are actually nothing of the sort. They are death metal, and while the subject matter of evil through the ages (from Elizabeth Bathory, through Jeffrey Dahmer and beyond) is more ‘brutal’, the music itself is a more refined, tighter and chunky melodic and even […]
With short and sweet songs Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania quartet Eternal Sleep work up a lardy, greasy metallic chunk n’ chug on their debut EP, The Emptiness Of… There’s a stocking stuffed full of various human appendages and entrails to be found here, making the band’s sound a bit harder to pin down on any one particular […]
Let’s just suppose that, in 1994 or so, Helmet wrote some songs. Also they had a time machine. They used it to travel a few years further back and coerce the Melvins to write a couple more songs for them. Then they screamed forward to last year and forced Converge to show them how to […]
Crikey. If you thought the second album, Contradiction, from these Swiss dark metallers was ambitious at 2 CDs and 80 minutes, wait till you get a load of their third album, Triangle. 3 CDs, exactly 100 minutes, each CD clocking in at 33 minutes and change and each covering a different musical style and concept. You have CD I: The […]
After nearly a decade of inactivity, Novembre are back with one of 2016’s most anticipated returns. Ursa marks album number seven for the Italians and it wholeheartedly embraces everything that has made the band such a stylish international gem in the extreme metal universe. If you’ve adored the output from Carmelo Orlando and company over […]
With no less than 6 other bands with the name Deathcult, it doesn’t make for a easy identification or to stand out in the crowded scene and I myself was initially thinking this was the Chicago, US version ( whose release The Test of Time, sparked my interest ) I come to find this is […]
Initially, the costumed Battlelore-ish press photos of this North Carolina sextet and their self created alternate fantasy world where all their songs and two albums take place had me a little bit leery. But these guys, (who used to go under the name Blue Man’s God), actually deliver a kick ass album of epic, fantasy themed symphonic/black death […]
Murder Made God came to my attention with their first album, Irreverence, that was a nice little diamond in the rough that I came across in 2013 and ended up on my top ten list that year. It was a killer brutal slam/tech death album that got many spins in the ‘ol CD player. So […]
After a relatively uninspiring start with 2005s War Metal, Colorado’s Cobalt upped their game and became one of the darlings in the USBM genre with 2007s Eater of Birds and 2009s Gin, as good of a duo of releases that any USBM band had or has released. Both blurred lines of what black metal could and […]
Kicking it since 1999, Spain’s best and most brutal band Wormed, have had their fair share of ups and downs. After several high profile demos, the band released Planisphærium in 2003. To say this album was phenomenal is an understatement. I did not find out about this gem of a band until after this album […]
You add symphonic keyboards to any kind of metal, and for the most part I’ll dig it. Add them to a blistering tech death/black metal sound and me love you long time. Such is the case with South Carolina’s Enthean, a new -ish trio and their impressive self released debut album. With a tech death backbone […]
Lets face it, the times, they are a changing. Nothing gold can stay, right? While this is true of most things here on this floating ball of water and rock we call home, metal is once again a stand out, an anomaly, a mystery of sorts, continually proving that the genre is alive and well, […]
When it comes to death dealin’ doom metal and steroid pumped 70s riffs, never turn your back on the Steel City of Pittsburgh, man. Spawning some of my favorite riff welders of all-time including Dream Death, Penance, Argus, Molasses Barge, Satanic Bat, Iron Crown, Vulture and many, many more past and present; there’s a tight […]
Every time a new Aborted album comes around, I can liken it to another output from Napalm Death, in which the question inevitably gets asked: these dudes have been around forever, can they still bring the pain with the same piss ‘n vinegar of previous outputs? I can say that for Retrogore the answer is […]
Unique Leader looks to be having the same sort of outlandishly good year as it had in 2014 with the likes of Ohmnihilty, Inherit Disease, Ahtme, Omaphagia, and The Zenith Passage so far, and then you have the upcoming monster from Katalepsy still yet to come. But I’m pretty confident in stating that this will […]
The post-apocalyptic din made by the French sado-machinists in Autokrator on their self-titled debut turned quite a few heads last year, including mine. It was one of the most jarring, oppressive recordings ever to assault my eardrums. I feel like my hearing was forever altered along with my standard for metal extremity. With an industrial […]
Here’s a fine example of how symphonic elements added to metal can truly work regardless of genre. Hailing from Seattle, and named after a 17th century Demonic possession event in France, The Devils of Loudon mix over the top symphonics and European melodic death/black metal melodies with modern, shreddy death metal, dare I say even deathcore- […]
Having not been familiar with Sweden’s This Ending I was quite surprised when I listened to there third full length release Garden of Death. This Ending features members of the group A Canorous Quintet and also former drummer of Amon Amarth Fredrik Andersson. I had to go back and listen to their 2009 effort Dead […]
With 2014s excellent The Flesh Prevails, Fallujah really came into their own amid a saturated deathcore/djent core scene, forgoing the tech death forays of the debut, The Harvest Wombs in favor of a more dreamy, elegant and progressive pastures. Well, the critical success of The Flesh Prevails was parlayed into a deal with Nuclear Blast, so […]
I had zero expectations for this release: French melodic death metal from a year ago with odd moniker. But seeing as Finisterian Dead End, who released War Inside‘s solid SUTURE recently, picked this up, I thought I would give it a fair shake, and I’m glad I did, as it delivered an energizing, reinvigorating take on […]
Holy shit! I’m not sure what I was really expecting from Hemotoxin, being I had never heard them before, and I was going into their sophomore album, Biological Enslavement, completely blind (deaf?) to what they were about; but I’ll be damned if Hemotoxin have not only crafted a righteously, kick-ass album in Biological Enslavement, but […]
Los Angeles’ The Zenith Passage debut Solipsist on presents a forty minute clinic of technical death metal. Featuring former and current members of Fallujah, Oblivion, All Shall Perish and The Faceless these guys definitely have a great deal of time in on their instruments and that is demonstrated right away on the opening track “Holographic […]
Oh boy. Here’s one that’s going to get the metal heads’ hackles up and get my credibility absolutely shot. In theory I have no business liking this, it’s a Spanish band calling themselves ‘Flamencore’ and it mixes a ton of styles that I would usually despise; it’s got the bass heavy nu metal chug of […]