Intelligence without pretentiousness, focus, and sledgehammer sincerity. Those three qualities defined Saint Vitus when they first adopted the name in 1980 and still does through three different singers, over ten releases, and a thirty years plus long journey along the margins of mainstream music. Their influence, however, is far from marginal and extensively documented. Their […]

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 […]

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 […]

Following up a classic is always difficult. Especially when that classic was 12 years in the making. Thus was the task at hand for Luc Lemay and trying to follow up 2013s Colored Sands, arguably one of the most successful death metal comebacks of all time. But Lemay has played it smart; he waited a while, 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 […]

As an uncompromising, grindcore-to-the-bone band that has been going strong for over 20 years, Rotten Sound would definitely be placed on my personal “Mount Rushmore of Grind”, along with Nasum, Napalm Death and Pig Destroyer.  We’ve had to wait five long years since their last LP, but time has done nothing but help as their […]

I sit here today holding a copy of Wildfire in my grubby hands, the fifth full-length album from black thrash titans Deströyer 666. Wildfire arrives seven years after 2009’s Defiance, with an entirely new band in tow behind lone (wolf winter) mainstay KK Warslut. A lengthy break between releases, Defiance itself was released a full […]

  Venomous Concept is a side project of some pretty big names in the metal world: Shane Embury and Danny Herrera from this little know band Napalm Death, are joined by John Cooke (live guitarist for ND), bassist Dan Lilker (way too many band to mention) and vocalist Kevin Sharp (Lock Up, ex-Brutal Truth).  I […]

I have to admit, I was quite hesitant when it came to reviewing the self-titled debut from Abbath. Immortal was/is a band I’ve always held in high regard, and honestly, Abbath is one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Between high expectations and a critiquing ear, I just knew things were going to […]

Tsjuder is back with their brand of uncompromising black metal, their 2nd release since returning from a brief hiatus and they continue to keep the pace and to rise within the ranks of the black metal elite with this release. Tsjuder started out slowly for me, the 1st release I heard from them being Kill For Satan, […]

Season of Mist’s artist dichotomy has changed a lot over the last couple of years.  Adding killer cult riff slingers Kylesa, Floor, Hark (ex-members of underrated UK doom/thrashers Taint), Weedeater and Saint Vitus has certainly deepened the label’s moat and fortified its already armored bunker.  The imprint’s latest riff-heavy signing, Wildlights, features guitarist/vocalist Jason Chi […]

As bands like Funeral, Thergothon, and Skepticism took doom metal to its ultimate depressive conclusion in the mid ‘90s, the funeral doom sub-subgenre was born. Finland’s Shape of Despair formed around that time under the name Raven, but didn’t release their debut, Shades of…, until 2000. By this time, Funeral had moved on to something […]

It is hard to believe that it has been eighteen years since the Hate Eternal/Alas demo was released. Hate Eternal being a blistering technical death metal band and Alas being more of a melodic doom project. Both of these projects showing the song writing versatility of Erik Rutan who had been in Morbid Angel and […]

Anymore, I do my damndest to either keep to a minimum or wholly eliminate the “I” persona from reviews when I can.  This works out most of the time, but whenever you are reviewing a band that you have maintained a long-time listening relationship with…well, it gets pretty fuckin’ tough.  Winnipeg’s KEN Mode is always […]

I am a giant Kolliasist. His debut with one of my all-time favorite brutal tech death outfits, Nile, happens to also be my all-time favorite Nile record. Blast beats are a given, but his take on the groovier, crushier Nile moments really sold me, and gave the band a compelling depth that has, in my […]

Like a lot of you, Drudkh first popped up on my radar with their 2006 release, Blood In Our Wells. It really took me a long time to look beyond the hype that album generated, but I eventually came to appreciate it for what it was. What it wasn’t was The Second Coming of a […]

For three albums now, The Netherland’s Carach Angren has been arguably the top symphonic black metal band on the block, being the arguable heir apparent to Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir. Dense theatrics, cinematic atmospheres and deft story telling normally of ghost or apparition themed concepts have driven albums like the debut, Lammendam or 2010s nautically themed […]

2014 will go down as the year that Orthodox Black Metal’s literal Satan picked up and headed East out of France.  Spending most of his time in Poland, the great deceiver made an early splash in the headlines with Behemoth’s The Satanist, an album with an extra touch of earnestness for the dark lord.   Being […]

WOW! I’m a newcomer to Australia’s self proclaimed ‘extreme progressive metal’ act Ne Obliviscaris, but after hearing Citadel, the band’s second album, there’s no doubt in my mind that this act has to be one of the more special and ambitious bands I have heard in some time. So much so, that I’m actually having a […]

From my understanding, the tracks and album title take their name from an Icelandic form of dividing up the day/clock into 3-hour increments. Ótta is the 3am start. Knowing this helped me grasp the feel of the album a little more. With Ótta, Sólstafir has extended their departure from metal that was fairly evident on […]

Sometimes you have to realize just how much your relationship with a band is like your real life relationships.  For example, I’ve been in a relationship with 1349 for over ten years.  We’ve had six albums together including new offering Massive Cauldron of Chaos.  That’s longer than my marriage lasted and actually quite a good […]

Gruff, groovy and packed with their endlessly inventive weed puns, death metal parodies and demented lyrical tales, Cannabis Corpse are well and truly in the zone on their fourth full-length album, entitled From Wisdom to Baked. After kicking around on Forcefield records and Tankcrimes the band’s hard work and genuine scene cred has culminated in […]

Newly-christened Bastard Feast, a band from Portland, Oregon formerly known as Elitist, have released their first album under the new name, and it is a doozy. Their previous offering, Fear in a Handful of Dust was an exhausting affair of blackened hardcore/sludge, standing comfortably but distinctly alongside the likes of Coffinworm or Generation of Vipers. […]

You’d think I’d be more familiar and versed with Greece’s long running Septicflesh. They are after all part of the long running and somewhat influential Greek metal movement from the early 90s along with Rotting Christ, Thou Art Lord, Varathron and Necromatia and of course, one of the early death metal bands to add cinematic orchestration to […]

Those who thought that former Cryptospsy vocalist Lord Worm’s new project, Rage Nucléaire was a mere flash in the pan had better think again. Lord Worm has returned two years after his first real, post Cryptopsy foray with yet another hate fueled, apocalyptic, industrialized slab of unrelenting black metal, and it’s just as solid and unforgiving […]