“Well, I don’t know how many years on this Earth I got left. I’m gonna get real weird with it.” -Frank Reynolds… and probably Vreid. On full length number 9, Vreid are back to do two things; prove sweaters are metal and get weird. After all, being cold isn’t very metal. It’s difficult to be […]
Sometimes, timing is everything. A song, an album, even a single melody, given the right circumstances or moment in time, can leave an indelible mark on your life. Nearly a year ago, such an album was added to a lifelong playlist of works that will forever hold a special place in my heart – Cattle […]
I pose, that instead of purchasing carnations for your love on Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or whatever dumb bullshit humanoids in love celebrate, instead perhaps purchase Carnation. Give your love the gift that keeps on giving. The gift of blistering death metal. We last heard Belgian death metallers Carnation when they released a banger of Florida-style […]
When I decided to pick up the new album (his second overall) from The Devil’s Trade, I was looking for a bit of a change of pace. You know, the old “listening to nothing but heavy music” into which we metal reviewers sometimes find ourselves. It’s often a good idea to take a step back […]
I have a lot of inappropriate shirts. Perhaps my favorite is my Carach Angren “You came to the wrong forest, mother fucker.” It’s not my Satanic Warmaster shirt where someone is getting sawed in half through the genital region, which I once accidentally wore (or so I told my girlfriend at the time) to the […]
I know this review is a month or so late but it’s been 18 years since the last actual…And Oceans album so, I think I’m good So, after 18 years, … And Oceans are back and not just back, but back to their symphonic black metal roots that they abandoned when they became more industrial […]
Imagine for a moment Abysmal Dawn were your average, every day, 9-5 productive cog in society. It’s not too far from the truth. After all, they do make death metal for a living (although, let’s face it, they probably need other jobs, too). They get up, go to work every day, do a great job, […]
Necrowretch, from France, return with their fourth long-player, The Ones From Hell. I have been a huge fan of the band since their ripping 2013 debut Putrid Death Sorcery and have reviewed all their albums and interviewed singer/guitarist Vlad years ago. Their last album Satanic Slavery was a massively intense album-and saw the band break […]
Maybe it’s the Relapse Records lineage, but I always seem to forget just how heavy Tombs are. That’s not to say there aren’t heavy bands on the Relapse roster because there most certainly are. However, I am always expecting something sludgy, along the lines of Baroness or Mastodon. Then, I press play and have a […]
I am and will continue to be a massive fan of Deathwhite’s 2018 debut album For A Black Tomorrow. It was an album I didn’t know I needed at the time. Add into this the fact they are listed as from Pittsburgh, PA, which is my local scene, and I became an even bigger fan. All of the […]
Spain’s Wormed, I can’t believe it, have already been around for 20 years. Holy crap how time flies. I would assume this little ditty of an ep, in the spherical form of Metaportal is a precursor to Wormed’s fourth full-length album. I have been a huge fan of the band and have met them on […]
A few years ago Vltimas formed and many did not feel this “supergroup” would ever record an album. The band consists of David Vincent of Morbid Angel fame on vocals, Flo Mounier from Cryptopsy blasting the crap out of the drums and Rune Eriksen, of Mayhem fame on guitars. Well Something Wicked Marches In is […]
Greek Metal Masters Rotting Christ have returned with another fantastic release with their 13th album The Heretics. The Tolis brothers Themis and Sakis, fresh off their recent arrest for Terrorism (not that kind-the fearful religious kind) in Georgia (the country, not the state) have given a spirited middle finger to organized religion once again. Although, […]
Montreal progressive Technical Death Wizards Beyond Creation return with their third full length record Algorythm. The album opens up with a symphonic orchestration piece which is so similar to many that I almost wonder if it is even necessary. “Entre Suffrage Et Mirage” is strong enough track on its own. The musicianship of the string […]
German Progressive Death Metal Super Group Alkaloid have returned with the follow up to their 2015 debut The Malkuth Grimoire with Liquid Anatomy. The brainchild of former Spawn of Possession and Aborted guitar Danny Tunker. Alkaloid also features three former members of the group Obscura in drummer Hannes Grossman, Bassist Linus Klausenister and Guitar Christian […]
When it comes to discordant, atonal, nightmarish, murky, chaotic, atmospheric death metal, Canada has Gorguts , Poland has Redemptor, England has Abyssal, Spain has Altarage, Portugal has The Ominous Circle, The Netherlands has Dodecahedron, Denmark has Phrenelith, Finland has Corpsessed, New Zealand has Ulcerate, Australia has Portal, Switzerland has Schammasch And now the US has Nightmarer. With the aptly […]
Finland’s Hooded Menace have been slogging their brand of doom death metal for over a decade now and continue to hone their craft and get stronger with each release. Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed, their 5th full length is such a monstrous release, I do not know where to begin. Adding more band members seems to add […]
Okay, here I am venturing outside my normal realms and diving into more black metal. Auðn hail from Iceland and my bud, Graham, Deepsend Records owner, sent me their s/t debut a few years ago and I was hooked. The band sings in their native language and the best way to describe them is atmospheric […]
It’s been damn near 7 years since Belgian grinders Leng Tch’e dropped their last full-length slab of death-y, crusty doomgrind, Hypomanic. There hasn’t been an original member left in the band since 2007, although these maniacs have stayed relatively true to form sonically over the last 3 records. For me, the filthy highpoint of the […]
There is something foul afoot in the Iberian Peninsula. Some Portuguese and Spanish acts like The Ominous Circle, Morbid Flesh, Aversio Humanitas, Goldenpyre, have delivered some truly nasty black and death metal of late, and with their second effort Spain’s Altarage look to be the apex of the onslaught. I never heard the band’s debut, […]
Ever since Nile erupted forth with their Egyptian take on brutal death metal, ethnic, and cultural elements have crept into death metal more and from from Ade to Scarab and others. But here comes France’s Impureza to add one I have not heard before- at least not in this full on capacity: Flamenco. Sure, a […]
Ne Obliviscaris‘s 2014 sophomore album Citadel was one of my top 3 albums for that year, and now 3 years later, the Australian progressive extreme metal collective look to have another of my top albums for 2017 in Urn. The incredibly ambitious and hard to describe sound of these guys is in force again, as […]
I wasn’t sure how these young Canadians would follow up their excellent 2014 debut, The Lucid Collective, a completely over the top , noodling clinical and triggered tech death tour de force, only since topped by First Fragment‘s Dasein since then as far as sheer tech death insanity goes. Well, they are up the the […]
It wasn’t until 2014s Titan that I got into Greece’s Septiciflesh, which is a surprise considering I’m a sucker for big, epic orchestration in metal. But as with Titan, and even prior releases like The Great Mass that I went back to, Septicflesh remain all fluff and no real substance. But the fluff, remains some of […]
Necrowretch, from France, return with their third long-player, Satanic Slavery and on a brand new label-Season of Mist. I’ve been following the band since their debut album, Putrid Death Sorcery in 2013 and struck up some cool convos with guitarist/vocalist Vlad, after interviewing them back then. The band has no shortage of material, either. Releasing […]