The past few years have been an interesting time for metal music no matter how you look at it. The amount of reunions and bands reforming has become a blessing to some and tiresome to others. Some of these acts need to let well enough alone, while others are showing new appetite and rekindling old […]

If your self released effort gets reviewed here, you must be doing something right, and the UK’s (Bradford) The Belonging show that a self released effort can compete with most label released efforts. I don’t remember much about the bands prior release, Setting the Scene, so it could not have been that good, but on […]

Mellotron is a fledgling Prog Metal band from Michigan. This, their debut EP, is loaded with some accomplished musicianship, tight changes, nice ambience and good variation. Don’t let the EP tag fool you, these 5 songs clock in at right around 35 minutes. With songs ranging from just over 5 to just over 9 minutes, […]

I didn’t even try pronouncing Mictlantecuhtli – Aztec God of the Dead – and it’s a bitch to spell too. You may want to learn the pronunciation because if you dig Warriors of the Black Sun as much as I do you’ll not want to sound moronic when that name falls out of your mouth. […]

This is the first release by a one-man project out of Germany. 24-year old Pius Grave handles songwriting, vocals and all instruments, including a triple guitar attack. Before putting this in, I had no idea what to expect, but this was a nice surprise. Soulthreat performs a combination of progressive and classic heavy metal, with […]

First off, I’d like to congratulate Australia’s Brazen Bull (an ancient torture device) for the incredibly professional and well done promotional package they sent me; a folder complete with a professional, full digipack CD EP, glossy photo, a CDR with images, press sheet, logo as well as a very nice letter asking to be reviewed. In […]

When last I heard Helion, on their 2006 EP Mercury Rising, they were a damned solid, but pretty straightforward power/prog outfit. It was one of the better records that I heard that year in the style. Two years and a lineup change later, I could almost be listening to a different band. The good news […]

Shame on you death metal labels. While busy churning out mindless hordes of gore grind and releasing mediocre efforts from bands like Torture Killer, Hate Eternal, Divine Empire, Bile, Krisiun or even rehashing the past with the likes of Obituary and Cryptopsy and a band like Vore remains criminally unsigned.While most of the underground is […]

This self-released, very professional, well presented and produced effort from this Belgian five piece is a pleasant surprise amid reviewing my 678th metalcore EP. Plying a form of atmospheric, mid paced, vaguely pagan/folk black metal, Thurisaz sound very “Scandinavian” with their tinkling synths, melodic guitars and pagan hues. If you slowed Skyfire or Wintersun slowed […]

Seriously, who the hell calls their album I Taste Your Fucking Tears of Sorrow? I tell you who, zee Germans. I have to hand it out to Wytchcraft though, I’ve spent more time trying to decide whether or not I’m crying or laughing at the(ir) name(s) than I’ve spend on downloading sleazy, coprophilic chocolate-mousse movies […]

What the fuck is wrong with the drinking water in Poland? Newbreed’s CD shows a group of young kids with long hair in the midst of falling snow, looking as innocent as Hanson when they still sang about popping the cherry while roller blading on the videos. Yet, these young fellows show unsurprisingly good musicianship […]

On my trip to learn something about the bands featured on this split, I had to put my private investigator skills to the ultimate test. The mission didn’t become any easier thanks to the stubbornness of the French and their inability to write things in English (a certain Samuel L. Jackson line came to my […]