To this day, Defeat from California’s Armed for Apocalypse is one of the best and heaviest sludge albums I’ve ever reviewed. A meaty, filthy guitar tone with an almost doom/death metal backbone, it was and still is an incredibly heavy album. They followed that up with The Road Will End in 2018, a solid follow-up, […]

You see that symbol there on the left, emblazoned on the album cover of Crowbar’s new album, Zero and Below? That’s called a fleur d’lis ( Flower of Light), and is regarded as the symbol of the state of Louisiana, the city of New Orleans, and more importantly the logo for that city’s NFL team, […]

I’ve reviewed both the prior albums from Indiana’s Yellowtooth, fronted by the ever-busy Pete Clemens (Invasion, Corporation SS, Nocturnal Torment), each better than the predecessor, and that trend continues with album number 3 (complete with a redesigned logo), a full-on jump to the next level in quality. Describing Yellowtooth is difficult as they shift around […]

The Lion’s Daughter is likely a lioness. Unless the lion bred with another big cat, like a tiger, and the offspring was a liger. That’s objectively pretty neat. The Lion’s Daughter are also a progressive/sludge metal band from St. Louis, Missouri. We’re talking about the latter, and this is their new album (4th overall), sexily […]

Holy poop on a stick – did you know Chicago’s Trouble have been around since the end of the 1970’s??   – Holy smokes I had no idea.  What we have here is the review/summation of the reissues Psalm 9/The Skull/Trouble/Manic Frustration Hammerheart has put out.  In order, this is the first, second, fourth and fifth […]

Ohio’s TON have been around for close to 3 decades and part of the reason they have had their sound continue in a cohesive manner is the stable line-up.  Jeff Shepler on vocals/bass, Kevin Kraft on vocals/drums and Dan Gates on vocals/guitar have stayed the course to fight the good death metal fight.  When I […]

Heavy metal sub genres are often pretentious, yet commonly essential. To an outsider, it may seem unnecessary and even ridiculous. Then again, it can seem that way to an insider, too. I’m sorry to offend the local post progressive blackened Swedish grindcore expert. I even had an appearance on a short-lived podcast in college where […]

Finland’s Black Royal stormed into prominence with their powerhouse 2018 debut LP, Lightbringers, an impressive slab of doom-laced death with an abundance of killer riffs and piercing hooks. Eager to build upon the sturdy foundations of their impressive debut, Black Royal return to strengthen and refine their beastly, riff-centric style of death and doom on […]

I don’t listen to much traditional or classic doom metal, but two pure-ish doom records have crossed my desk lately, Church of Bones From Poland’s Monasterium, and this the second effort from Miami’s Nixa, and this by far is the better release and a solid mix of sludge and doom to boot. Horn of the […]

Louisiana’s wrathful extreme music scene gets another notch on its termite-gnawed bedpost with this debut album from Pale Misery.  This musically dank, fetid trio rams the spiked gauntlets of black metal down the throat of crust-addled punk all across Black Candles and Gutter Scum’s sickening six tracks.  Goatwhore this is not as precision, tightly-bolted song […]

After a seething introductory EP (Vol. 1), sick and slithering Arizona sludgelords Gale called it quits in 2017 but as a favor to all devoted riff-heads they’ve decided to release their debut full-length follow up this past January (of 2019) before disappearing into the void for good.  It’s a damn nice thing of them because […]

Though Maryland is often most known for its legendary punk/hardcore and doom scenes, there’s just about every kind of kick ass music imaginable coming from its fertile creative soil.  Mutated sludgy crust/grinders Musket Hawk are a prime example of the variance emanating from the state with their 3rd and most vicious full-length yet, Upside of […]

Massachusetts has spawned some muscular, heavy rock machines over the years including Only Living Witness, Ichabod, Milligram, Scissorfight, Birch Hill Dam, Roadsaw, Sam Black Church, Tree and Honkeyball just to name a few.  The unique thing that many of these bands did was that they incorporated intricate punk/hardcore influences into their sounds, even if only […]

I love Atlanta, Georgia’s doom n’ gloom masters Dead Register quite a metric ton.  Not only is the music powerful but if you just read the trio’s bandcamp bio you know that they’ve got a wicked, snarly smile going on behind all of their malice in the chalice bass riffs, heart-reaping vocals and molten percussive […]

I’m hearing tons of sick underground music from India lately which is often brought to my attention from the fellas at Qabar PR (cheers Hassan and Zoheb) as well the madman Kunal from Transcending Obscurity’s main HQ.  All I can say is keep ‘em coming guys because I’m getting turned onto a metric fuckton of […]

Pummeling old school hardcore meets punk straight from the genre’s birthzone (Long Island, NY) is what The Great Lie offers up on their debut EP, All Roads Lead to Where You Stand.  Featuring the exclamatory holler of John Wilkes Booth’s main set of pipes Kerry Merkle, a thick rhythm section and a nasty twin guitar […]

So imagine  Mastodon got heavier instead of more progressive, added some Crowbar heft to a stoner metal backbone and were suddenly from Australia and you’d get Sydney’s Sumeru and their raucous second album, Summon Destroyer. After the intro, “Inanis Kultus” the band dive in to “The Temple”, and it’s a bit of a soft opening for the album as […]

Capping off a trifecta of killer sludge releases I had on the chopping block for review, this next one is a nascent split vinyl EP from nihil.  Minneapolis lunatics No Funeral occupy side 1 with their crustified slug-stomp sleaze while side 2 offers up one long bomber from their same city mates, Livid.  Both bands […]

Oh man this is good! Rumbling, tumbling sludge with a burly death metal back bone and tangible nods to the likes of Lurk, Warcrab, Yellowtooth, Crowbar, latter Gorefest , early Mastodon, label/country mates Demonic Death Judge, and for a super obscure reference, now defunct Michigan act, If He Dies, He Dies. Apparently starting out as a more […]

When you’re trying to keep up with all of the heavy stuff, rock n’ roll and dirty music you can handle, you’re going to be bound to miss something.  In my case I miss a lot, but I’ll be goddamned by the Pope himself if I don’t try.  Slovenian sludge crew Leechfeast totally missed my […]

I’ve been on a Bongzilla kick of late, and If you are unfortunate enough to be my friend on Facebook, you will know I recently asked for some recommendations similar to Bongzilla. I was craving more fuzzed out , nasty sludge with harsh vocals.  The recommendations were solid with Dopethrone, Eyehategod and Demonic Death Judge being the […]

For fans of the slower, doomier side of metal, the debut album from Italy’s Blood Red Water should be right up their alley. Sporting a more straightforward approach than that of doom/death legends Celtic Frost and with a less sonic, much less alluring style than Type O Negative, Tales of Addiction and Despair is apparently […]

“Into the dark night of the soul: emotional balance restored” This first line lead singer Bryan Funck screams in “The Unnamed Path” exemplifies one of Thou’s main goals: to dwell in and utilize the power of suffocating sounds and emotions to come away feeling hopeful and empowered. For 24 minutes, Thou’s brand of sludge/drone/doom barely […]

Blacks Skies’ stock-in-trade is a blend of early Pentagram-style proto-doom and stoner rock. Their vibe and sound is more rough and tumble rock n’ roll than crushingly heavy. Driving riffs are the theme here, not obliterating heaviness, and the band rumbles forth convincingly, if unexceptionally, on their third full length release. The intro and main […]

Israel’s Total Rust Music has carved out a nice little niche for themselves on the black/doom/sludge genre with a number of quality releases from the likes of Highgate, Lords of Bukkake, Pyramido, Funeralium and such. 2012 looks to be of to a similarly high quality start with a trio of releases by Spain’s Tort, French black […]