For reasons I can’t quite begin to understand, the American Midwest has become a veritable hotbed for super evil, no-holds-barred, Satan-loving metal for metal’s sake. Something about all those hotdishes and passive-aggressive politeness come together to manifest the likes of NunSlaughter and Midnite and Nachtmystium and scores of other bands dedicated to high-octane, heretical carnage. […]

The whole idea behind bands releasing splits is, generally, a fairly straightforward business decision. Two or more bands come together to share production and distribution costs, and provide one-another with a platform to get more exposure through all involved parties’ established fanbases. The bands, the fans, everybody wins. That said, it feels like the potential […]

Every day it seems, the world further blurs the line between what’s considered crackpot conspiracy, and accepted reality. The notion that some secret, Satanic society of ultra-powerful lizard oligarchs are the true masters and gatekeepers of the Earth’s wealth and resources seems, to many, like an absolute truth. I don’t personally subscribe to this particular […]

For a couple years now, I’ve been praising the French for their rise to prominence in the Traditional Heavy Metal scene. It’s still not necessarily a numbers game, but the quality in the limited product is undeniable. Obviously, much of this is owed the genre’s continued growth in popularity, but bands like Herzel and Tentation […]

I dunno about you, but I love to make a meal out of an appetizer. And I don’t mean like a rich, white housewife going to a restaurant and ordering a side salad as their meal so they can fit into that bikini the 20 year old pool boy loves to see you in – […]

All too often in life, things just refuse to be simple. Take this album from Necrom for example: On the surface, this should be a slam dunk of an release to promote.  Objectively speaking, I’ll just get to the point – All Paths Are Left Here… is one of the best examples of Old School […]

The sky is blue. The sun rises in the East. Every “metal subgenre of the moment” is destined to become oversaturated and less exciting by virtue of its own popularity. These are basic and inalienable truths. I’m not arguing that something loses its appeal because it’s “more popular.” That argument is dumb. Popular things are […]

OK, so we all have particular tastes and preferences that we can’t help or do anything about, right? To that end, when it comes to music, I think we all have certain kinds sounds we’re just absolute suckers for. You hear something in that wheelhouse, and it hits you like a friggin’ Mack track driven […]

Oh hey – just in time for World War III, AKA “The ACTUAL War to End All Wars” because this time around we’re all packing that doomsday-level heat. Sick. Seriously, for what its worth, who better to ring in the potential end of days, right? We’ve all been looking over at Vladdy-boy saying “Hey. HEY! […]

I’ve been a big fan of Helion Prime since their 2016 self-titled debut. Their brand of familiar, but subtly unique Power Metal has always landed really well with me and, at least in my objectively worthless opinion, the band has been criminally underappreciated over their 6-year career. For me, there have been two things that […]

There’s something that feels a little… I dunno… strange about listening to Sabaton these days. Right? To be fair, it’s not like war hasn’t been a constant part about being on planet Earth. But WORLD War? Jeez, seems sort of… archaic, no? Making bombastic, rousing power metal about heroism and battlefield glory and all that […]

While newer bands like Countless Skies or Hinayana have given Melodic Death Metal a somewhat renewed amount of energy and attention, for the most part it takes a release from the genre’s seasoned veterans to gain any kind of real hype ahead of its release. We’re talking, of course, the likes of At The Gates, […]

A lot is said about the element of surprise when it comes to war tactics. You catch an enemy sleeping, and the impact of your attack is likely to be that much more devastating. Of course, this principal isn’t solely applicable to warfare. Take, for example, Seattle Power/Traditional Heavy Metal outfit Greyhawk and their 2020 […]

Over the last few years, metalhead jack-of-all-trades Ben Murray (Light This City, Heartsounds, Darkness Everywhere, No Chemistry) has built Creator-Destructor Records into quite the diverse little powerhouse of a label. Representing everyone from legendary punk rockers A Wilhelm Scream, to Beatdown bruisers like Sunami and Kruelty, to filthy Death Metal acts like Dismemberment and Spinebreaker. […]

A well-respected colleague of mine once advised me that it was a bad idea to stay with a job or company for more than 10 years – and even that long was pushing it. The idea being, after a certain amount of time in the same setting, you begin to lose your passion for the […]

OK soooooooooooo listen – I’m not exactly what anyone would call an expert in the world of electronic music, or even more metal-leaning industrial music, for that matter. No hate or disrespect or anything like that at all, it’s just not an avenue I’ve gone down much to this point in my life. With that […]

One of my favorite albums of 2021 was the fantastic Decadence and Decay from Oregon’s Silver Talon, an album and a band that certainly have plenty going for themselves on their own merit, but the album was an immediate hit for me not because it was something I’d never heard before – but instead it […]

I will always have love in my heart for Melodic Death Metal. Hand on heart, I’d have to say that Melodeath is the one metal subgenre, more than any other, that most aggressively grabbed my attention and made me fall in love on first listen. Soilwork’s A Predator’s Portrait, In Flames’ Clayman, Dark Tranquillity’s Damage […]

Guys! Guys, you are not going to believe this. Jonny Pettersson (Ashcloud, Berzerker Legion, Gods Forsaken, Heads for the Dead, Henry Kane, Human Harvest, Massacre, Monstrous, Nattravnen, Pale King, Rotpit, Syn:Drom, The Hangman’s Sorrow, Troikadon, Ursinne, Vholdghast, Wombbath, Wormveil)… *catches breath* … Has ANOTHER fucking band! WHERE THE FUCK DOES THIS GUY GET THE TIME […]

It’s not often you’ll stumble across a band whose biggest influences are listed as “Norland–era Bathory, Tolkein and Thin Lizzy.” But that’s exactly what Chaos Records says is served up by American one-man black metal project, Rökkr… or as I’ve been calling it, because I’m a child, Al Rökkr. “That’s what’s going on around the […]

This is, if you haven’t figured it out by now, a site dedicated primarily to reviewing heavy metal music in all its various forms. Death, Black, Thrash, Grind, Power, blah blah blah blah, pretty much all are welcome here with open ears and arms. It’s safe to say that, personal stylistic preferences aside, all of […]

OK, hands raised, who here predicted that the 2021 metal album of the year would come from a speed/power metal band called Ültra Raptör? Anyone? *crickets* Anyone?… No one?… Well I’ve got just one thing to say to all you doubters out there! THIS… is not the 2021 metal album of the year. You’re right. […]

At the risk of discrediting the review right from the get-go, I’m just gonna come right out and say this: I’m a Black Soul Horde fan. I fucking love these guys. To my ears, last year’s Land of Demise was a sleeper pick for Traditional Metal album of the year, going toe-to-toe and blow-for-blow with […]

This is, apparently, album number 3 for these dudes – but it’s my first ride at the Mentor rodeo. I will say this: when I saw the excellent album cover of Wolves, Wraiths and Witches, I had a few preconceptions about what I’d find inside – that being some heavy, stonery-y doom metal project dripping […]

This is hardly any kind of hot take, but I’m a friggin’ sucker for heavy metal with big, booming, powerful voices. The kind of voices that can slam you to the floor, take your lunch money and probably smear some dog poop or something in your face. A real dick move, but that voice owns […]