Personally, I feel like we are in a new golden era of metalcore/deathcore/death metal female vocalists. Sure, the path was forged by the likes of Dawn Crosby (Fear of God), Karen Crisis (Crisis), Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy), Krista Curry (Landmine Marathon), Laura Nichol and Grace Perry (Light This City), Maria Kolokouri (Astarte), Courtney LaPlante (Iwrestledabearonce […]

My fall down the Tech-Death rabbit hole continues. It’s been a wild ride, and it seems to have no end because another killer band has come across my radar. They are called Changeling, and this is a new project from Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger. Most recently he wrote  “Weltseelee”, the 15-minute epic that he composed for […]

Polish death metal duo Dormant Ordeal has been around since 2008, and has three prior albums under their belt, but they are a new act to me and newly signed to Willowtip for their 4th album. Much like fellow Poles Redemptor or Trauma, Dormant Ordeal plays a form of distinctly Polish death metal with traceable […]

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, this is 4/5 of Swedish tech death legends Spawn of Possession, reborn: Guitarists Jonas Bryssling and Christian Muenzner, vocalist Dennis Röndum and bassist Erlend Caspersen. And they welcome into the fold, the new dude, Odius Mortem drummer KC Howard. I loved Spawn of Possession and felt their final […]

I’ve grown a mammoth-sized chubby for Tech-Death in recent years. I covered oodles of it last year and this one is already shaping up to be a brutal year for Tech-Death. Allow me to introduce Fleshbore. These four crazy lads from Indianapolis have crafted a solid, beat down that will have your fucking brain leaking […]

Germany’s Obscura needs no introduction. They have resided near or atop the tech death heap since 2009’s Cosmogenesis. For me, they peaked with 2016s Akroasis, but all of their albums have been excellent, including their last effort, 2021s A Valediction, which saw former members Christian Munzer (ex-Necrophagist, ex-Spawn of Possession) and fretless bassist Jeroen Paul Thessling return […]

Chicago’s Gigan has been around for close to 20 years.  I’m trying to wrap my head around this!!   I’ve known the main man and axe grinder Eric Hersemann for like 30 years.  On their last tour for their fourth album Undulating Waves of Rainbiotic Iridescence, I got onstage with them and did opening growls with […]

Lublin Poland’s Deivos return with their Seventh full-length album Apophenia. Deivos plays a very groovy style of technical death metal that is quite pummeling. Things get kicked off with a fury with “Feretory.”  One thing I noticed off the bat from last record is that the production is much brighter. “My Sacrifice” opens with some […]

Album number 6 from Italy’s master of symphonic/orchestral brutal death metal sees more lineup changes, much like 2019s Veleno. And while they certainly weathered the changes admirably (replacing long-time members Christiano Trionfera and Tommaso Ricardi departing, Francisco Paoli moving from drums to vocals), with a really good album that even showed some more controlled and restrained songs, […]

Canada’s brutal blackened /grind space death metal band Fractal Generator is back with their third album Convergence.  I am a huge fan of their debut Apotheosynthesis and the follow-up  Macrocosmos.  This band is a very intriguing and original band in many ways.  I find them exciting.  All their albums boast awesome artwork too, as this […]

Spain’s Wormed has been around for over 25 years – wow how time really flies into a space vortex!!!  The band takes their time with releasing albums and other than a 2019 stop-gap EP Metaportal, which I reviewed, Omegon has taken eight years to come out since the scorching Krighsu. Omegon is Wormed’s fourth album […]

Canada keeps kicking out sick tech death bands in 2024. Sentiment Dissolve has been around since 2021. The Orwellian Dream kicks off with “Forced Birther.’  Right off the bat you can hear how intricate their arrangements and vocal patterns are. You can hear the Archspire influence on the vocal patterns which are quite impressive done […]

Technical Death Metal is one of those sub-genres I must be in the mood for. The same goes for Power Metal, but I’m talking about Replacire and not Sonata Artica; the former being the Eric Alper driven death machine that I had no idea existed and the latter being one of the best Power Metal […]

From the 2007 tech death debut, Of Fracture and Failure, New Zealand’s Ulcerate has been one of the death metal’s most consistently elite bands with 5 albums since. The band has evolved from the pure tech death of the debut into a murky, dissonant, almost black death band (they are on Debemor Morti – a […]

I am new to the Vale of Pnath fan club.  I’ve seen the logo over a number of years, however, I never heard them up until now.  This Colorado technical death metal act has been around since 2006 with 2 prior ep’s and 2 prior full lengths to boot. After hearing Between the Worlds of […]

I have thoroughly enjoyed New Jersey’s Cognitive rise through the underground ranks since their first EP in 2012 – The Horrid Swarm.  I became friends with guitarist Rob Wharton, reviewed several of their early releases, finally met him on one of his tours years ago and he saw me touring with Internal Bleeding, as well […]

Canada keeps kicking out sick releases in 2024. Quebec’s From Dying Suns return with their first LP Calamity. This band features members of: Augury, Killotorious and Aeternam. Matthew Dhani, the vocalist of Killotorious is also the live vocalist for First Fragment. It is also worth noting that Christian Donaldson of Cryptopsy mixed this. Calamity is […]

Atrae Bilis is a Canadian technical death metal band not involving Phillip Tougas. Technical death metal has a place in my heart, but it’s one of those genres that’s hit or miss. My standard bearer has been Obscura for several years. The band and the 1998 Gorguts album. The reason is because of excellent songs. […]

I have reviewed quite a lot of Pestilence albums on this site, as well as reviewing their various reissues multiple times and over the years I would consider main axe grinder/vocalist, Patrick Mameli, as a friend, with our various interactions.  I respect his musical work and songwriting skills and many of the Pestilence albums I […]

I have been waiting patiently for the first full-length from these sickos from Chicago patiently since their 2019 Light Eater EP debut. So, here we are, nine-track debut album. The opening track “Of Ruin” sets the tempo for the whole album. Kicking things off with a two-minute instrumental is a bold choice but it works […]

Toronto Canada’s tech deathsters Apogean make their debut with Cyberstrictive. Vocalist Mac Smith filled in for Bill Robinson of Decrepit Birth recently. Off the bat, Zach Ohren’s (The Faceless, All Shall Perish, Immolation, etc.) mixing and Mastering work is elite. Things get kicked off with “Blue Night Sonata.”  The technical prowess of these guys is […]

While power and black metal was/has often been the primary vehicles for keyboards/ orchestration in metal, I still fondly recall some of my early exposure to more epic keys and orchestration (not just intros or a bit here or there for atmosphere) in death metal such as Nocturnus (arguably the first to do so?), Amorphis, […]

It’s been ten years since we last heard from Job For A Cowboy, so let me give a cliffnotes back story: the band is one of the first deathcore bands to blow up thanks to a Spongebob Squarepants video mash-up to the song “Knee Deep” (it is how I first heard the band- and it’s […]

How does a New Jersey Tech Death based on the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion sound? Well, I am intrigued. Things get kicked off with “Synchronization.”   First impressions are a mix of Spawn of Possession with a bit of earlier Archspire. The way they use vibrato is impressive. Pretty insane musicianship from these guys. Excellent guest […]

When talking about French technical death metal, the absolute top of the list is Gorod, but I think there is an argument to be made for Exocrine to be right there with them. The Bordeuax band has been on an absolute tear since 2018’s Molten Giant, which was somehow their third album already. Then with […]