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 […]
I became a fan of the UK’s technical death metal band Cognizance, from their Inquisition EP, their debut release in 2013, and reviewed it back then. I was pretty blown away by the array of technical wizardry and monstrously brutal moments. The band reminding me of Beneath The Massacre/Obscura type of music. After releasing a […]
Stortregn’s (‘downpour’) development from a melodic black metal band into a more technical, shredding death metal band with a few black metal elements has been a splendid development, and fittingly with the style shift, the band found themselves on the perfect label, The Artisan Era, literally the preemptive label for shreddy/melodic, sometimes symphonic tech death/black […]
I’ve been trying to figure out how I want this introduction to go. There are times when I get an album to review and it’s like a blind date. That’s not always the case especially if I’ve at least heard or read something about them. But with Xoth I’m going in blind as a bat. […]
No longer a band with international members, USA’s brutal tech death metal/deathcore band Wormhole returns with their third album, Almost Human, and debut on Season of Mist Records. Wormhole has been around for 8 years and their 2016 debut, Genesis, caught my attention with the monstrous tech brutality and brutal beatdown slams. Outside of the […]
So here it finally is…. the new Suffocation album, and notably the first release without original vocalist Frank Mullen, since the band formed in 1990. While other members (other than the other lone original member, guitarist Terrance Hobbs), have come and gone, Frank and Terrance have been there since day one, so this album is […]
Technical Death Metal Italians Gory Blister returns with the 7th full length. The album kicks off with a cool synth intro into some thrashy riffing over aggressive blasting. Reminds me of a cross between Vader and Hate Eternal. “Push through the Venom” gets things kicked off after a fun short intro. The production is quite […]
From Helsinki Finland, Technical Dissonant Death Metallers Omnivortex returns with their second full-length Circulate. The album kicks off with “Dwells” which opens with a huge dissonant vibrato riff that leads the way for an impressive track. What makes Omnivortex unique is their dual vocal approach. Both the drummer Aaro Osterman and guitarist Aaro Österman manage […]
Montreal Technical Death Masters Cryptopsy returns with their eighth studio album As Gomorrah Burns. It was written over the last two years during the pandemic and they wrote and recorded this in a cabin to add to the horror movie-like ambiance. This is the first full-length album since their 2012 self-titled release featuring original guitarist […]
New York’s Contrarian has been an active contributor to the progressive death metal scene for quite some time now. Having released five full-length records through Willowtip Records Contrarian has decided to release an album of older material. What makes this release interesting is that all the tracks are instrumental. Founding members Jim Tasikas and Ed […]
Is this déjà vu? I think it may. Six years ago Hammerheart Records reissued these Pestilence albums in deluxe 2 cd slipcases. The bonus content was fabulous and not only did I buy all of these, I purchased an album cover shirt for each of them. I even did some reviews on Teeth of the […]
I love head-banging. It is a great feeling to release pent-up energy at a Metal show, the crowd is into the experience; each head is like those fucking drinking birds you can get at the novelty store. Unfortunately for me, my head-banging days are pretty much over. I just kind of shake my head like […]
OK, there is a lot to get to here; Pronostic is a Canadian progressive/melodic technical death metal project that hasn’t released anything since 2015s , An Atomic Decision, and before that their 2012 debut Deviated Inner Spectrum. The project is the brainchild of both guitarists/vocalists Alexandre Lauzon and Charles Pilotte, both relative unknowns in the […]
The other day I was driving my mom around and the car decided it wanted to keep playing this album. She was commenting that it isn’t music and even did a growl (which was kind of fucking adorable, I’m not going to lie), however, Death Metal is extreme music for extreme people (and my mom’s […]
Ya know, I had completely forgotten about this North Carolina duo. This is surprising considering I rather enjoyed the debut from a few years ago, and the fact my enthusiasm, some would even say fanboyish obsession with any sort of metal with symphonic/orchestral elements. Throw in another couple of my weaknesses- history/mythological tales and modern, […]
France’s tech-death metal gods, Gorod, return with The Orb – their seventh album. Holy smokes I did not realize how time has flown by and the band is self-releasing this through Bandcamp. For me, the best tech-death metal bands are First Fragment, Gorod and Obscura. I know, I know there’s like a bajillion of tech-death […]