Let me start out by saying I’ve rewritten this intro and parts of the subsequent review 3 times now. That’s what happens when I have way too much time with an album and question the articulation of my thoughts. I’m always trying to write a funny, witty, creative, suitably childish intro, and sometimes when I […]

Imagine heavy metal as a city. A city in, say, a cheesy 1980s film. You can walk down the streets and you’ll encounter the nice part of town. You have your Slipknot, Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold. The mainstream stuff. That’s fine, but on this day, you came to the city to try something else. Something dangerous. […]

Transcending Obscurity Records and Fetid Zombie are a perfect combo. This is full length #7 for Mark Riddick and this death dealing project, but if you were to count splits and EPs, he might have as many releases as Johnny Sins (ba dum tiss). As a casual fan of the project, I was more than […]

Finland’s Sadistik Forest flew under my radar until their third full-length album, Morbid Majesties, came out in 2018.  Their intense combination of death metal mixed with some blackened thrash metal had me thinking of early Skeletonwitch.  I went and discovered their prior 2 excellent albums, however Morbid Majesties is still my favorite release from them.  […]

In theory, I should have been all over this release, the debut from Oregon’s Felled (formerly known as Moss of Moonlight). It’s Cascadian, atmospheric black metal with a violin. Not an occasional violin, but like My Dying Bride, Exulansis or Hung, a full-on, full-time, violin, courtesy of Tiffany Holliday who along with some of the […]

“Oh, that’s nasty…” I could probably end this review right here with that stellar Cleveland Brown quote and you’d basically know what you have. However, finishing early is just not in my vocabulary (ladies…). Crypts of Despair have already released one album, but this is the first on Transcending Obscurity for this crew from the […]

Here’s some tech death from the best heavy metal label in existence, Transcending Obscurity. If you don’t believe my words, you can always check my year end list where I mentioned this. Once again, though, that’s in my words, so if you don’t believe it here, you won’t there. Anyway… Here’s some new tech death […]

Sweden’s Wombbath have been very busy since their 2014 reformation. I initially thought it would be just to record 1 album but no as the band has recorded a full 3 full lengths as well as this, I guess you can call fourth full length however this is more of a fun walk down memory lane. 2020 […]

As if Transcending Obscurity Records didn’t already kill it with phenomenal releases in 2020, we now get the sophomore effort from Heads For the Dead who are made up of: Ralf Hauber on vocals, Ed Warby on drums and Jonny Pettersson on all other instruments.  The band’s 2018 debut Serpent’s Curse flew past me in […]

Ho hum, another Rogga Johansson project… what’s that, 246 bands now? Though to be fair, of his many many bands, I find Revolting to be one of his better efforts, especially the 3 album run of The Terror Threshold,  In Grisly Rapture and Hymns of Ghastly Horror. The last of which, was the last Revolting […]

I’ve been a fan of this Australian band’s, ummm, depravity, since they released their full-length debut, Evil Upheaval back in 2018. They brought the brutality along with meaty riffs, pounding drums, and those deep death metal vocals. This style of brutal death metal doesn’t usually hit me, but when it does, it hits really hard. […]

Atrae Bilis is promoted as technical death metal. Canadian technical death metal, to be specific. I didn’t know this, or at least had never thought about it before, but with that genre tag, they’re in great company. Gorguts, Cryptopsy, and more recently, Archspire fit that bill. As just mentioned, great company, even if I don’t […]

In my introduction to Coexistence, I figured I would talk about my introduction to Coexistence. Get it? I first found out about this band when their video for the track “Collateral Dimension,” also the title track of their debut album, randomly played on YouTube. I kind of knew what to expect when I saw the […]

Nothing like a little world chaos and a global pandemic to really get the blood pumping, amiright?! Maybe it’s just the lingering threat of societal collapse talking, but I think crust and grindcore is really on the cusp of having a moment. It’s that raw mix of anxiety-ridden rage, irremovable pessimism, and willingness to watch […]

I was unaware Paraguay had such an excellent death metal act, in the name of this 5-piece named Verthebral.  I will admit to getting a bit burnt out recently to the oversaturation in the death metal scene of bands trying to out brutal one another.  While I understand the competitive nature of that often the […]

Transcending Obscurity is on quite a roll in 2019, firmly establishing themselves as one of the best labels going around in the underground metal scene. Already the label has dished up an impressive quota of quality metal releases this year, and with the upcoming The Drowning album yet to drop, there’s plenty more goodness to […]

What can I say about Bones and their new, and third full-length album, Diseased, that hasn’t already been said before about a few other bands; namely, the ones that seem to influence Bones and their trade of crusty and sometimes even punky, no frills, basic, bare boned death metal. If Terrorizer/Nausea meets Celtic Frost/Obituary by […]

A seasoned veteran and stalwart of the Swedish death metal scene, the prolific Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Ribspreader, Down Among the Dead Men and countless other acts) has dipped his toes into solo waters again for sophomore album, Entrance to the Otherwhere. The multi-talented artist handles all lyrics, music and songwriting duties, ably assisted by session […]

Master is a bit of an unusual act. The band, or more specifically, bassist/vocalist and founding member, Paul Speckmann, has been involved in the metal scene for 35 years now and arguably, he is credited among other notable metal alumni such as Death‘s Chuck Schuldiner, Possessed, and Necrophagia‘s Killjoy with helping create death metal itself. […]

IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME! Okay, I won’t lie to you guys. I didn’t actually know the catch phrase to the once longtime running children’s show without having to look it up. In all honesty, I’ve never seen an episode of the original program or its spinoffs as I am considered an old fart to many youngsters, […]

Transcending Obscurity’s first foray into pure Swedish death metal is relative success with Crawl’s debut, Rituals.  Crawl’s members are relative unknowns but  veterans of the scene and there are branches from the extensive  Demonical family tree in drummer, Amir Batar and  there is Joachim Lyngfelt formerly of the underrated Decomposed. Then output is a nasty, direct crusty, […]

I’ll tell you what, Transcending Obscurity Records, is having a strong run here recently. The tiny Independent Indian label has churned out excellent releases from the likes of Jupiterian, De Profundis, Gaerea , Down Among the Dead Men,  and one of the best death metal records of the year in Depravity’s Evil Upheaval,  and that with […]

Ill keep short and sweet, like the 11 songs on the third album from Dave Ingram (ex-Benediction, Ursinne, Echelon, Just Before Dawn) and Rogga Johannson ( too fucking many to type). Much like their prior two albums (2013s self titled debut and 2015s Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!),  … And You Will Obey Me is a more crust/d […]

This is death metal.  This is just DEATH FUCKING METAL.  I mean after 8-10 good spins of this album, that’s about the best way to sum this up.  If you haven’t heard of Depravity, it might be because they’re in the middle of the ocean on the continent of Australia, and this is their first […]

So about 8 years ago and for another webzine,  I reviewed the second album from Australia’s Arkheth, IX & I: The Quintessence of Algaresh, a sprawling, brilliant, epic 2 CD , 10 song, 150 minute album of Symphonic black metal in the vein of Emperor, Keep of Kalessin, Dimmu Borgir et al.  Well, apparently  my review […]