You gotta love a band who writes songs about killing zombies and transforming into bloodthirsty monsters. Especially when it’s combined with NWOBHM influences and nimble musicianship. Such the case with Raleigh, NC’s Colossus. Abandoning their punk rock aspirations, these five young men fully embraced their love of all things Heavy Metal with the EP release […]

There have been a lot of thrash metal records to come out over the last few years. Some good, some bad, like anything else of course. While a lot of what I’ve heard draws from the crossover, “zombies and beer” type thrash, I haven’t noticed as many new bands playing more in the Testament, Megadeth […]

I like what Tribunal records has done recently; Asecretdeath’s impressive debut, re-releasing Inferi’s solid 2009 self released debut then re-issuing two of 2008s better self released efforts; Iron Thrones’ brilliant Visions of Light, and the self titled debut EP from this young but immensely talented Denver, Colorado quartet. Though only 4 songs and 18 minutes in length, […]

Despite the fact this is pretty obvious The Black Dahlia Murder worship a la Wretched, Mirror of Dead Faces, Sons Of Azrael etc, but it’s better than those bands and I have to say I’m kinda digging this- a lot. From the killer cover to the injection of some excellent Woe of Tyrants – like […]

Sporting ex-Darkane vocalist Lawrence Mackrory (from the excellent Rusted Angel album) on bass and backing vocals, I had high expectations from Enemy Is Us and their second full length Venomized, despite the not so great band name. What I got was a heaping dose of unmemorable mediocrity. Venomized is a lesson in Swedish repetitiveness. Don’t […]

Much like the recent release of label mates A Thousand Times Repent, Georgia’s Hereafter An Odyssey deliver an EP (which was originally self released by the band) plying a style that’s been done to death (core), but do it well enough to warrant your attention if you are a fan of the genre, or new […]

With most recent deathcore simply obsessed with showing me how heavy and broodle they are (Annotations of An Autopsy, Emmure, Embrace The End, I Declare War, etc) a few bands such as Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, Fate and Atlanta’s A Thousand Times Repent are trying to engage in a little more than a […]

North Carolina’s Jonin are an interesting prospect. They play a sort of haughty and complex Progressive Metal or AOR but with American Metal or metalcore undertones and they have a superb vocalist that sounds like a mix of Maynard from Tool and Tuomas Tuominen from Fall of the Leafe. On paper, it’s a very intriguing […]

Over the years, I’ve probably written about The Feds coming to town a dozen times or more in my regular gig at the local paper, so it seems a little odd that the first time I’m actually hearing them is for a review here. First, I’ll say that there are some good things to be […]

And so the template laid down by Between the Buried and Me gets aped again; chaotic metalcore/tech metal, ambitious, proggy injections, quirky off kilter song structures, soaring arpeggios, etc.. Then throw in some Horse the Band 8 bit styled video game programming and you have Maine’s Last Chance to Reason and their forgetful debut. Though […]