Posts Tagged ‘Unique Leader Records’

Bound In Fear – Penance

Osiah, Lorna Shore, Signs of the Swarm, Crown Magnetar, Worm Shepherd, Lieweaver, Distant, Slaughter to Prevail, Mental Cruelty, Dead/Awake, and others, : “We released the heaviest deathcore releases of 2021!” Bound in Fear: “…Hold my beer”. The UKs Bound In Fear snuck onto my 2019 year-end list with The Hand of Violence (“Stigmata” and “Hate […]

Vulvodynia – Praenuntius Infiniti

Vulvodynia from South Africa are one of the heavy hitters in the brutal death metal/deathcore scene and in their short 7 year existence, have garnered quite a nice following, as well as releasing 3 prior full lengths and ep’s.  Just like Korpse, Vulvodynia, were another free agent Unique Leader picked up and this year has […]

First Fragment – Gloire éternelle

Stop me if you’ve heard this before – the best technical death metal album of the year is Ominous Ruin, no wait! it’s Hannes Grossman, oh no, shit it’s Ophidian I.  That’s it! PHEW.  I hope nothing else comes out that will change that…. Obscura , Archspire, and First Fragment “Oh, Hai!” Shit. Listen, there’s a […]

Breathing Process, The – Labyrinthian

“Breathe in through your nose and out through your vagina.” This is the breathing process. At least that’s what I told a former friend who was getting a particular painful wrist tattoo. There’s also a band with the name The Breathing Process, and they may beg to differ. MAY. Anyway, I’ve never heard these blackened […]

Signs Of The Swarm – Absolvere

Like it or not, deathcore is having a pretty solid comeback over the last couple or years, and it appears to be peaking in 2021 with Unique Leader Records leading the charge with releases from the likes of Distant, Osiah, To The Grave, Humanity’s Last Breath, Mental Cruelty, Worm Shepherd, Bound In Fear, (a few […]

Cognitive – Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction

You are starting to hear and feel the impact of covid and the chaotic final year of Trump’s administration on some albums being put out now. Albums that were written in seclusion, online, in depressive states, in rage. I think we are seeing a real creative burst in the metal scene, that might be one […]

Distant – Aeons of Oblivion

I rather enjoyed 2019s Tyrannotophia, from this Dutch downtempo band, as it ended up being one of the better deathcore/ downtempo releases I have still heard. Then I found the follow-up EP, Dawn of Curruption a bit boring, and the band got surpassed by label mates Bound In Fear as the best band in the […]

Osiah – Loss

Every time I’m ready to signal the death knell for deathcore, along comes a release that kinda gets me excited about the genre again, whether it’s a veteran band like Despised Icon coming back from the dead or a newcomer like Anime Terror. Right now it happens to be the Unique Leader duo of Mental […]

Mental Cruelty – A Hill To Die Upon

In the promo materials, Mental Cruelty is described as “haunting death metal.” As I’ve yet to be visited by any ghostly apparitions, I call shenanigans! However, when it comes to what style of music these dudes play, it’s more along the lines of symphonic brutal blackened deathcore. Think somewhere along the lines of Lorna Shore, […]

Humanity’s Last Breath – Välde

Like many, I’ve been waiting on a new Vildhjarta album for almost a decade now as the band has yet to release anything other than a few teasers and track or an EP since 2011’s, Masstaden. But little did I know there has been a perfectly good (and more productive) stand-in band lurking in the […]

Bound in Fear – Eternal EP

Unique Leader has been heavy on the deathcore/downtempo so far in early 2021 with 2 conceptual EPs from Distant (both a bit underwhelming), Australia’s to To The Grave and their debut, Humanity’s Last Breath,  and this the second release from the UKs Bound In Fear, and boy it is  a doozy. Distant might have been […]

Korpse – Insufferable Violence

The Netherlands have quite a varying style of death metal genres and brutal slam death metal act Korpse were kind of a free-agent last year after releasing 2 prior albums.  Their 2013 self-titled debut and the sophomore Unethical in 2016.  Korpse had amassed, in their relatively short existence, quite a decent following and many of […]

Cytotoxin – Nuklearth

Jesus, Unique Leader is having/had a fucking ridiculous summer of releases. From the reliable,  slammy duo of Ingested and Katalepsy to the vastly improved duo of Athme and Exocrine to the monstrous Stillbirth, the label killed it (not even counting the upcoming Humanity’s Last Breath remaster and reissue of Detestor EP and self titled album […]

Ahtme – Mephitic

Well this definitely on my list for most improved tech death bands of 2020.  Kansas City Missouri’s Ahtme return with their 2nd full length album Mephitic.  I must admit I was a bit ho-hum regarding their 2018 debut Sewerborn.   It beyond clear that the sound of the group has matured a bit and the song […]

Stillbirth – Revive The Throne

While not overly familiar with Germany’s long-running brutes  Stillbirth, I’ve checked some of their releases via promotional material in the past but never been really impressed to put pen to paper and express my opinion about them, especially as they came off with a bit of a weed-based, tongue in check vibe (i.e song titles […]

Ingested – Where Only Gods May Tread

I own the Ingested albums, and I kinda liked 2018s Level Above Human, 2015s The Architect of Extinction, and 2009s Surpassing the Boundaries of Human Suffering. But I have never really loved the Brits output, preferring countrymates Infant Annihilator  or Dyscarnate when it comes to British slams and breakdowns and always reaching for the likes […]

Cordyceps – Betrayal

Based out of Las Vegas Nevada comes Cordyceps with their debut brutal death metal album, Betrayal.  3 years ago they released a nifty 5 song ep Black Blood Butchery or B to the third power and it was a nice display of brutal beatdown death metal.  Basically the band is a 2-piece with Rafael Gonzalez […]

Katalepsy – Terra Mortuus Est

I have been following Moscow’s Katalepsy since their Musick Brings Injuries ep.  Debut album Autopsychosis in 2013 became one of my favorite brutal slam death metal albums.  That high quality output continued a few years later with the sophomore album Gravenous Hour – another excellent example of the band putting out monstrously heavy music. And […]

I Am Destruction – Nascency

I decided to check out the promo from Texas’s I Am Destruction, as it was a Unique Leader release, and that’s usually a fire hit. Also, this band and features guitarist Paul Dundas, who used to play is fellow Texans  I Am, who I recently discovered and really liked, hoping for a similar styled and […]

Afterbirth – Four Dimensional Flesh

I was honored to be a guest singer on the debut Afterbirth album-The Time Traveler’s Dilemma, on the song “Timeless Formless”, released in 2017.  The album just plain rules and Afterbirth return with their second album-Four Dimensional Flesh, which shows the band streamlining their approach.  Shorter songs, but no less brutal or catchy, than the previous album. “Beheading the Buddha” opens […]

Xenobiotic – Mordrake

When one who is familiar with the label sits down with a Unique Leader release, there are a few items which come to mind. Firstly, this is going to likely be technical death metal. There will be fantastic musicianship on display. Frequently, the production will also be brick walled, and it may be difficult to […]

Murder Made God – Endless Return

Greece’s Murder Made God have been on my radar since their 2013 Brutal Bands Release Irreverence. If you are not familiar with the style of death metal Murder Made God play I would describe as quite percussively rhythmic and groovy.  Murder Made God’s 2019 effort Endless Return is no exception.  Kicking things off with “Alive”, […]

Disentomb – The Decaying Light

The sophomore effort from Australia’s Disentomb, Misery was a very late discovery and addition to my 2014 year end list, but that won’t be an issue with the band’s stellar third effort, as I’ve had this beast for a while now, and it’s easily one of the year’s best death metal records, even as we […]

Brand of Sacrifice – God Hand

Believe it or not, deathcore is having a pretty good year in 2019: Enterprise Earth, When Plagues Collide, Ingested, Angelmaker, Organectomy (though arguably more slam) have dropped solid releases and once genre kings Whitechapel, delivered a return to form with powerfully introspective The Valley, with Carnifex, Shadow of Intent and Thy Art is Murder still to […]

Distant – Tyrannotophia

Down tempo (or lazy eyed deathcore as I lovingly call it), is one of my guilty pleasures. It takes the best part of deathcore, the breakdowns, and beats them to death repeatedly for an entire album with little or no deviation. If bands like Black Tongue, Calmed By the Tides of Rain, Traitors, Falsifier and […]