Bordeaux France’s Exocrine waste no time in laying down some quite nutty technical death metal with their third full length release Molten Giant. “Scorched Human Society” opens with a slight intro into some incredibly clean scalar runs. These guys do an excellent job of breaking up the technical section with groove laden bridge section that […]

Excellent!!!! I say out loud to myself as a twiddle my fingers with euphoric glee! YES! YES! YES! New Zealand’s Organectomy make their presence felt numerous times over with their first full length album Domain of the Wretched.  Organectomy are more than a standard, run of the mill slam band.  I would consider more a […]

Ingested were one of the (at that time) early deathcore bands, who burst onto that scene early with 2009’s Surpassing the Boundaries of Human Suffering.  Despite having some of the most god-awful typewriter sounding way-too-high-in-the-mix triggered drums I have ever heard, it was actually a very solid album and fans of the genre were quickly […]

When Unique Leader signs a band, I instantly put it on my “must check out” list.  Their track record of signing some truly top-notch death/brutal death metal is second to none.  So as a deathcore fan, and hearing that the debut of Krosis was going to be on UL, it had all the makings of […]

Sacramento’s Alterbeast are bringing in the New Year with their 2nd full length release Feast. I really have to hand it to Unique Leader they waste absolutely zero time transitioning from year to year and continue to find outstanding groups with outstanding musicianship. With that being said opening up an album with a piano instrumental […]

It was The Kennedy Veil’s second album, 2014’s Trinity of Falsehood, which really put them on the tech-death map.  It was their first album on Unique Leader records, and was a twisting, darting, riff-filled affair that really announced the quartet as a potential force to be reckoned with and demonstrated some incredibly deft musicianship. Well […]

I was a huge fan of California’s brutal tech-death band Oblivion’s 2013 debut album Called to Rise.  4 years later and the band is still intact with Ted O’Neill and Victor Dods ( ex Hacksaw to the Throat) on guitars, Ben Orum (ex- All Shall Perish) on Bass, Luis Martinez (ex Antagony) blasting the crap […]

UK power trio Dyscarnate got on my radar with the 2014 reissue of their 2012 sophomore album, And So it Came to Pass, an impressive display of groove and heft that many compared to Dying Fetus- and rightfully so as the band has a bit of hardcore buried in their death metal salvos. And they […]

Long Island, New York’s long running Afterbirth had a re-birth 4 years ago.  Guitarist, Cody Drasser was like ‘OK, let’s get this shit going and finally get our debut album out’.  You see, Afterbirth began in the 90’s and while I was in Internal Bleeding we played shows with them and they were always great live and […]

The Barren Throne, the third album from Iceland’s Beneath, was a solid tech/brutal death  metal affair, befitting the label it was released on (Unique Leader), but it was hardly a memorable, game changing album. That looks to have changed with the band’s wholly improved and utterly  impressive third album, Ephemeris. The more cosmic/celestial theme of […]

Hailing from Japan, Vomit Remnants reunited in 2015 and Hyper Groove Brutality is their second album and first in 18 years.  Give it up for drummer and founding member, Keisuke Tsuboi for realizing his band had more gas left in the tank to deliver more devastating brutal death metal.  He’s rounded out the band with Kei […]

Man, it never ceases to amaze me how much Italian Death Metal Bands love the Floridian style of death metal.  Not that is by any means a bad thing by any means and it most certainly has been a busy year for Italian Death Metal with Hour of Penance releasing Cast a First Stone on […]

California’s Condemned are back after 6 long years with their 3rd brutal offering, His Divine Shadow.  Original member, guitarist, Steve Crow, had to replace a lot of members years ago.  I saw them live on their tour with Wormed, and Cognitive, a few years back and they ripped the place apart.  Guest vocalist, at the […]

One of the more revered names in European brutal death metal, and the primary name in Maltese death metal, Beheaded have been around since the mid 90s and have released 4 fine albums of brutal/technical death metal, with a near classics in 1998s Perpetual Mockery and 2002s Recounts of Disembodiment.  I have not heard 2012s […]

It’s rare I get to have the pleasure of reviewing all the releases from an active band.  Cognitive are one such band.  I reviewed their ep, The Horrid Swarm and interviewed guitarist Rob Wharton several years ago.  The band dropped their self-titled debut 2 years ago and I was pleasantly surprised to hear more technical […]

This has been a busy year for Unique leader Records with releases like First Fragment, The Zenith Passage, Inanimate Existence, Lord of War, Deceptionist, Destroying the Devoid and Carnophage. With as chaotic as their summer release schedule it would be quite easy to have missed out on this one. Woah! This one of definitely a rager! Formerly […]

  Unique Leader has been one of my favorite labels for a long time, and any of their outputs are one that I know I must listen to regardless of the band, as most everything they put out generally ranges from good to great.  Italian tech-death outfit Deceptionist have their debut album on such a […]

Kansas natives Unmerciful released their first full length album, the awesomely titled Unmercifully Beaten, way back in 2006.  After picking it up and listening to it many times over, I knew this would be a band to keep an eye out for.  Well that eye (or both) ended up going to sleep, as these guys […]

After shifting from a gore/pure slam band into a more rounded, complete death metal band with Autopsychosis, these Russians made my 2013 year end -list in a year full of great, brutal metal. With their new album, Gravenous Hour, the band have elevated themselves once again, with an album that is sure to be considered one […]

Unique Leader looks to be having the same sort of outlandishly good year as it had in 2014 with the likes of  Ohmnihilty,  Inherit Disease, Ahtme,  Omaphagia, and The Zenith Passage so far, and then you have the upcoming monster from Katalepsy still yet to come. But I’m pretty confident in stating that this will […]

Los Angeles’ The Zenith Passage debut Solipsist on presents a forty minute clinic of technical death metal.  Featuring former and current members of Fallujah, Oblivion, All Shall Perish and The Faceless these guys definitely have a great deal of time in on their instruments and that is demonstrated right away on the opening track  “Holographic […]

Oregon’s Omnihility burst onto the scene in 2014 with their second record (their Unique Leader debut), Deathscapes of the Subconscious , a pretty damn solid tech death offering with a heavy Origin lean. Well, yet another line up shuffle (as with the debut Biogenesis to Deathscapes), this time adding bassist Isamo Satu and vocalist Adam […]

Well slap my ass and call me Sally, Belgium’s Serial Butcher just surprised the hell right out of me with their sophomore album for Unique Leader Records, Brute Force Lobotomy. Though I had previously never heard Serial Butcher before, I pretty much could guess their sound, this is a Unique Leader release after all. So […]

I won’t rehash the love already shown by this site to France’s tech death masters Gorod and their prior albums. You can see our previous gushing, by myself and Jordan Itkowitz, right here. The question I have for you, loyal reader, is this: can death metal, specifically tech death metal, be happy? Playful, even? We know […]

Man this is definitely the best Unique Leader release I have heard this year so far.  France’s long running Kronos waste no time in beginning their technical death metal assault off the gates with the opener “Infernal Abyss Sovereignty”. Pummeling blast beats and churning vocals set the stage for an incredibly entertaining listen. Being that they […]