I must confess to having ignored this talented Australian old school death band since 1997. They formed in 1994, have had many, many line up problems, and only ex-Destroyer 666 member Chris Volcano remains from the beginning. I picked up their split album with Mornaland, for the Mornaland half I must confess again, and found [...]

Bestial Mockery is, of course, obsessed with chainsaws, and aside from that gimmick offer little to distinguish themselves. That being said, this album is surprisingly good. The nostalgia factor is high, bringing the listener back to the mid 80’s heyday of thrash when Slayer ruled. Slayer is a very obvious influence and the guitar work, [...]

I discovered this band accidently back in 1997 when the cover of Blutsabbath caught my attention in a record store. I had never heard of them and picked it up solely because of the cover. Shortly thereafter I found The Last Supper at the same store. Ever since I’ve been telling people about them and [...]

Woods of Belial is a Finnish “industrialized black doom” band, borrowing from such acts as Skepticism and Abruptum and Darkthrone. They have been around since 1996, started recording Deimos XIII in 2000, and finished it in 2003. This is their first album, following two demos, and three labels.
Firebox claims this to be “51 minutes of [...]

Ye gads, where to start on this one. Two Polish immigrants relocated to Canada unleashed unsupervised upon a recording studio to record their second album. This is one is those albums you will either love or loathe, and much of that will depend on your state of consciousness. Those preferring a continual state of altered [...]

A few years back, Berserk’s debut album was a pleasant surprise, an excellent album from an unknown band. Obitus played a significant role with his synthesizers, so I was a bit concerned when I learned that he was leaving and was not going to be replaced. When I first head this new album was finished [...]

Let’s start off by saying that this disc came to me for review with no information and nothing that identified which label released it. Neither the booklet nor the disc inself mention a label. Here is what I know. Parasite Records released this album on vinyl limited to 555 copies, it was recorded back in [...]

I specifically chose to review this on the heels of the recent Veneficum offering, as they both offer synth laden efforts of melodic black metal from the US, and while Veneficum essentially get it all right, Minnesota’s Epicurean are bright eyed and full of promise with some issues to fix before they can compete on [...]

This is a re-release on Behemoth Productions, the first release by that label. Black Funeral is a thing of the past, having long ago devolved into dark ambient industrial noise. This material was recorded without vocals in 1996. The vocals were added in 2000. This is very poor sound (on purpose) very simplistic playing (on [...]

When Nordavind, the most corpse-like being in all of black metal, left, I feared the mighty Carpathian Forest would change drastically. His Frostian flourishes were always inspired and were one of the quirks that made the band one of the elite. Easily one of the most consistent of the long standing black metal bands, they [...]

Thanks to our friends at Candlelight, this album is now avaliable in the US and it was worth the wait. One of my favorite bands has released the album they’ve hinted at for 2 decent but hard to find efforts. Both Cybersonic Superchrist (2000, Pavement Music) and When We Are Done Your Flesh Will Be [...]

This 10 song 70 minute album by the U.S. based black metal misanthrope, Wrest, is described as Judas Iscariot grimness meets Burzum’s mesmerizing quality. Wrest calls it dark art for the satanic elite. Wrest performs all instruments in this mostly slow, pointedly simple music. It does have the mesmerizing quality of old Burzum, but not [...]

As promised, more songs based upon novels by the Hungarian musical wizard, or is it demon? Last time the narrator found himself transformed into a demon, this time the songs are based upon the novels of John Caldwell. Demons once again reign. The orchestration is less aimless, more dynamic and more tightly structured as distinct [...]

What can I say about Tidfall? Industrial black electronica, a Dimmu Borgir and Kovenant clone. In a word, they suck. Now I guess I have to tell you why. The electronica/ samples are more intrusive, not a good thing. They lack intensity, are not ‘grim,’ fast, blasphemous, evil, tortured… or interesting. The production is not [...]

Starting with a frantic and menacing pace, before developing some serious creepy-crunch dance floor cred, all the while staying dangerously punk; WithAllSincerity impress me right off the bat. Raging jagged speed riffs sear into the consciousness, beating and pummeling the listener into a pain-induced trance. They convey the garage or vfw thrash out attitude, while [...]

Hailing from the grim, frost bitten realms of Brisbane, Australia, Astriaal play voracious black metal that lies squarely between the truest classic style and a slightly more modern razor sharp, melodic take on the genre.
Comparisons could be made to Dissection, Naglfar and Marduk (and to these ears, Angel Corpse), but Astriaal make the sound their [...]

I’ve read a lot of stellar reviews of the latest record from folk/Viking/pagan outfit Tyr, so I was anxious to hear it, and if I’m being quite honest, I’m a little disappointed. While I can appreciate a lot of the things that they do, and there are certainly some quite good moments on the record, [...]

While the concept of “Aussie Doom” alone seems oxymoronic yet appealing, I admit it’s taken many listens for this release to grow on me. Still, while I won’t add more grandiloquent depression to the fire by banishing it to the graveyard, I can’t exactly put my complete support behind it either. Instead, my opinion is [...]

This is primitive black metal with minimal distortion, a very clear production, but not burnt. Raw may be favored by many fans, including Nazgul, but this disc proves that sliding the scale upwards slightly yields many rewards. Nazgul says he prefers the more raw, simple and harsh style of Darkthrone, Marduk, and Carpathian Forest. The [...]

If found a new game to play and it’s called “Six Degrees of Erik Rutan”. Aurora Borealis is the self-financed project of guitarist Ron Vento, who then just hires session musicians to play other instruments. Former members include Tony Laureano and (Nile, Angelcorpse), Derek Roddy (Hate Eternal and too many bands to mention) and now [...]

Signing to a major label doesn’t necessarily result in the immediate benefits that one might expect, especially if the band in question has spent years developing their sound on the independent circuit. Most of these artists fail to make the transition from underground to mainstream success and Amorphis are certainly no exception to the rule.
After [...]

This is a strange one. Hailing from the Ukraine, Phantasmagory blends progressive death with jazzy, serpentine synth soundscapes to create a cosmic, darkly whimsical experience. It’s like Cynic playing the soundtrack to a Final Fantasy game. Very odd. Makes Arcturus sound staid and predictable.Released in 2002, Anamorphosis of Dreams features a collection of Edward Miroshnichenko’s [...]

Grinding and grating, obstinate to the point of obnoxiousness, the Unpersons come raging out of the gate with an “everything but the kitchen sink” take on noisy hardcore. The chaos belies their youth which fuels the pure energetic musical misdirection achieved frequently throughout this release. The album starts to move along at break-neck pace, alternately [...]

So Gothicized symphonic black metal has been done to death right? Bands like Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and Old Mans Child have essentially set the bar for others to follow, and follow they have-in droves. Graveworm, Apostasy, Ninnumaum, Agathodaimon, Chthonic, Tidfall, and too many others to name have all delivered their own takes on [...]

A Belgian band I’ve never heard of and A Finnish label I’ve never heard of equals an album of the year contender? Weird, huh? Doom metal has been in kind of a slump over the last few years, never able to find the glory of the early 1990’s, despite welcome recent efforts by Shape of [...]