I found Closer a few years back on Myspace. The sound was very polished and Soilworkish which grabbed my attention. To my surprise, I find the bands debut A Darker Kind of Salvation arrive in the mail for me to review. Closer may be on Pulverised Records but this is a Nuclear Blast, modern, Swedish [...]

I am about to rant and demean this puppy inside and out. So beware. CD’s like this just aggravate me to no end. This will stand as one of the year’s worst records in my list. Deadlock where fairly new to the scene a few years ago and showed some potential in the female/male fronted [...]

To an untrained ear or mind, a frightening violation of the senses like this is hard to stomach. The soundscape presented is bleak, unsettling, and chaotic, yet melodic and textured at the same time. If you’re into the disturbed extremities of heavy music then look no further. There is nothing pretty about Haven and one [...]

Maurycy “Mauser” Stefanowicz of Vader fame, announced some time ago that he would be leaving his long running extreme outfit to focus on his new project, Unsun. For straight up, death metal, Vader fans, the only enjoyment you’ll get out of this proposal is looking at the rack on lead lady Aya. However, followers of [...]

Bands like Kalmah are really true gems and they wear their hard work on their sleeves. Once labeled as a Children of Bodom clone, Kalmah have consistently matured and crafted their music into one of today’s most noticeable and dominating symphonic death metal sounds. Where Bodom and melodic death metal in general have failed, Kalmah [...]

Churn out as much quality as Opeth, and each album will be studied for the slightest inclination of a flaw. Truth is, Mikael Akerfeldt and his mammoth baby Opeth have no flaws and are literally, in this reviewers eye’s, perfect. Say what you will, Watershed proves without a doubt that you don’t mess with Opeth.
Even [...]

It’s difficult to find security in bands these days. At least half of the bands I look forward to seeing releases from take a turn for the worst at some point. So far Sweden’s Draconian only stay steady if not get better with each album. For those familiar with Arcane Rain Fell and Where Lovers [...]

Cover tunes are somewhat of an abnormality for me. Even when it’s just one on an album of all originals it strikes me as lame, wasteful, and utterly cheesy. Though over the years we have heard some great covers, in any genre, it still presents mixed opinions from this reviewer. So when a pretty well [...]

Isole have been moiling in the underground since the early 90’s. Completely underrated, this Swedish act has only just begun to see the light of day in metal news and charts. 2005’s debut record Forevermore was a healthy slab of traditional epic doom in the vein of Solitude Aeternus, but with its on twists and [...]

Sculptured is the side project from Don Anderson of Agalloch fame. Back in 1998, The Spear of the Lily is Aureoled was a solid effort that showed promise in the Opeth, Katatonia, and Agalloch territory. This was enough to gain my interest and in 2000 the band came out with Apollo Ends, a more progressive/jazz [...]

Here is the winner for best release thus far in 2008. Virgin Black has created one hell of a masterpiece in Requiem-Fortissimo and probably the best album to come out of Australia in years.
Fortissimo means loud or played very loudly. Considering this is the second chapter in a trilogy by the band (Pianissimo being released [...]

After a fairly disappointing year in metal in my opinion, I have been anxiously awaiting something fresh and exciting. If I only heard this CD earlier, it would have surely made it into my top ten of the year. Australia’s Insomnius Dei, are flat out miserable bastards, I love it.
Mark Kelson is the mastermind behind [...]

In over a ten-year span, Opeth have continued to give us beautiful, classic, and timeless CDs. Till this day, there really isn’t too much to complain about with the band. Sure, you will always have the naysayer who thinks they are overrated, but those of us who really enjoy the band can sit back and [...]

Being one of the most undeniably experimental genres running right now, Black Metal has taken quite a growth spurt in the past few years. It has become so empirical that it’s hard to like the sub-par bands. Mediocre or not, Farsot’s debut full-length IIII is solid and shows some potential for future releases.
The band verges [...]

Experimentation and innovative music must be delivered for success to prevail! Today’s metal fans will burry bands basically because of the flooded genre’s and repetitive rubbings left by uninspiring music. Though I am not as harsh as most onlookers I find it becoming harder and harder for me to get excited over new releases. Lots [...]

One of the great things about being on a constant metal scavenger hunt is when you find that golden band that is just full of talent that no one knows about. There’s a sort of pride and gratification in presenting these bands to the unfamiliar. Though I am a reviewer, I do not get as [...]

Third release from this Polish super-group conceived of members of Behemoth and Vader. Though my knowledge of their previous works is thin, I’m finding some enjoyable moments with 2007’s Distractive Killusions.
What I have gathered over the years reading about Vesania is that they failed to impress when compared to other acts in the genre. Despite [...]

When it comes to straight-up death metal, few bands can amuse me. Even when a death metal record strikes me, it surely isn’t because it’s setting the world on fire, but mainly because there’s a little flavor that holds my interest. Poland’s Hate did that for me last year. Norway’s Blood Red Throne hasn’t rattled [...]

I have read some belittling reviews about this bands works and I was very hesitant to listen to their stuff even though it sounded up my alley. Lucky for me, Digital sent their new CD to my door. “The Dark Bastard of the Finnish Goth Scene.” That’s what Sinamore called themselves on their myspace page. [...]

Quickly climbing the ladder as one of the day’s top dark metal labels, Finland’s Firebox has been dishing out quality releases for the past few years. A good percentage of today’s depressive material is from this particular label and honestly along with Candlelight, they seem to be the two top contestants at the moment. So, [...]

With only a handful of artists to their roster (3 to be exact), Portugal’s fresh little label Major Label Industries has been delivering the goods in their first year of existence. Last year’s post-doom newcomers Process of Guilt yielded a healthy slab of death doom with loads of atmosphere and enough sparkle to keep this [...]

I started my “extreme” metal listening in 2000 with Soilworks crowning achievement The Chainheart Machine. Never really hearing anything like that before I was a total Soilworker. Huge fan! I remember anxiously awaiting 2001’s A Predators Portrait and being thoroughly let down by the change in direction. From there on I have never been able [...]

Well, it finally happened. A band has taken doom metal to the Dimmu Borgir level. Finland’s Depressed Mode has a very big symphonic take on crushing doom death. Though normally I would piss myself over this type of thing, Depressed Mode isn’t holding my interest.
First off, the band name just kills me. We know you’re [...]

Most bands who go on a 6 year or more hiatus don’t come back quite as well as Gorefest did. 2004’s La Muerte was a pummeling beast of a return to the scene and held high expectations for Rise to Ruin. Though the band isn’t turning pages in the future of death metal, they are [...]

Of any of the Doom Metal records released this year, Terhen, a band from Finland, have released one of the best. Finland? Of course, Finland. That country seems to have some sort of cornered market on high quality Metal from all genres. Could be some sort of covert scientific experiment by the Finnish government to [...]