We don’t do interviews very much any more here. I mean how many times do you need to hear some megastar like Karl Sanders or Corpsegrinder say “yeah this album is better than the last one” or “this album was a very ‘personal’ one’?

That said , if I ever get the chance to promote one of the ‘small guys’ or even better a ‘local’ small guy, whose music I really enjoy, I often try and do it, especially if it means meeting the said band in person.

One such example of both is Vile Revelation, hailing from Columbia , Missouri.

We at Teeth of the Divine don’t want to just steamroll over 2023 like it never happened, because when you go back and really think about all the wild shit that went down, it certainly deserves some recognition – from our nation’s capital providing the most insane reality TV possible (we can’t wait for the George Santos/Lauren Boebert spinoff) to a handful of millionaires deciding to visit the Titanic in a glorified oil drum with unsurprisingly disastrous results, there was no shortage of explosive (er, implosive?) moments to reflect on.

Well, it’s the time of the year when the staff here at TeethoftheDivine take a short break for the Holidays. Unlike Apple workers, we give our little elves a little time off to celebrate the season with their families, loved ones, cats or sex doll of choice.

TeethoftheDivine and Horror Pain Gore Death Productions has teamed up to deliver an exclusive song, “The Void” from Burial Rites, the forthcoming second album from Massachusetts’s Exsanguination.!

Read the Official press release below from HPGD Productions:

We say this every year, but 2022 was a fantastic year in metal. With literally too many killer releases to cover, especially with the increase of digital-only/Bandcamp releases.

And as usual, there was a mix of veteran acts that are still at the top of their game, and fresh new blood to get excited about and the future of metal seems to be in good hands.

Our carefully cured lists cover a whole gamut of styles and releases, so feast your eyes on our best of 2022 staff lists, check out the linked reviews and feel free to comment, let us know what we got right or wrong, and post your own lists in the comments.

Here’s to 2023 continuing the trend of great years as we get the likes of Metallica, Obituary, In Flames, Insomnium, Distant, Ne Obliviscaris, Extermination Dismemberment, Sanguisugabogg, and no doubt, exciting debuts from up and comers.

As always, thanks for reading, sharing, liking, and commenting. You are why we do this (and maybe some early free music). So please keep coming back here for your metal reviews, features, and general metal fuckery.

Way back in the late 90s/early 2000s, The End Records were arguably the best independent record label around that wasn’t one of the ‘big’ four- Nuclear Blast, Century Media, Relapse and Metal Blade- when it came to underground metal.

With releases from bands like Agalloch, Ulver, Arcturus, Anathema, November’s Doom, Crisis, Love History, Sculptured, Scholomance, Unexpect, Virgin Black and others, the label was diverse, ambitious and often genre bending.

But for me personally, one of the band’s early flag ship US bands that was able to compete with their European brethren was Tennessee’s black metal act Epoch of Unlight.

We all know the sequel is usually better than the first part right? Aliens, Terminator 2, The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight, Wrath of Khan, Debbie Does Dallas 2.

And we here at TeethoftheDivine know the kind of pressure that comes with making a sequel – it has to be bigger, better, the villains might even win, leaving the door open for a part 3 let down…

So we thought we would change it up for the second part of out Halloween Killer Cuts Special. So our writers could not go back to the well of know classics again. Instead the songs had to be from 2022…..

Question: name a Swedish death metal band that has been around for over 20 years, and has released 14 consistently good albums in that time span? Chances are you were not thinking of The Project Hate MCMXCIX, the brainchild of one Lord K Phillipson, a gentleman whom I have conserved with over the internet over the years since the third album, Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate. His supporting cast has changed over the years (though he has been finally locked into a stable group of hired guns for a while now), but one thing remains; the absolutely monstrous albums he and his troupe kicks out.

And what makes it even more impressive is that the last 6 albums have been donation funded, paid for by fans of the project, via ‘donation experiments’ whereby fans can donate money, and upon a certain amount being reached, he commences assembling his musical avengers and recording the album and sends those results digitally to those that donated. There is even a limited CD run if the fans, again want to pay for the whole CD-making process.

A dear friend of mine once gave me one the most profound pieces of advice I’ve ever been given in life: If you could choose one thing to have in life – choose fun.

Sounds simple enough, right? But life, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, doesn’t always (or even often) make this so easy. In truth, we’re all just doing our best to try and get by and, when we can, find whatever time is left over to surround ourselves with the people and passions that make life worth the effort.

Well, another year in the books. Another year of excellent metal and another year scrambling to put together year end lists from the vast amount of quality music released in 2021.

Below is the finely crafted crème de la crème of year end lists from our dedicated staff, who strive to provide to the great daily content here at TeethoftheDivine, and their year end reward is to spout their opinions of what they liked, disliked and anticipate.

As usual feel free to add you own lists or comments and of course browse the site to find reviews of the contained material where we have it. But more importantly lets hope for a better and closer to normal year in 2022.

The leaves are gone, the snow has fallen, and the Christmas decorations are showing up. That only means one thing: The great American tradition of gluttony awkward family gatherings…namely…Thanksgiving.

We hope you all have a safe and turkey filled day!

Listen, I know we haven’t done an interview in a few years. But I thought I’d dip my toes back in the interview well and see what happens. And what better place to start than one of the year’s best Swedish death metal offerings from the multinational act, Abscession. I love me some Swedish death metal, and these guys are pretty much near the top of the peak for the genre.

Get your Carol Baskin outfit on! It’s Our favorite Halloween and Horror Themed Tracks!!!

It’s that special, spooky time of year again, and we at Teeth of the Divine are here to help you have your best Halloween possible!

Click ahead to check out some of our favorite Halloween-themed and adjacent tracks featuring monsters, killers, graveyards and all the scary, blood-curdling shit that makes us smile with sadistic glee!

The metal universe is chock full of legendary, long lasting acts who delivered album after album of excellence or at least some level of  consistency, even with a misstep or two; for example, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower, Dismember, Iron Maiden, Slayer, Incantation, Deicide, Suffocation etc.

But for every one of those bands that had the right recipe for longevity and quality, there are 50 or more that never ‘made’ it. And my made it, we mean they just had one killer album or EP and for any number of reasons, never followed that release up.

In 2012 I was quite impressed with Germany’s Revel in Flesh debut album, Deathevokation.  Really taking the Swedish bludgeoning guitar tone and brutalizing throughout the entire album.  There was and continues to be a decent amount of melody on all their releases and the song structures and catchy tunes stick in the listener’s head long after the music is turned off.  Since then Revel in Flesh has released 3 other ferocious death metal albums and the new one Relics of the Deathkult is actually a compilation of prior 7″ and split eps.  As always the care and concern with presentation has always remained top shelf with Revel in Flesh. Their album covers and layout designs are some of the best in the entire scene.  I developed a friendship with the singer years ago and Ralf is a die-hard death metal fan who just so happens to have a monstrous voice.  He has a variety of tones going from the brutal deep lows (my favorite) and higher pitched monster screams.  He not only loves classic death metal but has a very good understanding of classic metal, in general-which I surely appreciate.  Once you read this interview, please pick up all their releases and like their FB page and spread the word.  Also, buy some merch from them and any US promoters please get Revel in Flesh to the States to play some damn shows.  They are one of the best death metal acts around. 

Vomit Remnants have been a force in the international death metal community for over twenty years. It has been nearly twenty years since they last released a full-length album. 2017’s Hyper Groove Brutality released on Unique Leader Records is an album that was not without challenges. In this TeethoftheDivine.com interview I have a conversation with Keisuke the drummer of Vomit Remnants. We go over Japanese language, the influence of Internal Bleeding. The bands that influenced them and what the challenges were in reforming Vomit Remnants and finding a label to work with. We also get into some of Keisuke favorite bands and talk about the scene in Japan.

Back in 2006, I saw Dismember, Grave, Vital Remains and Atlanta’s Withered at a hole in the wall venue in St. Louis, MO. Dismember and Grave were two Swedish death metal icons, Vital Remains were still basking in the afterglow of Dechristianize and new comers Withered had recently released Memento Mori, a solid Swedish styled death metal album with some black and sludge metal thrown in. It remains the best show that I have ever attended. After the show, I hung out with Withered front man Mike Thompson as I had recently interviewed him for Metal Maniacs. He was one of the nicest, most down to earth dudes I had ever met and we stayed in somewhat regular contact. Fast forward a decade.

Any given time, when requested to list my favorite death metal albums of all time, Benediction’s “The Grand Leveller “always finds its way on the list. With typically scrappy British gusto, it shoulders its way in among the heavyweights like Morbid Angel, Death and Suffocation. The singer on that album and the four subsequent Benediction albums was no other than Dave Ingram.

Brooklyn’s black metal act Woe has been to the top of the mountain and the bottom of the valley. From stunning debut as a one man black metal act almost a decade ago, to almost breaking up, founder Chris Grigg has seen it all. After a 4 year layoff, Grigg is back with a new album, some new members and the return in “Hope Attrition”, which drips with a cathartic venom of a man and a band that has something to prove. Ive known Chris for a few years, back when he was called “Xos”, and thought I’d reach out to see how hte new album and lineup came about as well as the last couple of albums….

One of the better and most consistent band currently atop the Swedish death metal revival is Germany’s Revel In Flesh. As prolific as they are awesome, the band is now four albums in, in just 6 years, each as good as the last. The latest release, Emissary of All Plagues, was released late last year on Cyclone Empire and sees the band

I’ll get right to it- Indiana’s Invasion have been around a while, plying their war themed death metal since 1999. They started as a more Swedish styled band and really got my attention with 2002s Bezerk Artillery Barrage, one of my early reviews back in the digital metal.com days. At the time, a US band using the Stockholm sound was virtually unheard of. They followed it up with 2010 Orchestrated Kill Maneuver, another slab of Swedish styled chainsaws. But then the band went quiet for a while. 8 years later we have Destroyers of Mankind and the band has now leaning on their American heritage for a far more USDM styled sound. I caught up with Peter Clemens Invasion founder and a busy man involved with many other projects.

Lord K Phillipson, the founder of The Project Hate MCMXCIX, is and has always been one of the most outspoken and opinionated dudes in metal. Ever since we started conversing around 2003s Hate, Dominate, Congregate, Eliminate in the Digitalmetal.com days. From the internet, labels to illegal downloads, The man has always had something to say. And right now he has a lot to talk about as the The Project Hate collective has just unleashed their 11th album, Of Chaos and Carnal Pleasures to the masses. Amd yet again the release is a fan funded, digital only release as Lord K continues to spurn the industry and record labels.

While Texas is more know for its brutal death metal and pure black metal, lying amid the reeds is Vex. Vex are neither. Instead, the band plays a form of hybrid between atmospheric black metal and melodic death metal. They have been around since 1999 but only have three albums under their belt — including the just released ‘Sky Exile’ on Eiwaz/Bindrune Recordings (a perfect fit) and those with a taste for more progressive, organic metal, will find a lot to like about them.

By the time you read this article, California’s Absymal Dawn will be embarked on one of the year’s (if not longer) best death metal tours. They will be opening for three certifiable legends in Cryptopsy, Cannibal Corpse and Obituary. But Abysmal Down is no normal opener, a wide eyed rookie death metal act. These guys have been around since 2003. Have released 4 albums, 3 of which on metal behemoth label Relapse. So these guys DESERVE to share the stage with such seminal acts.