Anyone that reads this site regularly know I have a huge love of old school Swedish death metal. Pretty well anything with that HM2/Sunlight sound sounds gets me more excited than Kim Kardashian in an NBA locker room. And 20 years after the genre’s originators like Entombed, Grave, Carnage and Dismember spewed forth from Stockholm, the genre is experiencing a comeback of massive proportions. For the last few years the HM2 sound and style has been in a resurgence with bands from the UK (Binah), Poland (Ulcer, Kingdom), the US (Abysme, Terminate, Horrendous), Germany (Revel in Flesh, Lifeless), Spain (Unconsecrated), The Netherlands (Funeral Whore, Massive Assault) and even the Czech Republic (Morbider, Brutally Deceased), just to name a few. But standing atop of the genre, are acts that hail from the genre’s homeland: Sweden. From the recent reissues of long long classics like Uncanny and Toxaemia, to new blood like Blood Mortized, Malfeitor, Usurpress, Morbus Chron, Bombs of Hades, Bastard Priest and Rogga Johannsen’s 4,456 bands, the Swedes are back. And none is more happy to be back than Entrails. Originally forming in 1990, but never recording anything, one could argue that their loooooong awaited debut, Tales from the Tomb was essentially a dusted off, unearthed blast from the past, re-ignited this whole resurgence. And now their third album, Raginf Death has just been released on Metal Blade Records- a far cry from obscurity 23 years ago. I overcame the language barrier and caught up with founder and guitarist Jimmy Lundquist to dig further into the pile of Entrails…

The Netherlands is country known mostly for two things (depending on the type of person you are): arguably the best kickboxers/Muay Thai fighters on the planet and some of the baddest, most crippling death metal bands in all of Europe. If not for the Netherlands, we wouldn’t have been exposed to such legendary acts of Pestilence, Asphyx, God Dethroned, Hail of Bullets, Gorefest, Sinister, and countless others. Enter the newest member to the Dutch tree of death metal: Icons of Brutality.

Amorphis is one of those bands who always did things on their own terms. They never pigeonholed themselves into one specific genre of metal, constantly experimenting with various sounds and adding elements to their music not typically found in regular metal. Amorphis, as defined by their name, are a band without boundaries, a band without a determinate form. The Finns were one of the first metal acts to ever infuse traditional folk elements to their sound and since the early stages of the burgeoning Scandinavian metal scene, they garnered a legion of loyal fans. Fast forward almost 25 years since the band’s inception and Amorphis is still standing tall amongst their peers. Two EPs and ten full-length albums in, Amorphis just released Circle, an album that revisits many passages of their career as well as a few new wrinkles here and there. TeethOfTheDivine.com was fortunate enough to speak to guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen about their latest release and Amorphis’ legacy. Considering everything that they’ve achieved and where they stand right now with their brilliant new record, it’s safe to say that Amorphis certainly has come full circle.

Back in 2005, I reviewed ‘Absence’, the second album from melancholic Finnish death/doom metal act Noumena. Despite competing directly with the likes of Amorphis, Insomnium, Swallow the Sun and Rapture, the release was one of my favorite releases of that year. The very next year the band released ‘Anatomy of Life’ — once again to critical reviews. However, the band then went silent. Real silent. After being on the verge of truly breaking out, they were not heard from again for seven years. Until now.

It goes without saying that the United Kingdom has birthed some of the greatest acts the rock and metal world has ever heard. Pink Floyd. Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath. Iron Maiden. Napalm Death. Carcass. Cradle of Filth. The list is seemingly endless, though the majority of what many believe to be the best of the best hail from England. Yes, Ireland has had its fair share of terrific musicians/bands over they years but there’s one country that is hardly, if ever, mentioned as even a hive of metal: Scotland. With their debut full length The Giants of Auld just released last month, black/folk metal act Cnoc An Tursa are hoping to change that.

The retro death metal movement is as strong as ever these days, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Add to the pile of corpses and rubble a young Chicago-based band in Terminate. Fresh off the release of their debut album, Terminate appears poised to be one of the bands to lead the latest wave of old school death into the future. Guitarist/vocalist John Porada took some time out of his day to chat with TeethOfTheDivine about their maiden release Ascending to Red Heavens and of death metal in general. Bludgeoning the underground in one of America’s best metal cities, Terminate’s take on a vintage sound suits them well and it’s only a matter of time before the metal world is much more familiar with them.

Remember the days of the late ‘90s when it seemed like everybody and their brothers started up a symphonic black band? Old school black metal bands began infusing orchestral elements to their sound, melodic death metal outfits incorporated some Cradle of Filth-y nuances, and the trendy thing to do was add female vocals into the mix. It was a fun time for a while because some of the releases were top notch. But like every fad – especially in metal – it dies off almost as soon as it starts. For a few years, symphonic black metal was scoffed at for the most part because the bands were either A) trying too hard to sound like their heroes; B) were just not that good; or C) both.

If you go and find the review I wrote for Thrawsunblat’s second opus Thrawsunblat II: Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings you will ascertain how enamored I was with the trio’s eloquent take on folky, misty black metal. A project that once involved Woods of Ypres’ David Gold, it has been kept alive by Joel Violette, who performed on the tragedy stricken Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light.

Edmonton’s Mortillery gets it right. Debut album Murder.Death.Kill (HPGD Productions) really set the tone for the Canadian thrash metallers; everything from the album title to the artwork to Cara McCutchen’s vocal ferocity to the up-the-irons mentality lived, breathed, and puked METAL. Napalm Records heard it, got it, and snatched up that debut album for reissue, including the vinyl treatment. But it is with The Origin of Extinction that Mortillery have raised the bar and unknowingly dared bands the world over to try and top it. Blazing riffs, lacerating solos, vocals that move from thrash brutality to wailing heavy metal singing, and consistency of catchiness all the way through to the end. I can’t get enough of it, which is why The Origin of Extinction is a virtual lock for my 2013 best-album list. Guitarist Alex Gutierrez spoke to me about the finer details of what it’s like to be in a band of metal fans making music for metal fans and not giving a damn about wheel reinvention.

Without having to do too much mental legwork, pondering the current state of death metal spews forth (perhaps in a literal sense) the word “boring.” It’s boring because the new crop of bands that inhabit it aren’t trying very hard; they’re just referencing their copies of Mental Funeral or Eaten Back to Life and running with it, doing as little as they can to establish their own sound. Worst of all, it’s an accepted practice. People are inexplicably excited about the retro death metal movement, even if it threatens to send the style hurdling toward the Stone Age, well before Venom could piece together a power chord. Better yet, why aren’t more bands copping Obituary? …..

Distractions were a-plenty as we huddled with four members of Ancient VVisdom for our scheduled chat in the main backstage area of Mr. Smalls Theatre in Pittsburgh. Royal Thunder vocal queen Mlyn Parsonz stood a few feet behind us, trying to freshen up after their set. Various members of Enslaved’s crew shuttled in and out, oftentimes yelling loudly (in Norwegian, of course) to each other. To top it all off, emerging funeral doom crew Pallbearer was on stage, no doubt lambasting the crowd with maximum levels of distortion and deafening chugs. Yet, somehow, the interview went off without a hitch, as singer Nathan Opposition, guitarist Ribs, lead guitarist Mike, and bassist TA, proved to be some of the nicest dudes around while we huddled together.

If you love your death metal dark, acrid, and Finnish, then look no further than the two-headed beast that is Desecresy. Exploding (or maybe “oozing at a medium pace” would be more fitting) onto the scene with Xtreem Music release Arches of Entropy and topping it up with last year’s The Doom Skeptron, the DM dirge of Desecresy is among the best I’ve heard, even in consideration of a Finnish scene rife with some of the world’s finest bottom-fed Chuggers of DM Darkness. Multi-instrumentalist/composer Tommy Gronqvist and catacombs-dwelling belch-bellower Jarno make one Hell of a team. Tommy offers this Demonstration of Death at no charge to the reader. Rejoice!

To the outside observer, the 2012 departure of long-time Suffocation drummer Mike Smith came as a surprise. It was Smith’s drumming, of course, that was usually the catalyst for the band’s legendary brutal death metal attack, one that spawned such gems like 1991 Effigy of the Forgotten and 1993’s Breeding the Spawn. Without Smith, some figured, Suffocation couldn’t survive. Needless to say, they were wrong, as evidenced by their new, domineering Pinnacle of Bedlam.

Not quite at Steve Harris level when it comes to notable European bass players, but just as valuable, Helloween’s Markus Grosskopf has been the band’s perennial bedrock since their 1984 formation. Thrust into what was seemingly a never-ending tug-and-war between huge egos (see: Kai Hansen, Michael Weikath, Michael Kiske, and later, Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch), Grosskopf emerged as the band’s de-facto mediator, the sole level head in a band that always teetered on self-destruction. Even after the near-crippling departure of Hansen in 1989, the acrimonious split with Kiske in 1993, and ugly divorce with Grapow and Kusch in 2002, Helloween is still standing, thanks in large part to Grosskopf, and singer Andi Deris, who is far and away the longest-tenured vocalist in the band’s history.

Considering winter has decided to rear its ugly head for most of the Midwest and Northeast (lucky you, those not afflicted), the need for bands of similar dreariness is predicated. Aside from the usual suspects whom shall not be named, there is a growing tide of bands emerging from the likeliest of all places: Finland. As we’ve come to learn through our Finnish friends, their winters make our winters look like a walk through a daisy-filled park. Darkness of the never-ending variety is the norm, while temperatures make little effort to get out of the sub-zero department. Definitely the right environment to make metal that is dark and dreary, don’t you think?

The first band out of the gate for 2013 is Hanging Garden, who have toiled in relative obscurity since their 2004 formation. This should change thanks to their brand-spanking new At Every Door (Lifeforce), an album that channels song-oriented death/doom, with the chilling and cold spirit of countrymen Swallow the Sun and better yet, Sentenced. There’s plenty of onus on melody on cuts like “Ten Thousand Cranes” and “The Cure,” while numbers such as “Wormwood” and “To End All Ages” smolder with an unforgiving atmosphere; a perfect offset to the bounty of melody on display.

We snagged guitarist Jussi Hämäläinen and vocalist Toni Toivonen for a round of queries regarding the new album, their slow-build, and most obvious of all: how they cope with Finnish winters…

You can spot Bjorn Gooßes’s voice from a mile away, a visceral, pointed roar that exudes instant charm…in a pure death metal way, of course. After spending the better part of 2011 and 2012 promoting his now former band Night in Gales’ most awesome Five Scars album, the German-based singer has turned his focus to The Very End, his long-running side band which is obviously, a side band no more. Positioned in the same thrash/death hybrid as the likes of Hatesphere and Dew-Scented, The Very End has alongside Gooßes’s vocals, a song-oriented, melody-driven sound that should keep them out of the dreaded retro thrash discussion for the time being. Their latest (greatest) is Turn off the World, an album that with the help of SPV, will provide a broader stage for the band’s fresh and vibrant Euro thrash sound. Plus, to reiterate what we noted above: few can peel paint like Gooßes. Batten down the hatches and read on…

Today, Teeth of the Divine will be represented by a noob who goes by the name of Averatu. That would be me. Although I’m new here, I’ve done my share of reviews and interviews for another site no one’s ever heard about, Global Domination. But enough about me, let me proceed to do what I enjoy most, which is chewing cud with metal musos.

Vex are from Texas, and if you say that to fast you could get Vex Mex. When I first received my copy of their new album Memorious, I thought “Oh-no, not another Amon Amarth clone band”. But I kept listening, and I discovered an album with a lot of depth and textures, from blasting battle anthems to fireside ballads. I predict this album will without a doubt be on my end of year top 10 list for 2013.

Eoghan ‘Owen’ McClosky is the drummer with the impressive beat separation that could make any rhythm section sound like a jackhammer, and I got to pick his brains.

Germany’s Finsterforst have lurked in the Black Forest for a few years now. After 2007’s under the radar debut Weltenkraft the band unleashed …Zum Tode Hin to the world. And after sticking to a pretty rigid, bouncy Finnish folk formula, Finsterforst changed up their sound morphing into a sprawling, Bathory inspired sound with lengthy, rangy anthemic songs build around their black metal base. Armed with a new deal with Folk/Viking powerhouse Napalm Records, the band is ready to reveal their epic sound to a wider audience with Rastloss, a vast, epic album that cull Hammerheart and classic Moonsorrow. Guitarist Simon Schillinger was kind enough to answer a few questions about the band’s imminent explosion onto the Viking/folk metal scene.

Back in 2009 I was introduced to Germany’s black metal horde, Geist, and their stellar maritime themed album, Galeere. It was a virtually perfect black metal album mixing frosty riffs, atmosphere with confident levels of old school mastery and a modern polish and delivery. However, that album was followed by three years of silence due to some legal issues and some internal band issues resulting in 3 on Geist members leaving the band. However bassist Alboin and drummer Marlek have forged ahead, undergoing a name change and returning with an album that’s every bit as good as Galeere. Alboin was kind enough to visit with me and further explain the turmoil of the the last few years and the superb new vision that is Eïs.

Heaven and Hell Records is a rising force in the metal underground, bringing life back to long-dead bands and records and unearthing new talent by means of reformation and reissues. Like a lot of small underground labels, the day-to-day operations are handled by one man, Jeremy Golden, whose responsibilities are seemingly endless. Golden has learned along the way as the label has grown and evolved from a small hobby-type business to a reputable name in the metal underground that releases quality titles on the reg.
Golden spoke with Teeth a while back about all things Heaven and Hell, the good and the bad, and the following is the result of that chat.

Many an interview I’ve done over the years and a handful will always stand out, often based on the intelligence and affability of the musician to whom the questions were posed. I can now add Kreator’s Mille Petrozza to that list of highlights, based on my recent discussion with him on a tour bus parked in front of The Beaumont, the venue at which the German legends melted faces and lacerated eardrums at the Kansas City stop of the North American Teutonic Terror Attack tour with Accept. Though I did interview Mille sometime around the release of Violent Revolution several years back, aside from recalling him to be quite congenial and informed then too, it was conducted by phone and my memory of it is fuzzy at best. Mille is not only a staunch advocate of metal and someone who cares deeply about Kreator’s rabid worldwide fan base; he is a genuinely nice guy and a progressive-minded citizen of Planet Earth. He also happens to be writing some of the best thrash metal of his career, as evidenced by the recent release of the musically refreshing, surprisingly catchy, and (of course) aggressively thrashing Phantom Antichrist on Nuclear Blast. Let us prey.

Sometimes you just need to stop all the obsessing over wheel reinvention and just play the music that you love, regardless of originality. That’s exactly what Belfast’s Rex Shachath did on debut EP Sepulchral Torment. Said EP is nothing more than well played and memorable death metal of the traditional sort inspired by the original masters. When a band references the likes of Morbid Angel, Vader, Immolation, and Cannibal Corpse in discussing its music (as Rex Shachath guitarist Andrew Pennington does in the discussion that follows), rare is the death metal fan that wouldn’t be paying attention. Mr. Pennington gives us the down ‘n dirty of the nitty and the gritty of Rex Shachath.

Melbourne’s Be’lakor have gone from unknown, unsigned band to one of the scene’s most respected and consistent bands. Having just released their third critically acclaimed album in Of Breath and Bone, the band is now entering pastures that find the tiny dependent Australian band playing doomy, melodic death metal mentioned in the same breath as the like of Insomnium, Opeth and other European luminaries. And I’ve watched and listened the whole time, seeing the band grow and become one of metal’s elite acts. All the while I’ve stayed in pretty consistent contact with the band’s founder and keyboardist Steve Merry who was once again, more than willing to answer a few questions about Be’lakor, the new album and what the future holds for Be’lakor…

The ever busy and resolutely dedicated warrior of Heavy Metal Chris Black is a talented songwriter and versatile musician, as one can hear with clarity in his work with bands like Superchrist, Dawnbringer, High Spirits, and Pharaoh. He’s also one hell of a nice guy and a true supporter of Metal on multiple levels, not the least of which includes his past work as journalist Professor Black for the [now defunct] Metal Maniacs and as owner/operator of Planet Metal Records. But the primary topic at hand warranting exploration and selective dissection concerns Dawnbringer and new Profound Lore album Into the Lair of the Sun God, the follow up to the equally spectacular Nucleus. As pigeonholing is for the birds, we’ll just call the Dawnbringer style well written, heartfelt, and dynamic Heavy Metal. This time around Black took on the ambitious task of writing a bona fide concept album into which we shall delve in short order. We’ll also be shedding some light on the new Superchrist album, which is titled Holy Shit and can be obtained for a paltry sum via Hells Headbangers Records. It is a grand example of no frills, catchy Metal, which deserves some virtual ink and your hard earned trinkets. Dawnbringer headlined this year’s Alehorn of Power Fest VI at Reggie’s in Chicago and as I can attest personally, the faces melted were many and the reverberations from the decibels dealt can still be felt. Incidentally, this interview was conducted the week prior to the show, as you’ll soon realize. In any case, allow us to bring it so that you may consider it brought upon completion of this full meal of the written word.

So back in April I attended a show featuring All Shall Perish, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Carnifex, The Contortionist and Conducting From the Grave. Admittedly, the main attractions were All Shall Perish and Fleshgod Apocalypse, as while I own all of Carnifex’s albums, they aren’t a band I really crave — being a solid if unspectacular deathcore outfit. That being said their last CD, Until I Feel Nothing, as with many of their contemporaries, upped the death metal ante and in the case of Carnifex, a very slight symphonic element was added, giving the band a more dramatic, epic feel. So before the show, I hung out with amicable drummer and founder Shawn Cameron to discuss, Victory Records, fans and the dreaded D word…