First off if I’m to be stranded anywhere it has better be cold, so if I were stranded on an arctic Island, what ten essential albums would I have with me. Obviously these are essential albums that I can not live without so I don’t need to worry about electricity to power the cd player […]

On the surface, it would appear that Ferret has become the anathema of every indie music fan; that being a capitalistically driven monolith intent on peddling the lowest common denominator drivel and casting it off as music that is ‘innovative,’ ‘vital,’ or that has ‘integrity.’ Fortunately, Ferret, unlike Victory hasn’t descended too far into the […]

No time like the present. Whereas some bands spend way too long working on their material and refusing to release it to the outside world until its ready, others, like Arizona’s Knights of the Abyss just lock, load and get right down to it. What’s more astonishing in this case is the massive change in […]

As I’ve voiced in a number of reviews recently, the whole Middle Eastern thing has become so overused, in everything from symphonic black metal to progressive metal to death metal, that it no longer feels daring or surprising. Melodies that are supposed to come off as mysterious and exotic frequently read as romantic caricature, or […]

I hate to break up all the metal here of late, but here’s some impassioned, intelligent hardcore for fans of Killing the Dream, Have Heart, Dead Hearts and Passion. Laced with political angst, Verse’s third album is a collective of confrontational hymns and personal struggles delivered with a sense of melancholy amid the expected power […]

So here I am again stranded on a desert Island and despite the fact there is no food electricity or porn, I can have 10 albums with me and this time, I have come up with 10 albums that changed the way I listened to metal; Albums that to me, truly thought outside the blast […]

Much like label mates Verse, Boston’s Have Heart play a form of modern melodic hardcore, but where Verse came across as more introspective and varied, Have Heart, while still emotional and honest, have a more expected, tighter and angrier, typical hardcore delivery, though still impassioned and honest. More traditionally based around rousing power chords and layered […]

The more open minded of you that rave about bands like Opeth and Katatonia seriously need to give Galgenfrist a few listens. To most brought up in the western music tradition this is a challenging listen, but one well worth the effort. This is not groundbreaking, after all this idea has been around several hundred […]

I’m assuming that my desert island would allow me to have 10 CDs in every genre I like. A big assumption perhaps, but then, I don’t intend to be in a boat at sea any time soon, and if I am, I’ll take a wider selection of CDs with me – either that or an […]

Return to the days of old… when enemies were crushed and driven before you, and the air was filled with the lamentation of the women. When manly, battle-scarred barbarians swung their six-strings and pummeled their wardrums. When bands like Brocas Helm, Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road mixed classic heavy metal, doom and a fascination for […]

Usually, no one likes a major shift in the lineup of their favorite band. Even though a changing guitarist or drummer can make just as much difference in sound, a change in singer seems to be the most visible and often the hardest for fans to accept. Occasionally, though, there’s a replacement singer that actually […]

New York, NY – LAMB OF GOD has commenced recording on the follow up to 2006’s Grammy-nominated Sacrament. Their new album is scheduled for release in February 2009 and will be produced by Josh Wilbur. Josh Wilbur is well known for his Grammy Award winning work with Steve Earl. The album will be recorded in […]

Despite the fact I’ll never see a show by these guys ‘cos of their moronic fans, the fact is I love their recorded output all the way back to 2002’s … And Life is Very Long. So now here with their second Prosthetic Records offering and after the slight tangent that The Dead Walk took […]

To this day, one of my very favorite metal songs is “The Calm Before the Storm”, the sort of title track from Hollenthon’s second album, 2001’s With Vilest of Worms to Dwell, an album that truly opened my eyes to how death metal, symphonic, classical overtures and ethnic instrumentation could go hand in. The album […]

Everyone loves lists right? Especially metal heads, so hopefully as part of a continued series of blogs here at teethofthedivine, is the first in what I have called ‘Desert Island Discs’. Growing up back in the UK, every Sunday morning I listened to a radio show called ‘Desert Islands Discs’, where various celebrities from the […]

I usually take the self generated press from label owners, PR folks and such for granted. Every PR person and label folk will tell me that the upcoming album from band X on their roster is amazing or brilliant. So when the folks at Profound Lore told me that the debut from Krallice would be […]

While Decapitated, Behemoth and Vader are considered Polish death metal royalty, there’s a second tier of the Polish death metal aristocracy headed up by the likes of Yattering, Trauma, Crionics and underlooked veterans, Hate. Not only buried under the prestige of their own country mates, but also 2008’s slew of killer death metal, comes Hate’s […]

Sometimes the premise makes you laugh. Such is the case with Sabaton. Swedish power/heavy metal band singing about war. Before I was able to chuckle at the fact that Sweden last fought in a war so long ago no one actually remembers it anymore, the well-oiled heavy metal war machine shocked and awed me with […]

 ALBUM DUE OUT OCTOBER 14 IN THE US ON NUCLEAR BLAST…NEW ONLINE GAME TO WIN TICKETS AND MERCH!!! Swedish metal contingent Sonic Syndicate has announced an October 14 US release date for their upcoming album, Love and Other Disasters. The album will see a September 19 release date in Europe. The crushing new release is […]

What happens when a group of people strongly devoted to the death & black metal scene decides to join forces and form a band together? You might say it depends on the people, but when you’re talking about ex-members of the Swedish juggernaut Dissection you can be sure that this newborn formation will deliver some […]

CRYPTOPSY – ORIGIN – THE LAST FELONY September 04: Moncton, NB Manhattan September 05: Halifax , NS The Pavilion September 06: Quebec, QC Dagobert September 07: Mont-Joli, QC Musik Box September 08: Ottawa, ON Mavericks September 11: Thunder Bay, ON C2 September 12: Winnipeg, MB The Zoo September 13: Prince Albert, SK Prince Albert Exhibition […]

I first noticed this band several years ago, during a marathon research trip into the black metal underworld – a frustrating venture that touched on over a hundred bands, but produced little in the way of actual gems. Spite Extreme Wing was one of the exceptions – a sharp, angular black metal outfit from Italy that, […]

Hard to believe it’s been seven years since the release of Hollenthon‘s previous opus, With Vilest of Worms to Dwell. Besides featuring one of the more memorable covers that year (a coiled snake with a protruding, knuckled spine), it boasted epic, symphonic swells over vaguely Viking riffage and coarse vocals. It should have been right […]

One of the easiest ways to get me to listen to an album is to record a song with Jorn Lande on vocals. While he’s not my favorite singer – not even in the top five, really – he seldom disappoints. Lande has one of those timeless rock voices, just enough smoothness and just enough […]

Candlelight Records today confirms the signing of multi-national progressive doom-death outfit The Living Fields. The trio, with members based in Chicago, London and Ottawa, has received early acclaim via their self-released 2004 and 2007 recordings. Now working on their Candlelight debut, currently titled Running Out of Daylight and planned for release in early 2009, the […]