I hadn’t heard of Venomous Concept before I threw this in, but the atrocious album art gave me the impression it was either going to be very silly, very bad, or both. So you can imagine my surprise when the ragged, chaotic grindcore/punk of opening track “Drop Dead” raped my face with its awesomeness. It […]

It may not be fair, but when I see song titles like “Nymphonomicon” and “Kockstruck,” I tend to develop an opinion on the band before I even hear the music. Unfortunately, what Midnight Idols deliver isn’t all that far from the idea that I had.This is pure, adolescent garage metal. The band rips off the […]

I have to admit to a weakness for swords, dragons and battle metal. Unfortunately, quite a bit of that style also happens to be pretty cheesy, so I always enjoy finding a release that has no more than the required amount of cheese and some pretty solid songs. That’s just what I get with this […]

Candlelight Records today confirms the signing of North Carolina-based sludge/doom metal band Sourvein. The popular five-piece on tour now through August 11 have recorded a special/limited edition ep titled Imperial Bastard which will see domestic release on September 30. It will be followed by the band’s Billy Anderson-produced full-length label debut currently planned for release […]

One could argue that sitting a very top of the deathcore heap are All Shall Perish and Tennessee’s three guitar wielding Whitechapel, who made quite an impressive racket and impressed even some grizzled death metal fans with their debut The Somatic Defilement. Now on Metal Blade Records, youngsters Whitechapel have delivered their anticipated sophomore album, and as […]

Much like the recent release of label mates A Thousand Times Repent, Georgia’s Hereafter An Odyssey deliver an EP (which was originally self released by the band) plying a style that’s been done to death (core), but do it well enough to warrant your attention if you are a fan of the genre, or new […]

I haven’t heard this Belgian black metal band’s previous release, Ultimate Crescendo of Hell, but I understand that they’ve since changed their sound to avoid the Satyricon comparisons they were getting. Odd, considering that a) that’s a good thing, b) they still sound like Satyricon and c) Deathcult Salvation is impressive in its own right. […]

After stealing The Funeral Pyre away from Creator Destructor Records and then re-issuing the band’s impressive second offering, here is the Prosthetic Records debut from California black metal act and there have been some slight changes from The Nature of Betrayal. The most obvious change is that keyboardist Daniella Jones is no longer in the […]

As a stop gap between the magnificent Eater of Birds and the next full length album, Cobalt and Profound Lore offer up this oddly titled, limited edition, 3 track, 44-minute EP that delivers one new track, a Nausea cover and the uncut, full 30 minute version of “Ritual Use of Fire”, which was split up […]

For the troops in the trenches, it began in 1982 with a low generation copy of a local band’s three-song demo. For some, it began with their first listen to Combat Records’ version of “Bonded By Blood” in 1986. Regardless of the year EXODUS are the undeniable forefathers of thrash metal. EXODUS gained huge notoriety […]

Although used sparingly, a distinct, striking psychedelic influence began creeping into USBM act Nachtmystium with their past two albums, Eulogy IV and Instinct:Decay. A rippling soundscape here, a feedback-soaked, emotional solo there – they were just the first tentative tabs under the tongue. On Assassins, we get a handful of the good stuff. (So if […]

Admittedly, I haven’t given Daylight Dies very much attention at all since their debut Tribunal Records EP, entitled Idle. Back then, I saw them as a natural offshoot of Opeth (with hints of early Katatonia). They employed slower tempos, melancholic melodies, and an overall dark presence. With Lost To The Living being the first thing […]

I remember seeing some pretty wretched reviews for Now, Diabolical when it was released – claims that Satyricon had finally deconstructed and dumbed-down their sound to a simplified parody of their once-feral greatness. I didn’t think so – sure, it was minimalist, but not toothless – it still seethed in the right places, and rocked […]

The debut, Memento Mori, from Atlanta’s Withered was a killer Stockholm sounding Doom/Death effort that got unfairly touted as a Mastodon clone due to the geography of the band. Three years later and Withered have returned with a new label and a slightly tweaked sound. But fear not the tweaking is a blacker, sicker, and […]

With over an hour of pleasure ahead of me, I inserted Massive Conspiracy Against All Life into my cd player, lamenting the demise of the band at the same time. I was fully prepared to bump “Shed This Skin”, “It Comes in Whispers”, “Hanged Man”, “He Whom Shadows Move Towards”, and “Ruminating in Hatemagick” from […]

While being chased after stealing Suttung’s mead, Odin was nearly caught and that close call made him wet himself, the urine raining down upon Midgard to inspire mortal poets. Obviously some spilled directly into Johnny’s glass shard filled drinking horn. Johnny’s vocals are getting harsher again, no mellowing with age here. Hedlund hear my call. […]

I vaguely remember long running Swiss act Sludge and their late 90’s releases (Sweet Daisy, The Well, Scarecrow Messiah), as they had a couple of Tomas Skogsberg/Sunlight Produced efforts, had Samael guitarist Makro in their ranks and plied a dirty mix of death doom and thrash that was a pretty heavy sound coming from the […]

Denmark’s Mevadio are either going to appeal to a lot of people or simply not appeal to a lot of people simply based on their wide variety of influences. Part thrash, part melo death, part Nu metal, part modern groove metal, Mevadio could appeal to the Strapping Young Lad/Skinlab/Machine Head crowd with their robust, beefy […]

MISERATION is the latest effort from SCAR SYMMETRY Vocalist Christian Älvestam and Jani Stefanovic (Essence of Sorrow, Divinefire), who together perform a fast, brutal and aggressive melodic style of metal, what their homeland Sweden is best known for. LIFEFORCE RECORDS is proud to give the band’s critically acclaimed debut album Your Demons, Their Angels; a […]

Danish finest, extreme death metallers Exmortem has recently finished the recordings of their forthcoming 5th album. The band has skilfully handled production duties itself, while mixing was done by Jacob Bredahl (HateSphere, Last Mile). The album has been titled “Funeral Phantom” and will be released worldwide on the 20th of October 2008. Expect a crushing, […]

It’s been a good few months for hardcore. Not stomp and romp bullshit like Terror, but real, punk rooted, emotional, melodic, tense hardcore; Brothers, Advent, Verse, Take It Back, Elder, Have Heart, and biggest of all the long awaited (at least for me) follow up to 2005’s killer debut, In Place Apart, from Sacramento’s Killing […]

I often get a lot of ‘odd’ albums for review here at teethofthedivine. Albums I can’t quite classify as metal, but also can’t completely discount, or albums I simply can’t describe adequately. The debut album from Philadelphia trio Spark Is A Diamond is all the above. In short, SIAD is a sort of screamo/punk band […]

First, let me get my bitching and moaning out of the way. Megadeth has been a favorite band of mine for several years now – they were one of the first “real” metal bands I discovered. I’ve seen them live twice, once with crappy support, and once with Exodus, but unfortunately, I missed them. Since […]

While The Crossfire is Fall of Serenity’s fourth full length album, they are not the same band that recorded 2001’s Dead Man’s Requiem. Even since their last album, Bloodred Salvation, bass player John Gahlert has taken over vocal duties, guitarist Alex Fischer moved over to bass and Ferdinand Rewicki joined the group filling the void […]

I love offbeat stuff, and when this record was pitched to me as “Elvis metal ‘n’ roll,” I just couldn’t resist taking a listen to it. I’ll start with what could very possibly be my favorite song of the year so far, “Sad Man’s Tongue,” the band’s tribute to Johnny Cash. It opens with a […]