Forsaking vocalists, a lot of bands these days are opting to stick to instrumental creativity to construct vivid, emotional sonic tapestries. An entire genre & scene has in turn been constructed. Bands such as Red Sparowes, Pelican, Canvas Solaris, Explosions In The Sky & others have built substantial followings over the last few years by […]

While certainly death metal in 2008 is on the upswing with releases by Brain Drill, Decrepit Birth, and Hate Eternal, the fact is death metal is still just death metal. However, Origin, after four albums of complex yet relatively singular and forgetful speed, have now fully embraced and developed songwriting chops hinted ever-so-slightly on 2006’s […]

I was forwarded a story by Patrick Goldstein from the LA Times about the possible end of the critic. Let’s be more specific here. Goldstein is referring to entertainment critics and how over the years, specifically since the Internet changed our information consumption habits, the single voice of a critic – respected or not – […]

Well, based on this, (sorry labels, I don’t do digitally released reviews) enjoy possibly the last review of a Victory release on this site. Luckily, it’s is a damn fine surprise. With a new line-up, gone are the gimmicks like songs named after Tom Cruise movies, fairy tales, suits and sense of humor. Instead, fronted […]

So often words like “atmospheric,” “progressive,” and “experimental” get thrown around in extreme metal. It seems like if you add any sort of tangents, acoustics, clean vocal or such you get lumped in with the “progressive” crowd — ask Opeth. But what was the last really experimental but ‘real’ death metal album you heard? An […]

Italy, while certainly a player in the metal genre, isn’t really known for its deathcore/metalcore/melodic death metal (Nail Within and Slowmotion Apocalypse immediately come to mind), so I really wasn’t really looking forward to reviewing the debut from Mondovi’s Stigma. Even more so when I discovered the album is also centered around horror movies and […]

Hangin’ tough at the crossroads can be interesting. You either make a deal with the devil, move on, and rock the F out or you go home with the same crappy guitar and poor playin’ aptitude. For Arsis, it seems they’ve finally made a deal with the devil. No, not Nuclear Blast. The devil gave […]

Today we were contacted by Victory Records notifying us we would no longer receive physical CDs for promotional purposes — reviews or interviews. Now, unless I’m mistaken Victory Records is the first independent label to make the switch from physical to digital promo. As harmless as it seems, this is a landmark event. Labels, mostly […]

According to a statement at the band’s official website, Conneticutt Christian metalcore act have decided to call it a day: “It has become apparent to us that ending now on a good note would be the best way to go out for Life In Your Way. Of course there are specific reasons why it is […]

Since inception (from the ashes of Catacomb), Italy’s Novembre has defied convention and categorization. While the majority of its work can be filed under atmospheric death, the band, helmed by brothers Carmelo and Giuseppe Orlando, is much more than that. In fact, as early as 1997’s Arte Novecento Novembre ventured so far as to employ […]

Lately, Italy has been a stronghold for quality doom metal. The Foreshadowing, formed out of members of avant-garde metallers Klimt 1918 and Spiritual Front, is one of the country’s newest acts to bridge the gap between Candlemass, My Dying Bride, and Anathema. And there’s a touch of Type O Negative, too. The sextet’s latest offering, […]

After a couple of releases on Indianola Records, Tennessee’s Across Five Aprils made the expected jump to Victory Records, where their metalcore/hardcore meets post-rock meets emo hues, fit perfectly into the Victory-core style of music so popular with the kids today. You’ve heard this formula thousand times before, and while not quite as sugary as […]

Much like The Devil Wears Prada, Farewell To Freeway suffers greatly from the whole decent metalcore ruined by utterly sniveling, wimpy clean vocals syndrome… Musically, the band has a decent mix of catchy, commercial heavy/clean Killswitch Engage styled metalcore mixed with a dash of Misery Signal-ish layering and harmony. There are some decent riffs and […]

Arising from the ashes of Thorr’s Hammer, Burning Witch is known for being one of the forefathers of extreme doom metal, and featured two of the genres current luminaries in Steven O Malley and Greg Anderson who have served/currently serve in acts such as Sunn O))), Teeth of the Lions Rule The Divine, Khanate, and […]

As recently discussed here, I recently attended a Protest the Hero concert, and thought what better way to open the interview section of this new internet endeavor than to interview one of the most polarizing bands in metal today. And find out a little more about these Canadian kids (literally, they are all just 22-years […]

TEMUJIN SIGN WITH RENAISSANCE RECORDS. Melbourne, Australia (April, 2008) — Following the 2007 self-published release of the debut album 1000 Tears, Australian Goth/Metal band Temujin have signed with US independent label Renaissance Records for distribution of 1000 Tears in the USA, Canada and Mexico. In support of the US retail release, discussions are under way […]

Los Angeles’ THE FUNERAL PYRE has posted a track from the band’s forthcoming record, ‘Wounds,’ online at the band’s MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/thefuneralpyre), entitled “Black Earth”. Scheduled for a May 27 release through Prosthetic Records, Wounds is the follow-up to 2006’s The Nature of Betrayal, which saw an early 2007 re-release through a distribution deal with […]

Nevermore regretfully announce that they will not be unable to perform at this year’s New England Metal and Hardcore Fest. According to Jeff Loomis (guitar), the band were unable to replace Chris Broderick, who joined Megadeth recently, and are unable to play as a 4-piece. Loomis further comments: “We have tried to work as a […]

For a moment I thought this was called We Are the Grim ‘Thong’, and I had some really odd visualizations going through my head, but I digress… Exalted are a USBM act hailing from Chicago and they are eschewing the popular US obsessed, one man mope-fest style of black metal, and instead going for a […]

The White EP is the follow up to 2004’s The Grey EP, (which I never heard) and consists of 7 more acoustic, ambient and instrumental tracks from the leading purveyors of ‘grey metal’. Composed from 2004 to 2007, this limited edition EP is a good place for this batch of material as it’s hardly recognizable […]

So, this week I attended a Protest the Hero show in Columbia, MO. Now granted, I knew going in, that because the opening act was Chiodos that there would be a fair amount of emo fans attending the show. What I was not ready for was the sheer number of androgynous, asexual, identically-clad hermaphrodites that […]

Even though I don’t remember much about it now as it’s been so long since I’ve heard it, I recall Naildown’s debut album World Domination to be a relatively enjoyable and even somewhat original affair for melodeath – the same can’t be said about their follow up Dreamcrusher though. First off, the whole album is […]

So, a co-worker of mine and I were listening to Tomb of the Mutilated on the way home from work the other day. He was digging on it. After a few minutes, he asked if I had seen a Cannibal Corpse parody where the Chris Barnes‘ lyrics are typed out as heard… I said, “Nope, […]

OK, I’ve known about Rock & Republic’s ‘Death Metal’ jeans for a few months now, so now that I have a place to riff I can do so. A little background: Rock & Republic is an American designer clothing company. Their motto goes something like this: “Rock & Republic means edgy, progressive design inspired by […]

The purpose of this blog is threefold; first to test this feature and make sure it works. Second to display my amazing wit and writing skills, and more importantly, third, to tell you about a website I found for all you displaced cd-tracker.com users.