Ugh. I just hate it when good or decent music is ruined with below average vocals. Example: this new Hell Within disc Shadows of Vanity. Musically, it’s accessible modern thrash with some melody, ala Sanctity or recent Trivium. Vocally, it’s the standard harsh/clean trade off sound of metalcore, courtesy of one Matt McChesney, who most […]

I’ve already outed myself here as a Skid Row fan and proud of it. Despite their regrettably hairy hits, “I Remember You” and “18 and Life,” I do think Skid Row was one of the best hard rock bands to emerge from the late 1980s scene. The latest release by former singer Sebastian Bach, though, […]

I’m not sure if there are any real porn stars in this band, but I feel pretty safe in saying there probably aren’t any real poets when the best chorus they can come up with for the record opener is the tired, “it’s just rock ‘n’ roll to me,” that’s been used at least a […]

Brilliance often breeds polarity. For example, Kezia, the 2006 debut from this group of young Canadians, split the metal community down the middle, with a love it or loathe it mindset. That being said, of all the non extreme metal albums I reviewed, Kezia seemed to be that rare non death, grind, black, thrash metal […]

Sculptured is the side project from Don Anderson of Agalloch fame. Back in 1998, The Spear of the Lily is Aureoled was a solid effort that showed promise in the Opeth, Katatonia, and Agalloch territory. This was enough to gain my interest and in 2000 the band came out with Apollo Ends, a more progressive/jazz […]

Often the press and promo sheets that come with albums for review are the greatest work of literary fiction since “A History of Great French Military Victories” came out. However in the case of Alestorm it simply says this: ‘Scottish Pirate Metal.’ I’d say that about covers it. Formerly known as Battleheart, Scotland’s Alestorm (arguably […]

Recorded live at the Worcester Palladium in April of 2007, this 29 track DVD features most of the ‘popular’ Metal Blade artists. But while I have no problems with production or fairly bare bones but entertaining back stage interviews, I have issue with the fact Metal Blade went withtracks from teh likes of Beyond The […]

There are a lot of bands popping up with a sound that is a throwback to the glory days of ‘80s Sunset Strip Sleaze Rock. Most notably, Buckcherry (who recently went platinum), but also Vains Of Jenna & Hardcore Superstar. Call it the 20-year cycle…2007 is seeing 1987 manifest itself in the Rock scene. Witness […]

It’s a tried and true formula. You’ve put out a couple of records that were slightly different in style and perhaps not as good as earlier records, a few fans grumbled. You want to make it clear you’re returning to your old style, so you name your new record after one that’s widely considered by […]

The brutal death bug has now even spread its wings over Italy, one of the last places I’d (and I should know) expect to find gore obsessed lunatics concocting gory, slamming death metal. What’s more the bug has bit hard, as Putridity join the likes of Vomit the Soul, Septycal Gorge, Stench of Dismemberment, Vulvectomy […]

For a band named Wrath they sure have gotten rather mellow. Before I delve too much farther into this review of Vreid’s third album let me explain that remark. I started out this morning listening to Gorgoroth, all of their stuff in chronological order, and then I switched to Vreid, starting with Kraft, then Pitch […]

Hailing from Sweden, System Shock play melodic death metal not too far removed from anything you’ve heard before. Later day Dark Tranquillity serves as a loose template of what System shock plays. Add more emphasis on the use of keys in most places, a strong sense of accessibility, a vocalist more comparable to Amon Amarth’s […]

From the same coalition that brought us the excellent Sickening Horror release, comes another phenomenal technical death metal release from a part of the world you would not usually expect, this time in the form of the full length debut from New Zealand’s Ulcerate. Though not quite as experimental as the Sickening Horror release, Of […]

Here is the winner for best release thus far in 2008. Virgin Black has created one hell of a masterpiece in Requiem-Fortissimo and probably the best album to come out of Australia in years. Fortissimo means loud or played very loudly. Considering this is the second chapter in a trilogy by the band (Pianissimo being […]

Just in time to cure drag me out of my Power Metal funk, along comes Saint Deamon with an album that is already on my Top Releases of 2008. I was getting burned out on all these Power Metal bands still going to great lengths to reinvent the wheel that Gamma Ray had already worn […]

After a fairly disappointing year in metal in my opinion, I have been anxiously awaiting something fresh and exciting. If I only heard this CD earlier, it would have surely made it into my top ten of the year. Australia’s Insomnius Dei, are flat out miserable bastards, I love it. Mark Kelson is the mastermind […]

In over a ten-year span, Opeth have continued to give us beautiful, classic, and timeless CDs. Till this day, there really isn’t too much to complain about with the band. Sure, you will always have the naysayer who thinks they are overrated, but those of us who really enjoy the band can sit back and […]

Every year there are a few releases that kill a genre for me. This year, Bless The Fallen’s Eclectic Sounds of a City Painted Black and White and Of The First Born’s self titled debut EP has killed melodic metalcore for me. Terrible, terrible cover, forced song writing and vocals and a plethora of utterly […]

Since their last album, 2005’s How The Great Have Fallen, Raging Speedhorn has gone through a bit of a change. They added two new members, Bloody Kev (vocals) and Dave Thompson (bass), and apparently suffered some deep psychological trauma. That would be the only thing that could explain the vibe on the latest album Before […]

I don’t mean for this review to turn into a rant about Crash Music, but holy hell do they just seem to sign bands that ride the coattails of whatever trend is in vogue at the time. Take Ashes of Your Enemy for example. It’s like Crash realized there is a thrash revival going on […]

So the recent Willowtip/Neurotic releases such as Sickening Horror and Ulcerate have produced some absolutely mind numbingly superb technical death metal, but with Corpus Mortale, the results are far simpler, chunkier and slightly less impressive, but solid for what it is. I actually remember hearing this Danish band a few years ago on the Succumb […]

This band is pretty unstoppable at the moment in terms of output as Martyr Immortal follows not that long after the formidable ‘Vicious Skin,’ and split with Frightener. Even more impressive is that ups the intensity and class of their prior material but shows them expanding their darkened palette further to create an even more […]

With the break up of I Killed t he Prom Queen, Parkway Drive become Australia’s most prominent metalcore act, and with their second full length album, Horizons, cement the fact musically. While the much maligned metalcore genre gets its share of hate, when performed at a top notch level, I find it thoroughly enjoyable and […]

Jesus Christ. I tried to like this, I really did. It’s sort of melodic, experimental metalcore with lots of progressive moments, solos, clean vocals and such, but ultimately when delivered with such shitty musicianship and production; it pretty much ruined melodic metalcore for me. With tangible influences like Misery Signals, Shai Hulud, Bewteen the Buried […]

With former members of Cavity, Acid King and -16- , Black Cobra return with album number two of grimy, rumbling, tumbling metal for fans of Torche, High on Fire, Hail!Hornet, Negative Reaction, Kylesa and such. So yeah, if Mastodon were girthier, nastier and far far sludgier, you might get close to Black Cobra’s sound, a […]