Seriously people, its about time we start talking about New Hampshire’s Trap Them as one of the US’s best kept metal secrets, as with their second full length album, the band has once again delivered a sonic donkey punch that mixes crusty chaos and hardcore (think Converge), Rotten Sound and the midrange pummeling of Wolverine Blues […]

2008 was a pretty good year for melodic, contemporary hard core with the likes of Verse, Have Heart, Brothers, Take It Back and the almighty Killing the Dream. Yet here comes this nautical themed debut from this awesome SoCal three piece featuring members of Graf Orlock and comes close to taking the throne of 2008s […]

This disc is for all those Xasthur fans looking for a fix. Long dense songs, many better than ten minutes, with distant rumblings, subsonic screams, and guitars so distorted not only can you barely make them out, they obscure nearly everything else as well. For those not in the know, this is not a new […]

I found Closer a few years back on Myspace. The sound was very polished and Soilworkish which grabbed my attention. To my surprise, I find the bands debut A Darker Kind of Salvation arrive in the mail for me to review. Closer may be on Pulverised Records but this is a Nuclear Blast, modern, Swedish […]

METAL, fuck yeah! Initially, before hearing Enforcer, I was under the assumption that they were another thrash revival band – I was wrong. Retro they are, yes, but they went back even further, to sounds that for the most part, predate thrash. Say, circa 1982, Enforcer combine the galloping nature and traditional/NWOBHM style of Iron […]

By now, incorporating Middle-Eastern accents into metal is not the most original of ideas. Nile and Melechesh have both been doing it for several years now, and new bands keep popping up doing something similar. Now we have Arkan, a French band with Middle Eastern roots trying their hand at it within the context of […]

Way back in 2005 before metalcore and deathcore annoyed everyone, The Classic Struggle released their solid debut, Feel Like Hell, and at the time was one of the heavier displays of the genre I had heard. Fast Forward three years and unfortunately The Classic Struggle like With Dead Hands Rising and Embrace the End, simply […]

Great, another group of kids playing off the wall spazzy, crumbly, squealy deathcore. Except this lot are named after a Mitch Hedberg joke, have lots of samples (including Dane Cook and Anchorman), goofy song titles and quirky synths and an oh so quirky sense of humor. And somehow they’ve done this for 3 fucking albums […]

The Savannah, Georgia-based KYLESA, who recently finished recording their fourth studio album, will tour Japan for the first time early next year. The seven-show trek will correspond with the official Japanese release of the band’s acclaimed 2006 album, “Time Will Fuse Its Worth,” on Red Cobalt Industries. Additional information about the limited-edition release, which features […]

Founded in 2003 by brothers Wes and Jeremy Fareas, the New Approach to Martyrs Expressions (Name), is an amalgam of experimental tech metal, grindcore, ambient sounds, freeform jazz, blues, cultural world music, an odd sense of humor, and maniacal mood swings. Known for their chaotic energy, Name breathes vivid new life onto the stage. Name […]

Placed in the Dark Power Metal category, Swedish metallers Her Whisper are indeed far from calling up any associations with bright colors of sonic palette. Instead, their primary hues are gray, black and dark blue, just like the colors of the artwork on the cover of their sophomore release The Great Unifier. Probably this feel […]

Legion and Emil Dragutinovich, both more known for their previous participation in prominent Swedish Black Metal act Marduk, are pretty creative spirits who seem to earn their keep by taking part in as many Metal projects as their time allows. Having tied up with some other not so well known musicians under the name of […]

There’s Pink Floyd, and then there’s Syd Barrett. My first Pink Floyd album was 1987’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and I worked backwards from there, so the early Floyd/Barrett stuff has always been kinda exotic and unfamiliar to me. Admittedly, it’s also never been my favorite – a proto-version of the pompous, extravagant sonic […]

The Asian symphonic black metal band ChthoniC, who made international headlines by championing Taiwanese democracy from the Ozzfest and Wacken stages last summer, has recently finished recording their new album “MIRROR OF RETRIBUTION” which is a concept album in Los Angeles with producer (and Anthrax guitarist) Rob Caggiano (Cradle of Filth, Bleeding Through). This marks […]

The third in Willowtip’s excellent recent grindcore revival trilogy (Phobia, Kill the Client), Maruta (a Japanese name for the collective victims in the infamous Unit 731 war crimes) ironically lies somewhere between the two as they mix furious, relentless modern grindcore with a more classic power chord driven sound. Seething blast beats feral screams, deep […]

Despite the switch from Deepsend to Unique Leader, little has changed in the Lecherous Nocturne camp. They still feature Mike Poggione (Monstrosity, Carpharnaum) on bass, they still unleash blistering blackened death metal, still under 30 minutes in length, and its still pretty good stuff. Coming it at 28 minutes, compared to Adoration of the Blade’s […]

Fist in Fetus’ 2007 EP release was one of the most inspired – and inspiring – discoveries I’ve heard all year (credit goes to intrepid TOTD bloodhound Cynicgods for finding it). You’ve heard symphonic elements woven into metal dozens of times by now, but they’ve rarely been this modern or unconventional. And it’s never taken the form of soaring power metal crossbred with screaming, spastic grind. Or delivered by an unlikely team of musicians – classically trained Perttu Vänskä and new Stratovarius guitarist (and Finnish Guitar Idol 2008) Matias Kupiainen.

Melding the grind worlds of Brutal Truth and Napalm Death, Orange County’s Phobia still sounds better than most modern grind bands—and ten times better than any crust of yore. The raw and muddy production values of early Terrorizer, Napalm Death, and Carcass doesn’t follow Phobia and their revolving roster, this time tapping Intronaut drummer Danny […]

Straightaway most of you will probably be wondering “Who’s this Jennie Tebler character, and what has she done for the metal scene that warrants her name tagged onto the front end of some bands moniker?” The short answer to that question is very little. An interesting fact about Ms. Tebler is that she collaborated with […]

Following in the mold of metal duos Black Cobra and Early Man, German doom deuce Beehoover offers colossal slabs of metal from bassist Ingmar Petersen and drummer Claus-Peter Hamisch. As the rhythm section of doom rockers Voodooshock (who reportedly parted ways with Petersen and Hamisch), they channeled ’70s-era Black Sabbath into Wall of Sleep-like compositions. […]

I am about to rant and demean this puppy inside and out. So beware. CD’s like this just aggravate me to no end. This will stand as one of the year’s worst records in my list. Deadlock where fairly new to the scene a few years ago and showed some potential in the female/male fronted […]

Based on the My Skin is Cold EP earlier year, I had hopes that perhaps Satyricon would start stepping out of the sterile little comfort zone they’ve created for themselves of late. Maybe a little more textural or structural variety, or perhaps just something with a faster tempo. I wasn’t expecting the return of The […]

First off, great title, now how do you live up to it, and why has it not been used before? Who is Chthonian? Finntroll vocalist Matias Lillmans’ previous band, which he is still in, of course. What else is Chthonian? Three talented guys playing black metal the way they wanted it to sound, and that […]

Many lovers of Metal music tend to venture into the realm of Prog Rock from time to time. Take into consideration the popularity of bands like Spock’s Beard, Enchant and The Flower Kings among certain Metal fans (usually those into the more Progressive side of Metal) and this is easy to see. Lucky for these […]

I’ve come to the conclusion that melodic death metal is not dead – far from it. Yes, it is extremely over-saturated, what with everyone and their brother doing some sort of Gothenburg inspired band, then you have to take into consideration all the American metalcore (and worldwide copycats) bands aping and raping the style, but […]