To an untrained ear or mind, a frightening violation of the senses like this is hard to stomach. The soundscape presented is bleak, unsettling, and chaotic, yet melodic and textured at the same time. If you’re into the disturbed extremities of heavy music then look no further. There is nothing pretty about Haven and one […]

Worse Than Alone out March 10, 2009 on Eyeball Records THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU announce a new March 10, 2009 release date for their third full-length release, Worse Than Alone (Eyeball Records). The Bergen County, NJ five-piece self-produced the disc at Backroom Studios in Rockaway, NJ and brought in acclaimed producer/mixer Steve Evetts […]

I really wanted to like this album. Well… I do like it, but I wanted to love it. I wanted to never get enough of it. But I got enough after the first couple spins. Don’t get me wrong, I love Loomis’ playing and I love Nevermore. But this could have been so much better, […]

Germany’s favorite sons of thrash are back once again with their fifth album (six if you count thrash anthems as an actual album) since their reunions about a decade ago, and they still have it for the most part. The acronym that is the album’s title contains the first letter of each of the ten […]

Sothis have finally unleashed some label backed mayhem upon my ears and its about time. I reviewed their demo elsewhere and I was surprised it took them so long to hook up with someone. They were from the Dimmu Borgir school of symphonic black metal back then and they certainly retain that influence. However they […]

Altars debut effort is a demo of experimental death metal. Coming in at 24 minutes it’s a short one, although the last song is 9 minutes long. One of the big problems they run into here is the production because it’s a bit too muddy for you to hear what they really want to do […]

I like sweets – occasionally. Usually I find some new candy that’s relentlessly addictive, and I binge on it for awhile, until I tire of it. The same can be said of a band like Raunchy. They have a sound that is ridiculously catchy and formulated for mass appeal – the kind of stuff that […]

For well over 20 years now, Hirax has been feeding its rabid cult following heaping, fiery helpings of tried and true Thrash Metal. Now the Hirax live experience has been documented for the rest of the world to see with Thrash And Destroy, a live DVD/CD weighed down with more of the Metal you crave. […]

I wanted this album to be bad, so I could redouble the album’s badness with some bad one-liners referencing the album, i.e. “I can find the space for this…in the garbage,” or better yet, “Cynic are the kings of those who know…how to suck.” You get the gist; I wanted to use their song titles […]

“Post-rock” is always a genre I’m reluctant to throw around because of its inherent “what the fuck genre is that?” status. For my part, slapping “post-rock” anywhere near or around a band has many times put them in listener’s purgatory, and I have shoved numerous worthy post-rock bands aside prior to hearing their albums that […]

Judging by the scrawled logo and temple backdrop, I’d hoped this EP would be a black metal offering, since I was in the mood for something new in that vein. Nope, these Aussies play death metal, but of the odd and evocative variety, which is just as good. There’s a lot of US influence here […]

While I’m sure it’s been by their own choice and almost certainly in their best financial interest, Behemoth have had a bit of a nasty habit of jumping into bed with a different record company every other release they’ve notched on their belt over the years. To usher in their new business relationship with the […]

Formed in 2006, Chicago-based Progressive Power Metal quintet Mindwarp Chamber meditates upon the imperfection of the world we live in, treating the everlasting subjects of hatred, stupidity, greed, vengeance and hopelessness in their vivid metaphorical lyrics. Rarely does a metal album’s verbal content manage to divert my attention but Delusional Reality did just this, for […]

Maurycy “Mauser” Stefanowicz of Vader fame, announced some time ago that he would be leaving his long running extreme outfit to focus on his new project, Unsun. For straight up, death metal, Vader fans, the only enjoyment you’ll get out of this proposal is looking at the rack on lead lady Aya. However, followers of […]

Maybe it’s unmetal, but I love Christmas. When the end of November rolls around, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra records and a few others will hit my CD player, I’ll be putting up lights around the house and looking for a tree. Heck, I’ve got my TSO tickets in hand already. But when it’s sunny, 85 degrees […]

Though I was very impressed with this young act’s debut, Akeldama back in 2006, my recent experience of them at this year’s Summer Slaughter, and exposure to their new material left me somewhat unimpressed. Whether it was the lack of full time keyboard player, the more experimental material, or just an off night in a […]

SHADOW KINGDOM RECORDS, the Pittsburgh-based heavy metal/rock label and online store, has a slew of hard to find/rare reissues as well as new signings coming out in 2009. The record label comments, “There is so much good material that never was released on CD from the 70’s and 80’s and I’ve made sure with SHADOW […]

To celebrate a year since its original release, UK thrashers EVILE’s ripping debut album ENTER THE GRAVE has been reissued as a special redux edition and is now available worldwide! This limited edition version of EVILE’s FLEMMING RASMUSSEN-produced (METALLICA) modern thrash masterpiece features the album housed in a special slipcase, and includes three bonus tracks, […]

Retroactive Records is getting a lot of mileage out of master guitarist Bill Menchen. What with Titanic and The Seventh Power releases already in circulation, both of which are headed up by Menchen, we are now treated to a new project under his own name. As stated, Bill Menchen is a fantastic guitarist and Classic […]

Lord Belial assaults or speakers once again, and we all happy for it of course. They continue the trademark blackened death metal stylings that have gotten so much good press over the years. That should continue here because this is a good album. Imagine a more bass heavy Dissection with the scales leaning a bit […]

I had never heard these guys before I got this disc and I am rather mad at myself because of it. This is some really good primal black metal, though it doesn’t sound the least bit primitive. By that I mean it doesn’t have a truly awful production that many seem to think is the […]

This album is beyond me. Not as a writer or extreme music enthusiast, but as a human being. It opens doors to places I have never seen, and maybe never want to see again. Yet I keep listening. I have been contemplating this record for over a month, and I still can’t make heads or […]

This is my first experience with East of the Wall, an all-instrumental prog/rock/sludge outfit formed from the rubble of The Postman Syndrome and Day Without Dawn, and featuring current members of Biclops. Comparisons to Pelican are close enough, but there’s an even more unusual, jazzier prog influence here, like Mastodon covering Steely Dan. And big […]

Any album more than two years in the making has the daunting task of living up to the expectations of those fans who are eagerly awaiting it. For California thrashers Once Dead, this will be no easy task. The lineup alone, with former/current members of cult icons Hirax and Vengeance Rising, is enough to raise […]

To Gravdal I would like to say, congratulations on having one of the hardest logos to read in the history of metal. I almost didn’t review this on account of not having a band to name in the review. That said on to the music. Gravdal like to make noisy, caustic black metal in the […]