Pop this disk in and it takes only about twenty seconds to suspect it is Kampfar and less than a minute to be sure it could be no one else. All pervasive is the Kampfar sound and if you don’t know what that is by now expect to be turned into a frog by the […]

I’ll be the first to admit that the Gothenburg sound is probably the most overdone and over saturated style in metal, but I’ll also quickly admit that I’m a huge fan, especially when done right. Meet Finland’s Omnium Gatherum if you haven’t done so already. The Redshift marks the bands fourth long player, and fourth […]

Blood I Bleed from Holland have entered the studio to record their debut full-length, tentatively entitled Gods Out Of Monsters. The band have recorded 23 songs including several older tunes, re-recorded this time with singer Rosco (also ex-My Minds Mine) who joined the Dutch trio two years ago. Expect nothing less than just one solid piece […]

And so the thrash resurgence/revival marches on. This time I have before me the debut full-length from Head On Collision (HOC). I first discovered the band while tooling around Myspace (hey, it really can be awesome sometimes right?) 2-3 years ago, looking for some fresh thrash. Not only did the band impress me, but they […]

Doubtless you’ve heard the name Abigail Williams by now – some of it hype, some of it curiosity given the band’s former incarnation as brutal-yet-melodic death-metal act Vehemence. A constantly rotating line-up, several moves around the country and a brief break-up have likely put the band through a number of trials (those of you familiar […]

People still labeling Metal as Satan’s music are most probably unaware of the current alignment of forces in the metal world of today. The number of bands propagandizing the name of Lord through the raging language of riffs and blasts is increasing on an almost daily basis and some of them can easily rival Devil’s […]

Fall is here for many of you (except those of us unlucky enough to live in the damn desert), which makes it a perfect time to throw on a pair of headphones and take a long, solitary walk in the woods. Those of you looking to recapture the dark pastoral glory of Bergtatt-era Ulver and […]

If I had to make up a metal compilation of this year’s catchiest metal songs, “Rock’n’Roll Devil”, the title number from the second album by Swedish Death ‘n’ Roll trio Helltrain, would pronouncedly fetch up somewhere there at one of the places atop. As you most probably surmised, the release at issue is yet another […]

Do palm tree leaves turn and fall?

Who cares. The leaves have turned, trees stand barren and wasted, the shadows lengthen and the chill of cold breath fills the air. Autumn, the most metal of seasons is upon us and while I’m sure there’s hordes of obscure black metal albums I’ve never heard that fit the bill, here are some albums (in no real order) I think signal the dawn of winter and bring in the grimmest of seasons as good as any:

British technical metallers THE BOY WILL DROWN are currently in the studio recording their first ever album. The band, who recently signed a multi-album, worldwide recording deal with Earache Records, are following in the footsteps of their idols DECAPITATED, having entered Hertz Studios in Bialystok, Poland to record their as-yet untitled debut album. The band […]

Wow. Not only have Misery Index rebounded from the slightly disappointing Discordia and returned to the full on brilliance of Retaliate, they have responded to the gauntlet thrown down by the recent Willowtip triple headed assault of Kill the Client, Phobia and Maruta as far as American grindcore in 2008 is concerned. While one could […]

Look out, deathcore is now even in Australia. Admitted, its getting silly now. How many more bands, hold on, let me stress that, HOW MANY MORE bands will keep writing and writing these songs? Seriously? Well I don’t know, and you can call me crazy, but for some reason unbeknown to me, I keep listening […]

Aussie deathcore Part 2,  actually, this could even be the same review as Gallows for Grace, like their Australian brethren (and brothers in crime) Thy Art is Murder, play shredding, gruff deathcore, with plenty of chug, grunts and blazing Paul Waggoner wannabe runs to make lads and lasses in their asphyxiating garments cream until the […]

And guess what? Still listening. I won’t make this a secret, this was in my top 10 back when it was originally released in 2006, it still gets a lot of play and it will continue to get a lot of play until their next record drops, even more so with this re-issue with added […]

Its an interesting technique that Facedown have been employing, that being nurturing a band on their subsidiary Strike First and then ushering them forward into the big league if you will. Call to Preserve were a band I passed up on when Unsinkable, surfaced, can’t recall why, put something just didn’t pull me in. So […]

Considering my love of Between the Buried and Me, you’d think I’d be all over the debut from Indiana’s Exotic Animal Petting Zoo; Off kilter, jazzy, Dillenger-ish styled alternative rock and impossibly scattershot structures littered with lengthy ambient, introspective strains of clean vocals and progressive experimental textures. A must have right? Well not just yet. […]

A scant two years after forming, Vancouver Canada’s BISON B.C. released its second album (first for Metal Blade) entitled Quiet Earth on September 30. Two years…two albums…not to mention the countless shows all over Canada & the USA. To say these guys are “busy” just doesn’t cut it. This constant motion has paid off, as it turns out, because Quiet Earth is one of the best albums I’ve heard all year. I was able to track down guitarist/vocalist/anti-hipster Dan And to answer a few questions for me.

The Danish grind sensation A KID HEREAFTER IN THE GRINDING LIGHT will release their sparkling debut album in Europe in February 2009 and are performing at this year’s Danish Metal Awards in Copenhagen on the 15th of November.  The A KID HEREAFTER band-in-the-band…IN THE GRINDING LIGHT is characterized by its playfulness and extremely competent and […]

Based on the 18-minute burst of a debut ‘full length’ that was Parasite , I didn’t exactly have high expectations for the sophomore album from this Michigan deathcore act. However, once I saw the cover, titles, new producers Dan Kenny and John Cinotta (Suffocation) and the mastering credits of Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed), […]

(November 3, 2008) – THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU have announced a February 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 (Every Time I Die, Dillinger Escape […]

Greece’s longstanding black/death craftsmen Septicflesh have been announced as the official opener for the upcoming Cradle of Filth and Satyricon tour this January and February! The full North American tour rampages through the US and Canada from mid-January through the end of February. Supporting this year’s critically-acclaimed album Communion – praised as one of the […]

Arguably, The Fathomless Mastery is one of the most anticipated death metal records of year, partly due to the return of Mikael Åkerfeldt to vocal duties (which cancels out the loss of Dan Swano), and partly due to the fact that the bands two full length’s (2002s Resurrection Through Carnage and superb but slight step […]

LAMB OF GOD will release their fifth studio album WRATH, on February 24th, 2009. The record will be released in North America by Epic and will be the first release with their new label Roadrunner outside of North America. WRATH is produced by Josh Wilbur and was recorded in studios in New York, Virginia, and […]

It would seem that every time I come across a Cradle of Filth CD, I feel slightly more inclined to school people. Not proverbially school them, but literally. I cast aside grammatically challenged losers like moldy bread, begin using more sophisticated words like “assuaged” and “indubitably” in daily speech, and resume my lifelong quest to […]

Posted by vocalist Travis Ryan at the bands’s official website: “We’re FINALLY done with all the finishing touches of our new album and we feel we’ve finally done it! Sonically, the band has managed to finally capture and accentuate its live intensity that we’ve become known for and has created one hell of an album […]