This Greek band first hit my radar because of the Enshadowed connections. I was compelled to seek out the other bands those god fearing, fine upstanding members of christiandom were involved with. War, Revenge & Total Annihilation just greased the rails with christian blood for a boat launching of Scandinavian proportions. Raw nordic black metal […]

For me, Merauder was a lost, lost band for a number of years. 2003s Bluetality was a flat, flaccid record and not representative of one of New York’s hardest bands. What’s more, I saw them at Pressure Fest in Germany in 2005 and they were equally flat, uninterested and to be frank out of their […]

The End of an Era marks the final document of the Tarja’s Nightwish reign. I’m fairly certain fans held the original standard-def DVD in high regard, as the performance, track selection (“The Kinslayer”, “Bless the Child”, and Gary Moore cover “Over the Hills and Far Away”) and production values are very high. Well, kids it’s […]

Legendary death metal giants MASTER have titled their upcoming tenth full-length The Human Machine. The band is expected to enter the studio in December following a string of Mexican and South American tour dates. Cover art was done by Israeli artist Eliran Kantor who was responsible for TESTAMENT’s Formation Of Damnation cover among so many […]

I knew little about Canada’s Augury prior to hearing this album but was aware that their Galy Records debut caused quite a stir in the tech death metal world. My interest was however truly piqued when I discovered that vocalist/guitarist Patrick Loisel was in Canadian act Kralizec who were responsible for one of my very […]

A good portion of the first decade of the new millenium marketing in both underground and mainstream rock music has been a question of labelling all the new, increasingly interchangable product of independent and corporate labels. It used to be readily apparent which bands were indie and which mainstream, but those lines have been blurred […]

Released as digital only EP, Warsaw Rising is a stop gap release from this Dutch super group (members of Asphyx, Gorefest, Thanatos) with 2 new songs, a cover song (Twisted Sister’s “Destroyer”) and three live songs (“Red Wolves of Stalin”, “Nachthexen” and “The Crucial Offensive”) from the excellent …Of Frost and War debut. To be […]

What to make of Brazil’s Dark Celebration and its sophomore full-length, Phlegeton: The Transcendence of Demon Lords; that is indeed the question. It’s actually not that complicated. First and foremost, the vibe is one of vintage death metal with blackened edges and an atmosphere that approaches that whole Latin American dark ‘n dirty death metal […]

Continuing their trend of releasing solid Christian metal in environmentally friendly digipacks (A Hope for Home, Earth From Above, The Great Commission, Hope for the Dying), Facedown Records, subsidiary label, Strikefirst Records has come up with yet another thunderous Christian deathcore outfit akin to Earth From Above. Right, now that 90% of you have left. […]

*Rant mode ON* You know, I love thrash, and when this whole thrash resurgence came about, I was pretty damn excited. But truth be told, I’m flat out tired of it now. Why? Because the labels won’t stop signing every last one of them they find. Every label has to have one in order to […]

I’ve been swamped in quality Australian metal of late: Destruktor, Defamer, Futility, Be’lakor, Orpheus, and now my first exposure to Adelaide’s doom metal veterans Mournful Congregation. Despite being around since 1994, this is only the bands 3rd full length album and has certainly delivered a top notch doom effort that will have me seeking out […]

Though still on a similar wavelength as their last effort, Crescent Shield’s newest release, The Stars of Never Seen, is more grandiose, more expansive, and packs less punch. The NWOBHM-paced gallop woven into 2006’s excellent The Last of My Kind has gone by the wayside of a looser (and more progressive) sound. Progressive is not […]

The title, artwork and full tracklisting of French depraved WAY TO END’s forthcoming debut album are finally disclosed. “Desecrated Internal Journey” weaves seven sinuous, disarmingly dissonant spells of elevated-consciousness composition, “Black Metal” the starting point but by no means the end of their journey ! Tracklisting is as follows : 1. Facing The Abyss 2. […]

Those zany Poles in Dead Infection are at it again, this time bringing the high-speed muck in the form of new MCD Corpses of the Universe. The term “Goregrind” gets utilized so much now that it has lost some of its descriptive appeal, but there is no mistaking it, Dead Infection is goregrind. Yeah, I […]

(im•bro•glio) 1. A misunderstanding, disagreement, etc., of a complicated or bitter nature. 2. An intricate and perplexing state of affairs; a complicated or difficult situation. 3. A fittingly named, noisy, Converge inspired band formed in Dayton, OH but now residing in Syracuse, NY. I discovered this band and new, Illinois based label through a sports […]

If you could travel back in time and play some of our current tech-death for the death metal bands just starting out in the early years of the genre, would they be amazed that their efforts would one day spawn something so intricate and complex? Or would they just take off their instruments and give […]

What names do you recall when it comes to Power Metal from Australia? Perhaps Vanishing Point? Pegazus? Lord? Maybe even Dungeon? Well, add to this an outfit by the name of Ilium. I did some research and found out that Ilium is a science fiction novel by Dan Simmons, the first part of the Ilium/Olympos […]

Starting today August 11th , the new video from New England’s SHADOWS FALL, “Still I Rise,” will be available for viewing exclusively on MySpace. Check out the video HERE  “Still I Rise” is the first video from the band’s upcoming album, Retribution, which streets September 15 on Everblack Industries. The video was shot by longtime […]

We all have those special songs, those riffs or a solo from a certain song that changed us, that effected us personally and emotionally, ingrained into our very being and dare I say? Changed our life.

One of the guys on the board mentioned this one in the Avant-Garde Death/Black thread, with the description “progressive black metal Opeth.” Those are three of my favorite metal-related terms, and I’ve always been on the lookout for something that fits the bill. However, aside from moments on last year’s excellent releases by Janvs and […]

Snarkily nodding to their small but fiercely dedicated following with this album title as they did with the preceding EP, You Waited Five Years For This?, Cleveland’s finest mostly instrumental four piece is back and they haven’t skipped a beat, or rather drummer Will Scharf is still skipping beats left and right, but that’s a […]

The heaviest metal band in the world (by sheer mass) has finished their follow up to Total Brutal – get ready for Double Brutal! Not satisfied with the limitations offered by putting out a single disc album, Ahhnold demanded two full cds full of muscle pumping metal! When asked why they needed two discs and […]

What a year. Seriously, new albums by Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse is one thing in a year, but when the underground is also churning out slabs of equally if not more ferocious material then it shows that the good times truly are a rolling. Now for a band that’s legacy was built on a […]

On its face, Imperial Vengeance seems like a fascinating proposition. Symphonic black metal courtesy of two dapper British gents, with inspiration from British military history, mythology and literature? And mixed and mastered by Brett Caldas-Lima, creator of the stunning progressive death masterpiece Kalisia: Cybion? I was really eager to hear this. The symphonic intro instantly […]

“Terraphobic” from Lansing, MI’s Dagon is one of those albums I casually grabbed from my ever overflowing box of promos to check out. I’m not ever certain why I decided to grab it. Perhaps it was because I’d realized that I’d not reviewed any albums yet from Bombworks Records. Regardless, it was a fortuitous grab, as Terraphobic knocked me square on my ass with what is sure to end up one of my favorite albums of 2009. The band’s self-described “ocean metal” is a blistering slice of classic Swedish melodic death metal (In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Hypocrisy) with traditional metal (ala Iron Maiden) flourishes, thrashing riffs, white hot soloing, and a knack for writing memorable melodies. This one has got it all. Oh yeah, and the lyrical themes are entirely ocean-centric. Guitarists Chris Sharrock and Briant Daniel, bassist/vocalist Randall Ladiski, and drummer/vocalist Jordan Batterbee better be ready for the big leagues because metal this good won’t go unnoticed for long.