I, like many others, have a deep fondness for Pierced From Within. For many, it’s like a capstone to the silver age of death metal, a brutal yet technically complex episode embedded in the minds of the long time fans; the guys that had seen a Tirant Sin show or two in a garage or […]

As the story goes, when Prosthetic Records asked D.C. – based guitar virtuoso Tosin Abasi to record a solo album based on his performances with his former band Reflux, the artist demurred as such a project would be ‘egotistical’. Here then, is his solo project under the band name, Animals as Leaders, on which Abasi […]

It’s not everyday that you see a band held in high regard for immolating a sound so perfectly. General Surgery has been hailed the ultimate Carcass clone for sometime now and that’s really all I see going for them. The fact that people seem content with this bands worship is fine by me, but it […]

I’ve admitted before that I’m a sing-along sort of guy, and I sometimes have a problem with records that are not in English for that reason. On the other hand, I can’t complain about weak lyrics when I don’t understand any of them. So maybe it all comes out in the wash. So, I’m faced […]

A really solid debut here from ex-members of the short-lived punk band Bars, who also have some more recognizable Massachusetts metal and hardcore pedigree in the form of The Red Chord and American Nightmare members. As you could probably tell from the evil-word/equine moniker (see also Palehorse and Warhorse), we are dealing with a band […]

What more did you expect? There are three words above that are intrinsic to hardcore terminology, “thick,” for thick riffs, beats, vocals and lyrics. Blood, well, you don’t have to be blood to be family and all that rhetoric that’s been rife pretty much since the beginning and embrace? You embrace the music, the scene […]

Kam Lee has been performing death metal since the early 1980s when he was a teenager and a member of the band (Mantas) that later became Death and then left to form Massacre. After a few stops in Hateplow, Skincrawler and Denial Fiend, the veteran growler is back at it with Bone Gnawer, a death metal […]

So the new label of Skinlab, released this, the third full length album from Los Angeles’ Flatline earlier this year, and its been sitting on my Ipod since February , waiting to be reviewed, and to be honest I completely forgot about it, which tells you something about its quality. Now, Pave the Way isn’t […]

Since the release of their debut The Butcher’s Ballroom in 2007 Sweden’s DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA have gained a loyal fan base of their own. People have embraced their mind bending mix of metal, opera, swing jazz, and spaghetti-western soundtrack with open arms and they have been perceived as a fresh breath of air in a genre getting […]

Arguably surpassing The Black Dahlia Murder as Metal Blade’s media darlings, JFAC have at least weathered the hype and the hate to change styles from their reee filled deathcore to morph into a more respectable death metal outfit, and retain their fan base as 2007s unit moving Genesis proved. However, in these eyes (or ears) […]

One could easily look at the moniker, cookie cutter logo, generic computerized cover art, and Metal Blade’s recent release history, and make the assumption that As You Drown is merely another drop in the generic deathcore bucket. Wrong. As You Drown (previously named Ethereal) hail from Sweden and play death metal. Really good fucking death […]

The Black Dahlia Murder has announced Deflorate as the title of their new album, which is scheduled for a September 15th release. “A Selection Unnatural”, the first single, will begin streaming exclusively on Revolver Magazine‘s website on Tuesday, July 7th. Vocalist Trevor Strnad comments: “Hear Ye thrashing metal maniacs! We have returned with our most […]

Enigmatic black metal duo CANIS DIRUS have signed to MORIBUND RECORDS for the release of their debut album, A Somber Wind From a Distant Shore. The last burning embers of a dying autumnal twilight, the beckoning shrieks of the oncoming night, the blanket of everlasting darkness inevitable and infinite: CANIS DIRUS’ A Somber Wind From […]

As England’s most extreme export since Napalm Death have made their transition from apocalyptic black metal to grindcore, they have managed to retain some of intensity and ferocity of The Codex Necro, though far less caustic, and have been able to introduce some love ‘em or hate ‘em clean croons amid the mechanical, robotic blasting […]

First and foremost, massive improvement from their debut Ekklesia and whilst For Today show growth in their musical capabilities they are some way off the top of the mound in the metalcore circles, even the Christian ones.They continue to build on their solid foundation of choice influences, taking the stutter and lurch of most modern […]

Midwestern metal warriors SKELETONWITCH, who have performed more than 300 concerts worldwide since the release of their acclaimed 2007 Prosthetic debut “Beyond The Permafrost,” will release their new album “Breathing The Fire” on Oct. 13. The album, produced by Jack Endino (High On Fire, Nirvana, Toxic Holocaust), is currently being recorded in Seattle at both […]

Finnish folk metallers ENSIFERUM have set From Afar as the title of their fourth album, slated for a US release on September 8, 2009 (September 9th for the rest of the world) via Spinefarm Records. The CD was produced by Tero Kinnunen (Nightwish, Amorphis) and Janne Joutsenniemi, who produced the band’s previous offering, Victory Songs […]

I’ll be the first to admit I’ve never been a drone fan and despite being seven albums into their career the apparent pinnacle of the genre, this is my first exposure to the duo of Greg Anderson and Stephen O’ Malley. However, what intrigued me about this release and prompted me to check Sunn O))) […]

As one of the many who hyped Pelican’s self-titled EP from the rooftops, I held out great hope for the band at their inception, but unlike many who continue to hold them in high opinion, my enthusiasm was short-lived due their frankly anemic debut full-length, Australasia. Even more frankly, the live performances I witnessed were […]

Metal Blade is a wonderfully sharp company. What better time to rerelease one of their more popular band’s older material than now (y’know, when they’re finally popular)? And in retrospect, it’s really bizarre that it took an audience this long to take notice of Amon Amarth. Certainly they now can be mentioned in the same […]

How often do you meet a band that ties together brilliant songwriting, flawless technique, mad intensity and a thought-provoking lyrical content to boost? When it comes to extreme metal, it’s really difficult to find the complete package. Maybe that’s why “Retaliate” by Misery Index is such an important album. It shows that the impossible is […]

Maurizio Iacono and the Canadian hyper blasters Kataklysm have spread their wings in 2009 and ventured away from their usually reliable racket to deliver us a tasty concept album on the fall of Rome, dubbed Romulus. Ex Deo consists of the entire Kataklysm line-up and Jonathan Leduc (Blackguard) on keyboards. The idea was the brainchild […]

Beginning with the 1998 debut EP from Isis, a perpetually expanding number of bands criss-crossing the metal and hardcore scenes have successively attempted to snatch the torch from the hands of slow-core, for lack of a better word, godfathers Neurosis. Isis’s Mosquito Control was tribute bordering on plagiarism, and having suceeded in creating a buzz, […]

Germany’s heaviest export, Caliban, is gearing up to release their 8th full-length album on August 25th, 2009 – Say Hello to Tragedy. Produced by Benny Richter, co-produced by guitarist Marc Goertz and mixed by Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam D, Say Hello to Tragedy marks some of Caliban’s most accomplished and mature work to date. This […]

Comprised of former members of unsung underground metal stalwarts Kalibas & Anodyne, Defeatist has been relentlessly pursuing the kind of revered status in the American grindcore scene that European and Japanese bands have achieved by virtue of their comprably more prolific and superior output to their stateside counterparts. Hailing back to the glory days of […]