Are you stressed out? Is your job getting to you? Has your wife been on your case about getting your share of the chores done around the house? Are you tired of shampooing the carpet where your renegade cat has been urinating? Are you coping with a debilitating and financially devastating methamphetamine habit? If you’ve […]

Mastodon are one of the most lauded bands in modern metal, but at the same time, one of the most hated by “elitists” with an agenda against “mallcore” (such a stupid descriptor I might add). I still have no idea how music of such a progressive nature can be considered “mallcore”, or meant for mass […]

Wow. I did not see this coming. Whereas the debut from Canada’s female fronted metalcore outfit Once Only Imagined, was a complete knock off of In this Moments Beautiful Tragedy, the sophomore effort utterly destroys In This Moment’s second, tamer effort, The Dream with a fierce and impressive evolution in the band’s sound. Though still […]

Human Quena Orchestra (featuring former members of cult Pittsburgh grind/metal legends Creation Is Crucifixion) is bringing their apocalyptic industrial doom nightmare to the Pacific Northwest, California and some spots in the Southwest over the next two weeks – I’ve listed all of their tour dates below. From all accounts, these guys are going to be […]

The monster is back stronger than ever and with so much power that the dead will rise from their graves. AS WE FIGHT’s third album ‘Meet Your Maker’ will give the listener an unforgettable kick in the groin, but there is no time for recovery; it’s full speed ahead, and this is the train that […]

Fen – the British word for swamp – suggests a band with a sludgy, crawling sound, but that’s not the case with this UK-based act. Instead, this combines dry, murky black metal with buoyant melodies and expansive moodscapes to create a dynamic and often mesmerizing experience. Essentially, Fen comes off like the British version of […]

Japan’s Coffins is finally making it back to the US after last year’s successful East Coast tour. This time they will bring the doom/death to the American West Coast. Going along for the ride are their Oakland label mates Stormcrow. The tour will start in Seattle on April 30th and culminate with both bands appearing […]

Robotic Empires GODS AND QUEENS is set to embark on their first European tour, with the first date starting Wednesday April 1st. Along on the run of dates is San Francisco’s Drowning With Our Anchors. For up-to date details please check out http://myspace.com/godsandqueens 1.4. GER – Giessen/ AK44 2.4. GER – Leipzig/ Zoro (w/ Zann) […]

I had exceptionally high hopes for the second full length album from Christian metalcore act, A Plea For Purging, as I really enjoyed 2007s A Critique of Mind and Thought as it delivered some Woe of Tyrants and The Showdown – like levels of shred and melodic death metal mixed with intelligent Christian themes. However, […]

There’s a handful of ‘popular’ and highly acclaimed bands that I simply don’t get or don’t enjoy. At the top of that list is Mastodon and pretty close to the top is Baroness and fellow Georgia act, Kylesa, its and no surprise considering they have (had) a somewhat similar approach to metal. While Mastodon have continued to […]

“Omnos,” the new video from Swiss folk metal pioneers ELUVEITIE, can now be viewed on MySpace . The song comes off the band’s upcoming acoustic/folk album, Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion, which is scheduled for release on April 11th (Europe) and May 19th (North America) via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD will contain 15 folk […]

Oslo, Norway — Despite further complications SUSPERIA singer Athera (Pal Mathiesen) successfully underwent open heart surgery on Monday March 16th 2009 at Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. Originally scheduled to have a triple bypass operation, surgeons discovered further problems which resulted in the vocalist also having a main artery – which previously ran to his […]

Ventura, CA death metallers Fatalist are in the studio recording The Depths of Inhumanity, their debut album for Ibex Moon Records. Guitarist/vocalist Neil Burkdoll (Dirty Dead, ex-Stump) had this to say about it. “We have been recording four new songs that will be added to the seven songs that make up the Loss recording. These […]

THORNAFIRE STUDIO/TOUR UPDATE Chilean death metal warriors Thornafire are in the midst of recording their sophomore album for Ibex Moon Records, Vorex Deconstrucción. Guitarist Victor Mac-Namara had this to say about the recording process: “We have finished the drums and guitars for our new album. All that is left is the bass, vocals, some arrangements […]

So not only is Earache experiencing a bit of a comeback, the UK Death metal scene appears to be getting very healthy in a hurry: Man Must Die, Detrimentium, Sarpanitum, Trigger the Bloodshed and now Bath’s own oddly named Ignominious Incarceration and their rather impressive debut. I’ll get this right out of the way now. […]

Regain Records is very proud to announce the signing of NYHC veterans MERAUDER! Jorge Rosado (vocals) has issued the following statement: “MERAUDER, the metalcore kings and creators, are teaming up with Regain Records to bring you the long awaited album titled God Is I. This is one of the most important and brutal records we’ve […]

Fully titled Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum : Chaining the Katechon , this Single/EP is one track 22 minutes of typically deviant and caustic yet artfully malignant black metal from one of black metal’s very elite acts. It’s hard to review one 22 minute song, but luckily Chaining the Katechon has various segments and sections […]

On 2007’s The Final Dawn, Ontario’s Arise and Ruin delivered a solid if forgetful slab of thrash based metalcore and now with the follow up, even though the thrash element has been upped and the metalcore sound is virtually gone, Arise and Ruin prove a cool cover and album title does not a great metal […]

Norwegian death metal tyrants BLOOD RED THRONE have finished recording their new album. The album, titled SOULS OF DAMNATION, is the band’s fifth studio album and will be released to coincide with the band’s 10th anniversary. The limited edition first pressing of SOULS OF DAMNATION will include two bonus tracks, plus a special bonus DVD […]

Finally getting a US/Worldwide release after coming out 2 years ago on Japan’s Toy Factory Records, the third album from super group Dimension Zero holds up not only after two years but as an album that would have sounded fresh and energetic whatever years it was released in. For me, the 2002 debut, Silent Night […]

To these ears, Houston’s Scale the Summit, ply an instrumental version of soaring, layered metalcore that’s basically like a slightly more progressive, post rock version of Misery Signals, Life In Your way without vocals. Then why aren’t I enjoying this more? Maybe of course it because I’m generally not a huge instrumental metal fan as […]

Hailing from Michigan (Detroit), Hellmouth are a snarling, gnarly crossover band that meld, punk, thrash and hardcore into a mix that’s a refreshing change from the usual Ferret fare though it lacks real staying power, once the initial burst of feral energy wears off. Citing influences like Celtic Frost, Black Flag, Venom, Black Sabbath and […]

One usually knows what to expect from a Unique Leader release, which is not a bad thing. It just means that the soup of the day is technically proficient death metal brutality. Most, however, would not expect the soup de jour to be made in Ankara, Turkey. But that only means that some folks on these shores have not been paying attention to what has been for some time now a fertile extreme metal scene. Enter Carnophage, one of the shining stars of the Turkish death metal movement. Deformed Future / Genetic Nightmare consists of eight smartly written compositions that are savagely delivered and technically competent, yet also surprisingly varied, often groovy, and individualistic. In other words, you can in fact tell when one track ends and another begins. Guitarist Berkan Basoglu checks in with The Teeth

Learn the Old Ways, pass them on, oral tradition was strong in the north in the old days. Throne of Katarsis carries on the tradition, continues telling the tales, songs inspired by the old masters. Can I call them that if most of them are younger than me? In the oral tradition individual storytellers adapted […]

March 18, 2009, The Riot Room, Kansas City, MO It was a night of firsts at the tiny Riot Room; my first pagan/Viking/folk metal show, my wife’s first metal show after 12 years of marriage and my first ever in person meeting with another member of the metal media-Blabbermouth and Outburn’s (and now our own […]