Post-punk fans will know Jarboe as one half of seminal 80s act Swans, but aside from a 2003 collaboration with Neurosis, she’s a fairly unknown voice in the metal world. With MahaKali, she crosses over again, with Phil Anselmo and Attila Csihar along for the journey. Yet this is still really not metal, despite a […]

If a complete stranger or non-metalhead were to come up to me today and ask me “What is Black Metal”? I’d give him this record. Sure there’s all sorts of classic options from Emperor through Marduk, Immortal, Leviathan and such, but as of right now A Spell for the Death of Man, for me, seems […]

I was unimpressed with the release of The Roundhouse Tapes on CD only because of my apathy for audio live performances. I just don’t get it. I have the albums. There is no need for me to have a live version. At least Opeth. However, watching a live performance on DVD is a totally different […]

Wow, real Black metal in the US is really starting to impress me and this his SoCal 5 piece look to be an up and coming band with some real potential as this 4 song, 21 minute EP does virtually everything right. With a perfectly balanced raw buzzing guitar tone and some actual presence of […]

PSYCHOSTICK – NEW ALBUM COMPLETED ENTITLED “SANDWICH” Phoenix, Arizona, comedy/metal band Psychostick has finished recording their new album, Sandwich. Work on the 24-track opus to food, email spam, bad directions, revenge and more food began in August 2008. A May 5, 2009, release (US only) is scheduled via Rock Ridge Music. Sandwich is the follow-up […]

Open Grave Records & NePlusUltra Music are proud to announce the signing of Finland’s Female Fronted Melodic Metal band VENIA. VENIA got their start in 2002 when guitarists Viktor and Jere started jamming together and seeking more band mates. The lineup was finally completed in the spring of 2004, and a demo was recorded titled, […]

This spring, Ohio’s mighty SKELETONWITCH and Georgia lords (and lordess) of sludge KYLESA will embark on the hessian odyssey that is the “Southern Discomfort” tour, a co-headlining trek that – not counting performances by both bands at the Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta – kicks off March 13 in Charlotte, N.C. Included among Southern Discomfort’s […]

A KID HEREAFTER IN THE GRINDING LIGHT has hit Denmark hard with the release of their debut album. The album received unanimous praise by the Danish press, and now it has been nominated for a Danish Music Award in the Hard Rock category, where Mercenary and Rock Hard Power Spray are the other nominees. A […]

With the rise in popularity in the Pagan/Celtic Metal Scene, one of the true pioneers of the Genre is ready to take the United States scene by storm. Over their fourteen year history, SuidAkrA have stayed true to their roots and the sound that they have become known for. The German Celtic metallers are returning […]

Montreal technical death veterans NEURAXIS – whose new album, The Thin Line Between, was named one of Metal Edge’s Top 20 releases of 2008 – are currently prepping for back-to-back tours. First up is the “Montreal Assault” tour, which will see the band play alongside Despised Icon, Carnifex, The Plasmarifle and labelmates Beneath The Massacre.   […]

Kai Hansen certainly has made quite a name for himself in the world of Heavy Metal. The influence of Gamma Ray (let alone his music in the early days of Helloween) upon scores of modern Power Metal bands is simply undeniable. Now, this elder statesman of Metal has documented the current state of Gamma Ray […]

Wow – what a raging blackened death thrash beast this debut is from L.A. based Dreaming Dead! At its core (no pun – there’s no ‘core in site here), Within One is a vicious thrash assault with splashes of melody throughout, excellent guitar work all around, busy, blasting drums, blackened vocals, and a definite old-school […]

It’s a fairly well known fact that Progressive Rock has had a hand in influencing Heavy Metal. Bands like Dream Theater and Fates Warning would not exist without earlier bands like Yes and Rush. Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris, I am told, virtually worships Jethro Tull (to the point that Maiden’s recent work is showing traces of Prog Rock). There is even a crop of bands that still carry on a tradition of Progressive Rock. Now, I’m aware that “tradition” and “progressive” seem to contradict one another, but the latter generation of Prog Rock bands take what came before them and build upon it so that “progressive”, much like “alternative”, carries two meanings, the literal and the figurative. Into this current crop of Prog Rock bands steps Edensong. Relying heavily on 70s styled composition ala the Gabriel-led Genesis, Kansas, Tull & Yes, while not forsaking the literal meaning of their genre’s tag, Edensong brings musicianship & vibe together as one and into the here and now. Here’s my conversation with main-man James Schoen.

As much as I love nasty scary black metal like Anaal Nathrakh, Xasthur, Dagon, Leviathan, Deathspell Omega and such, I have a hard time dealing with such music coming from the relatively peaceful climates of France, England, California, Texas and San Francisco , and while those acts have no doubt injected plenty of hatred, spite, and […]

Hope for the Dying is the first release on the recently re-launched Strike First Records (a subsidiary of Facedown Records that released records by the likes of War of Ages, Sinai Beach, Inked In Blood, Jesus Wept and Bloodlined Calligraphy), and though its basically a repackaged version of the bands demo from earlier in 2008, […]

No introductions required here. Kreator are back with their 12th studio album and first since 2005’s Enemy of God, which is possibly their best (at least it’s my favorite). Four years is much too long of a wait after such an incredible last offering, but I’m glad to say that it was well worth it, […]

Its been 3 year since the debut, Devour the Power, and I knew just judging from the cover and the album title, that Tennessee’s purveyors of uber cheesy fantasy based metal was going to up the ante from the debut-and they do. Cut from the same heavily bearded and classically inspired cloth as 3 Inches […]

The psychedelic blackened death Seattle quintet BOOK OF BLACK EARTH, whose recently released concept album Horoskopus continues to receive extensive critical acclaim, kicks off a tour alongside grindcore cult heroes Cattle Decapitation tonight (Jan. 21) in Santa Barbara, Calif. The “Killing ‘Til Oblivion” tour, which also features Psyopus and Gigan, is the group’s first national […]

Like a treacherously silent volcano, Equilibrio, the last symphonic opus from Netherland’s Power Metal outfit Xystus, has quite unexpectedly erupted somewhere on my third attempt to look into its dark yet flaming musical depths. The point is that I didn’t quite get its multiple dignities during my initial familiarization tours, yet I felt there was […]

Melodic Hard Rock certainly has its own underground niche. Bands like Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Firehouse and Europe may not command the sales figures or radio airplay they once did, but their influence resonates in the music of underground bands/studio projects across the globe; bands that still use overdriven guitars, bands that still stack their chorus […]

As I detailed here , and to save some time, basically Order of Ennead is a continuation of label and line up hampered act Council of the Fallen, who released two very solid albums of blistering black/death metal in 2002s Revealing Damnation and 2004s Deciphering the Soul. Both I which I highly recommend. However, of […]

The band Sinner dates back some 27 years and has a now 17 album discography. Yet, to many, Mat Sinner (aka Matthias Lasch) is known more as the bassist for Primal Fear. That’s too bad, actually; because one look at this band’s catalog and you’ll find many a Heavy Metal gem. Crash & Burn, the […]

Here’s another old school death metal effort featuring vocalist Roger “Rogga” Johansson who has graced bands like Ribspreader, Carve, Paganizer, Edge of Sanity, Deranged and recently, Those Who Bring the Torture. This time he’s helped by guitarist Rober Bustabad of Machetazo and drummer Phlegeton of Wormed (who plays drums here). Ultimately the sound of Banished […]

It is apparent that the recent wave of folk metal is becoming the new metalcore. After the genre received quite a boost in the last year or so bands have been popping up left and right with traditional Scandinavian infused metal. The problem is the cheese factor has escalated and it seems labels jump at […]

OPEN GRAVE RECORDS is pleased to announce the signing of Nevada based death metal band I BUILT THE CROSS.  I BUILT THE CROSS was formed during the summer of ’08 by two long time-time friends and ex-members of the popular death metal band Disfiguring the Goddess. As friends, Reed and Gare have been closer than […]