Over the last ten years, Fear Factory has tarnished even the most dedicated fans’ view of the band. Under pressure from Roadrunner, the band bridged a gap between their heavy industrialized sound and the mainstream, causing a downward spiral of events that eventually led to what we all thought was the band’s ultimate demise. Chug-master Dino Cazares left the band due to mounting tension with lead vocalist Burton C. Bell, and pursued Divine Heresy, which was a lackluster copycat of Fear Factory in most fans’ eyes. Though Bell and company kept the motor running with Archetype, 2005’s Transgression was a clusterfuck of an album that sealed the deal for most followers. Well, those days are ancient history and I am ecstatic to say that the machine has returned, and someone has switched it to kill mode.

I think there are a few comparisons between Snowblood and Fall of Efrafa. Both are from the UK (Snowblood hail from Glasgow) and are (were) relatively unknown. Both have a trilogy of Cds, both have the same recycled, cardboard Cd sleeves with simple effective artwork, and both are utterly magnificent. And unfortunately both have called […]

After a nigh on seven year recording silence ASTRIAAL are now poised to return with their sophomore album entitled ‘Anatomy of the Infinite’. This next opus is due to be released in the Autumn of 2010 for the southern equatorial territories via Australian label Obsidian Records. With this their follow up album to 2003’s debut […]

Spewing forth from the same sick Dutch mind as Gnaw Their Tongues’ Mories, Migdal Bavel is the second album that Mories has created under this moniker and while still a sick, nasty record, its more of a black metal based record than the droning insanity of Gnaw Their Tongues. And I say that very loosely […]

Talk about black sheep. While the rest of their countrymates are content to make a clattery, blastbeating black metal racket, this Bergen, Norway-based act crunch out a mix of groovy doom and gravelly 90s Swedish death. Call it Entombed in ice. Although A Dark Burial is only Syrach’s third full-length in thirteen years (there was […]

We live in a time where certain aspects of metal music are having an identity crisis. I’m an open-minded person and I do enjoy some of these more unique sub-genres that are manifesting, but some leave me utterly confused and perplexed. Most noticeable experimentation is happening in the black, sludge/noise, and post rock divisions. With […]

If you play death metal, getting endorsed by Possessed’s Jeff Becerra is a bit like getting a nod from American Idol’s Simon Cowell. Headhunter D.C.’s label Ibex Moon even drafted a press release trumpeting the news. While an endorsement like this can raise your profile it can also bring the critics out ready to bat […]

MP3 Giveaway and Pre-Order Information Available Now Phoenix, Arizona’s LANDMINE MARATHON have unveiled the cover art of their forthcoming record “Sovereign Descent ,” due out March 16, 2010 on PROSTHETIC RECORDS, the same week the band will play Scion Rock Fest and South By Southwest. The cover art was handled by acclaimed artist Dan Seagrave, […]

The successor of Alcest’s highly acclaimed debut album “Souvenirs D’un Autre Monde” will be entitled “Ècailles De Lune“, and the release is scheduled for March 29, 2010. Its cover artwork (see below) is definitely one of the most beautiful we have ever seen, and thus we are very pround to unveil it. The “Ècailles De […]

So, here we have the third album from Day of Fire, my introduction to the band. It’s apparently the new project of Josh Brown, former singer of Full Devil Jacket, a nu-metal outfit that I vaguely remember from the late 1990s. Apparently Brown got a little big-headed in his previous band and then overdosed on […]

I last interviewed Overkill vocalist Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth for the Killbox 13 album in 2003 and since that time have held the man in even higher esteem, not only for his steely resolve and unwavering devotion to thrash metal, but also for the enthusiastic and amiable way he comes across. Why I waited seven years to interview him again is beyond me. His is an interview to which you look forward because you just know it’ll meet the gold standard. This time was no different.

Any package that includes releases from Napalm Records always gives me mixed feelings. On the one hand, I’m pretty sure that I’ll enjoy most of them, on the other, I know I’ll have to deal with voiceovers on at least half the songs. (Come on, guys, the watermark is sufficient for most everyone these days). […]

While The Fallen Within’s debut comes with the melodic death tag, but it’s certainly much more to the melodic side of the coin than the death side. The band obviously takes its cues from two of the giants of that genre, In Flames and Soilwork, but generally speaking, there are far lighter moments than you’d […]

When I checked out Urna’s 2006 release Sepulcrum, I was struck at how similar it sounded to Arcana Coelestia’s Ubi Secreta Colunt. Both featured a fusion of funeral doom and black ambient, of cosmic light bleeding through waves of crushing darkness. A quick trip to the Metal Archives cleared up my hunch – they’re both […]

Arcana Coelestia’s last release, Ubi Secreta Colunt, was one of my favorite discoveries of 2007 – the kind of gem that makes a few hours of web-surfing and shot-in-the-dark downloads worth all the effort. Essentially one long composition, its four tracks delivered an all-consuming experience that blended crushing funeral doom with astral post-rock grace. I […]

Released last year independently and now more recently distributed by Saturnine Media, California’s Cormorant has released a stunning melodic death metal album that that’s adventurous, ambitious and brilliant. I’ve seen the likes of In Flames, Opeth and Slough Feg mentioned in reference to this band due to the prevalence of melodic riffage, heavy metal backbone, […]

After many, many years stuck in the wilderness, the UK is finally getting back into the Death Metal arena with legions and legions of quality bands. Despite the intricate nuances of these new minions, they all comfortably sit under the encompassing banner of “Death Metal,” be it the blitzkrieg insanity of Infected Disarray, the guttural perfection of Embryonic Depravity or the freakishly bizarre Crepitation and Amputated, these bands are Death Metal to the bone. Ingested, produced one of my favourite (and most played) albums of 2009, they are another cast iron example that extreme music is healthy and vibrant on these shores. Ingested first came to my attention as the standout band of the North-West Slam Fest 3 way split extravaganza that was released in 2007. The potential demonstrated on that juicy entrée was mouth watering, and they satisfyingly outdid themselves on their full length. I spoke with drummer Lynn Jeffs, on whom the band’s guttural insanity is pivoted, he had plenty to say on the scene, his tenure in Annotations of an Autopsy, and the future plans for Ingested.

This new Finnish supergroup boasts members of Swallow the Sun, Amorphis, Moonsorrow, Kreator and October Falls. Given that line-up, you know Barren Earth is going to be awash in the lush, soaring melodies and crushing doom-death tones that make Finnish metal so recognizable. That’s convincing enough for me, but the addition of progressive-death structures and […]

As usual for this time of year, I’m trying to get onto 2010 releases for review, but there are always a few worthwhile, late 2009 stragglers that I feel deserve a mention and your ear. One such release is the debut from Tennessee’s Enfold Darkness. I know Sumerian Records get a lot of flack for […]

IN MOURNING Announce US Release Date; Full Album Stream Available Swedish melancholic metallers IN MOURNING will release their upcoming full-length entitled Monolith via Singapore’s Pulverised Records on February 16. Monolith is currently streaming in its entirety at the following location: http://www.inmourning.net/monolith/. The mini-site also includes band bio, photos and videos taken from the Monolith recording […]

If you think about it, for gruff metal heads a lot of us are accepting of some pretty mellow non metal acts: Tenhi, Nuen Welten, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, old Mortiis, Summoning, Dornenreich just to name a few, seem to get a free pass with metal heads and as artistically brilliant as many non metal […]

When I reviewed (for another site) the 2008 album, Behind Enemy Lines, from New Zealand’s Christian metalcore/hardcore act, I suggested that Facedown/Strikefirst Records would be a good fit for this band for their next album. Booyah. Ok, enough of that – onto the album. The fact this album is on Strikefirst (Facedown’s baby brother) should clue […]

With a name like Semen Datura, you’d expect something filthy, depraved and unpleasantly psychedelic. So I was surprised when opener “Fons et Origo” kicked off with the shimmering, punchy tones of Isis or Burst (and no, it had nothing to do with the mention of Origo – I didn’t have the songtitles in front of […]

Just as you’re recovering from last year’s Teitanblood assault, here comes The Beast of the Apocalypse to scratch the scabs from your ears and let the blood trickle out anew. A Voice from the Four Horns of the Golden Altar proves once again that you don’t need to use reedy, tremolo guitars and thin production […]

Phil McSorley of progressive black metal act Cobalt (Profound Lore Records) was interviewed on the Fox News show “Red Eye” today. The piece starts with a clip from the song “Arsonry”. Then, the 6-minute interview discussed McSorley serving as a Staff Sgt in the US Army, the bands recent album, Gin, its lyrics, being in […]