I’ve been able to assemble a hell of a KMFDM playlist over the years, yet I don’t think the band has ever released a truly perfect album. NIHIL comes really damn close, but the rest usually play out the same way: a few awesome tracks of propulsive, riff-fueled industrial dance/metal, some solid filler, a couple […]

Ah! The tortuous sounds of one man black metal. Music so different it prefers a more shrouded and mysterious nature. But sometimes it comes out from the woodwork and deserves everyone’s undivided attention — except for scene kids, tools, and anyone that loves MTV. One man black metal is a hard genre of music to […]

The days of getting a new Black Label Society record every year seem to be over, and that’s probably not a bad thing considering the way Zakk Wylde seemed to have burned out of good riffs on the band’s 2007 record Shot to Hell. So instead of a follow-up to last year’s outstanding Order of […]

Vomitory has always been a quality Swedish death metal band (as in country of origin, not style) that never seems to get the amount of recognition so deserved of the unit. In the U.S. at least, some of that may have to do with the fact that they’ve played a grand total of one show on this side of the pond. Or maybe some folks just aren’t paying close enough attention. Still, many a devoted death metal fan is well aware of the quartet’s lethal approach. I’d like to think that Terrorizer Sodomize Brutalize brought the band a higher level of recognition, based in part on the level jump in songwriting and blazing lead guitar work of then new member Peter Östlund. Or maybe I just worship that album and any other thoughts are pure delusion. Following that bloody bastard was the dangerously ferocious Carnage Euphoria, which was released on Metal Blade in Europe, but saw no U.S. release (more on that below). But all is back in sync with Metal Blade now with the release of crushing new\effort Opus Mortis VIII, a carnivorous beast that in some respects blends Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize and Carnage Euphoria, albeit with a nasty disposition all its own. Let’s call it like it is, shall we? Vomitory was never about death metal reinvention, but they sure are consistent in making robust death metal albums that offer improvement and slight progression without any compromise when it comes to that skin-shredding, skull-crackin’ style of theirs. Just ask amiable drummer Tobias Gustafsson. He’s the man with the answers. Once you’ve finished reading, support quality death metal by purchasing a copy of Opus Mortis VIII; it’ll rip your arms off and then beat you mercilessly about the head and shoulders with them. It’s what you deserve.

I’ve not really been a huge fan of the current Incantation worship movement in US death metal. Partially because I was never an Incantation fan in the first place and secondly the current Swedish death metal worship movement is much more entertaining to me. However, the debut full length from Houston’s Blaspherian has got my […]

This is one unholy clusterfuck of an album. OvO create all manner of ruckus on Cor Cordium and cull influences from all over the map to create something as unique as it is difficult to describe.  Written as a tribute to English romanticist Percy Shelley, the duo merge droning noise, death metal, doom and noise […]

Parental Warning: Explicit Language. You’ve been warned. You couldn’t possible come up with an album that is better described as “death metal punk.” Punk is the operative word, both in terms of Zach Rose’s (Nunslaugher, Crucified Mortals) snotty, fuck-it-all vocal enunciations, and the short, stripped down arrangements, which also share similarities with Nunslaugher’s primitivism. More […]

The combination of heavy metal and horror is usually a successful one when both aspects share similarities in subject matter and atmosphere. While it’s often attempted, many times the outcome falls short of being memorable. Thankfully, Razorback bands tend not to let listeners down in this area, with Wooden Stake being no exception. And although […]

Horseback is a unique musical entity that challenges the definition and boundaries of the epithet “band”. Of course this notion isn’t entirely new. Many musical outlets exist that seem to morph in and out of “projects” or “collaborations” and so on without being decidedly active or touring regularly. And when the style of musical output […]

And I thought Journal‘s Unlorja was ambitious! Imagine if Kayo Dot, The Pax Cecilia, Orphaned Land, Unexpect , Between the Buried and Me and Opeth all got together and contributed their DNA to a new breed of experimental, musical  genetics — the resultant zygote would be Ana Kefr. Meaning ‘I am Infidel’ in Arabic, California’s […]

Well, my ears are still ringing after blasting this one on the MP3 player, so you know those black metal minor note “melodies” were pushing the treble reading beyond the red and into the abyss, as any USBM album worth its corpse paint should. Beyond the infliction of audio terror upon the listener, Bloodbath of […]

It’s no real secret that I’m a huge fan of Between the Buried and Me. Since The Silent Circus, I’ve reviewed virtually everything they have released for this site or some other publication. I’ve interviewed and seen the band live three times and their album Alaska resides on my top 25 metal albums of all time — only one of a handful of albums released in the 2000s. And in what appears to be an annual occurrence, I happened to catch them in Lawrence, KS while touring with The Ocean and Job For a Cowboy. A tour, that’s promoting their jump from long time label Victory Records to Metal Blade and their current EP The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues — the first part of a planned two CD concept. So amidst Lawrence’s hordes of hipsters, tempting college lasses, apple chutney feta cheese burgers and drumming homeless dudes, I caught up with guitarist Paul Waggoner to find out more about the current release, the label switch and other guitar maestros…

You’re a Deceased fan, aren’t you? I figured as much; I could smell it. Odds are that you fancy a bit of ye olde Slayer too. Am I right? Let us assume for the sake of argument that I am in fact correct in my calculated assumptions and throw in the gamble that horror themes […]

Kampfar is back with a new album but one essential ingredient is missing. These are the first recordings post guitarist Thomas. It was a major blow when I read he had left the band and one of those “what can they do to compensate for the loss” moments. The reality is they missed a few […]

Upon beginning this review, it quickly became apparent that typing the words into my computer was somehow an injustice to this album — there is some force about Jordpuls that pulls back to things more natural, and less synthetic. In fact, it was impossible to write until I pulled out pen and paper, opened the […]

Wormrot’s 2010 full-length debut Abuse kicked my ass six ways from Sunday. It seems I wasn’t the only one that left the experience with ass bruises either. In fact, Abuse and Infanticide’s From Our Cold Dead Hands (Willowtip) ended up my two favorite grindcore albums of 2010. The Dirge EP picks up right where Abuse […]

I really enjoy Edguy, but can’t stand Helloween. Same thing with flowery goth-metal – Nightwish is great, but Epica doesn’t do it for me. And as for Blind Guardian, man, do I really want to love that band. They pen catchy, soaring epics, scored by tasteful orchestration and the right amount of power metal crunch. […]

To make this easy and let you decide whether to finish reading this review or not — I’ll lay it out right away: Alabama’s Gideon are essentially a typical Facedown Records band. They are Christian and they play metalcore. There. While not as impressive as label mates Your Memorial or the new Hope for the […]

Now this was a fun and interesting interview. Well, we think so anyway and hope that you’ll agree. Considering Scott Alisoglu and myself both found the music of Wooden Stake – particularly new full-length Dungeon Prayers & Tombyard Serenades – to be an intelligently constructed (lyrically and musically), compellingly horrific, and rather unique brand of doom metal, we thought it a smashing idea to conduct a joint interview with bassist/vocalist/lyricist Vanessa Nocera. Vanessa constitutes exactly one half of the prolific pair and also runs the mighty Razorback Records with husband Billy. Wooden Stake’s other equally important half is ubiquitous guitarist/drummer Wayne Sarantopoulos, about whom you may have heard because of his membership in a multitude of other acts, including Decrepitaph, Festered, Encoffination, and Beyond Hell. All that’s left to do now is unleash the hounds, open the gates, let the games begin, and get this party started. Do it!

Listen- this is my first exposure to Woods of Ypres, so this review isn’t going to go into the bands apparent shift from respected black metal into whatever they are being called now (Hippys, posers, sell outs, etc). What I am going to get into is how this Earache re-release of the bands 2009 fourth […]

Guess what? Full Blown Chaos are back with another album filled to the brim with metallic tough guy hardcore that instantly puts to shame all of those faux tough guy hardcore bands that are flooding the scene. Big burly dudes with beards playing tough as nails music and you know what? That’s how it should […]

I can’t say I had super high hopes for the debut CD from Serbia’s Bane; nondescript moniker, clichéd logo, artwork and album title, etc. But when I dove into the album I was actually greeted with some very competent and confident melodic black/death metal. There’s nothing original to be seen here at all here. Solid […]

If you’ve followed the career of Max Cavalera, you won’t likely be surprised by what you hear on Cavalera Conspiracy’s latest outing, Blunt Force Trauma. It’s the same blend of Sepultura-style thrash and groove metal he’s delivered since leaving Sepultura, minus the world music influence. His second reunion with brother and drummer Igor Cavalera is, […]

In news that are bound to make a long lasting impact on the metal kingdom, Seattle’s progressive riffing engine NEVERMORE is facing undeniably hard times as shred-god Jeff Loomis and drummer Van Williams have quit the band. We repeat, Jeff Loomis and Van Williams have left Nevermore. The band’s latest (and last?) album, The Obsidian […]

For over four years now, Jackie Perez Gratz has declined my romantic overtures and while her restraining order against me prevents physical contact within 100ft, I’m still allowed to review her band’s albums. I’m kidding. It’s 200 ft. So here is album number three from vocalist/cellist Gratz and her two compadres Zach Farewell (drums) and […]