Landskrona, Sweden-based THE FORSAKEN are preparing to drop their fourth full-length assault Beyond Redemption in North America. Beyond Redemption surges with forty minutes of the band’s modern black/thrash-infused death metal culminating here into some of the most devastating sequences from THE FORSAKEN to date. The album was recorded by the band themselves, and the final […]

Death metal will always be my passion, and there has been some really good stuff dropping as of late (Amon, Tombthroat, Miseration, Relics of Humanity). But there does come a time where one can get death-metalled out so to say, and a break can sometimes be in order. That prompted me to grab the second […]

So those of you currently enjoying the glut of old school metal bands fronted by smoky, female crooners (The Devils Blood, Christian Mistress, Witch Mountain, Jess and the Ancient Ones, Jex Thoth, Blood Ceremony, etc) here’s a short little EP that should appeal to you by way of the debut EP from Nevada’s Demon Lung […]

Hailing from a country where professional boxing is illegal, Resurgency certainly doesn’t pull any punches with their debut album False Enlightenment. A relentless slab of punishing death metal this is, Resurgency has clearly demonstrated that they have zero intentions of employing the overly technical or melodic angle of the genre. And that’s a bonus for […]

I had a hard time coming up with a description of Burnsred and their impressive debut album. So, I thought I’d simply lift the band’s own description of themselves as it sums the sound up perfectly: “Loosely fitting into the doom/sludge/post-metal genre, Burnsred play music which ebbs and flows through harmonic progressions, tempo changes, and […]

Hail Satan! That’s certainly what the folks of Nexhymn have been doing in the mountains of Colorado. Black Horizon is the self-released EP, and it’s essentially a relentless assault of brutal, hateful death metal. Think Suffocation meets Origin…but with a killer female vocalist. Angela Gossow would shatter under the sheer intensity of Holly Wedel’s voice […]

Normally the thought of female-fronted metal is enough to induce gagging. The disgusting combo of sickly sweet pop melodies over watered-down power metal has been done to death and back in recent years, with each group generally sounding as equally boring as the next. Thank goat for Nexhymn and the evil throat of Holly Wedel. No sweet melodies to be heard on the band’s Black Horizon EP, only sheer, unadulterated brutality and rage (but no monotony). Read on for an interview with the voice of Colorado’s underground DM gems.

So I had to do a little research to discover that ‘Binah’ means ‘understanding,’ and is ‘the second intellectual sephira on the kabbalistic Tree of Life’. Oh yeah, it also happens to be the name of a new young English death metal trio, and their debut album is the best retro Swedish-styled death metal album […]

Jess and the Ancient Ones are: a) an improvisational theater group at an old folks’ home b) a rival band on ‘Josie and the Pussycats’ c) the latest entry to the female-fronted occult/psychedelic hard rock revival B would be cool, but yep, it’s c. And that’s a good thing, ‘cause it’s been one of the […]

For four albums I reviewed and extolled the virtues of War of Ages as a top notch Christian, melodic death metal/ metalcore act who were deserving of As I Lay Dying type attention, peaking with 2008s Arise and Conquer. However, with 2010s Eternal, the band shifted into more commercial territory morphing into a more predictable […]

Think of the current metal scene as a vast metropolis. Profound Lore  might be the artistic quarter, Nuclear Blast the bustling, successful yet respectable commercial hub, and Roadrunner Records the aging, somewhat dilapidated but culturally rich heritage district. Some miles away, we have Victory Records, which I may liken to the ghetto of this city, […]

Released around the same time as Malfeitor‘s Dum Morior Orior and on the same label, Intestinal are also an old school Swedish death metal band who are actually from Sweden currently enjoying the genre’s resurgence. This is the band’s second effort after 2010’s Human Harvest, which I have not heard. And while I enjoy The […]

Howdy folks! Who in the hell says “howdy” these days? Lame! Or at least not “Rad!” anyway; I’m pretty sure on this one, but be you might want to consult your copy of Hip Teenage Colloquialisms for Dummies just in case.. We’ll begin the proceedings with a couple of books as a way of proving to the world that I have in fact beaten back the disease of illiteracy…or some shit like that.

I had no idea what to expect from the debut from Ireland’s Eternal Helcaraxe. The cover and logo hinted at something Viking or Pagan, the moniker just reminded me of US death metal act Helcaraxe, and the album title was just ‘meh’. And they were from Ireland- with a few exceptions (namely Cruachan, Waylander, Primordial […]

Dear fans of traditional U.S. Death Metal, were you aware that Kentucky’s Abominant has released nine full-length albums and just recently self-released the Battlescarred EP? You’re weren’t? I guess I’m not surprised since Abominant has never gotten quite the level of recognition as many of their peers, including some that haven’t released half as many albums. But as you’ll read, fame and fortune were never priorities for the veteran act. And if you start a death metal band because you think it is your best bet to achieve worldwide recognition and sacks of loot, then a head examination would seem to be in order. In any case, what is most important for you to understand is that Abominant are in it not necessarily to win it, but to make the best albums they can make and have a great time doing so. Mission accomplished. If you love USDM, then you really must grab some Abominant albums, perhaps 2010’s Where Demons Dwell or 2008’s Warblast for starters. You could also begin your journey into the abyss with the brand spanking new Battlescarred, which features two new songs (“Pile of Flesh” and the title track) that are pretty damn representative of the Abominant sound, and two covers (Black Sabbath’s “The Mob Rules” and Pestilence’s “Out of the Body”) that are impossible to dislike. How could you go wrong? Bassist Mike May is the man with the answers and without the turntable.

“If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” Everyone knows that Nietzsche quote. The man is featured on the cover of Ihsahn’s fourth solo album – inverted, but there nonetheless – but I’m not going to choose that overused and pithy bit to describe the darkness contained within. Too obvious. Instead, […]

I’ve been struggling with this review for several weeks now. On one hand I feel its  typically strong Dark Descent release that adds another quality act and release to their excellent roster. But on the other hand, it’s a strange record that struggles with influences, identity and consistency. Notably featuring members of Belgian black metal […]

Battlescarred is an apt title on a couple of levels for Abominant, Kentucky’s Death Metal mainstays, an act with no less than eight full-length albums under its collective bullet belt. Sticking to their bullshit-free USDM approach no matter the trend or the financial risk, Abominant wear those USDM scars proudly, while their brand of scalding […]

Those familiar with the work of Italian hard rock act Wicked Minds will already know guitarist Lucio Calegari and his penchant for vintage psychedelia. For those- like myself- who have gone into listening to Calegari’s Electric Swan without that precedent, it’s enough to know that this is a band fueled with experience and a passion […]

An album title like ”Vulgar Darkness” doesn’t BS about how it’s gonna sound. And for damned sure, those seven cuts on Morbid Execution‘s first, brief full-length literally spike up my morning coffee with a certain pinch of whiskey. Those Polish dudes evidently primarily hail from a punk background, and strong Motorhead worship. Throw in a […]

Decent, if derivative, Dead Southern Bishop’s new self-released EP doesn’t make much of an impression. Their sound is firmly rooted in the southern sludge scene of the late 90’s and early 00’s and is similar to period bands Mugwart and Leechmilk. Being unoriginal isn’t necessarily an issue (i.e. Witchcraft, Orchid or, per this genre, Moloch), […]

Yeah, I know, I have not done one of these in a few months. But I’m trying to be particular about what I review here, and my bargain bin hauls tend to come in bunches. I just don’t want to review every 99 cents early 90s Metal Blade or Pulkas CD I find in the used bin.

And this episode of bargain bin reviews is slightly relevant as you will read shortly. I found this CD for 99 cents in the clearance bin at Hastings. The unreadable logo and esoteric title immediately drew me in to a blind purchase, thinking it had to be metal of some sort….and I was right.

Being from Norway I was hoping that Kraanium might offer up something a little different with their third album in their chosen style of burpy slammy gore addled brutal death metal, but as it stands, Kraanium stick to the tenets of the genre rigidly and the end result will no doubt appease the genres fans. […]

Human beings have been obsessed with the ideal of beauty ever since scientific philosophers first tried figuring out when aliens first touched down on little ol’ Earth. In the early days of modern science, many scientists tried—but failed—to come up with a wheel that could naturally spin for all eternity on its own without the […]

I’ve seen God Forbid in a variety of venues on several different tours, beginning with their opening spot on a tour in 2001 supporting Determination that featured Nevermore, Opeth, and Angel Dust in front of 30 people in Topeka, KS, and then most recently on the 2012 Overkill tour stop in Kansas City. Musically, the band has come a long way between Determination and new album Equilibrium. It was 2004’s Gone Forever that established God Forbid as a melodic sort of metalcore act on par with the likes of Killswitch Engage, yet never reaching that same level of popularity even with an output since that has been far more ambitious. Concept album IV: Constitution of Treason saw the band expanding musically, but it was Earthsblood on which God Forbid took things to a whole new level, one on which soaring melodies met rich, progressive arrangements. After that the band’s contractual relationship with long-time label Century Media came to an end and the search for a new label began, ultimately ending with God Forbid’s signing to Victory Records. New album Equilibrium sees God Forbid reining in some of the over-the-top dynamics of Earthsblood without abandoning its progressive flair and throwing in some new twists (as they always do), but more than anything else writing several quintessential God Forbid modern melodic thrash metal anthems for a new generation to enjoy.