In recent years it’s been increasingly difficult to accurately describe the growing sect of acts that co-opt black metal stylings with a variety of other genres, if only for brevity’s sake. “Umm, they’re kinda like atmospheric, psychedelic black metal with some shoegazey parts, blah blah…” Speaking only for myself, when a description such as “black metal” gets […]

I was less than impressed with Prong’s last outing, Power of the Damager. I preferred it to the more industrial stuff they’d been doing, but it hasn’t returned to my rotation in the nearly five years since it came out. I thought it was OK, but didn’t have a lot of passion or energy. So […]

While bigger named brutal/technical death metal acts (Cannibal Corpse, Spawn of Possession, Gorod, Nile, Dying Fetus) will get the lions share of the attention in 2012, as usual there are a number of under the radar acts that deserve your death metal ear. Recently, the likes of Nocturnal Torment,  Stalwart, Tombthroat, Fisthammer, Never to Arise […]

Metal Blade is proud to announce the signing of ENTRAILS, one of the best Death Metal bands ever to come out of Sweden! ENTRAILS formed in the 90s, but split up before they were able to release a demo or even an album. It took them until 2008 to come back when guitarist Jimmy Lundqvist […]

As one of the few metal bands out of Romania to have achieved international recognition, Negură Bunget have developed their sound from a traditional, atmospheric black metal into something quite original. Parallels may be drawn between this band and others like Opeth or Enslaved; with each album, this Romanian act have pursued an increasingly progressive and experimental direction. Having done a couple of my favourite black metal albums in ‘Maiastru Stefnic’ and ‘Om’, I was very excited to hear what Negură Bunget would sound like when they played Vancouver. Catching up with drummer and band leader Negru a little while before the show, he gave me the scoop on what this band is all about.
Also on the bill were Toronto black metallers Eclipse Eternal, Romanian neofolk duo Din Brad, and blackened openers Desecrate Scripture.

My first introduction to San Francisco’s Acephalix was on these very pages, after reading a review of Interminable Night by out very own Stacy Buchanan. And being a huge fan of Southern Lord’s Crust/D-beat revival with the likes of Nails, Dead In the Dirt, All Pigs Must Die and such, Acephalix was a no brainer. […]

That old adage about never judging a book by its cover, while generally a good idea, is especially prudent in the case of Fester’s A Celebration of Death. Expecting to be flung into a rotting grave of stench-riddled old school Swedish death metal based on the cover art, it was quickly discovered upon listening that […]

I distinctly remember getting introduced to Lunar Aurora from a Belgian friend back in 1996 and I have anticipated each and every release since. The number of bands that I have been listening to continuously for fifteen years or more and still looking forward to new material is a rather small list, usually I end […]

Here’s one that will get most so called ‘real’, old school metal heads’ panties in a bunch. Dub-Slam? Slam-Step? Techno-slam-core? Dropcore? Disfiguring the Goddess is the brainchild of Dubstep/DJ/electronica musician ‘Big Chocolate’ aka  vocalist Cam Argon formerly of Burning the Masses, Misericordiam and Abominable Putridity and numerous other brutal acts guest appearances and remixes. Being […]

It’s not often these days that a brand-spankin’ new black metal band comes out of the woodwork and does the genre of music properly. Usually the young “kvlt” tikes latch onto the typical Dark Throne/Dark Funeral/Burzum/early Emperor coloring book and fail miserably. The general reasons for said failures is because the kids just don’t know […]

Dan Moore’s  (sHeavy) new band Wizards of Kaos is one particularly astonishing phenomena that came ’round the bend at the end of ’09. It’s hard to conceive an album like this new self-titled of theirs isn’t some kind of trippy direct export from the 70s; I’m hearing major influence from Sabbath, Led Zeppelin (especially in […]

Swedish black metal legends DARK FUNERAL and Century Media Records are proud to announce the signing of a worldwide deal for the next 3 albums. Guitarist and founding member Lord Ahriman comments: “Our bad luck with labels in the past has for sure been very frustrating. So it is with great pleasure to finally be […]

Danish death metal veterans THE CLEANSING have announced the addition of drummer Mads Lauridsen (Konkhra, Panzerchrist) and bassist Martin Leth Andersen (Koldborn) to the group’s ranks.Mads Lauridsen of Konkhra and Panzerchrist fame joins The Cleansing as the replacement for Morten Løwe (now with Amaranthe), while Martin Leth Andersen previously of Koldborn was tapped to replace […]

Oh man, what a weird little album this is. Hail Spirit Noir are two guys from Greece, playing a kooky mix of black metal and late ’60s psychedelic folk. I wish Pneuma were actually 40 years old, and that I’d found it on vinyl in the back of some musty old secondhand store, all covered […]

Slumber’s demise was somewhat of a disappointment after their excellent 2004’s full-length Fallout. The album had its own character within melodic death/doom genre of the time, standing somewhere between Katatonia and Finland’s Rapture. The following turmoil between the band members and the birth and death of their new projects left me wondering whether or not […]

It has been fabled that the Australians are an extremely friendly bunch of people, and that myth was put to rest when this writer interviewed Psycroptic a day before (25th April, 2012) their first live performance in Singapore (26th April, 2012); an island famed for being one of the world’s smallest countries, one of the world’s foremost educational hubs and probably the most well-known Asian metropolitan after Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Having been on Nuclear Blast’s roster for 4 years, it is surprising to see that the band is still as down-to-earth as your average Joe (or perhaps even more than that) and don’t dabble in the sophisticated art of breathing with their noses pointing skyward. Main founding member and drummer David Haley met this writer outside the hotel, exchanged some very normal greetings, and then casually led this writer right into the band’s hotel room to conduct the interview. It was a modest room that only barely had room for two, but Jason Peppiat (vocalist) and Joseph Haley (David’s brother and Psycroptic’s only guitarist) were both in it as well to join in the fun.

Clad in casual T-shirts and shorts, all three members of the band looked as at home as a kitten in a 9gagger’s arms. David looked around for a while, seemingly searching for something, before he pulled a seat out from under the humble coffee table and invited this writer to have a seat. Thus began the friendly interrogation of Psycroptic regarding issues ranging from their thoughts on Singapore, why they don’t consider themselves to be a “technical death metal” band, meat pies, beer and more.

I’ll get right to it- Swedish duo Desultor present the same kind of musical/vocal conundrum as Blood Revolt‘s Indoctrine presented last year; that’s to say blisteringly awesome thrash/black/death metal but rather than any of the typical roars, growls or rasps, the vocals of Markus Joha are presented in a purely clean, power metal /traditional metal […]

The round-up of dudes busting their chops behind Barnes this time around certainly is bringing the Six Feet Under sound into one much needed metamorphosis on Undead, making it one impressively varied and positively lethiferous affair that took me aback. The addition of Rob Arnold (ex-Chimaira) to the band’s ranks has been breathing a considerable […]

Self released debut recording. Generally that means demo. In the old days everyone needed a label, not so much in the internet age. So when Massachusetts based Infera Bruo contacts me with a request to review their demo I am not expecting a demo, plus the band includes drummer Ardroth of Bothildir. So forget all […]

Italy’s Natron sure aren’t getting exhausted. Grindermeister is one aggressive hellion that goes far beyond the run of the mill take on deathgrind; the urgency of the tempo variations and tight as fuck subtleties in these songs stoutly backs up the fact that this band has been refining their approach and observing the Death Metal […]

Based on my experience, Canada isn’t exactly a hot bed of epic viking folk metal. My only real  first hand experience of such a thing was Bolero‘s Voyage From Vinland, a surprisingly solid release in its own right. And here is Quebec’s Nordheim–who I actually thought might be Bolero on first listen–and their debut album, […]

“Are you ready for some black metal?,” the guy in line ahead of me growled to his buddy. I didn’t step in to correct them, choosing not to be ‘that guy,’ but technically there was only one black metal band on tonight’s bill: Watain. The rest, all blackish, either by association or subject matter. Devil’s in the details.

Pardon me while I pick my face off of the floor, Cop Problem just sheared my grill off with this rager of an EP. Intense d-beat and crust influenced hardcore that slays and slays for every second of its nine minutes. This is an urgent, ripping blast of catharsis straight from the streets of Killadelphia […]

Cattle Decapitation is a band that has grown a lot on me the past few years.  I wasn’t keen on their early work, but starting with Karma Bloody Karma and continuing with The Harvest Floor, this vegetable-loving four piece have continued to flesh out their crushing style on Monolith of Inhumanity. What is so interesting […]

Anathema has been doing their own thing for a while now ― the group’s metallic origins a distant memory ― touring and serving fans with their own progressive-oriented rock music. Last year the band returned to their formative albums on the Falling Deeper full-length, re-imagining classics to fit their current, softer expression ― just as they did on […]