Dark Descent Records has been on an absolute tear of killer releases in the past few years. Off the top of my head they have put out great records by: Ritual Necromancy, Entrails, Burial Invocation, Mitrochondrion, and Thantifaxath. If the rest of their catalog is as good as the aforementioned, or Lantern’s spectacular debut Below, […]

What happens when you discover a new band? You go see them play — that’s what. Noel Holmes discovered Nile and soon found himself at one of their live shows back in March 2013. This is what happened.

It feels a little odd reviewing Abyssal‘s re-released debut, Denouement so close to the excellent review of their second offering Novit Enim Dominus Quie Sunt Eius, but here I am listening to and enjoying Denouement actually a little more than the band’s latest Profound Lore release. Originally self released by the band on individual, hand […]

Last year was a rough one for Sofy Major. They made a trip from France to the States to record Idolize at producer Andrew Schneider’s (Keelhaul, Cave In, Unsane) brand new studio in Brooklyn and tour. Unfortunately, their trip coincided with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy and the studio was wiped out just a few […]

Norway’s Blood Red Throne achieved a little attention in the 00s, being an American sound death metal band hailing from the then black metal dominated country of Norway and featuring Tchort of Emperor as well as a rotating line up of other Norwegian luminaries. They released a number of solid, well received albums, notably their […]

Another one that slipped through the cracks late last year, Ireland’s Grot are a new grind/death band who, by all accounts, sound like they could be sticking around for a while. Sporting a polished overall production, their debut EP I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is a scorching six songer that clocks in […]

On the verge of potentially breaking out into the “mainstream” of metal, Pasadena, California’s Holy Grail seem to be doing all the right things. Their sophomore full-length album Ride the Void has been met with positive reviews and their popularity is growing each day. It seems as though before long, these “kids” from the West Coast will be a part of a core of younger bands leading the metal brigade into the next generation.

Norway’s Extol seemed to be that rare Christian metal band that were saved the usual ridicule and cries of “Get God out of my metal!” from knuckle dragging satanic metal heads when they surfaced in the late 90s. Whether it is because like thrashers Believer before them, they played a ‘real’ brand of metal (a […]

Life Sentence marks the long-awaited comeback album from one of the underrated spearheads of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Satan were around and kicking at the tail-end of the ’70s before emerging with their debut album, Court In The Act, in 1983. That album has since achieved somewhat of a cult status […]

In a cryptic message posted on the band’s Facebook Page, Canadian Occult black metal act Weapon suddenly announced the band was no more and that the members were parting ways without drama and moving onto other things: “The end of a melody is not its goal; but nonetheless, had the melody not reached its end […]

Well it looks like America and Canada are finally having some profound influence on Black Metal around the world. Last year’s excruciatingly awesome demo by the Russian troupe Kalendae was “Cascadian,” “atmospheric,” Black Metal of the absolute highest caliber. The 20 minute, 2 track demo was absolutely the best slice of such a thing since […]

Hybrid is an apt name for this experimental Spanish metal act. Melding grindcore, djent, death metal, tech/math metal and jazzy experimental flourishes, the band is certainly adventurous with its sound, and on their second effort it creates one challenging, creative , if at times testing listen. This isn’t Azure Emote levels of crazy experimentation, but […]

Better late than never, right? Released as far back as September of last year, this little monster of American blackish metal somehow slipped through the cracks. Cosmic Cataclysms, the debut full-length album from Seattle-based Phalgeron, is a splendid concoction of brutal savagery and sweeping melodies all rolled into one. But lest you think they are […]

With their first 3 albums, A Celebration of Guilt, United in Regret and We Are the Nightmare, James Malone’s Arsis, injected a feral energy and staggering musicianship to a stagnating melodic death metal scene and added the US as major players in the genre. However, personal and line up issues hindered the band’s progress and […]

Could you imagine the world without GWAR? Seriously: imagine that GWAR never existed and their legendary stage shows never happened. How scary of a thought is that? The Virginia-based veterans of everything gory, vile and flat-out wrong have been soaking concert hall patrons with blood and semen for decades and there doesn’t seem to be any quit in the band at all. They’ve released countless full-length albums, even more VHS/DVDs, comic books, action figures… You name it and GWAR has done it. With a new album on the horizon – their first in three long years – and currently trekking across North America, the mighty GWAR have endured quite a bit throughout their history, but the group remains as strong as ever. In fact, it can be argued that GWAR hasn’t been this powerful since their “glory days” of the early ‘90s. Luckily for this scribe, GWAR came through Las Vegas and performed at the Hard Rock Café on the Strip. TeethOfTheDivine.com was fortunate enough to sit down and chat with GWAR mastermind Dave Brockie, aka vocalist Oderus Urungus, several hours before their show.

After a 7 year wait, a considerable amount of hype and build up, something strange happened to Summoning‘s eagerly awaited 7th album. After the teaser trailers, after the first song was revealed, the metal world was brimming with anticipation and then the album came out a couple of weeks ago……..and there were *crickets*. Now I […]

The second EP by Ohio deathcore metallers Death of an Era starts out pretty strong. The first track is a polyrhythmic, syncopated chugfest that fans will instantly gravitate towards. Near the end of that first track you get some almost painful sounding background lyrics, and one might wonder if that’s a sign of things to […]

Portland’s Orca Wolf Records has only been around for two years now, but in that time they’ve released a small catalog of fine music from Oregon’s doom scene and the self titled debut by Usnea is no exception. Similar to label mates Amarok, Usnea ply a style of doom dirge familiar to fans of Samothrace, […]

Facedown records was in a bit of a slump in late 2012 and early 2013, but responded recently and mightily with Hope for the Dying‘s Aletheia, the heavier than thou release from Those Who Fear, Christian metal’s possible savior in the new Extol reunion, and this, the almost as punishing but slightly more experimental second […]

Organs swell. Drums stomp to life. Soaring single notes harmonize and add atmosphere. This is “The Inception.” This funeral march is leading us somewhere. Probably the graves of its victims, who are most likely every single other Doom-cum-Black Metal release this year. Lychgate’s self-titled 2013 debut is surprising, stirring, horrifying, and engrossing. This frightening foursome […]

I am not sure I have ever heard a more perfect marriage on a split release than Sol, the 3 song, almost 70 fucking minute, Sun themed opus from two of the more exiting, new, one man black metal projects going right now. Both released stunning CDs last year; Mare Cognitum‘s An Extraconscious Lucidity, and […]

Jungle Rot has been carrying the flag of true American death metal for two decades and they’ve never been stronger than they are today. Fresh off their latest full-length album Terror Regime, the Wisconsin-based band is hoping to continue the uptick they’ve been on and carry that into the next decade of existence.

I believe to be a truly great band / artist; you absolutely have to be great at performing live. I want to see them and be absolutely floored that someone could take an album I love, and turn it into something transcendent that is not just heard, but experienced. Murder By Death (who, despite the […]

Norway has never been short of black metal bands. I read somewhere a few years back that, according to some study, almost 2% of the country’s entire population belongs to a black metal band. Whether that’s actually true remains to be officially verified, though it’d be cool if it was. In any event, Tsjuder remains […]

Expectations can be a bitch. Archon dropped an excellent debut in 2010. Ruins at Dusk was a heady slab of mountainous, hypnotic doom . It was full of spiring psychedelia and layers of wah-drenched guitars and I hoped for more from their follow-up. Ouroboros Collapsing lands on a distinctly darker note, swapping the larger than […]