If Frank Zappa had been born a part of the current musical generation, I imagine he would be making music quite a bit like Ben Levin. In many ways, I could easily compare the two- they’re each gifted with a bold musical vision, a penchant for proggy quirk, and no shortage of expertise on the […]

The UK’s husband and wife doom team return with their fifth album of big amps and bigger riffs. Carolyn and Pete have taken their wall of amps and brilliantly fuzzed out tone to a new level on Maleficia Lamiah and produced their finest album yet. The two tracks on offer dump a load of classic […]

While the upcoming Entrails and Revel In Flesh albums will undoubtedly be two of  the years most hyped retro Swede-death metal releases, a couple of other bands will at least tide you over with their commendable efforts- the reformed Swedish act Sorcery and their dusty, thrashy Arrival at Six and the second effort, Godconstruct  from […]

Downcast Dutchmen, Officium Triste, have been wallowing in misery for nearly two decades, releasing four full-lengths along with a handful of EPs, splits, and demos during that time. Despite having been an avid fan of death/doom that whole time, I somehow managed to miss out on their entire output. I have a feeling that every […]

‘Ole Steve “Zetro” Souza shot himself in the foot right out of the gate with this one, doing a full-court press to the press that he would re-join Exodus in a heartbeat, all the while trying to get the very stupidly-named Hatriot off the ground. This boneheaded move essentially sucked any sort of validity out […]

Remember the days of the late ‘90s when it seemed like everybody and their brothers started up a symphonic black band? Old school black metal bands began infusing orchestral elements to their sound, melodic death metal outfits incorporated some Cradle of Filth-y nuances, and the trendy thing to do was add female vocals into the mix. It was a fun time for a while because some of the releases were top notch. But like every fad – especially in metal – it dies off almost as soon as it starts. For a few years, symphonic black metal was scoffed at for the most part because the bands were either A) trying too hard to sound like their heroes; B) were just not that good; or C) both.

Brazil’s Nervochaos come charging out of the gates on their 5th album of old school , chunky death metal; “Mark of the Beast” thunders along with a killer death metal romp, as does second track track “Sheep Among Wolves”,  and third track “Your World’s Trend”, where the pace starts to sound a bit too similar, […]

I thought symphonic black metal was a horse beaten to death? In the mid-to-late ‘90’s, that style of metal was what crept out from underneath every toadstool, every rock and from out of every darkened cave known to man. A dwarf’s handful of bands survived the explosion and ensuing fallout (Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir) […]

There’s was a nice little run on under the radar technical death metal to finish 2012 and start 2013; relatively new or obscure acts like Inanimate Existence, Devolved, Ophidian I, Scent of Death, and  Nebulous aren’t household names in technical death metal, but if you are looking for some solid examples of the genre from […]

Black n roll is a genre that appeals to me greatly despite no one act single-handedly nailing the genre niche. Certainly there are bands that have touched upon it’s appeal in spurts and moments of greatness, but I have yet to encounter a beginning-to-end album that tackles this style and does it well consistently. Enter  […]

Necrowretch leader/vocalist/guitarist Vlad apparently is obsessed with the legendary Scream Bloody Gore and said that one day he wants to create his own version of Death’s all-time classic debut album. Not that he wants to record a cover album, but an album so vicious, so gripping the way SBG was for so many people throughout […]

Having recently added the ever respected Rotten Sound to their lineup, Relapse has decided to do a double take and grab another grind band, France’s Blockheads.  Unless you’re a big follower of the grind scene, you might not have heard of these guys before.  This is actually their fifth full length, and the first on […]

If you go and find the review I wrote for Thrawsunblat’s second opus Thrawsunblat II: Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings you will ascertain how enamored I was with the trio’s eloquent take on folky, misty black metal. A project that once involved Woods of Ypres’ David Gold, it has been kept alive by Joel Violette, who performed on the tragedy stricken Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light.

It would be easy to dismiss Thrawsunblat as a Woods of Ypres side project, but that would be a disservice to the folks involved, even if the spirit of Woods of Ypres frontman David Gold ( who tragically died in 2011) lingers austerely in the eves of Thrawsunblat‘s misty, cascadian hues.  The band consists of […]

Really testing our patience with the falsetto here, and it’s not even the good kind of falsetto ala King Diamond or pre-Fight Rob Halford. Rather, Australia’s Raven Black Night have rolled out what could be one of the more purposely annoying brands of high-wattage, ball-grabbing power metal in recent memory with their sophomore Barbarian Winter. […]

Despite hailing from Poland, Ulcer do not play ‘Polish’ styled death metal and simply ape Behemoth or Vader, instead choosing to ape another region- Stockholm. Yup- Ulcer is the latest (through they’ve been around since 2006 and have one album already under their belt) in the current old school Swedish death metal revival, and like […]

Over the course of the past few years, Iceland has become a hotbed (or cold bed; however you want to say it) of metal. Skalmold, Dynfari, Ophidian I, Solstafir and others all call Iceland home and all have their own uniqueness to stand out in front of the growing pack. Though it’s not about to […]

Wormed, Spain’s brutal purveyors of tech-death, have been gestating for about a decade before finally dropping Exodromos; the much-anticipated follow-up to their widely acclaimed 2003 debut, Planisphaerium.   Maybe it was my mindset at the time but their debut didn’t really move me in the way it rumbled the underground.    Not that it’s a bad album […]

Spain isn’t exactly known for its burgeoning brutal/technical death metal scene (Wormed is the only one that immediately comes to mind), but neither is Greece and they gave us Sickening Horror, Scotland unleashed Scordatura earlier this year and Iceland gave us Ophidian I last year also. So here is veteran but hardly prolific act Scent […]

Another year, another new KMFDM album. If only every band were so prolific! The five letter word this time is KUNST, which is German for ‘art.’ Appropriate for an album that pays homage to the jailed Russian punkettes in Pussy Riot. Great classic Brute cover too – boobs, chainsaw, cutting down a giant cross. No […]

If this scribe were heading up promo for October Falls’ new The Plague of a Coming Age, all of the album’s selling points should be preceded by “With guest vocals from Amorphis’ Tomi Joutsen!” Like, ad infinitum on that one. Not only is Joutsen one of European metal’s best singers (perhaps we should extend that […]

My expectations couldn’t be any higher for an album, considering that Züül’s Out of Time was one of my favorite albums of the year, if not the 21st Century. The Carbondale, IL group did everything right; this was NWOBHM inspired on multiple fronts, but with all those unexplainable “cult heavy metal” elements that makes a […]

Back in 2010, the self-released debut from Australia’s Norse took me completely by surprise and ended up being on my year end list. It was a blistering, feverishly good example of black/death metal that was befitting the album name. Well the follow up was released late last year, but it only found its way into […]

Formed from the ashes of Windir nearly a decade ago, Norway’s Vreid has since carved out a consistently engaging body of work.  Their sixth album, Welcome Farewell, shapes as one of the most anticipated and contentious black metal releases of the year.   Contentious due to Vreid’s continuing evolution away from their traditional black metal roots […]

First off, I have been a hardcore fan of Porcupine Tree for some time, and while it’s always been Mr. Steven Wilson that holds the creative mantle for their music, each of their members are at the top of their game. Most notably, Gavin Harrison has made a name for himself, not only for Porcupine […]