It’s a good thing that Autopsy really kicked ass with their last effort, The Headless Ritual, because two bands, Norway’s Obliteration and Germany’s Slaughterday are nipping at tier heels with their own excellent, Autopsy drenched sound that almost outdoes the masters. Named after an actual Autopsy song, with Slaughterday, the influence is unashamedly front and […]

Though not quite as crushing as the recent full length from Comatose label mates Necrotic Disgorgement, the new one from Mortal Decay is yet another fine underground 2013 brutal death metal release.  This is only the 4th full length from these New Jersey natives, though they’ve been honing their craft for over 20 years.  I […]

Cleanteeth refer to themselves as “beard impregnating doom metal.” I’m not sure what exactly they mean by that. If this genre tag is a victim of the hyphen thief, it means that their music makes beards pregnant, a prospect which does not initially appeal to me. If not, they mean that their doom metal impregnates […]

I love surprises. Not the  “oh, you are putting that where?” surprises, but musical surprises where you get an out of the blue email from a completely unheard of band asking for a review (meaning our  little site is growing)  and that subsequent release ends up being pretty damn awesome. Such is the case with […]

Here is one of those 2013 releases that I slept on until now. From the label that brought the likes of The Great Old Ones, Ebonylake, Pensées Nocturnes comes some really interesting avant garde French black metal that is well…various shades of black. There is A LOT going on here. The band is, if anything, […]

I was genuinely excited for this, the debut album from now guitarist Steve Tucker, former Morbid Angel vocalist/bassist and recently Nader Sadek frontman. But now he has his own band under the moniker of Warfather and is aided by a few cronies such as drummer Diemos (Temple, Severe Torture) and Nick McMaster (Krallice, Nader Sadek, […]

There’s something about Cannibal Corpse. It just doesn’t get old. Generations of bands have come and aped them the way they want. There are two eras of Cannibal Corpse worship as well – the Chris Barnes one and of course the Corpsegrinder one. Germany is most notorious where it comes to Cannibal Corpse-influenced bands, especially […]

From Earsplit PR:  Following the November release of their BBC Session 2011 Anno Domini two-track live 12” via Southern Lord, new recordings from WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM have been confirmed for a 2014 release. Following several months of anticipation, the Cascadian black metal clan comprised of brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver now humbly unveil their impending full-length release, Celestite. Taking a different […]

After weeks of teasing and speculation, the reformed At The Gates have made it official via Century Media:   “So, here we are almost 24 years since the birth of AT THE GATES, and some 18+ years since our latest album ‘Slaughter Of The Soul’. A lot of years have passed and we have embarked […]

Emblazoned, burst onto the scene in 1999 and put out a demo in 2001 called Nocturnal Arsonist and then an ep in 2005 A Ceremony of Hellfire. This past year they unleashed a brand new incredible ep The Living Magisterium. The band incorporates killer blackened death metal with elements of thrash and some doom/death metal. I gave this ep high marks a while ago and think it’s fantastic. It’s really powerful and everything from the singing to amazing guitar riffs will stay embedded in your head for days on end. They hail from the midwest in the U.S. and anyone that knows anything about American death metal knows that some of the sickest and most depraved bands, as well as serial killers, come from this area. Kevin Forsythe is the guitarist for the band and I’ll forgive him for calling the Cowboys, the Cowgirls, since he’s a cool dude and sent this interview back to me quicker than Aaron Rodgers can say “My collarbone hurts”. My interview with him is below and be sure to pick up The Living Magisterium right after you read this.

There is something foul afoot in England. Not since the late ’80s early ’90s has there been this much of an explosion in quality metal arising from the once fair isle in the last couple of years. And it’s not just the quality, it’s the substance of the music that is surprising; Binah, Grave Miasma, […]

Norway’s In Vain, according to the Encyclopaedia Metallum, plays Progressive Extreme Metal. Progressive is a tag that gets thrown around a lot and can mean practically anything. In In Vain’s case, the “progressive” is the same as applies to Borknagar or Emperor but to a lesser extent. In Vain tempers their progressive tendencies with a […]

After tantalizing the death metal world and truly putting Dark Descent Records on the map with their 2011 EP, The Dagger & The Chalice, Finland’s strangely named Corpsessed have finally unleashed their debut album, and it, along with Dark Descent’s two other killer early 2014 releases from Lie In Ruins and Lvcifyre, have signaled some […]

Season of Mist is proud to announce the signing of the sci-fi focused technical death metal masters WORMED. Fresh off the heels of 2013’s critically-acclaimed album ‘Exodromos’, the Madrid-based band is currently writing for their first Season of Mist full length. One of the most respected bands in the international death metal underground, WORMED has […]

Alcest is one of the very few bands for which I say: if you like it, you like it; if you don’t, you don’t. There is nothing bad about it. It needs to be taken on its own terms, and once it is, whatever opinion you form about it is your own, and it’s okay. […]

I first heard about Epicardiectomy sometime in 2012 and after hearing some internet snippets I rushed to find their debut cd online, Abhorrent Stench of Posthumous Gastrorectal Desecration, on Coyote Records. Suffice to say this Czech Republic band became an instant favorite of mine. Playing a ridiculous heavy slam death brand of death metal that is pure knuckle dragging brutality. With song titles aptly named, “Fornicating in Pulverized Feces” or how about the top forty hit, “Feasting on Putrid Hysterectomy Remnants”? Tongue twisters to pronounce, yet complete brutal head smashing viciousness.

Fresh from celebrating their Tenth Anniversary and with two North American tours in one year under their belts, Norway’s TROLLFEST are starting 2014 by announcing details of what will be their sixth full-length album as well as details of their first headlining European tour.  The thirteen-track album will be titled “Kaptein Kaos” and is expected […]

The Netherlands has been a quite fertile breeding ground for extreme metal in recent times. The impenetrable blackness of Gnaw Their Tongues and Post-Black Metal wizards Cold Body Radiation are to name but a few of the exciting artists emerging from this small Northern European country. Another band sure to compel many is Fluisteraars, who […]

Genre defining technical death metal giants, ORIGIN, recently returned home after a successful tour with GORGUTS (successful minus vocalist Jason Keyser dislocating his finger while on stage) and will enter the studio! Drummer John Longstreth checked in to give us the following update: “So in a couple of days, we’re off to the land of OZ to start working on the 6th ORIGIN album entitled Omnipresent. […]

When I first started writing for Digitalmetal, one of the first discs I was received was Alien Breed by Internal Bleeding; a compilation of rare/demo tracks and one new track that was from the “upcoming” new album, Hatefuel. While I always kind of dismissed Internal Bleeding as nothing more than a decent Suffocation clone, the […]