The Hands of Orlac by Maurice Renard is a tale I’m very familiar with having seen numerous film adaptations of it including the 1960 version with Christopher Lee, The Beast with Five Fingers and The Hand.  What is it about that ol’ genre staple involving disembodied limbs running amuck that is so appealing?  I couldn’t […]

As soon as the broodingly ominous opener of Khariot’s aptly titled Esoteric, “Astralign”, comes to a close, the sheer maddening chaos of “Hydra” makes it immediately apparent that Gavin Foo is not a very big fan of melody – at the very least, he’s made it a point to keep the use of it to […]

Finnish old school death metallers Mörbid Vomit will be releasing Return to the Crypts later this year  on Canada’s Blast Head Records. The release will contain the band’s 2012 Demo, ‘I Breathe Hell’ EP + a bonus cover song exclusive to this CD. Says Blast Head Records owner Paul Shaw: “This is an Amazing album of old […]

I’m not sure what is going on on this album cover, but I’m pretty sure what’s going on with the music: bruising modern grindcore with elements of slam,  death metal and even deathcore. The 15 tracks short sharp bursts and less than 40 minute time plays into the classic grindcore tropes as do the trifecta of […]

There was a time when Belgium’s Shiver Records/The LSP Company were prolific as heck churning out record after record of home grown talent, unusually favoring the chunky, recognizable Belgian sound such as Battalion, Insanity Reigns Supreme, Warbeast Remains, Welkin, Moker, Ordeal, The Seventh and even the odd classic release such as Axamenta’s Ever-Arch-I Tech-Ture. But I had not […]

In the wash-up of 2014 there were inevitably a number of notable under the radar releases that slipped through the net here at Teeth of the Divine. One such later year discovery that I particularly wanted to highlight was the debut album from a young progressive metal outfit. Hungarian band Dreamgrave released an accomplished debut […]

The term ‘cinematic’ gets thrown around a lot these days, as many black, death, and progressive metal acts have become more comfortable with orchestration as a way to add color, texture, or simply grandeur to their sound. It’s not as simple as that, though – you simply can’t layer some heavy Gothic chords atop and […]

From Prophecy Productions: Arcturus are legend. Unparalleled in creativity, musicianship and artistic approach since their foundation days, mastermind Steinar “Sverd” Johnsen and his cosmic crew consisting of past and present members of bands like Ulver, Mayhem, Dimmu Borgir, Borknagar and Ved Buens Ende have been dancing their very own tightrope between genius and madness ever […]

2014 was a banner year for the Unique Leader label, which happens to be one of my personal favorites.  With releases from the likes of Fallujah, Inanimate Existence and Omnihility (which all made my year end list), they further cemented their place at the top of the heap for the label with the best and […]

I’m not sure what was going on over at the usually reliable Mighty Music at the end of 2014. After a couple of solid releases in Solbrud,  Planet Rain and Herod, the label sent me a slew of hard rock releases; Ruinside, Distance, 23 Acez, Annominus, Estate, Saint Rebel and such. And all of it pretty awful; Not […]

It’s a difficult task trying to describe a band without using other bands as a jumping off point. I find myself easily slipping into that realm of “so-and-so sound like this aspect of such-and-such but with a little less emphasis on riffing…blah-blah-blah, etc, etc”. I hate having to rely on that but it’s very very […]

When covering the newest release from a group with a storied back catalogue, the question of how to approach the writing always exists.  Of course each album should be judged based on its own merits, but within that set of boundaries other issues arise: how it compares to the last record, how it compares to […]

There are more than likely going to be two camps when it comes to Southern California’s hardcore bruisers Xibalba. One faction will feel their style of super down-tuned chuggtastic hardcore is the heaviest, most punishing sound on the planet and the counterpoint is that they are knuckle dragging simpletons who cant tune guitars or write songs. And while […]

After four years of listening to their fantastic debut, aptly titled Space Grind, news of Psudoku’s Planetarisk Sudoku quickly made it one of my most anticipated releases of 2037 – well, that’s what it says on their bandcamp, anyway. How nice of the aliens to have released it for human consumption 22 years in advance. […]

There are a few similarities between death metal acts Chapel of Disease and Deserted Fear; both German, both of FDA Rekotz, both released solid debuts in 2013 and both recently released their second efforts. The only slight difference is the style of death metal each band plays. While Deserted Fear had a little more modern, chunky […]

Out of the myriad of one man black metal bands out there, Caïna, the brainchild of Andrew Curtis-Brignell, appears to have more staying power than most. It’s easy to see why. Setter of Unseen Snares is Caïna’s fifth full length, and perhaps their most relevant and compelling release so far. From the resigned, tragic nature […]

2012 marked the debut album from Germany’s Revel in Flesh.  Deathevokation sported an album cover that was an homage to Dismember’s Like an Ever Flowing Stream.  The album is punishing from beginning to end with that classic brutal Swedish sound, which is something Revel in Flesh …hmm. revel’s in. 2013 saw the release of Manifested Darkness, an even darker and more brutal album than its predecessor.  The end of 2014 Revel in Flesh punished worldwide audiences with their greatest album thus far-Death Kult Legions.  Showing more maturity, atmosphere, melody, darkness as well as retaining their brutal edge, Revel in Flesh are on fire.  Death Kult Legions was one of the best albums of 2014 and truly one of the best produced.  If you enjoy all the classic death metal albums from 1988-1993, then there is no doubt Revel in Flesh needs to be in your collection. 

The ability to convey mood is a technique that may be lacking in metal more than it ever has.  As with any art form when it becomes oversaturated, the superficial elements that make up its basic skeleton get amplified over actual substance, making a hollow representation of what could have been a unique statement by […]

I first heard England’s  Sylosis when reviewing their 2008 debut, Conclusion of an Age for Metal Maniacs. As I recall is was a pretty average Unearth/All That Remains clone, that left me with fair to middling opinion of the band. Fast forward to 2012 and the band’s third album Monolith (I missed 2011s Edge of the […]

2014 will go down as the year that Orthodox Black Metal’s literal Satan picked up and headed East out of France.  Spending most of his time in Poland, the great deceiver made an early splash in the headlines with Behemoth’s The Satanist, an album with an extra touch of earnestness for the dark lord.   Being […]

I have reviewed both the first and second albums from Finland’s Decaying, both delivering a stout war mongering style of death metal that delivers a mix of Bolt Thrower/Hail of Bullets and Asphyx (particularity the very Van Drunen-ish is shrieks of Matias Nastolin). And the productive Fins keep producing and getting incrementally better with each release, as the […]

Few bands have elicited as much vitriol from fans as Liturgy and frontman and creator, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix. From the now infamous transcendental black metal interview to black metal manifestos, the guy has been ripped to shred on internet message boards as well as memed to death. And that’s before the guy’s music is even in the picture. 2009’s Renihilation and 2011’s Aesthetica angered black metal pundits as they arguably shaped the current trend of so-called ‘hipster black metal’ that has swatted the hornet’s nest of black metal.

Bloomington, Indiana’s hypothermic quartet Thorr-Axe makes a helluva racket on their second LP, Gates of Winter.  Self-described as “blackened-doom” I’m not about to argue with them and set myself up for some Viking justice.  The grinding rhythms grease their gears with sludgy grooves, knee-deep trudges and begotten abandon while the tonality of the riffage, agoraphobic […]

Much like label and country mates Destroying Divinity, the Czech Republic’s aptly named Heaving Earth make no bones about their primary influences, and any death metal fan can quickly ascertain such simply based on the track names, album name cover art and palette. And then you press play and while the instantly recognizable throes of […]

I absolutely love brutal death metal, but after going through this record no less than 20 times, I’m struggling a bit with how to approach it.  Does it check all the boxes?  Guttural vocals? Check.  Double bass and blast beats? Check.  Lack of any real bass guitar or bottom end in the mix?  Check. The […]