Defeated Sanity return to us with an unorthodox dual e.p. release.  As they should.  With a discography of stellar releases they have an earned reputation for reaching beyond the death metal abyss and fans expect more from them than even the nearest band to their rank.  Last we heard from these dastardly villains was 2013’s […]

So here is yet more symphonic, keyboard drenched metal adding to this year’s plethora of quality orchestra and keyboard filled releases, they cover all genres. This time it’s in the form of the third album from Israel’s 7 piece act, Winterhorde, and it resides in a sort of melodic, symphonic black metal, but with expansive, progressive […]

I have been ruminating as to how best to tackle Oniric Delusions. If you want the easy and probably most useful aspects, they are this: This death metal record is fantastic, though not groundbreaking, and deserves attention. My issue lies with the phenomena I have been experiencing lately when it comes to death metal records. […]

Though not normally recognized for its black metal scene outside of Cradle of Filth and maybe Wodensthrone and  Winterfylleth, there’s is something foul afoot in the English  black metal underground. Cacophonous has exposed gems like Necronautical, Old Corpse Road and The Infernal Sea. And now Halo of Flies has chipped in with the vinyl release of the stunning […]

Kansas natives Unmerciful released their first full length album, the awesomely titled Unmercifully Beaten, way back in 2006.  After picking it up and listening to it many times over, I knew this would be a band to keep an eye out for.  Well that eye (or both) ended up going to sleep, as these guys […]

Granada Theater, Lawrence, KS on July 17th, 2016. The dog days of summer can be grueling in the midwest, when the air is so chokingly thick with humidity that there is seemingly no place to hide from it. This is a time period when the earth is so scorched and disgusting that living underground seems like a good idea.  You become a sluggish sack of goop, everyone reeks of sweat and body odor, and doing anything outdoors (even breathing) sucks.  Appropriately, this is exactly when kings of rot Carcass chose to come to Kansas, on the very first stop of their One Foot in the Grave tour, along with support from Crowbar, Ghoul, and Night Demon.

Despite featuring Steve Tucker from Morbid Angel (whose return to Morbid Angel is fantastic news), the debut of then, post Morbid Angel project Warfather Orchestrating the Apocalypse was surprisingly bland. It was just OK USDM with a few orchestral flourishes that didn’t have anything really memorable to hangs its hat on other than Tucker’s involvement. […]

As I have said ad nausea, modern metal is almost entirely good. I am old enough to remember when bands would put a metal song – one song – on an otherwise hard rock album, or they would release a killer track and you would buy the album and it would be a shit-ton of […]

Those in the know are aware that Lay Down Rotten were one of Germany’s most consistent but underrated death metal bands, releasing 7 fine albums from 2003 to 2015, when they split up. Well, 4 Lay Down Rotten members have regrouped and formed Demonbreed and continued the former bands chunky take on death metal, but […]

Well this one was well worth the wait as Comatose presents a really good one with Neurogenic, an international technical slam death super group (If there is such a group. These guys are it and there are a ton of guest musicians on this).Featuring Marco Pitruzzella of Six Feet Under/Sleep Terror/Anomalous handling the drum work […]

The last time I heard this long standing but overlooked Swedish melodic death metal act was 2008s The Gallery of Bleeding Art, a promising album that scattered some orchestral/symphonic and choral flourishes around a sold Swedish death metal/melodic death metal backbone. I missed 2013s Neogenesis, so I can’t comment on the bands development between those two […]

If only other bands’ cutting room floors looked like Soilwork’s. When they released The Living Infinite in 2013, I marveled at how many superb songs they had turned out during those writing sessions – enough for an absurdly generous double album that was also my #1 pick for the year. And then some, it turns out, when they […]

While Texas is more know for its brutal death metal and pure black metal, lying amid the reeds is Vex. Vex are neither. Instead, the band plays a form of hybrid between atmospheric black metal and melodic death metal. They have been around since 1999 but only have three albums under their belt — including the just released ‘Sky Exile’ on Eiwaz/Bindrune Recordings (a perfect fit) and those with a taste for more progressive, organic metal, will find a lot to like about them.

For me, Sweden’s Vanhelgd , are a lot like label mates Undergang; a bit of an anomaly to me. They seem to be critical darlings, I enjoy and own all the albums, but never seem smitten with them. When I’m listening to them, I’m truly digging the big Finnish crumble meet old school Swedish must, but never crave […]

Positioned at the forefront of the modern metal scene, Revocation’s endless creative streak and strong work ethic shows no signs of faltering on the band’s sixth LP, Great Is Our Sin. I must admit to a touch of bias bordering on fanboyism, as from my perspective the band has never disappointed across a decade long […]

I recently discovered Texas’s Vex on a Bindrune/Eihwaz Recordings compilation as the track “To Anacreon (Strangling the Muse)”  completely enthralled me, and reminded me of Cales, (a killer, folky Root side project from a few years ago). So I picked up the band’s 2013 album Memorious, and immediately loved it and waited with baited breath for the […]

Imagine if you will, a dimension of time locked metal. Where mixtures and combinations of influence from some of the genre’s most elite come together in a controlled cacophony of extreme, old school, aural majesticness. Have you just crossed over into a heavy metal Twilight Zone? Hell no friends! You’ve just stumbled upon another terrific […]

Little did I know that arguably my favorite Cradle of Filth album, 1996s Dusk and Her Embrace was actually the second iteration of that album. Unbeknownst to me, before the 1996 Music for Nations version, another version of the album was fully recorded in 1995 with essentially the same line up as the band’s debut […]

While a fine label, Napalm Records isn’t exactly a death metal powerhouse, but with the recent release of Be’lakor‘s Vessels and now this, the third album from Germany’s Dawn of Disease, they appear to be getting into the flow. And while not into brutal, guttural death metal just yet, they have an ear for the […]

Insane Vesper has been on my auditory radar for a bit now. Mainly brought to my attention was the album Abomination of Death, that cover artwork and logo just intrigued me from the get go, I decided to delve further and see what the music had to offer, checked a few audio clips and was further enticed. […]

 Technically, this review is about the Putrisect/Scorched split, Final State of Existence, though personally, I like to refer to it as “the review that almost wasn’t, part 1”. To make a long story short, my laptop decided to shit out on me, barring me from any access to its treasures, i.e. four reviews that were awaiting […]

Germany’s Dark Suns created a minor classic to my ears with Swanlike in 2002. That album boasted gothic doom/death with ethereal acoustics so powerful for a debut, even Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth commented on how impressed he was with the bands ability. Eagerly, I awaited more from the band, and what came over the next […]

Ive been a big fan of Atlanta’s Withered since 2005s Stockholm meets Mastodon lurch of Memento Mori. Even the bands foray into blacker realms with 2008s Folie Circulaire and 2010s Dualitas were impressive. Even more so since I got to hang out with and drink a beer with frontman and founder Mike Thompson back in […]

Ireland’s Underground Movement label, previously unknown to me, has jumped on the Swedish death metal wagon with two pretty damn solid releases; Deathless and Fleshless from Venezuela’s Nocturnal Hollow , and this, a compilation of 2 self released demos from this Dutch band. Both deliver pretty damn solid examples of the classic HM2 Stockholm death metal sound. This […]

The retro thrash genre seems to be really in full swing as of late, with many a bands taking a swing at the plate and seeing who strikes that home run. I use the baseball or team analogy because with most teams, you got your star players, your second stringers and your bench warmers. While […]