In 2019 I reviewed and raved about the Sanguisugabogg ep Pornographic Seizures. That was my favorite ep for that year and since then the band has seen quite a rise in their popularity.  An ep of a mere 11 minutes, saw the band go on a bunch of mini tours throughout the country with a […]

I was late to the Stormtide party as I didn’t hear this Aussie Fantasy metal act’s 2016 debut, Wrath of an Empire until 2020. But When I finally did stumble across it, I very much enjoyed the band’s Asian/Far East inspired take on melodic, symphonic death metal, imbuing an mix of Amon Amarth, Stormlord and […]

In their 18 years of existence Russia’s Abominable Putridity has accumulated a rabid following and for a band that does not play live shows it’s been impressive.  Their 2007 debut In the End of Human Existence is one of my favorite debut albums in all of brutal slam death metal.  Beyond brutal knuckle-dragging heaving and […]

Swampbeast is here to steal your tree fiddy (after all, you gave tree fiddy to the Loch Ness Monster, so they know you have plenty more where that came from) and to pummel you. Their debut is called Seven Evils Spawned of Seven Heads and it doesn’t waste much time getting started. The first track […]

This Danish death metal band’s second effort, Venenum was a little over-hyped for me, as they seemed to be 2019s death metal darlings in the eyes of the media, press, spotify (seemed like it was every daily mix and playlist), and fans. But I thought it was merely OK, as it barely registered in the […]

It’s been 5 years since Dutch black metal act Kjeld (helmet? cauldron?) released the excellent Skym (though I heard it a couple of years after the release), and the band has spent their time sharpening their razor sharp form of melodic second wave black metal with a few EPs and splits in that time, and […]

Wehrmacht hailed from Oregon and had a nice underground run in the 80’s.  Other than some demos, their body of work is with their two albums:  The 1987 debut Shark Attack and 1989 follow-up Biērmächt both released on New Renaissance Records.  Wehrmacht played a blistering style of crossover thrash metal, which at the time was […]

“Come up front! You’re going to do it later anyway! Just do it now!” This was the beckon of Wolf King’s frontman Tim Wilson when I saw his band open for Conjurer, Entheos, and Rivers of Nihil. I did not answer this call. Well, at least not favorably. See, I’m about 5’6”, was sitting at […]

Talk about a match made in heaven…….Switzerland’s  Stortregn, a formerly pure 90s melodic black metal band turned more technical, surgical, shredding death metal with some of their black metal remnants left behind, on The Artisan Era, arguably the flagship label for this style with bands like Inferi, Demon King, Enfold Darkness and such. I’ve reviewed […]

We’re at a point in metal’s history where a band reaching the 30-year mark isn’t the rarity is once was. Still impressive! Especially considering the core makeup of Moonspell’s Fernando Ribeiro, keyboardist Pedro Paixao and lead guitarist Ricardo Amorim have been together for very nearly all of it (bassist Aires Pereira has even been around […]

The physical reissue of this 2017 digital only release from this Norwegian symphonic black metal band caught my eye as it features Clemens Wijers of Carach Angren doing the symphonic/orchestral arrangements. And boy is this fucking good! Its definitely got a bit of a theatrical/dramatic Carach Angren vibe, with Wiljers rendering some superbly rousing strings […]

So far in 2021, there’s been some excellent symphonic metal from power metal band Dragony, stalwarts Epica, the orchestral bombast of Abstrakt, the majestic Utbyrd, the epic  tales of Aussies Stormtide, the reformed Phlebotomized,  the avant garde chaos of Exanamis and aa few others as well. One such band is Belgium’s InHuman, who were formed […]

These are the kinds of reviews that are only as hard as you want to make them. Here you’ve got a band celebrating its 25th year of making music with brand new material, and over that time they’ve never really missed a step – becoming true legends and pioneers of epic, bombastic Viking metal. Sure, […]

I am new to the Thronehammer camp of doom metal and their 2019 debut Usurper of the Oaken Throne was quite a display of monolithic heaviness and plodding doom-laden dirge.  The band gets into doom/death moments with some low vocals and man, Thronehammer are heavy, with a capital H. The band is an international act […]

LG (Lars-Göran) Petrov, vocalist of the legendary Entombed, has passed away. The iconic voice behind one of Death Metal’s most influential acts lost his battle to an incurable form of bile duct cancer. The news was confirmed by his Entombed A.D. bandmates. Our hearts go out to his family, bandmates and loved ones, and to […]

It’s 2021, there’s a new The Crown album out on Metal Blade Records, and they’ve decided to throw everyone for a loop by going to all clean choruses. Just. Fucking. Kidding. You already know what this sounds like, at least mostly, if you’re familiar at all with the band. If you’re not, I’m not sure […]

[A meeting at the Extreme Metal Research & Development Labs, Level 5, The Moon] “Krallice goes Disgorge (US)”…………. “That’s it?” “That’s the pitch.” “Isn’t that just Gorguts?  They share a member” “…No…  Gentlemen, women, and non-human friends present, if you’ll fit your VR headsets on, I’ll explain this incredible breakthrough in today’s presentation. Gorguts recent […]

When Niklas Sundin left Dark Tranquillity early last year, I was genuinely bummed the fuck out. Mostly, I was upset about what it might mean for a band I held near-and-dear to my heart, but I was also bummed because I’d heard Sundin’s first solo offering from side project Mitochondrial Sun and came away pretty […]

Abiotic have had an odd trajectory. They released an honestly bland debut in 2012, then a good follow up in 2015. While a little half-baked, it seemed like a step in the right direction, and made me think the only way to go for them was up. Then, silence. Enter 2021 and their new album, […]

I have not heard a lot from Innerstrength Records in the last few years, but back in the heyday of deathcore/ metalcore I dug some of their releases from the likes of The Storm, Shallow Water Grave,  I Killed Everyone and such, but have not heard anything from them in a while. S0 when I […]

The Netherlands have quite a varying style of death metal genres and brutal slam death metal act Korpse were kind of a free-agent last year after releasing 2 prior albums.  Their 2013 self-titled debut and the sophomore Unethical in 2016.  Korpse had amassed, in their relatively short existence, quite a decent following and many of […]

Here’s some tech death from the best heavy metal label in existence, Transcending Obscurity. If you don’t believe my words, you can always check my year end list where I mentioned this. Once again, though, that’s in my words, so if you don’t believe it here, you won’t there. Anyway… Here’s some new tech death […]

So first up, here is your early contender for the year’s most unreadable logo, right? I’m new to California’s Aylwin, though they have a pretty good amount of demos, Eps and splits under their belt since 2012, But the promotional email had buzz words like Alda, Ameseours, Wolves In The Throne Room, and ‘nature-centric atmospheric […]

Hailing from Texas Frozen Soul came pretty much out of nowhere and got signed to Century Media Records and their new label got their name out with some fabulous promotion and album videos.  The band was previously singed on the awesome Maggot Stomp Records and I really enjoyed their 2019 ep – Encased in Ice.  […]

Hang tight, there is something wrong with the earth’s gravitational pull.  Holy schnikes is this heavy!  Buried’s Oculus Rot has been in my daily rotation for the last few weeks and I am excited to go over how awesome this album is.  First, Buried features Joel Sta and Robbe V (Ex Pyaemia).   I was excited […]