Look, I am, by my own admission, a long-winded individual. Especially so when talking about heavy metal, but with The Garden, the eighth full-length album from Finnish “Beauty &/vs the Beast” deathly doomsters, Hanging Garden, I simply don’t need to be. The straight up truth is that when it comes to The Garden, I’m just […]

When tech metallers The Eating Cave named their second album The Miscalculation, it makes me think they are talking about something specific. Of course they must be talking about the botched rhythm method that led to my unfortunate spawning. Just ask my parents. Anyway, this band has so much potential. As a big fan of […]

Ya know, I had completely forgotten about this North Carolina duo. This is surprising considering I rather enjoyed the debut from a few years ago, and the fact my enthusiasm, some would even say fanboyish obsession with any sort of metal with symphonic/orchestral elements. Throw in another couple of my weaknesses- history/mythological tales and modern, […]

I think it’s safe to say the Tri-State Area East Coast thrashers Overkill regained their mojo with 2010’s Ironbound album.  They were also armed with a new label Nuclear Blast Records, where they have remained since.  The four albums which followed were also pretty damn ass-kicking and that trend continues with Scorched, the band’s…wait for […]

Dystertol is a veteran Austrian melodic death band with 2 albums under their belt since 2014, but as is often the case in this vast realm of metal, they are a new act to me. Classifying them is difficult, as while they are certainly a melodic death metal band in the vein of say newer […]

“That’s a nasty piece of work, sir.” Indeed, it is Death Metal, primitive and crawling on its bloodied knuckles, a foaming Satanic beast. Here I have Messe Mortuaire, a continuation of France’s Sepulchral; the country’s first Death Metal band who have unleashed their debut EP under their new moniker of Messe Mortuaire and goddammit I […]

By this point ya’ll probably know my theory about the world of Traditional Heavy Metal, where bands do battle in my own mind in an attempt to claim the throne of Heavy Metal supremacy. Again, I will not apologize for my own stupidity, this is just who I am. But here’s the thing – in […]

If you were familiar with Lamp of Murmuur’s previous output, it fell squarely into that lo-fi black metal category we’ve all come to know and love. I’ve listened to a lot of it over the years. Some bands do it to mask that they can’t write good songs. Other bands have the aesthetic and do […]

German Christian death metal band Sacrificium has been around since the 90s, released their debut album in 2002, and have released 2 albums since then, with 2013s Prey for Your Gods being their last offering. And I say this because up until Oblivion, I had no idea these guys even existed- even in the Christian […]

Well, well, well, what do we have here?  The 12th album by the biggest metal band in the world.  I consider it their 11th, because Garage Inc., while a great covers album, is an album of.. whelp, covers.  I reviewed the last Metallica album Hardwired… to Self-Destruct in 2016 and I really enjoyed it and […]

One look at the Realms of Chaos/War Master Era Bolt Thrower-inspired logo from the multinational (mostly Germany, Iceland, USA) act, Extermination Order, and you know exactly what you are getting with the 5 songs on the war themed EP, The Siege of Ascalon. Throw in the fact that 2/3 of the German contingent of Extermination Order […]

So, a little personal life update that no one asked for – I’ve been in the process of trying to cut coffee out of my daily routine. Let me be clear, this isn’t a battle against caffeine addiction or anything like that – when I was drinking coffee it was usually one cup every morning, […]

Russia’s Experimental/Technical Brutal Death Metal band 7 H.Target return after a 9 year hiatus, since their killer third album in 2014 0.00 Apocalypse.  Yantra Creating was supposed to come out at multiple different times prior to now, but due to a multitude of issues is just surfacing now.  Since the last album, they have filled […]

It’s a sunny day in the Rio Grande Valley. Spring is in the air (for now anyway), all that could change in a matter of days; but for now, it’s a pleasant day. Birds are chirping and I’m reviewing a Melodic Black Metal album. What a time to be alive! I think it’s in the […]

Germany’s environmental warriors, Downfall of Gaia has been one of my reliable go-tos’s when it comes to modern post-black metal, appearing on my year-end list a couple of times since 2012s Suffocating in a Swarm of Cranes). But when I saw the cover for album number 6, I got major Deafheaven vibes and hoped the […]

When listening to the latest full-length from Sermon, I am reminded of a few bands. Namely Tool, Enslaved, and Soen. I used to be a huge Tool fan, but now just feel like they believe their shit doesn’t stink. I am still an Enslaved fan, but Soen doesn’t do it for me. Sermon does. This […]

Who knew there were not one but TWO excellent symphonic/blackened deathcore bands right here in my backyard in, Missouri? One is Kansas City’s Vile Revelation, who released their killer debut EP Ov Vultures and Flesh back in 2022 (though I only discovered it earlier this year, hence no review) and Abaddonia, hailing from the darkest […]

When life throws you a lemon, you’re supposed to make lemonade, right? Take a sour situation, and make something sweet. Find the good in the bad. Take an unforeseen opportunity to do something new, different, maybe even exciting and vibrant! That’s certainly one way to handle life’s curveballs. Probably the healthiest way! But there’s always […]

If you like the Panopticon sound, but don’t like Austin’s Progressive politics, you’re a dumb shit, but you should also stay clear of Dawn Ray’d and all of their material, including their new one, To Know the Light. Like Fletcher’s genitals in “Liar Liar,” I lean always to the left, so this is no problem […]

Tribe of Pazuzu is a new international supergroup of sorts. Formed by bassist/vocalist Nick Sagias who was in Soulstorm and Overthrow back in the day as well as a quick stint in Pestilence in 1990. However, he is joined by some inarguably bigger names on this project’s debut, namely Flo Mournier of Cryptopsy fame on […]

20 Buck Spin hits another out-of-the-park homerun for 2023 with albums…yes, plural from California’s blackened death metal band Ulthar.  My first experience with Ulthar was seeing them on their debut album tour, Cosmovore, as they toured with Misery Index.  I became an Ulthar fan, picking up their cd and long sleeve shirt at the show. […]

Portland’s newcomers Idolatrous are here to answer the age-old question… what would it sound like if Amon Amarth were from Oregon and used epic keyboards/synths in their chunky form of Viking-based melo-death? Well, it sounds fucking amazing, and certainly, if you are a bit tired of Amon Amarth‘s tried and tested, safer last couple of […]

Here we are in 2023, 5 years after their last effort (2018s Reduced to Flesh) and these long-time thrashers from Denmark are now on their eleventh studio album.  Hatred Reborn is another in a long line of awesome death/thrash albums going all the way back to 2001’s self-titled debut.  Hatred Reborn also marks the debut […]

My first introduction to Symphonic Black Metal was Cradle of Filth’s Total Fucking Darkness, sent to me by a friend in England who happened to be Dani Filth’s roommate at the time. Small fucking world, right? Anyhoo, when the intro for “The Black Goddess Rises” started I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, mind you, […]

I haven’t listened to anything from Rogga Johannson (Wombbath, Revolting, Catacomb, Reek, Massacre, Paganizer, Ribspreader,  etc), in a while, so I thought id check the latest releases from his Furnace project (along with Catacomb bassist Peter Svensson), as its one I had not heard before. Big mistake….. as it was like a recovering drug addict […]