Ohio’s Ironflame is a writing machine.  Since 2016 they have released four full-length albums and now they have dropped their fifth one Kingdom Torn Asunder on us. I have enjoyed all their prior albums a lot, although I did feel their 2022 album Where Madness Dwells, slightly suffered in the production department and the hooks […]

We don’t do interviews very much any more here. I mean how many times do you need to hear some megastar like Karl Sanders or Corpsegrinder say “yeah this album is better than the last one” or “this album was a very ‘personal’ one’?

That said , if I ever get the chance to promote one of the ‘small guys’ or even better a ‘local’ small guy, whose music I really enjoy, I often try and do it, especially if it means meeting the said band in person.

One such example of both is Vile Revelation, hailing from Columbia , Missouri.

Though I reviewed the debut, Voidgazer, from this discordant death metal Texas duo back in 2021, I missed the follow-up, in 2022, Demiurge. What I do remember about the debut though was, while the churning Incantation-y murk was good stuff, the duo was really at their best when delivering more lumbering, grooving controlled riffs. And […]

I’m from Kentucky, the heart of Bluegrass and Country music, sort of… I think Nashville would disagree and probably Oklahoma, Kansas and any other state that cuddles up next to the southern states would as well. But to say I grew up around Country Music is an understatement, for years I was immersed in it. […]

Turkish brutes Carnophage have been slinging their brand of death metal since the early 00’s.  Matter of a Darker Nature is their third album and it’s been eight long years since their last album, Monument. This is 8 songs in 33 minutes of no-frills brutal death metal in the vein of the likes of Dying […]

There’s been some watercooler conversation about Darkthrone lately at the home office; specifically the difference between new and old and the new bands that pay homage to the early 90s era. I got a couple of recommendations and this is the first review for the newer-than-new debut for Avmakt and it’s called Satanic Inversion Of… […]

I reviewed South Africa’s brutal death metal/deathcore band Vulvodynia’s Praenuntius Infiniti album three years ago and was super impressed with the album, seeing I had been a recent fan of theirs and that was their best album up to that point. The signing to Unique Leader Records propelled the band as well and put the […]

For a while there in the early/00s, Nails was one of the flagship bands of what I call the “Southern Lord” sound. Bands like Nails, Trap Them, All Pigs Must Die, Black Breath, Dead In the Dirt, playing a filthy form of Swedish Death metal-hued d-beat, crust, grindcore/hardcore. And I’m confident in saying popular new bands […]

Power Metal has been part of my life since Helloween and their Keeper of the Seven Keys albums. A long time, considering that that first album was ’85-’86 I think. Manowar was around then, wearing animal skins and looking absolutely ridiculous. I confused (and wrongly assumed) that Hammerfall were Manowar clones. It might’ve been the […]

Category 7 is a brand new “super-group” which formed in 2023.  This self-titled album is their debut and the band members are John Bush – Vocals, Mike Orlando – Guitars, Phil Demmel – Guitars, Jack Gibson – Bass, Jason Bittner – Drums.  So we have these metal players who are currently in or were ex-members […]

I was and am a huge fan of Culture of Violence, Extinction A.D’s previous album so expectations for To the Detested were quite high. Truthfully, I would have been more than satisfied if it was just Culture of Violence Part !!. It’s not, but the high-energy spirit remains the same. I do intros, but luckily […]

OK, hear me out… 2024 has been a friggin’ WILD ride for the world of metal and extreme music. Like it or not, the spotlight has perhaps never shone brighter on our little deranged corner of the music world than it is right now. Ignore for a moment legendary stalwarts like Metallica, Iron Maiden or […]

God Dethroned is back with album number 12, and at this point, it’s difficult to keep rewriting the same review as Henri Satler and whoever is in his band (yet another different drummer here) are so god damn consistent at this point in their career it’s silly. After a trio of albums about WWI, Satler […]

I’ve been on a huge Lord of the Rings/ Tolkien kick recently and have been seeking out some music to satiate my need, enter Swedish duo Morcaint. Mornië Utúlië is the follow-up to last year’s Ellesar EP, and the duo of Ulvtyr and main composer Heruhim certainly know their way around Tolkein-themed atmospheric and melancholic […]

Maggot Stomp, as I have stated before, is one of the best smaller, underground death metal labels out there.  They have been responsible for finding talent, early in a band’s career, and then the band blows up and gets bigger offers, such as Sanguisugabogg and Frozen Soul, jumping ship to Century Media Records a few […]

Spain’s Totengott returns with their third album, Beyond the Veil, and first for Hammerheart Records.  I have enjoyed their prior two albums, Doppelgänger and The Abyss quite a lot.  The band originally started as a Celtic Frost cover band and their primary influence falls in line with the monstrous Monotheist reformation album as well as […]

“Can I offer you a nice egg in this trying time?” –Frank Reynolds In this case, the egg is the 20th Anniversary edition of one of my favorite albums of all time, the seminal Ashes of the Wake. Wait, wasn’t there a 15th anniversary reissue? Yes, yes there was. As for the “trying time,” just […]

Greece’s Hail Spirit Noir is one of the most experimental bands out there.  Their last album, Mannequins, from 2021 I reviewed on here and I still really enjoy it.  This was their most audacious piece of work because it was made up of more synth/wave, 80’s horror movie instrumentals and sounds.  Only a handful of […]

After a killer year in 2022, but then a relatively slow year in 2023, Symphonic/blackened Deathcore is back to having a superb 2024 with killer releases from Synestia/Disembodied Tyrant, Drown in Sulfur, Eden Adversary, Ruins of Perception, A Wake in Providence, The Archaic Epidemic, Vile Revelation, Downfall of Mankind and of course, Immortal Disfigurement (the […]

I love French Black Metal, and that goes back to the early 2000s when I first heard Mutiilation, Anorexia Nervosa, Deathspell Omega and Osculum Infame. From the press release: Gravenoire was formed in early 2022 by Maximilien Brigliadori (BÂ’A, Diablation, former Hyrgal), Emmanuel Zuccaro (BÂ’A, Verfallen, former Hyrgal), Vicomte Vampyr Arkames (Diablation (former Seth / […]

Australia’s Werewolves have returned with their fifth album Die for Us, having released an album, each year, since their 2020 debut The Dead Are Screaming.  This time around, no longer with Prosthetic Records, like their prior albums, have released this independently. If you have slept under a rock for the last five years, and have […]

Reviewing the new Fulci album seems natural. I’m a huge fan of Italian horror in general, of course including Lucio Fulci. I rock a Tropical Sun back patch on what I’m certain is the greatest battle jacket ever created, I saw them live last year, and I learned seminal Italian words like “pizza” and “spaghetti” from them. […]

Forest of Shub Niggurath will be released on September 10th, 2024, via Xtreem Music on CD and digital platforms. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWM5FQM53KQ Veteran Swedish death metal band PAGANIZER has officially signed with Xtreem Music for the release of their new EP, Forest of Shub Niggurath, which will serve as a prelude to their forthcoming album in 2025. The band has also […]

I’ve reviewed a fair amount of Denmark’s, Crocell’s releases and have enjoyed all of their albums.  The band started out as a pretty hefty sounding melodic, but chunky, style of death metal.  Several years ago the influx of black metal began to permeate into their releases and with their sixth long-player Of Frost, of Flame, […]

Album number 6 from Italy’s master of symphonic/orchestral brutal death metal sees more lineup changes, much like 2019s Veleno. And while they certainly weathered the changes admirably (replacing long-time members Christiano Trionfera and Tommaso Ricardi departing, Francisco Paoli moving from drums to vocals), with a really good album that even showed some more controlled and restrained songs, […]