Posts Tagged ‘2024’

Shiva Hypothesis, The – Faustian Restlessness EP

Wow. Here is some really creative, unique black/death metal from a Dutch band I know nothing about other than they have 1 prior album under their belt. The actual ‘Shiva Hypothesis’ is a theory concerning extinction-level events and meteors, but the band is a 4 piece with ties to various other Belgian death metal acts, […]

Kommandant – Exhibition of Conquest EP

  The years between 1930 and 1947 are incredibly monumental years for a number of reasons. WWII was a pivotal time in world history, and the rise of fascism was the impetus for the United States to get involved (among other things.) Within Black Metal there lies a hole where politics turn blood red in […]

Pentagram Chile – Eternal Life of Madness

Pentagram (Chile) has literally been around for just shy of 40 years – can you wrap your head around that for a moment?  How about the fact that Eternal Life of Madness is only their second album, their debut finally dropping in 2013 – The Malefice, a monstrously amazing debut album, capturing all the essence […]

Aklash – Reincarnation

So A while ago, I was having a crazy day and gardening was the main task at hand, but it was made all the better because El Jefe had sent me this promo and I was pretty anxious because of the “Black Metal meets Hawkwind” description in the press blurb. The promo went straight to […]

Morgue – Close to Complete Darkness

Cripes, here is another band like Greece’s Sun of Nothing, that I have not heard in fucking ages. With Sun of Nothing there was a 21-year gap between their debut …and Voices, Words, Faces, Complete the Dream way back in 2003 and this year’s Maze. With French bruisers Morgue it was 2002’s utterly devastating The […]

Wormed – Omegon

Spain’s Wormed has been around for over 25 years – wow how time really flies into a space vortex!!!  The band takes their time with releasing albums and other than a 2019 stop-gap EP Metaportal, which I reviewed, Omegon has taken eight years to come out since the scorching Krighsu. Omegon is Wormed’s fourth album […]

Carrion Throne – The Feast of Human Vices EP

Formerly known as Epitasis, Chicago’s Carrion Throne is listed as a Doom/Death band on Metal-Archives, but after hearing this debut EP, I’m more inclined to list them as a more Brutal/Slam Death metal band more in line with Devourment and Wormed. The 6 songs here (4 new songs and 2 demo songs from 2022) are […]

Kittie – Fire

I haven’t written anything in over a month. It’s not just writing about metal, but it’s hard to enjoy any of my passions. Not to go too far into detail, but Kittie’s long-awaited new album Fire came out the day before I found out that my mother didn’t have much time left. Just a few […]

Mad Hatter – Oneironautics

Sometimes I find myself needing a break from Death Metal, Black Metal, and those related sub-genres and I look for something heavy, but different. So the other day I went down a Helloween rabbit hole, Keeper of the Seven Keys 1&2, Walls of Jericho; those are two prime examples of precision German Power Metal, while […]

Serement – Abhorrent Invocations

My bud Alex, the owner of Dolorem Records, has once again sent me a promo for one of his bands and this time it’s for Serement, a blackened death metal band hailing from Greece.  I had never heard of the word Serement and decided to look it up but had no luck, the net kept […]

Limbonic Art – Opus Daemoniacal

Early in their career, the Norwegian duo Limbonic Art was close to being mentioned in the same circles as the likes of Emperor, Arcturus, Borknagar, and such. Their 1996 debut The Moon in Scorpio and 1997 follow up In Abhorrence Dementia, were heralded as near classics in the symphonic black metal genre. However, the band […]

Bloodcross – Gravebound

What do you get when you cross mid-90s Black Metal ie: Dark Funeral, The Abyss, Necrophobic and Dissection with Helloween, and Metallica? The kind of vibe that Bloodcross is laying down on Gravebound. These unholy Finns are firing on all thrusters with this debut full-length. After releasing the Abysmal Blood Demo in 2021, they (presumably) […]

Sentiment Dissolve – The Orwellian Dream

Canada keeps kicking out sick tech death bands in 2024. Sentiment Dissolve has been around since 2021. The Orwellian Dream kicks off with “Forced Birther.’  Right off the bat you can hear how intricate their arrangements and vocal patterns are. You can hear the Archspire influence on the vocal patterns which are quite impressive done […]

Replacire – The Center That Cannot Hold

Technical Death Metal is one of those sub-genres I must be in the mood for. The same goes for Power Metal, but I’m talking about Replacire and not Sonata Artica; the former being the Eric Alper driven death machine that I had no idea existed and the latter being one of the best Power Metal […]

Wormwood – The Star

Sweden’s Wormwood burst onto the melodic black metal scene with 2017’s excellent Ghostlands, followed up by Nattarvett, the first of a planned trilogy of albums. Part two of the trilogy, 2021s Arkivet saw the band take a melancholic downturn befitting the tale of mankind’s general shittiness. I was hoping for a return to the more […]

Cavalera – Schizophrenia

I reviewed and raved about the Cavalera brothers re-recording the first two recordings of Sepultura, Bestial Devastation/Morbid Visions EP, last year.  Last year when they played “Escape to the Void” and “Inquisition Symphony” live, on the Morbid Devastation tour, I knew it was a matter of time before we all got notice that Schizophrenia was […]

Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition

When Arizona’s Gatecreeper burst onto the scene 10 years ago they did it with such gusto, ushering in a bludgeoning death metal sound.  By incorporating many elements of the Swedish chainsaw – buzzsaw HM-2 heaviness with large elements of groove they became one of the heaviest bands, overnight.  Across their prior two albums and eps […]

Henry Kane – Circle of Pain

Henry Kane (AKA Jonny Petterson from Wombbath) has released two fine grindcore/crust albums under this Poltergeist-named project; 2017s Den förstörda människans rike, and 2020s appropriately named Age of the Idiot. Both delivering furious, Nasum-ish-styled Swedish grind/crust. However, his third release is a completely different beast altogether. and you should probably brace for it a little bit. […]

Downcross – White Tower

Death. War. Pestilence. Famine. A dying planet gasping for breath as it is gripped in the throes of Armageddon. Legions of demons sweep across the land, killing all in sight with reckless abandon. As the skies fall and the moon becomes black as sackcloth, it is out of this malignant hatred that Downcross was formed […]

200 Stab Wounds – Manual Manic Procedures

Ohio continues to be one of the main hotbeds for quality American death metal bands.  I am new to the 200 Stab Wounds bandwagon and it was 2022/2023 when the band came onto my radar.  The label breeding ground for death metal bands getting signed to bigger labels is Maggot Stomp Records. 200 Stab Wounds […]

SOLSTICE sign deal with PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS

UK epic doom pagans SOLSTICE are setting their signatures under a multi-album deal with Prophecy Productions on this longest day of the year on the northern half of the globe.SOLSTICE will release their fourth album via the label and have already been confirmed for this year’s edition of Prophecy Fest. SOLSTICE comment: “We are heartened and honoured to be working with Prophecy – a label whose discernible courage […]

Tzompantli  – Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force

I originally started this off with a silly intro, but it’s not fitting. This is serious, bone-shaking death metal, and everyone should pay attention. Not that Tzompantli needed to improve, but they sure as shit did. On their second album, Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force, these gentlemen have knocked it out of the park […]

Ad Patres – Unbreathable

Bordeaux France’s Ad Patres returns with the third full-length Unbreathable. I reviewed their last record A Brief Introduction to Human Experiments back in 2019. Ad Patres brings an excellent combination of technicality, musicianship, and brutality. There is no shortage of any of these items with this record. Things get kicked off with an eighty-second intro […]

WyndRider – Revival

WyndRider is a young upcoming stoner doom metal act from Tennessee.  In their short existence since 2022 they have released their self-titled debut last year and now Revival.  I’ve recently been in communication with Chloe Gould, their singer, and have been mightily impressed with her vocals, after receiving this promo to review.  I was so […]

Unleashed – Before the Creation of Time

1990; Fuck I’m old. In Death Metal history, however, it’s like I’m still in my twenties and it was DEATH METAL. Bands were releasing albums left and right, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel; the Earache label alone was like a goddamn factory with its roster of bands. Not to be left out were these dudes from […]