Many of the bands I review on this site, I randomly encountered. That’s the case for Tennesse’s  Summoner’s Circle. In my “why the fuck not,” era just last year, I saw a festival of which I had not heard in my state called Toledo Death Fest. Despite the hot sun, they were a stylistic sore […]

Although one of the USA’s early purveyors of European symphonic black metal in the late 90s and early 00s along with Dragonlord, Scholomance, Dreamscapes of the Perverse, Epicurean, Venificum, Santus, and such, Austin TX’s Vesperian Sorrow and most of those listed) never quite garnered a ton of attention. The Europeans just did it better with […]

I’m new to Spanish veterans Æolian, but after hearing Echoes of the Future, they, like the recent KING I covered, are one of those bands where I instantly pre-order the album and then go back and purchase the entire back catalog. Fuck this is good. I mean from start to finish, every note and exquisitely […]

I kinda dug, These Nameless Worlds, the debut EP from this atmospheric/melodic black metal duo from Sweden. Despite the light-less moniker, it was a cosmic-themed, uplifting, bright take on the genre with some very pleasant melodies in the vein of Ghostbath, Vinland, Numeron, and Vallendusk. Well here is the full-length debut on the very fitting […]

Sweden’s Ironmaster is a supergroup featuring a trio of dudes who are ir have been in such bands as Carnal Forge, Facebreaker, Scar Symmetry Dark Funeral and Incapacity. And while Black Lion Records is usually known for their more melodic or symphonic black metal offerings, Ironmaster delivers a savage assault of blistering no frills blackened/death […]

It’s amazing the perspective you gain in life when you find someone you truly want to spend your life with – that person you feel you were always meant to be with. For those of you who haven’t found that person yet, I apologize for throwing that in your face right out the gate here, […]

If In Flames‘ Foregone has whetted your appetite for Swedish, 1994-1997 era melodic death metal nostalgia, then let’s continue your meal with another band from that era, Falkenberg’s Ablaze My Sorrow. Knocking around the same times as their clear peers (then and now) In Flames and Dark Tranquility, Ablaze My Sorrow was a productive, if […]

Death/doom is my wheelhouse. This year at MDF, I was finally able to see one of my favorite bands, November’s Doom. During the middle of the day, no less. That was a bucket list item. So, when a band of which I have never heard lists them as influenced by, or for fans of, well, […]

Remember being 17 or 18 years old and thinking you knew everything? And yet, in the same breath, somehow you often found yourself not knowing what the fuck you were doing at all? Equal parts cock-sure confidence and complete naivete. The truth, for most of us, is that when you’re that age, you’re still just […]

Wow! This is unique.  Picture a band from Copenhagen that at times can sound like they are from Gothenburg and then other times where they sound like tech era Death.  For fans of Quo Vadis, and Arsis.  I get that.  Steve Di Giorgio plays bass on this.  Okay, I am intrigued.  I guess it was […]

Waaaaay back in 2017, California’s Northwind Wolves released their aptly named debut, Dark…Cold…Grim, a superb and authentic delivery of 90s symphonic black metal that made my year end list. Well, as expected for a second album, the follow up delivers the same sound, expands on it a little, but never quite reaches the dark cold […]

Most will roll their eyes at blackened deathcore with symphonic elements , but Arizonians Ov Lustra (“Of Glory? Of Shining?”Of Mirrors?) has absolutely knocked it out of the park with this ‘debut’ EP, utilizing some of the most effective orchestration I’ve heard in any metal genre with perfect results. Formerly known as Sun Speaker and […]

I’m fairly new to Sweden’s Meadow’s End despite my love of all things that melds symphonics and metal, having only recently discovered the band’s 2016 release, Sojourn (in part to a brilliant piece of evocative cover art), and thusly grabbing the bands other 2 previous releases and pre ordering this, the band’s fourth effort. What […]

Warning: I am going to say the words Bal-Sagoth, a record breaking number of times in this review… Man, I haven’t had this much anticipation for an album in a looooooong time. Why? Well friends, Let me tell you of an Age undreamed of…. Back in the 1990s a band called Bal-Sagoth arose from the […]

Sweden’s Black Lion Records has developed a real ear for 90s styled melodic/symphonic black, and from the label that has released excellent albums from the likes of Northwind Wolves, Hyperion, Meadows End, Sons ov Omega, Mist of Misery, Legacy of Emptiness and Vindland, comes another winner in the full length debut from homeland act Wormlight. I’ve […]

Swedish thrash/punk stranglers Defiatory dropped a royal ass kicker with their 2016 debut Extinct.  The band’s caffeinated, hopped-up assault took melodic cues from Sin after Sin and Stained Class, sniped Slayer and the first couple of Overkill records for thrash overload, siphoned in several eras of Swedish brutality (The Crown, Grave, Dismember and the underrated […]

Cut from the same cloth as such old school classic death metal bands bands like Entombed, Dismember, and Grave, Netherlands quartet Deathmarch have put together a pretty tasty little debut EP.  It consists of 5 tracks that total right at 21 minutes and is a perfect fix when you want to get back to basics. […]