By nature, the somewhat static structure of death metal doesn’t allow for too many innovators, i.e. there’s only so far a band can stretch those boundaries before their music is considered either a rip-off of an already established band or an incorporation of other musical styles shunned by purists. Flipping through the CD booklet, one […]

E.N.T. = grindcore. Not surprisingly, as many older metal acts return to their roots (Napalm Death, Cathedral, and, to a certain extent, Megadeth), the Extreme Noise Terror-ists rear their mega-ugly heads with an album that’s so old-school that it sounds like a tribute to Brutal Truth’s debut meisterwerk, 1992’s Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses. Yep, […]

Damn Metallica to hell. These former thrash kings did more damage to the genre with 1999’s collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony on S & M than any other band in metal history. And depending on whether you thought the mighty Met threw in the integrity towel with ’96s Load (which was just that), ’91s […]

Before becoming the god-sized metal behemoth that they are now, Earache Records began as a small independent label dedicated to, as all upstanding metal labels are, rooting out the best extreme bands around. Britain’s Unseen Terror were one of the first bands signed to the label, and in 1987 Earache released their lone album, Human […]

Their sixth studio album (seventh if you count 1993’s Amon: Feasting The Beast, which was basically their 1990 debut in demo form), In Torment surprisingly finds our wily God-hating antiheroes jumping on the rap-metal bandwagon to better reach their new audience on their upcoming world tour as openers for Korn and Kottonmouth Kings. First stop: […]

In 1995, Godflesh’s Ben Green retired to a remote cottage in the Cambrian Mountains of Wales, where he had spent much time as a child. For the next year, he virtually isolated himself from the modern world and allowed nature to speak to him in ways in which he previously could not decipher. Equipped only […]

Since 1987, K.K. Null’s noise outfit Zeni Geva has honestly raised the bar on Japanese rock so high that it has yet to be matched. Main throats like Cryptopsy’s Mike DiSalvo and his ilk are still dead ringers for Null’s largely Japanese and broken English growls, though the band has created an alternate metal universe […]

Brooklyn’s governors of gloom check in with the inevitable rarities comp that spans their entire career of misanthropic melancholy. Kicking off the grim festivities with yet another track of digital silence-this one is a “remix” of “The Misinterpretation Of Silence And Its Disastrous Consequences” from their 1991 Slow, Deep And Hard debut – the usual […]

If Miami prog-metal purists Cynic were still around, this album would be the modern-day equivalent of their one and only release, 1992’s unrivaled Focus. Ironically, Miami’s Aghora are one-half Cynic-the better half, in fact, of bassist Sean Malone and drummer Sean Reinert, along with guitarists Santiago Dobles and Charlie Ekendahl and female vocalist Danishta Rivero. […]

Subtitled The Dark Metal Compilation, this double-disc European compilation collects the top acts in goth metal and others who’ve forsaken their heavy roots for the love of money. Aesma Daaeva’s “O Death (Rock Me Asleep)” is reminiscent of old Paradise Lost but colder and with female vocals. Tiamat and resident freak Johan Edlund check in […]

The Deicide bio this time around flaunts a quote from Slipknot about how influential those death pioneers have been to the development of these masked neo-metallers. True rivetheads might interpret this ploy as sheer blasphemy, using sell-out rockers to market Deicide, of all bands! Truth is, Deicide doesn’t need anyone to tell fans how cool […]