Human beings have been obsessed with the ideal of beauty ever since scientific philosophers first tried figuring out when aliens first touched down on little ol’ Earth. In the early days of modern science, many scientists tried—but failed—to come up with a wheel that could naturally spin for all eternity on its own without the […]

Did you hear? Finland’s melodic death metal masters Insomnium have renamed themselves as “Be’lakor”! That’s the name of an evil character from the popular Warhammer franchise by the way. Who would have thought that Finnish dudes actually play games apart from eating, breathing and excreting metal music? I lied. Be’lakor is actually a five-piece melancholic, […]

Fans of Toxic Holocaust should stop smoking weed and crank out the harder stuff, for Philadelphia’s speedy thrashers Rumpelstiltskin Grinder are back with their third full-length studio album, which embodies everything fans of Joel Grind’s solo project will love, only much faster. The 12-song outing is pretty lengthy considering that it is a thrash metal […]

It has been fabled that the Australians are an extremely friendly bunch of people, and that myth was put to rest when this writer interviewed Psycroptic a day before (25th April, 2012) their first live performance in Singapore (26th April, 2012); an island famed for being one of the world’s smallest countries, one of the world’s foremost educational hubs and probably the most well-known Asian metropolitan after Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Having been on Nuclear Blast’s roster for 4 years, it is surprising to see that the band is still as down-to-earth as your average Joe (or perhaps even more than that) and don’t dabble in the sophisticated art of breathing with their noses pointing skyward. Main founding member and drummer David Haley met this writer outside the hotel, exchanged some very normal greetings, and then casually led this writer right into the band’s hotel room to conduct the interview. It was a modest room that only barely had room for two, but Jason Peppiat (vocalist) and Joseph Haley (David’s brother and Psycroptic’s only guitarist) were both in it as well to join in the fun.

Clad in casual T-shirts and shorts, all three members of the band looked as at home as a kitten in a 9gagger’s arms. David looked around for a while, seemingly searching for something, before he pulled a seat out from under the humble coffee table and invited this writer to have a seat. Thus began the friendly interrogation of Psycroptic regarding issues ranging from their thoughts on Singapore, why they don’t consider themselves to be a “technical death metal” band, meat pies, beer and more.

Remember that female guest vocalist featured in Dimmu Borgir’s music video for “Gateways”, the hit single of the black metal purist’s most-hated album of 2010, Abrahadabra? Yes, Agnete Kjølsrud, the lanky lady who looks like a witch and wears a tomboyish haircut, thick makeup, and who was swaying awkwardly to-and-fro like a gothic version of […]

Pick a random European kid off a random street in Europe and ask him/her what music instrument they picked up first. Chances are, you will get one of these three answers: (1) Piano (2) Violin (3) Clarinet. It is no big secret that European metal musicians often start out with Classical music before moving into heavy metal territory, and the converse is often true for American metal musicians. Stéphan Forté is European and started out the European way, but as neo-classical metal tradition would have it, he has mastered the electric guitar very skillfully (and beats many Americans at this staple instrument of theirs). The suave shredder may not be a household name like George Lynch or Yngwie Malmsteen, but watch out; the frontman and lead guitarist of French progressive neo-classical metal band Adagio is off to a great start with his fairly new solo project! His virtuosic skills and penchant for mid-paced Romantic-inspired solos might just set him apart from the speed-crazed and “djent”-obsessed contemporary metal crowd. I smell a new guitar hero from France.

Haters gonna hate. To be frank, I think Cannibal Corpse is a strong brand name that has always cemented the band’s “indisputable” place as one of death metal’s most important bands. Look, Cannibal Corpse are one of those staple American death metal bands who have always done and probably will always do a brutally good […]

Remember that jaw-dropping moment in your childhood when you saw ex-Green Ranger Tommy Oliver coming back stronger than ever as the badass White Ranger in Season 2 of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers? Yeah, Sigh’s upcoming album certainly did an excellent job at evoking that long-forgotten feeling of inane joy. As always, the Japanese are […]

There’s something about album art drawn in the Marvel Comics style that goes really well with neo-classical power metal. Is it because this particular American comic drawing style is reminiscent of the ‘80s, which reminds one of the group vocals so commonly heard in power metal from that same decade (and for every ‘80s power […]

Oh Stéphan Forté, if thou art female, I’d be swooning all over you right now (and you’d probably be the best girl shredder out there). Seriously, how did this album escape the radar of countless popular metal websites and blogs last year? The guitarist of French progressive neo-classical band, Adagio, Stéphan Forté has finally and […]

Moribund has always been notorious/iconic for having a roster of bands that sound as though they record their albums with faulty walkie-talkies. It really makes me wonder how these bands connect the amps to those walkie-talkies, and doesn’t doing this void the warranty for the walkie-talkies as well? What if they got trapped in their […]

After a decade of being in a state of half-life or half-death, the sadistic jokers in us all thought that San Diego’s premier metalcore outfit, As I Lay Dying, might have gotten so weak that they will finally fulfill the prophecy of their ill-fated name and, well, kick the musical bucket. Contrarily, the famed Christcore group are not only still alive and well, but have been consistent in the quality of their work by meeting expectations with flying colors (again) on 2010’s chart topper, The Powerless Rise. Being one of the rare few metalcore acts around that don’t attract an ammo-truckload of explosive hate, As I Lay Dying are still going strong ten years on, thriving on the positive attention of music fans instead of feeding off the negative attention generated by perennial controversies surrounding the –core sub-genres—a banal and verbally-abusive phenomenon that plagues many of their contemporary counterparts to no end. Having decided to take it easy this year and celebrate their tenth year anniversary, the group recently released their second and latest compilation album, Decas. From his San Diego dwelling (and a few weeks before Decas was released), frontman Tim Lambesis elaborates on various aspects pertaining to the new compilation, what a physically active person he is during his spare time, and gives an update on his Arnie-themed spoof project.

Canadian modern metal act Threat Signal are no strangers to the rough and merciless tides of the music industry. Having only been around for a mere 7 years, the band is already the billionth victim of the MLC (Multiple Line-up Changes) Syndrome, and is precariously close to losing its roots entirely with only singer Jon Howard left from the original roster. With that said however, the band as an entity itself has evolved a lot since its early days. For a recording project that was initially accomplished entirely on Jon’s home computer, it sure has paid off well by getting Jon on-board the world-renowned Nuclear Blast roster; a dream that motivates countless metal bands worldwide to pursue their chosen path diligently, but which is often dashed with the cruel flick/click of an uninterested finger. Teeth of the Divine speaks with Jon to discover what plagued the stability of Threat Signal’s line-up over the years, find out what the new record is all about, discuss what the big guy Zeuss brings to the production table, and how Threat Signal was probably “djent” before “djent” even got coined.

In my interview with Jon Howard, he sarcastically derided the term “djent” when asked about Threat Signal’s genre classification. Similarly, I dislike that term. Many people like to call Threat Signal a “djent” band, but I like to be simple and just consider them a modern death metal band. This new record sees Threat Signal […]

American black metal is like Japanese pasta—a non-indigenous dish that actually does justice to the original (and perhaps even surpasses!) from time to time. Hence, I’d expect nothing less from the eclectic Abigail Williams, who have really gone off the edge of the cliff this time round and switched to playing an ambient form of […]

With so many deathcore, melodic death metal and old school death metal bands releasing new records recently, it makes listening to a new, normal, straight-up extreme death metal record refreshing—which usually isn’t the case. Amidst the soulful and lush tunes of acts like Arch Enemy and Insomnium, the brutal breakdowns of Suicide Silence and All Shall Perish, and the traditional onslaughts of Vader and Decapitated, hearing some crushing and no-frills-yet-modern-sounding death metal from Swe—melo-death—den is truly surprising.Introducing: As You Drown. This death metal quintet may still be wet behind the ears, but they sure play fast and hard like Behemoth—minus the blasphemous lyrical theme, elaborate costumes and occasional illegal stage antics of course. As with many other bands, As You Drown don’t just look up to Behemoth. They worship the traditional death metal veterans as well (as you will see later on in this interview).It’s no wonder then that their music is a face-flaying aural concoction of mini-gun drumming, killer riffs and pissed off vokills. In my first feature for this site, I spoke with frontman Henrik Blomqvist to find out more about their latest giant-rodent-themed record, their tour experiences with legendary bands, and Ikea meatballs among other things.