I’m not familiar with Portugal’s Process of Guilt, but considering the country’s quality output this recently (Goldepyre, Grog, Primal Attack, The Ominous Circle, Switchtense) I thought I’d see how the country’s post rock/sludge genre was doing, and based on a review at this very site of the band’s last album, 2012’s , FÆMIN , my curiosity was peaked. […]

Though hailing from Quebec, Canada,  Цар Стангра (translating to ‘Tsar Stangra’) and founder Stan Stefanovski would have you imbuing the legions of Bulgar cavalry sweeping across the steppes to confront the invading Byzantines… The Ukrainian/ Eastern European vibe is strong here with the likes of Obest, Drudkh, Negura Bunget, Nokturnal Mortum etc, flowing through their veins […]

There is something foul afoot in the Iberian Peninsula. Some Portuguese  and Spanish acts like The Ominous Circle, Morbid Flesh, Aversio Humanitas, Goldenpyre, have delivered some truly nasty black and death metal of late, and with their second effort Spain’s Altarage look to be the apex of the onslaught. I never heard the band’s debut, […]

Taking a break form the recent onslaught of old school and Swedish death metal, Germany’s FDA Records have delved into the death-doom genre with the 4th full length album from Hamburg’s Ophis (“snake”), and it’s as successful and consistent as you’d expect from the label, despite the genre. The aptly named The Dismal Circle is […]

“This is what happens. It indicates the non-frenzied feeding of a large squalus – possibly Longimanus or Isurus glauca. Now… the enormous amount of tissue loss prevents any detailed analysis; however the attacking squalus must be considerably larger than any normal squalus found in these waters. Didn’t you get on a boat and check out […]

Ever since Nile erupted forth with their Egyptian take on brutal death metal, ethnic, and cultural elements have crept into death metal more and from from Ade  to Scarab and others. But here comes France’s Impureza to add one I have not heard before- at least not in this full on capacity: Flamenco. Sure, a […]

Every time I think Italy has rendered the most brutalist of brutal albums, it seems to quickly get superseded by something else. Whether it’s Hour of Penance to Blasphemer, to Hideous Divinity, then to Logic of Denial, Antropofagus  and recently Daemusinem . Well, Devangelic is here to try and stop the buck. However, the best term I can […]

From the opening mid range chords of the introductory “Into the Fire” with strains of that classic Phantasm/”Left Hand Path” riff, you know exactly what you are getting from the debut of Germany’s Endseeker: Classic, Swedish styled death metal. And much like recent releases from label mates Lifeless and Blood of Seklusion,  it delivers the goods, […]

Ne Obliviscaris‘s 2014 sophomore album Citadel was one of my top 3 albums for that year, and now 3 years later, the Australian progressive extreme metal collective look to have another of my top albums for 2017 in Urn. The incredibly ambitious and hard to describe sound of these guys is in force again,  as […]

I really want to like these Massachusetts metallers  more. They feature Colin Conway (ex- Cannae), one of the coolest dudes I’ve ever interviewed, and my reviewing brethren Luke Sanders gushed over their last record, 2013s Blood and Black. Throw in a beefy, modern take on East Coast death/thrash metal and you’d think the recipe was […]

Hailing from Rochester, NY, duo Mavradoxa  play a form of atmospheric black metal that would be right at home on Bindrune Recordings. It’s a woodsy, Agalloch rooted form of black metal akin to the likes of  Falls of Rauros, Alda, Wodensthrone and such. However, it does not mean its as good as those bands. While Mavradoxa […]

I rather enjoyed this bands second effort, 2013s Atonement, but the band waited a little long for a follow up ( four years is an eternity for brutal death metal), so me waiting a few months to get a review out is excusable. But not much appears to have changed. The band are as brutal […]

There are a few records that left an indelible mark on me as a young metal head. One such record was Fleurety’s 1995 debut, Mid Tid Skal Komme.  And most of it was due to the vocals of Marian Aas Hansen, who added a bluesy, sultry sway to the avante garde black metal. Another more recent effort […]

It’s been quite a year for the old guard of American Death metal. Obituary, Immolation, Suffocation, Broken Hope, Incantation, Dying Fetus and such all releasing albums in 2017. But none may be more important to any band right now than Morbid Angel‘s 10th (proper) album, Kingdoms Disdained.  After the controversial shit show that was Illud Divinum Insanus back […]

Hailing from Toronto, Decatur play a beefy from of groove/thrash metal inspired by the Northeastern US scene (Shadow’s Fall etc), but the selling point here is the debut effort was produced by Gojira’s Joe Duplantier. So you would expect this thing sounds great, and it does with Duplantier glossing the rhythm section with his heavy fingerprints, and […]

What we have here as an impressive self released debut of Lovecraft themed melodic black/death metal from  Denver’s Crafteon. Eschwing the usual Lovecraftian throes (churning miasmal chaos or deep complex, atmospheric black metal), Crafteon go for a cleaner, sharper sound more akin to Dissection, Dimmu Borgir or Ancient’s better output. The guitars have a crisp clean […]

If there was one band I feel like I could copy and paste a review from a prior release, change to song titles and call it good, it would be Cannibal Corpse. And sometimes that’s not necessarily  bad thing, and that’s the case with Cannibal Corpse‘s 14th studio album. Despite all the pre album talk […]

Despite switching from FDA Rekotz to FDA Records, the German label has stayed true to delivering  old school death metal, especially the Swedish/Stockholm style finding bands from Germany like  Endseeker, Revel in Flesh, Lifeless as well from as other countries like Funeral Whore, Fatalist, Ending Quest and Massive Assault. Well, add Italy to the list in […]

There is a host of bands vying for the throne left vacant by Dismember. The likes of Infected Chaos, Brutally Deceased, Harm, Blood of Seklusion, Evocation, Endseeker, Massive Assault, Fatalist, Interment and Germany’s Lifeless are certainly near the top of the list. I’ve cowered the bands prior two efforts, 2010 Beyond the Threshold of Death and […]

First, hats off to Mariusz Lewandowski, who created the cover art for Bell Witch‘s third album, for it was this striking artwork that got me to check out this otherwise new to me band. Second, holy. fuck. I have not been utterly moved by a Funeral Doom album for a few years, probably since Funeral’s From […]

I wasn’t sure how these young Canadians would follow up their excellent 2014 debut, The Lucid Collective, a completely over the top , noodling clinical and triggered tech death tour de force, only since topped by First Fragment‘s Dasein since then as far as sheer tech death insanity goes. Well, they are up the the […]

It’s been 10 years since Kansas City’s  Lo- Ruhamah released their impressive debut, The Glory of God, and then a subsequent interview with the band, cleared up the band’s deep philosophical themes and leanings, leanings which again arise on the band’s long awaited follow up, Anointing. Though not a Christian band, as you see by […]

It wasn’t until 2014s Titan that I got into Greece’s Septiciflesh, which is a surprise considering I’m a sucker for big, epic orchestration in metal. But as with Titan, and even prior releases like The Great Mass that I went back to, Septicflesh remain all fluff and no real substance.  But the fluff, remains some of […]

Last year, I received a demo from San Francisco’s Sentient Ignition, they didn’t want a review, just some feedback from me about their sound. The basic premise of my feedback was they were promising, talented, sounded like Black Crown Initiate, and the vocals needed some work. Well, they wrote me back earlier this summer and sent […]

Belphegor has always been one of those consistent, respected veteran bands on my periphery that I’ve ‘liked’ but never ‘loved’. The first  album I heard and covered was 2005s relentless  Goatreich Fleshcult,  and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, subsequent albums like Pestapokalypse VI, Walpurgis Rites- Hexenwahn and Black Magick Necromance, left me pretty ambivalent. So much […]