From the always reliable purveyors of fine vinyl, Halo of Flies, comes a repress of the second album from Germany’s Deathrite. It strays a little away from the label’s norm delivering less hardcore and a more crust/d-beat/grind/death metal assault that will appeal to fans of Trap Them, Enabler, Nails, Dead in the Dirt and Black Breath, […]

I have not really got into the whole smokey female fronted , cultish, 70s inspired ‘vest’ metal  scene that’s been prevalent over the last few years. Other than the first Serpentcult album and a smattering of Blood Ceremony or Demon Lung, it just has not sucked me in. And it’s a shame, as Texas’s excellently […]

For the most part, Cyber or Industrial Death Metal has a pretty rigid formula: Beefy, chunky guitars, mechanical pounding drums and the odd whirr or beep and sample here and there with some growled vocals. The Netherlands’ Empire of the Scourged, while generally following those paradigms also manage to changes things up a bit on […]

Back in 2009 I reviewed the second album, The End of an Era from this Tennessean melodic black/death metal act. It was a solid The Black Dahlia Murder inspired slab of shredding metal, but nothing that really upped the game at all. Well, with a significant lineup change (now with even more former and current […]

It’s pretty simple really- if you look me/my site up, ask politely  and personally for a review, send a CD and follow up equally as politely, chances are I will give your album a few listens and publish my worthless opinion on it, good or bad. And the Brothers Guzman, did just that for their […]

Hailing from Philadelphia, PA, Trenchrot’s debut for Dark Descent Records imprint Unspeakable Axe, is an old school death/thrash record that culls from all the old school acts of the late 80s and early 90s from both the US and Europe. Like the recent release from Roarback, it’s a raucous, simple, fun, skeletal affair that makes no […]

Formerly known as Bolero, Toronto’s newly remaned Vesperia are part of a suddenly surprisingly strong Canadian folk/Viking metal scene that includes the likes of Will of the Ancients, Crimson Shadows, Valfreya, Trollwar, Nordheim, Battlesoul, and of course Blackguard just to name a few.  I’m not sure why the canucks have latched into the sound and delivered […]

Switzerland’s Impure Wilhemina have been dark since 2008s excellent  Prayers and Arsons, where the band delivered a gorgeous take on elegant post rock a la Burst and The Ocean. However, the band has undergone a large line up shift, resulting in a bit of a style change since that release, and tempered their sound a bit, […]

Rounding out Dark Descent’s excellent trio of early 2014 releases (inc. Corpsessed and Lvcifyre) in the sophomore album from Finland’s long running death metalers, Lie In Ruins (formerly Dissected back in the 90s). And while not as crushing or cavernous as their label mates above, Lie In Ruins still deliver a powerful if more traditional, […]

Back in 2002, 7 years before Fleshgod Apocalypse‘s debut Oracles, before Scrambled Defuncts, before. Ex Deo, The Monolith Deathcult, there was a brutal death metal band from the US called Agiel and they were using full on orchestration in their death metal. Now, bands like Hollenthon and Septicflesh were using orchestration and such, but Agiel were […]

Like many FDA Rekotz bands, California’s Morfin play old school death metal but, rather than the Swedish/Stockholm old school sound played by Harm, Wound, Revel in Flesh, Massive Assault etc , Morfin went right for an older, American influence similar to Skeletal Remains, Slaughterday, Deus Otiosus,  and Chapel of Disease: good ol’ Death. And let […]

Back in 2012 I interviewed Carnifex drummer and founder Shawn Cameron before a show they were opening for Fleshgod Apocalypse and All Shall Perish. The dude was polite, friendly and more importantly unwilling to go into too many details and throw then label Victory Records under the bus (on the record anyways…) . Almost two years later and a lot has changed. The band is gearing up to release their fifth album, Die Without Hope on new label Nuclear Blast Records, and embark on a headlining US tour. I caught up with Mr. Cameron again to see how much better things are for the band in 2014

I actually feel  a little happy for Carnifex. Despite playing the much maligned deathcore and spending time on Victory Records, I met the guys back in 2012 and they were some of the  nicest  metal dudes I’ve met and were obviously frustrated with their label at the time. Well, they told me they had a […]

There has been quite a buzz about the debut from New York’s Artificial Brain, the technical death metal band featuring Revocation‘s Dan Garguilo and Biolich/Andromorphus Rexalia vocalist Will Smith. After hearing it, the buzz is deserved, as is Profound Lore’s bold declaration of the band as ‘next level death metal’. Adorned with more striking artwork […]

For obvious reasons there’s something about winter that makes me lean towards the more furious and frosty spectrum of my black metal listening habits. And this winter, Marduk, Taake, Thromesis, Inferion, Dodsverk and this, the fifth album from The Netherlands’ Sammath have all satiated my need for a more primal and  classic take on the style. However, […]

Everyone likes a good side project right? Even more so when it’s off the member/band’s beaten path and a little different from the full time project. Case in point, Wrong, a project started by Wormed‘s vocalist/drummer Phlegeton, who performs the same duties here. He is joined by David Perez (The YTriple Corporation) on guitars and bass […]

I wasn’t expecting much from this, the debut of Denmark’s Roarback. I mean the moniker, the cover art all screamed old school thrash, which really isn’t my cup of tea. However, the old adage about books and covers came into play, as Echoes of Pain ended up being a kickass little old school death/thrash record. […]

Eye of Solitude is a funeral doom/death metal band from the UK continuing the style that the country forged many years ago with the likes of My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Anathema. Canto III is (obviously) their third release, and it really sees the band peak and carry the mantle from their county mates […]

Though seemingly named by the same person that came up with the moniker for fellow Frenchman, Destinity, Idensity is an interesting, ambitious band that delivers a symphonic, goth tinged, orchestrated take on melodic death metal. Though the violin is the primary instrument of choice via Mayline Gautié, there is some heavy synth usage and the […]

Hailing from Adelaide, Australia, In the Burial throw plenty of curve balls to the uninitiated listener. First off, the moniker had me expecting some form of metalcore. Then the album starts playing and I’m suddenly listening to hyper blasting technical death metal akin to Origin, that’s pretty kick ass. Then on the fourth track “Amaranthine’s […]

France’s Bliss of Flesh are a new act to me, so this, their second album, is my first exposure to the bands style of Black/death metal, but I am very impressed with Beati Pauperes Spiritu, so much so it actually stole a lot of the thunder and attention from Necrophobic‘s Womb of Lilitu. I can […]

It’s a good thing that Autopsy really kicked ass with their last effort, The Headless Ritual, because two bands, Norway’s Obliteration and Germany’s Slaughterday are nipping at tier heels with their own excellent, Autopsy drenched sound that almost outdoes the masters. Named after an actual Autopsy song, with Slaughterday, the influence is unashamedly front and […]

I love surprises. Not the  “oh, you are putting that where?” surprises, but musical surprises where you get an out of the blue email from a completely unheard of band asking for a review (meaning our  little site is growing)  and that subsequent release ends up being pretty damn awesome. Such is the case with […]

Here is one of those 2013 releases that I slept on until now. From the label that brought the likes of The Great Old Ones, Ebonylake, Pensées Nocturnes comes some really interesting avant garde French black metal that is well…various shades of black. There is A LOT going on here. The band is, if anything, […]

I was genuinely excited for this, the debut album from now guitarist Steve Tucker, former Morbid Angel vocalist/bassist and recently Nader Sadek frontman. But now he has his own band under the moniker of Warfather and is aided by a few cronies such as drummer Diemos (Temple, Severe Torture) and Nick McMaster (Krallice, Nader Sadek, […]