Relapse has reissued some pretty good stuff over the last couple of years, namely the Death reissues as well as General Surgery, Convulse and Nirvana 2002, but along with a couple of the recent Dying Fetus reissues, this one is a bit of head scratcher. For some reason Relapse Records has decided to dust off and […]

Portugal’s Major Label Industries is hardly prolific with their releases, but when they release something it’s usually something creative or unique like Crushing Sun, The Firstborn or Before the Rain. However, with the release of E.A.K‘s second effort, the label appears to have succumbed to releasing an underwhelming home grown effort that does not match the […]

There’s a fine line between plagiarism and homage. And in metal, that line is even thinner as many acts have simply said, ‘you know what? We like this band we are going to sound just like them, not to rip them off maliciously but they just rock’. For every Suffocation, Entombed, Morbid Angel and Slayer […]

If there is one label that’s almost on par with Dark Descent Records as far as old school Swedish death metal worship, its Pulverized Records. With the likes of Crucifyre, Morbius Chron, Interment, Tribulation and Desultory‘s comeback, they have created their own nice little stable of retro Swedish death metal acts. Well, add Sweden’s awesome […]

When initially approached with the prospect of reviewing this album I was a bit leery. A Montreal band calling them selves ‘trombone core’, named after a Shakespeare character and with a masked trombone player called ‘the hitman’ in their ranks. It all seemed to have the potential to add up to a giant pile of […]

I wasn’t overly impressed with the nu grind, caustic, programmed drum based output of Harpoon‘s last release, Double Gnarly/Triple Suicide, so when this showed up in my mail box I was hardly overly enthused. However, it appears, even with a drum machine still present, the trio of guitarist Tony Costello, bassist DJ Baracca (Lair of […]

In their four album transition from typical Finnish doom death outfit to a melancholic melodic (melocholic?) death metal, Insomnium have done no wrong. Each album being better than the last. And album number 5 is no different as the band manages to take slivers of recognizable influences like Rapture, Amorphis, In Flames, Paradise Lost, My […]

For four albums now I’ve viewed California’s Carnifex as a solid second tier deathcore act. Not quite up there with Whitechapel, Oceano, I Declare War or All Shall Perish (my opinion of course) but mired in the vast, faceless but quality  rabble with the likes of Chelsea Grin, Molotov Solution, Betray the Martyrs, Rose Funeral, […]

Released the same time as the killer debut from label mates Obsiquiae, the third album from Maine’s Falls of Rauros was a bit overshadowed, which is a shame as it adds yet another quality album to the genre of woodsy, misty, organic black metal or ‘grey’ metal as I like to call it. The cover […]

After the awesome old school Grave worship of Lavadome’s first release, Brutally Deceased‘s Dead Lovers Guide, I was excited to see yet another Lavadome release in my mail box, this time from Perversity, a relatively long running Slovakian death metal band. And while I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t more old school Swedish […]

There has been a fair bit of buzz about the debut from England’s Vallenfyre, and rightfully so. It’s a super group of sorts featuring Gregor Mackintosh of Paradise Lost, Hamish Glencross of My Dying Bride as well as mercenary drummer Adrian Erlandsson (Cradle of Filth, At the Gates, The Haunted to name a few) , […]

Thanks largely in part to Liturgy, there’s been somewhat of a backlash to USBM — mostly the post-rock, shoegaze -influenced kind. I mean even former darling Krallice has fallen victim to some of the criticism of the genre with their largely unheralded and unlauded 3rd album. So, are the genre’s oft worshiped apex band now open to […]

I honestly don’t know where to start here. I have vague recollections of Ebonylake from the late ’90s due to them being British and residing on Cacophonous Records, but never actually heard their sole 1999 release, On the Even of the Grimly Inventive. So when I got this CD from new French label–this is only […]

Here’s the debut full-length from Louisiana’s Excommunicated, the new band formed by Chad Kelly of Catholicon (and UW Records founder). He’s joined by two cohorts from Suture and Despondency (Jonathan Joubert and Jason McIntyre respectively). The end result is a varied, enjoyable death/thrash record with an expected Southern-hue that deals with the extremely bloody and […]

Adorned with some of the more striking album art I have seen in a while, Bluostar is the debut full-length album from one man black metal maestro Fyrnd–and as far as one man black metal goes–Fyrnask has to be one of the more elite acts I’ve heard as of late. Though France has a large […]

I’ve been a big fan of Century going back to their self titled EP and Faith & Failure days. The band mix hardcore and a big burly sense of angular but groovy, progressive metal and smart melody to make something that’s a little unique, so I was glad when the band got signed to Prosthetic […]

Once again, we here at teethofthedivine are trying to champion the independent  acts self releasing their CDs. After all, did I really  need to review the new Winds of Plague? On tap here is Finland’s melodic death metal duo Among the Mortals, and it’s a classic example of sometimes excellent music hindered by a low […]

Listen, (for once) I’m just going to get right to it. If you Like Trap Them or some of  today’s noisy discordant bands like Animosity, Gaza, Harlots and such, just go ahead and grab this release, a collection of the bands first two releases, Eden Sank to Grief and War Begins With You. Milwaukee’s Enabler […]

I rather enjoyed Hull‘s full length debut, Sole Lord as it was a nice sludgy record bolstered by  a variety of smooth layered vocals, not unlike Baroness. However, once I hit play on their sophomore record, it was apparent Hull has changed up their game a bit. For the better. While the album still has […]

Though hailing from Bavaria, Germany  it does not take a genius to figure out Imperious‘ influence; the band name, album named after a Roman general, and song titles like “Segestes’ Charge”, “The Battle Of The Teutoburg Forest” and “Three Legions March”. All it’s missing is a a quote or sample from the opening battle of […]

Originally self released last year, Sonic Unyon has re-released the debut full length album from Saskatoon’s Untimely Demise in order to catch the apparent tail end of the the retro thrash revival. While I have never really dug the current explosion of throwback thrash I have enjoyed some of the bands that mix a little […]

Listen, this is Christian metal on Strikefirst Records, so spare me the lecture and redundant lashes OK? hailing from Colorado, Altars debut effort of Facedown’s farm league label, is actually a pretty promising 6 song affair. It’s one of those multi faceted modern Christian hardcore records that combines  a punchy production burly deathcore beat downs […]

It’s been a while since I heard a quality, old school, pure modern melodic death metal album  — and no, In Flames does not count. Here is Poland’s Made of Hate attempting to solve just that with their sophomore effort and they meet with a measure of success. Though glossed with a little thrash and a little, dare […]

I really wanted to like the debut from this doom sludge act from Portland more, but despite a sickly hue and oozing pallor, I can’t bring myself to be as impressed as I am by other like minded acts (Cough, Thou, Highgate, Coffinworm). It starts out well enough with a throbbing patient lope and fuzzed, […]

Yup. You read right. This death metal/grindcore band from Finland is called Blastanus. Luckily, their second, self-released album is more impressive than their moniker as Collapse delivers 11 songs and 43 minutes of punchy Euro sounding death/grind that should please the fans of Aborted and maybe newer Cephalic Carnage and such. There’s thick, beefy guitars, […]