Who knew there were not one but TWO excellent symphonic/blackened deathcore bands right here in my backyard in, Missouri? One is Kansas City’s Vile Revelation, who released their killer debut EP Ov Vultures and Flesh back in 2022 (though I only discovered it earlier this year, hence no review) and Abaddonia, hailing from the darkest […]

Tribe of Pazuzu is a new international supergroup of sorts. Formed by bassist/vocalist Nick Sagias who was in Soulstorm and Overthrow back in the day as well as a quick stint in Pestilence in 1990. However, he is joined by some inarguably bigger names on this project’s debut, namely Flo Mournier of Cryptopsy fame on […]

Portland’s newcomers Idolatrous are here to answer the age-old question… what would it sound like if Amon Amarth were from Oregon and used epic keyboards/synths in their chunky form of Viking-based melo-death? Well, it sounds fucking amazing, and certainly, if you are a bit tired of Amon Amarth‘s tried and tested, safer last couple of […]

I haven’t listened to anything from Rogga Johannson (Wombbath, Revolting, Catacomb, Reek, Massacre, Paganizer, Ribspreader,  etc), in a while, so I thought id check the latest releases from his Furnace project (along with Catacomb bassist Peter Svensson), as its one I had not heard before. Big mistake….. as it was like a recovering drug addict […]

“Sweden’s Wretched Fate is a new band formed by members of melodic death metal band Non Divine Sun, and their debut album, Fleshletting is the album that Bloodbath should have released last year.” That paragraph above was the opening paragraph from my review of the 2019 Wretched Fate debut, Fleshletting. And with the band’s second album, Carnal Heresy, I’m feeling […]

Much like last year’s solid Inhuman Depravity album, Depraved Murder is a new-ish ( they had a debut back in 2015) band from an obscure country, where as soon as the album started playing, I know the primary influence immediately. But where Inhuman Depravity was from Turkey and was an obviously Sinister-loving band, Depraved Murder […]

One could argue, that along with Distant’s Heritage, To the Grave‘s Director’s Cuts, Chelsea Grin‘s double album, and Suicide Silence’s newest, the debut from Ov Sulfur is up there as one of 2023’s early high-profile deathcore releases. Featuring former Suffokate vocalist Ricky Hoover (who has beefed up considerably in the 9 years since his Suffokate […]

Video game and D & D-obsessed,  Canadian husband and wife duo, Crown of Madness is back to follow up their enjoyable 2022 EP, The Void, and lay the final piece of groundwork for their upcoming full-length album. Continuing the Ulcerate-styled artful dissonance they created on The Void, Elemental Binding shows a duo in lockstep with […]

The second album from the duo of the excellently named vocalist/guitarist ‘Wolven Deadsoul’ and drummer E.H, was a completely blind grab for me. But when it threw around words like ‘Swedish death metal’, ‘Asphyx’, ‘Grave’,  ‘Benediction’, and such, I had to check it out despite the aggressively purple cover.. I was greeted with some excellent […]

I initially grabbed this promo strictly due to the striking cover photo (courtesy of Tatiana Lebedeva), literally not knowing anything about the band or album, other than that it mentioned depressive and one-man black metal in the promo blurb. So with the band’s moniker, album title, and song titles like “I Choose to Die”, No […]

Carathis is a one-man project helmed by one, Erech Leleth, who also serves in Grandeur as well as Ancient Mastery, Narzissus, and Golden Blood. He’s been pretty prolific since 2021 with a hand full of splits and EPs and Personal Records has taken two of his latest EPs, The Amethyst Fortress and The Moonstone Temple, […]

I’ve got a pretty long history with Scotland’s death metal veterans Man Must Die. From covering the band and their 2003 demo in Metal Maniacs, reviewing their massive 2004 debut, ….Start Killing , for Digitalmetal.com, to their 2 Relapse Records releases, (The Human Condition and No Tolerance for Imperfection to Peace Was Never an Option […]

The Netherlands’ Distant has the unenviable task of now being on the same label as Lorna Shore after a stint on Unique Leader. And then, as one of the first, larger profile deathcore bands to release an album in 2023, after Lorna Shore‘s Pain Remains changed the game for deathcore (labelmates Ov Sulfur look to […]

Atomwinter is a veteran German death metal band, who I have not year heard, despite having three albums under their belt since 2011. Their last effort was 2018s Catacombs, and in the 5-year gap since then, they have got themselves a new vocalist in Florian Bauer, and whoo boy is he a beast and makes […]

International (Canada/ US/ Australia) act Dragoncorpse, has garnered quite a bit of on line hype with their take on deathcore meets power metal and anime (self-described power core), with three rip-roaring singles,  as well as a rather amusing online presence full of memes and self-deprecating humor. Well, now it’s time to see if the hype […]

Now on album number 5, the UK’S Memoriam should not need an introduction. But for those that don’t know, Memoriam is a project involving Bolt Thrower and Benediction members and was started as an homage to fallen Bolt Thrower comrade Martin Hearns (RIP). And if you also have not heard the band yet, I’ll give […]

As I’m sure most of you know, …And Oceans returned after an 18-year hiatus ( not including the Havoc Unit years) with 2020’s superb Cosmic World Mother. And after a relatively quick tuned around have returned with their second post-hiatus album, As in Gardens, So in Tombs. Now, there is sometimes potentially a bit of […]

Much like my porn, my tastes in power metal are very specific. And also, both usually involve cosplaying, elves, dwarves and….. dragons?… anyway I digress…. What I’m trying to say is that there are only a few power metal bands I truly enjoy, and one of them is Sweden’s Twilight Force. Heck, 2019s Dawn of […]

It’s been 9 years since the Australian one-man project (aka D.) Woods of Desolation dropped As The Stars, one of 2014’s more critically acclaimed black metal albums that leaned hard into the Ghostbath, Vallendusk, Alcest, Spectral Lore, Mare Cognitum, Deafheaven style of atmospheric/post-black metal. Well, again assisted by Drudkh’s Vlad on drums and keyboards, D. was […]

A late 2022 release that I got my hands on even later in 2022, Lunar Mercia is a post/atmospheric black metal band from Birmingham in the UK, and resides in the same dark, dreamy, melodic, jangly space as Ghost Bath, Wolves in the Throne Room, Woods of Desolation, Harakari for the Sky, Alcest and such. […]

Sirrush (a dragon from Babylonian Mythology) is a new-ish Italian black/death metal band from Italy, They have been around since 2011, though Molon Labe is their first full-length album, and I had to review it as it tackles one of my favorite historical events of the Classical Age- The Battle of Thermopylae. No matter your […]

Florida’s Obituary needs no introduction, being one of the legitimately legendary American Death metal bands, if not the godfathers of the genre. From genre-defining classics like Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death to their post-hiatus offerings like Inked in Blood,  Xecutioner’s Return, and Darkest Day you know what you are getting. That said, 2017s, […]

Carnal Savagery is a Swedish death metal band with ties to Cromlech, who like fellow Swedes Entrails and In Pain, were knocking around in the early 90s but never really got truly going other than a few demos . After Cromlech, some members went on to form short-lived but solid melodic death metal acts Divine Souls, […]

Listen, there is only one, single reason why I checked out the second album from the Netherlands’ Throwing Bricks. It certainly wasn’t that cover or the band’s name. It was the fact the email promotion threw out Fall of Efrafa ( and Oathbreaker) as a ‘For Fans Of’ band listing. And it ended up being […]

To this day, Defeat from California’s Armed for Apocalypse is one of the best and heaviest sludge albums I’ve ever reviewed. A meaty, filthy guitar tone with an almost doom/death metal backbone, it was and still is an incredibly heavy album. They followed that up with The Road Will End in 2018, a solid follow-up, […]