With short and sweet songs Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania quartet Eternal Sleep work up a lardy, greasy metallic chunk n’ chug on their debut EP, The Emptiness Of…  There’s a stocking stuffed full of various human appendages and entrails to be found here, making the band’s sound a bit harder to pin down on any one particular […]

When it comes to death dealin’ doom metal and steroid pumped 70s riffs, never turn your back on the Steel City of Pittsburgh, man.  Spawning some of my favorite riff welders of all-time including Dream Death, Penance, Argus, Molasses Barge, Satanic Bat, Iron Crown, Vulture and many, many more past and present; there’s a tight […]

Since 1997, Stockholm d-beat masters Victims have carved themselves an immovable position in the crust punk underground and for me to sit here and tell you the history of the band I’d be wasting my time.  They do a better job of it on their very own websites, so why should some schmuck like me […]

I’ve heard some damn good doom-y, riff-y stuff from Austria; nightmare vomit sludgers Cyruss, killer psyched-out heavy rockers Savanah, etc.  I know I’m forgetting more than a couple in this quick brainstorm session but the point is that there’s a damn good scene over in Austria that gets overlooked when viewing the international arena at […]

Chicago trio Snow Burial presents their first full-length Victory in Ruin after a pair of EPs.  The band’s history is something I can jive with as the fellas formed the band after attending a Shiner reunion show.  I’m a huge Shiner fan and Snow Burial has that same kind of effervescent, ever-changing sound that never […]

Festering, Norwegian rot is the slophouse gruel served from four-piece skullfuckers The Sickening.  The overall attack is a slaughterhouse explosion with cattle guts, pig snouts and delectable innards flying in every direction.  Catchy, thrash metal viruses escape from the contamination ward while sloppy, sluggard death metal chug is laid to fecal waste thanks to guttural […]

I got to Savannah, Georgia’s Niche just a little bit late because if I was quicker on the draw this would have easily been one of my favorite records of 2015.  On Kylesa’s respectable Retro Futurist label, the quartet is accomplished musicians with striking chops, superb songwriting and soaring harmonies that suck you in like […]

It’s like label boss Kunal and his magnificent imprint Transcending Obscurity has a never-ending well of awesome artists to draw from.  Next in a long storybook of metal gems come the Indian-founded, aggressive, symphonic black metal band Diabolus Arcanium and their debut LP, Path of Ascension.  Truth be told, I’m probably the wrong guy for […]

As a longtime fan of these digitized, Maryland filth-grinders, I’m used to Agoraphobic Nosebleed slowing down with big, tumbling dirge riffs and back breaking weight.  They’ve showcased the tactic as early as The Poacher Diaries (split with Converge) and even back in the Honky Reduction days Scott Hull had a knack for busting his knuckles […]

Londoners HAG work up a twitchy, Ritalin necessitating din on their debut full-length Fear of Man.  Though I knew virtually nothing of the trio going into this review, it’s without question that I came out as a fan.  The highly melodic, walls n’ waves of My Bloody Valentine-esque guitar squalor that runs lockstep with the […]

  The multi-instrumentalist Kris Force and her spacey juggernaut, vapor trail institution Amber Asylum has over 20 years in the music world and stints on known labels such as Relapse, Neurot and Profound Lore for a reason.  Never once in the group’s career have they compromised their vision.  While the “band’s” line-up is often changing, […]

If Volume I era Sleep was signed to Am-Rep in the 90s and recorded Sleep’s Holy Mountain under Haze’s supervision, you’d probably have something like Connecticut’s Bedroom Rehab Corporation.  Simply a duo comprised of Adam Wujtewicz on bass and drummer Meghan Killimade, the band’s second studio slab Fortunate Some is full of hypnotic groove meditations […]

Beginning with a warped, psychedelic drug manifesto in the form of instrumental phasing and back-masking, Colorado doom metallers Dead Temple make their intent clear from the very first notes on opener “Shadow of a Thousand Faces.”  The band’s deadly twin guitar attack creates some elements of old school metal akin to Maiden, Priest, Lizzy and […]

Canada’s a good place to make black metal.  Some of my bandmates are from Canada, and I know the cold up there is dogging and leads some folks to produce music that reckons of the endlessly lashing frost that befalls every inch of the country.  Murderous death/black quintet Vile Insignia are a good representation of […]

The always reliable Transcending Obscurity label seems to dish out a never ending arsenal of extreme metal releases from all over the world with no boundary on style or genre.  I personally admire Kunal’s ethic and dedication to underground heaviness and more often than not enjoy the bands he brings to the table.  Fresh on […]

  Good fuckin’ lord, here is some goddamn bonkers grind from Australia.  Tanned Christ are a quartet with an anxiety-ridden attack that sounds like they’re on the verge of a musical heart attack and hernia that could kill off the entire band without a moment’s notice.  This is not traditional grind, no fuckin’ way Jose […]

Holy shit, this is the same French Wheelfall that concocted the heady, stoner/psyche brew Interzone in 2012.  While there’s still riff-y churns and doom-addled debauchery to be found here, suddenly this band has went from a Dozer/Colour Haze psilocybin pomp n’ circumstance to a groove-laden industrial pummel that’s like a mixture of early Fear Factory, […]

Transcending Obscurity delivers again with this compilation release from pox-stricken, West Bengal black metal lunatics Heathen Beast.  Trident collects the band’s three EP releases into a full-length serving that’s easily some of the sickest, rawest black metal I’ve heard in a quite bit.  Fans that worship the rotten side of the style like Darkthrone, Burzum, […]

  After a few demo releases and that killer split with Epi-Demic, Canadian punk thrashers Solanum are back with their first full-length altar offering.  Into the Sinner Circle is an album with no let-up, its 7 focused musical lacerations ignore the “stun” setting and fire every shot to kill.  This is stuff meant to be […]

I’ve only had a few tastes of Seattle quartet He Whose Ox is Gored and their rising tide, wall of noise musical inclinations, but every single one has been fuckin’ delicious.  After a few EP releases I find myself hung on the horns of the band’s debut long-player The Camel, The Lion, The Child.  From […]

Seeking to take the classic sludge sound into busier, high traffic avenues, Arizonians Gale spare no expense and leave no boulder uncrushed in their mission to plow eardrums under six feet of sediment in the name of their mission.  They’re atmospherically heavy like before Neurosis went all soft on us, heavy and ugly like an […]

Like fellow North Carolina instrumental sages Husky (now known as Watch Husky Burn), three-piece Boar weave gracefully manic, deviously diverse jams across their debut Self-Titled EP.  Their tricky, psychedelic work casts a magician’s mind control spell on the listener as it traverses the briny depths of psychedelic rock, ascends the mountainous plateau of heavy metal […]

Despite some reviewers trying to liken Cavern to post-nappers Russian Circles, I’m just not hearing it.  In fact I think Russian Circles are overall pretty poor but that’s just one asshole’s opinion so don’t mind me.  These Baltimore bashers have far more in common with the ruthless riffing and angular stops n’ starts of NOLA’s […]

Here’s some goddamn fine woodsy, melodically aggressive black metal from the deep, dank forests of Virginia.  First up, Bearstorm are signed to Grimoire Records, so that’s practically a blood-stamped seal of quality right there.  Secondly, these badasses have an interesting approach to the genre that’s hard for me to put a claw on.  They remind […]

Season of Mist’s artist dichotomy has changed a lot over the last couple of years.  Adding killer cult riff slingers Kylesa, Floor, Hark (ex-members of underrated UK doom/thrashers Taint), Weedeater and Saint Vitus has certainly deepened the label’s moat and fortified its already armored bunker.  The imprint’s latest riff-heavy signing, Wildlights, features guitarist/vocalist Jason Chi […]