This is the debut album from these Luxembourg-based thrashers, and at first, Democadencia seems like another rehash of chunky, down-tuned mid ‘00s groove-metal. Devildriver immediately comes to mind. Vocals also stir up some déjà vu – first with the clipped phrasing and bark of Wayne Static (of Static X), and then, in the more melodic […]

It’s not too surprising that Luxembourg act Le Grand Guignol shares a label with Carach Angren – both play a melodramatic, heavily ornamented style of symphonic black metal that’s sure to send the troo and kvlt into paroxysms of bile-spewing rage. However, where Carach Angren is steeped in horror-movie theatrics – all furious strings and […]

I caught Rammstein‘s first US tour about twelve years ago (before the Family Values tour really introduced them to America), and it was one of the funniest, most entertaining shows I’ve ever seen. Explosions during every song. Dummies lit on fire and flung about on wires above the crowd. Vocalist Till Lindemann stalking around the […]

For the three of you out there that haven’t yet heard about Brutal Legend, here’s a quick summary. You play as Eddie Riggs (perfectly voiced by Jack Black), a heroic roadie who’s transported into a legendary World of Metal that’s like every Frank Frazetta painting, every Judas Priest album cover and every hot rod magazine […]

I don’t often put on Meshuggah albums, but I certainly understand the appeal. It’s a sound that’s precise and punishing, at once layered and dense, yet colorless and spare. And its haphazard, violent lurch and bellow demands, focuses, even galvanizes your attention – until suddenly, it doesn’t. Time and time again, my attention always wanders […]

And the award for ‘Biggest 180 of the Year’ goes to Finland’s Amoral, who I hadn’t heard of until receiving this in my review stack this month. I like to do my research though, and so I found that they used to be a pretty sick melodic/technical death act. Used to be. With the release […]

Just in time for Halloween comes this concept album by Dutch symphonic black metal act Carach Angren. The name is taken from The Silmarillion, although there’s no Tolkien reference in the music. And unlike many symphonic bm acts, there’s none of the usual Satanic nonsense either. Instead, Carach Angren have refreshingly built the album around […]

Fans of depressive, atmospheric black metal have a lot to be happy about in 2009. So far we’ve seen fantastic releases from all the greats – Blut Aus Nord, Drudkh, Wolves in the Throne Room, as well as shoegaze/black metal newcomers like Fen, Altar of Plagues and Svarti Loghin. And now here comes this stunning […]

Many of Porcupine Tree’s recent albums have centered around a theme or mood, but it’s been quite awhile since Steven Wilson and crew have delivered a full-on concept album. Here, it’s not just a narrative concept album, but a structural one as well, as The Incident is less a collection of songs than a loosely […]

An eclipse – for many cultures, a symbol of terror and transformation – is an appropriate image for this New York-based black metal act. Their seething, caustic sound ripples and sloughs off the death, thrash and punk roots of the genre and launches skyward into the expansive realms of drone and post-rock – and then, […]

Not too long ago, I was wondering why we hadn’t yet seen a metal band simply called The Black. Turns out that I just hadn’t heard of them, which is not surprising, since they haven’t released an album since 1994. (Funny, considering I just reviewed the new Nazxul, which has also appeared after a fourteen-year […]

No matter how long you’ve been into underground metal, it seems there are always bands you’ve missed along the way. I started delving into the scene too late to discover this Australian act’s 1995 debut, Totem, but I’ve since caught up after receiving Iconoclast to review. Totem is worthy of its reputation – an epic, […]

As many of you faithful death/doom fans will recall, previous album Above the Weeping World largely dropped the flowing acoustic passages that made Since the Day It All Came Down such a haunting (and enduring) listen. It was actually a smart move, because there are more ways to communicate grace and introspection than by simply […]

There’s a recent thread on the boards decrying the shitty scenester music that kids today are listening to, including the infamous BrokeNCYDE (which Erik Thomas just wiped his ass with a few weeks ago). Now, I’ve ignored the vast majority of all this stuff for the past ten years, going back to when pop punk […]

Sam Dunn and Scot McFayden, oh how I envy you guys. Not only do you get to travel the world, making great documentaries, but you make them about metal. You hang out with legendary bands, meet up-and-coming acts, and oh yeah, it doesn’t hurt that the films are thoughtful, interesting and well-produced. By now, most […]

If you could travel back in time and play some of our current tech-death for the death metal bands just starting out in the early years of the genre, would they be amazed that their efforts would one day spawn something so intricate and complex? Or would they just take off their instruments and give […]

One of the guys on the board mentioned this one in the Avant-Garde Death/Black thread, with the description “progressive black metal Opeth.” Those are three of my favorite metal-related terms, and I’ve always been on the lookout for something that fits the bill. However, aside from moments on last year’s excellent releases by Janvs and […]

On its face, Imperial Vengeance seems like a fascinating proposition. Symphonic black metal courtesy of two dapper British gents, with inspiration from British military history, mythology and literature? And mixed and mastered by Brett Caldas-Lima, creator of the stunning progressive death masterpiece Kalisia: Cybion? I was really eager to hear this. The symphonic intro instantly […]

How many genres fold in other cultural sounds and themes as energetically and creatively as metal? We’ve got it all: Ancient Egyptian death metal (Nile) and Christian progressive black metal (Extol). Metal from both the Middle East (Melechesh) and Middle Earth (Summoning). An entire seagoing army of epic Viking folk bands (Thyrfing, Aes Dana, Moonsorrow, […]

There’s a dude on the back cover of Rex Mundi X-Ile wearing a gas mask and PVC latex. It’s never a good sign when your band photo apes something Marilyn Manson did back in ’96 (on the inside jacket for Antichrist Superstar). And it’s not because I’m anti-Manson or anything (I’m not, though I wish […]

According to their website, UK-based Xerath has but one purpose: “to remain on the cutting edge of symphonic metal.” Combining bombastic, sweeping film score elements with chunky guitar chug and groove is certainly one way to do it. In fact, the band has referred to this hybrid sound as “chugscore” (although that could also just […]

For a band whose whole shtick is rooted in the cinematic prog-synth of 70s forebears like Tangerine Dream and Goblin, nostalgia is an expected part of the experience. Although previous albums Cosmos and Surface to Air are fine on their own merits, they really hit home (at least for me) because they recall those bands’ […]

This Australian band mixes neofolk, progressive rock, classic heavy metal and Viking/black metal with an epic, narrative approach that should appeal to fans of Empyrium, Solefald and Doomsword. It’s an ambitious album, and obviously a lot of care and thought has gone into it, although in the end I found it as exasperating as it […]

Gotta give it up for Galder – the guy is consistent. From 1999’s Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion through 2006’s Vermin, he’s basically been making improvements on an already addictive melodic black metal formula: monstrous, sinister riffs, spooky-key grandeur, thundering, syncopated drumming and that cavernous, blackened snarl. (I love the first two albums too but stylistically, they’re […]

Like Tool, Isis has smartly embraced the notion that their already atmospheric, enveloping creations can be even more enthralling when there’s a visual dimension to play off of. Although it remains to be seen whether Tool‘s Adam Jones’ involvement in Wavering Radiant will lead to the same astounding videos he’s done for his own band, […]