Well here it is, German metalcore big dogs Heaven Shall Burn’s new full length, Iconoclast, their fifth overall. I remember digging quite a bit their last, Deaf to Our Prayers, where they dropped the majority of the core in favor of a more straight forward and vicious melodic death attack – I thought it was […]

While most of these thrash “revivalist” are culling their influences from the 80’s Bay Area scene, Las Vegas’ Avenger of Blood are content with borrowing from the darker, heavier and death metal tinged sounds of Slayer, Dark Angel and the German scene – but Kreator in particular. Actually, the similarities between early Kreator and Avenger […]

Not many could have been happier about the return of Bay Area legends Death Angel than me – since I first truly discovered metal and immediately fell in love with thrash, Death Angel has always been a band that really stuck out to me, not miles away from their peers, but truly keeping their own […]

One of Sweden’s latest metal exports, Devian features the former members of Marduk, Legion (vocals) and Emil Dragutinovic(drums). Their debut offering for Century Media, Ninewinged Serpent is a blistering platter of extreme metal, combining elements of black, death, thrash and even a good dose of traditional metal. From a musical standpoint, Ninewinged Serpent is essentially […]

Keeping with the album titles starting with the letter “I”, German death/thrash masters Dew-Scented are back with their seventh studio effort, Incinerate. Not much has changed – their still heavy as a ton of bricks and play fast, blistering thrash. As with any good death/thrash band, Dew-Scented slam down on the accelerator from the get-go […]

I reviewed Error In Evolution several months ago at a different site, and haven’t listened to it since – nothing’s changed since then – this is still a very, very average death/thrash album. Not bad, not great – just really average. Coming on the heels of debut 21st Century Killing Machine, I had my hopes […]

Charleston, West Virginia natives Byzantine are back with their third (and sadly final) album Oblivion Beckons, an impressive effort to say the least. Combining some technical flair with stout groove and bits of thrashing, Oblivion Beckons is well rounded, skillfully played and diversified without ever wandering away from the sound that they can firmly call […]

Ugh. I just hate it when good or decent music is ruined with below average vocals. Example: this new Hell Within disc Shadows of Vanity. Musically, it’s accessible modern thrash with some melody, ala Sanctity or recent Trivium. Vocally, it’s the standard harsh/clean trade off sound of metalcore, courtesy of one Matt McChesney, who most […]

Enemy of the Sun is the latest musical endeavor from Grip Inc mastermind Waldemar Sorychta. The material on debut offering Shadows is undeniably metal, but there’s much more at play here than just that. The heavier thrashier parts are most comparable to Strapping Young Lad’s wall-of-sound cyber thrashing, but then there’s the not so intense, […]

Hailing from Sweden, System Shock play melodic death metal not too far removed from anything you’ve heard before. Later day Dark Tranquillity serves as a loose template of what System shock plays. Add more emphasis on the use of keys in most places, a strong sense of accessibility, a vocalist more comparable to Amon Amarth’s […]

Lethal Agenda first caught my attention when I saw the name Dave Ellefson, as I enjoyed his work with Megadeth. So first things first, I checked out their Myspace page and website, to basically find out nothing more about them except that they call themselves metal/hardcore/thrash (thanks Myspace), and after popping in the CD, I […]

Another retro thrash act, and yet another positive review. Italy’s Hyades have been doing it longer than most (if not all) of the recent wave of retro acts, their beginnings traceable as far back as 1996, though their lineup didn’t stabilize until 2003. Another two years went by until the release of their debut LP, […]

Wow. What an unimpressive display of nu-metal simplicity. The Ascension marks Otep’s third full-length release since 2002, and not much has changed since then. The down-tuned trademarked guitars are still well in place, Ms. Shamaya’s rap-like delivery is there, and also those boring spoken/crooned/whispered poetry like segments layered over simple and sparse cords are present. […]

Another offering coming from Italy, this time by Elvenking, who play a poppy, Americanized mix of Power metal, Melodic Death, and Folk. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but the first band that comes to mind when listening to The Scythe is recent Avenged Sevenfold. Extremely accessible melodic metal, with moments of slightly […]

Austria’s contribution to the thrash revival, Wolfpack Unleashed (WPU) formed in 2005, released a demo, and quickly signed to Napalm. Though throwback thrash is a fitting tag, they don’t quite fit in the same ballpark as say Fueled by Fire or Warbringer. Instead, they seem to fit in nicely beside the likes of Sanctity or […]

Caliban, alongside Heaven Shall Burn, is Germany’s prime export in the field of metal-core, and they’ve been around just as long as any of the well noted originators of the genre, as this is their sixth full length since their inception in 1999. I must say right off the bat that I’m not the most […]

Yet another review of a release that’s a little out of my league of expertise, Venice, Italy’s Ashent play a slightly thrashy form of progressive metal, reminding me (and my ignorance of the genre) of a heavier Dream Theater or Symphony X, though I wouldn’t tag them as clones, but take that for what you […]

I must say I’m loving every minute of this thrash “revival” we’ve been seeing these days. Above and beyond any other form of metal, I’m a thrasher through and through. I’ve spent countless hours wearing thin my copies of Testament, Metallica, Kreator, and Megadeth albums. Most of these older (original) thrash bands have moved away […]

A re-release of sorts, The Final Sign of Evil is a re-recorded version of Sodom’s debut EP, In the Sign of Evil, with the line-up of that album intact (Tom Angelripper on vox/bass, Grave Violator on guitars, and Chris Witchhunter on drums), and seven bonus tracks that were written in that time period, but never […]

Since they reformed in 2004, Exodus has been releasing quality album after quality album. Tempo of the Damned is one of the best “comeback” albums I’ve ever heard – a relentless assault on the ears that thrashes intensely and takes no prisoners. I had my doubts about follow-up album Shovel Headed Kill Machine, but it […]

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how I have never heard of this band until now. Hailing from the Bay Area with origins dating back to at least 1980 when they were originally named Venom (until stumbling into a record store and looking around), they’ve gone through an absurd number of line […]

Say Everything Will Be Fine is a review I’ve been putting off for some time now due to the fact that when I want this brand of metal, I have many better selections to choose from. The style presented here by Venice, Italy’s Bleed In Vain is that of modern Soilwork (post – Natural Born […]

First things first – this is a gonna be a really short review, as this really isn’t my cup of tea – I honestly could not make it through this whole album. Actually, I couldn’t make it through a whole song. Why you might ask? The vocals – reminding much of Rush’s Geddy Lee, hitting […]

Overock hail from Italy, and play just that – rock. Rock accompanied by some electronica and bordering on nu-metal at times, I could easily see this being at least semi-huge on radio. Boring, simple and repetitive riffs permeate the disc along with clean, and at times almost whiny vocals, drums that add nothing to the […]

By now, I’m sure most, if not all, metal fans are fully aware of who Dethklok are, though for those not in the know, they are the fictional, animated death metal band from the Adult Swim show, ‘Metalocalypse’ (which by the way, is a great show that pokes a little fun at metal itself, and […]