With an upcoming full-length in the pipeline, I can only assume the young upstarts that comprise Ohio’s Dismemberment are doing some good old fashioned self-promotion by shooting their tidy sophomore EP, titled Denied Salvation and released last year, back into the promo portal. Whatever their motives, as a reviewer it’s always a nice feeling to […]

Stuck in a perpetual ’80s thrash-punk time warp, Joel Grind’s Toxic Holocaust are a prolific institution in the retro metal field. Already this year, Grind has released a retrospective snapshot of Toxic Holocaust’s non-album material (From the Ashes of Nuclear Destruction) while also releasing a fun little solo gem with his Yellowgoat Sessions project. Chemistry […]

Black and Blood marks the second full-length release in a decade long existence from Boston death metal mercenaries Soul Remnants. And it’s a formidable beast of a death metal album, holding the proud tradition of the genres storied past close to heart. Soul Remnants nail the often elusive knack of songcraft, managing to sound fresh […]

Willowtip’s strength as a label has long been their association with forward thinking and technically proficient metal bands willing to push the envelope and challenge the listener. Naturally they have wisely broadened their roster over the years to include artists of a more cut-throat and straight-forward brand of extremity. Yet my original attraction, and continued […]

Windhand’s self-titled debut dropped early last year and was one of the more promising doom debuts of the year.  The Richmond, Virginia 5-piece inked a deal with Relapse on the strength of the album, and following a solid split EP release with Cough, the band is back on deck with their second full length, titled […]

The debut album from Vista Chino has arrived with minimal fuss, especially considering the pedigree of their key members. A Kyuss reunion of sorts, Peace features the killer line-up of John Garcia, Brant Bjork, Nick Oliveri (since replaced by Corrosion of Conformity’s Mike Dean) and relatively unknown guitarist Bruno Fevery. Following a bitter lawsuit waged […]

Revocation’s highly anticipated fourth album comes on the back of significant momentum gained through the one-two punch of 2009’s brilliant Existence is Futile, and 2011’s worthy follow-up, Chaos of Forms. Firstly, forget all the over-analysis about the band’s decision to self-title this latest platter. There’s no drastic reinvention at play here, yet the important thing […]

There’s nothing like a dose of visceral, filth-ridden sludge to lift the spirits. Italy’s Grime delivers the muck and the misery through eight deep, festering cuts comprising the band’s second release. Although Grime is clearly not out to reinvent the wheel, they sure know how to crank out seething, despondent sludge anthems, with smatterings of […]

When it comes to Swedish melodic metal excellence, Darkane are an underappreciated force with a top-notch track record. Formed in the late ‘90s, the band has never been anything less than solid. Their exceptional debut, Rusted Angel, is something of a minor classic, and their 2005 release, Layers of Lies, was another fist-pumping gem, displaying […]

Life Sentence marks the long-awaited comeback album from one of the underrated spearheads of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Satan were around and kicking at the tail-end of the ’70s before emerging with their debut album, Court In The Act, in 1983. That album has since achieved somewhat of a cult status […]

Despite their proven ability to shift loads of albums and headline tours from their lofty position at the forefront of the modern metal scene, Michigan’s The Black Dahlia Murder continue to divide the broader metal community. To their credit the band doesn’t give a shit about detractors writing them off as a second rate At […]

Prophetic marks the debut album from Australian death metal band, Eternal Rest. The young band has crafted a solid, confident album that smacks of potential for a bright future ahead. The band plays with unyielding passion and intensity over the album’s concise duration, displaying their accomplished instrumental chops and growing stature as song-writers. Yet for […]

With their fifth full-length album reportedly in the pipeline, Portland retro thrashers Toxic Holocaust has pieced together a comprehensive collection of their extensive backlog of non-album material.  From the Ashes of Nuclear Destruction features 22 tracks, including numerous raw demo versions of their studio counterparts, and an abundance of material culled from various splits and […]

Joel Grind’s Yellowgoat Sessions project pays homage to metal’s formative years and 80’s heyday in all its raw and bare bones glory. The Toxic Holocaust main-man cooks up a feisty mix of fast and straight-forward metal tunes inspired by the punk rock fury of Motorhead and the early works of Venom and Bathory. The formula […]

Split EP’s are a good idea in theory but are often a mixed bag in quality. Whether it’s one band clearly out-playing the other, inconsistent recording quality, or its generally skimpy length, the concept doesn’t always hit the mark. This latest offering from Relapse Records pits Windhand and Cough head to head, and the two […]

Bursting forth with 10 vitriolic blasts of hate-fueled extremity, Colorado’s Call of the Void make quite the impression with their debut full-length, Dragged Down a Dead End Path. Stitching together elements of grind, hardcore and crust, Call of the Void keep it short and direct, creating their own violent, murky combo drawing influence from the […]

Though only active since 2008, Cerekloth is comprised of several members of the Danish metal scene including folks from The Cleansing, Usipian and Altar of Oblivion and following a couple of EP’s (Pandemonium Prayers & Halo of Syringes) the band has finally consolidated a solid line-up and released this accomplished debut album of grimy, groove-oriented […]

Wormed, Spain’s brutal purveyors of tech-death, have been gestating for about a decade before finally dropping Exodromos; the much-anticipated follow-up to their widely acclaimed 2003 debut, Planisphaerium.   Maybe it was my mindset at the time but their debut didn’t really move me in the way it rumbled the underground.    Not that it’s a bad album […]

Formed from the ashes of Windir nearly a decade ago, Norway’s Vreid has since carved out a consistently engaging body of work.  Their sixth album, Welcome Farewell, shapes as one of the most anticipated and contentious black metal releases of the year.   Contentious due to Vreid’s continuing evolution away from their traditional black metal roots […]

Place of no Pity is the fourth full-length album from Ruins, the Australian black metal crew featuring drumming extraordinaire Dave Haley (Psycroptic) in their ranks.  Although this is my first extended experience with the band, by all accounts it appears to follow-through with a similar formula to previous releases.  The band play a steroid-fuelled black/death […]

Dark Descent records deliver another punishing blast of nasty death metal in the form of the full-length debut from Finnish band, Vorum.   The label has made quite a name for themselves over the past couple of years through a string of high quality releases and commitment to old school values and the uglier side of […]

Moghul is a new band hailing from Birmingham, England and plying their trade in the sludge/doom metal scene.  Dead Empires is the first release from the quartet and over a mere 2 tracks, but a weighty 23-minutes, the band makes an exciting impression through their sprawling, downcast mode of murky doom.   Their sound contains echoes […]

For the most part 2012 was not exactly a mind-blowing year for fans of the tried and true sub-genre of thrash metal.   Sure several of the veterans fired off solid albums, such as Testament and Kreator, while young guns Nekromantheon released a cut-throat, testosterone-fuelled ripper, but otherwise it was a fairly lean year.  One album […]

This is a tidy little package from a young band out of Belgium.  On their short and punchy debut EP Alpha Matter executes an aggressive hybrid of modern metal featuring elements of death metal, melodeath, thrash and metalcore; all of which is refreshingly released for free via their website. Self-released EP’s from unknown bands don’t […]

Portugal’s A Tree of Signs offer yet another entry into the increasingly crowded style of 70’s-inspired, occult doom rock.  Drawing influences from Jex Thoth, Blood Ceremony, Witch Mountain and of course Black Sabbath, A Tree of Signs offer just enough of their own quirks to avoid sounding like a blatant rip-off of their influences.  The […]