When I heard Japan’s Imperial Circus Dead Decadence‘s 殯――死へ耽る想いは戮辱すら喰らい、彼方の生を愛する為に命を讃える――。 last year, it ended up being my second favorite album of the year. It was the utterly bonkers love child of Sigh, Cradle of Filth, and an anime soundtrack, and I thought I’d never hear anything quite like it ever again. I was wrong. Enter Countrymates […]

Ever since I saw Exmortus with Amon Amarth I’ve been a fan. Their absolutely over the top performance was amazing, the guitars shredded like a fucking meat grinder and the energy of the band made for a memorable experience. Following that show, I picked up Slave to the Sword, Ride Forth and The Sound of […]

As the days and months and years keep piling up, it’s become more clear to me than ever that the idea of growing “mature with age” can mean two very different things: There’s the literal, more widely recognized notion where time and experience allows you to take stock of the things that actually matter in […]

Ohio’s Astralborne is back with the follow-up to 2021’s excellent debut, Eternity’s End. The debut was a very enjoyable slab of meaty American melodic death metal with nods to Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames ( there is a cover of “December Flower” from The Jester Race on this album), and the usual suspects, but […]

Logistically speaking, there’s only so many bands that can reach that legendary status of “true originators,” a band that for a period of time – maybe a few years, maybe generations – creates a sound that gets endlessly copied, replicated, ripped off, paid tribute to, call it whatever you want. Obviously, we’re talking the Black […]

I generally like to think myself a pretty positive kind of guy – or at least, I try not to add any more negativity to the world than what already exists (and I think we can all certainly agree, it’s already too much). To date, I can only recall one album review I’ve ever done […]

It’s amazing the perspective you gain in life when you find someone you truly want to spend your life with – that person you feel you were always meant to be with. For those of you who haven’t found that person yet, I apologize for throwing that in your face right out the gate here, […]

As human beings, there’s a certain amount of structure we all crave in our lives. Perhaps some more than others, sure, but even the most ardent agents of chaos amongst us still rely on the wick of that stick of dynamite lighting and leading to detonation. I can’t imagine The Joker would find it so […]

I know that a lot of you out there are ready for the oncoming warmer weather – and to be fair, there’s certain aspects of the summer that I do certainly look forward to. The fishing, the hiking, the outdoor cooking – you’ll get no argument from me that these are just some of the […]

Italy’s Graveworm has been around since the mid/late 90s, plying their form of gothic/ melodic black/death metal, and by all accounts have been a pretty respectable act over their career. They found themselves on Nuclear Blast Records with 200s Engraved in Black when the label was saturated with the likes of Agathodaimon, Godgory, Sculpture, Crematory […]

Dystertol is a veteran Austrian melodic death band with 2 albums under their belt since 2014, but as is often the case in this vast realm of metal, they are a new act to me. Classifying them is difficult, as while they are certainly a melodic death metal band in the vein of say newer […]

German Christian death metal band Sacrificium has been around since the 90s, released their debut album in 2002, and have released 2 albums since then, with 2013s Prey for Your Gods being their last offering. And I say this because up until Oblivion, I had no idea these guys even existed- even in the Christian […]

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 […]

This collaboration of Obsequiae and Inexorum members has their take on Melodic Death Metal with elements of the Swedish scene – all wrapped up in a 90’s classic sound, that In Flames would be proud of…well this album kicks some major ass! With 10 songs in 39 minutes, “In Yearning, Alive”, starts abruptly, with a […]

If In Flames‘ Foregone has whetted your appetite for Swedish, 1994-1997 era melodic death metal nostalgia, then let’s continue your meal with another band from that era, Falkenberg’s Ablaze My Sorrow. Knocking around the same times as their clear peers (then and now) In Flames and Dark Tranquility, Ablaze My Sorrow was a productive, if […]

If you were to ask me right here and now what my 5 favorite metal bands of all time were, without hesitation I’d mention Amon Amarth amongst that list. And while I certainly have my preferred era of the band’s sound (With Oden On Our Side through Surtur Rising are untouchable, in my mind), there really isn’t an era […]

Imagine, if you would, finding a way to beat the odds and make a legitimate career for yourself in music. Dope! You’ve already lived out the dream of myriads of artists around the world. But not only are you making a living, you’re literally spearheading an entire musical movement – laying a foundation and becoming […]

For a band known more for it’s morose atmospheres, downtempo paces and overall depressive tones, Katatonia sure has a way of getting albums off to a quick and, at least in my case, startling beginning. I swear, it’s like the band is fucking with me, or at the very least trying to catch us all […]

San Antonio, Texas-based Scars of the Flesh seem to be playing a dangerous game calling their newest release, In Darkness Alone, a bonafide full-length album. Okay, maybe I’m overexaggerating a bit, as the nine-track affair sets at the fifty-one minute mark, but that’s counting the four (four???) bonus songs attached to the five original compositions […]

I like to think I’m the kind of guy willing to give almost any music endeavor a fair shake, whether it falls in one of metal’s incalculable and ever-growing catalog of subgenres, or, really, whatever the hell else happens to invade my ear canals! But we all have our go-to comfort zones, right? To the […]

Ok, here’s another one of those promos I get, where the ‘FFO/For Fans Of” is just too good to be true – like someone was in my head when they wrote it. In the case of Depravity, the debut album from Belgian newcomer Slaughter the Giant, where bands like The Black Dahlia Murder, At The […]

I’m just gonna go ahead and set all my clocks back by like, I dunno, 20 or 25 years? Etsy has LOTS of Princess Diana calendars from 1998 available, so I’m well covered there. I hear JNCO jeans are sorta a thing again? So much denim. The reason for all this turn-of-the-21st-century behavior? MELODEATH IS […]

I dunno about you, but I love the defiant underdog. There’s just something super compelling about someone or something staring in the face of inevitable defeat and devastation, and flipping it the double-birds because “go fuck yourself that’s why.” I admire the hell out of that spirit. To that end, one of history’s most chronicled […]

This is probably going to sound really stupid, which is something I’m not exactly unaccustomed to doing so… Oh well. It’s easy to forget sometimes that our favorite bands and musicians are, well, artists! In every sense of the word. They create, the evolve, they strive to grow and follow their artistic journeys and trust […]