I’m gonna be honest – there’s a lot about Sweden’s Knogjärn that, at first glance, I really wasn’t sure about. I’m the first to admit, I can sometimes be a judgemental shit. I’m working on it. But as I looked at the band, their heavy usage of brass knuckle images led to the sneaking suspicion […]

For a couple years now, I’ve been praising the French for their rise to prominence in the Traditional Heavy Metal scene. It’s still not necessarily a numbers game, but the quality in the limited product is undeniable. Obviously, much of this is owed the genre’s continued growth in popularity, but bands like Herzel and Tentation […]

War and Metal – It’s like peanut butter and jelly. Peanuts and beer. Peanuts and Chocolate. Peanuts and… uh… more peanuts? (I like peanuts. A lot). And generally speaking, while I’d prefer a world without war, I tend find myself gravitating towards metal bands leaning into wartime themes. Of course, some bands do the theme […]

OK so yeah, it’s only the end of July as I write this, but it’s never too early to start thinking of Halloween, right? It’s long been a dream of mine to host a big, haunted house for the neighborhood, but I want to get it right. My wife and I have owned a home […]

EP releases are a funny thing. There used to be a time when they weren’t really a big deal so-to-speak. Sure, occasionally a band would release something of some serious musical value i.e. Haunting the Chapel, Morbid Tales, Sentence of Death, In the Sign of Evil, Despise the Sun, as well as others, but for […]

Expectations can be such a damn bummer sometimes. You go ahead and put your full effort into something because of trivial things like “passion” and “integrity” or whatever, and next thing you know you’ve got people like your boss, your spouse, your kids coming at you like “hey that last thing was great, you should […]

Vultures are, far and away, the gnarliest friggin’ birds you’re ever gonna come across. I’m not talking about those oddly and simultaneously ugly and pretty King Vultures, or those powerful evil-wizard-looking bearded vultures, OR those badass mythical motherfucker Griffon Vultures. No, I’m talking your everyday, nightmare-inducing, boiled-skull-looking turkey vulture. LOOK AT THAT FUCKING THING. Terrifying. […]

No frills, no fuss, lots of fuzz. In short, that’s basically what you’re getting from Morbid Breath’s new EP In the Hand of The Reaper. Simple, effective, thrashy Death Metal riffs and super fuzzy bass backbone, over simple, solid rhythms, and some raspy, growly vocals. Classic Swedish Death Metal 101. If this all seems like […]

Every so often, the world of metal is treated to an act that creates an altogether new and unique sound – one that, if it catches the right audience, can become a spark that inspires an entire generation of bands and musicians to try and capture some of that magic for themselves. Classic examples including […]

Oh goodness this is good. Er, uh, wait – I mean, “GREAT BLAZING HELLFIRE THIS IS FUCKING RIPS!” Sorry. It’s finally springtime, friends! While I personally am a very big fan of winter (an not just because it’s the GRIMMEST time of year), I have to admit that after a year of the pandemic, a […]

OK OK OK OK WAIT. Just what the sweet hell is this?! Our friend Erik T messages me recently, telling me to check out this Cynik Scald promo that just came in. Doesn’t say anything else, no indication to what I might be getting myself into here, but the guy knows my tastes pretty damn […]

It’s always fun reading through the greetings that bands, promoters and labels write when sending out promotional materials. There’s a lot of “ETERNAL HAILS!” and “GREETINGS!” and “Dear media partners,” followed by some description like “born from the feral wastelands of Poland…” or superlative tropes like “the metal underground’s best kept secret…” yadda yadda yadda. […]

Oh fuck yeah. This is fun. Long before Glenn Danzig became the ill-advisedly shirtless butt of countless metal memes and jokes, the man was responsible for at least 3 excellent albums of darkened blues-meets-rock/metal before things started getting a little… wonky. It’s easy to poke fun at the guy now, but Danzig I-III are goddamn […]

Listen, hear me out. 2020 was bullshit. I KNOW! Wild claim. One that certainly hasn’t been used to frame the context of endless metal album reviews. No sir. This is Grade-A original material here! So, why do I bring the 2020 thing up THIS time? Well, for a while there, it seemed like maybe, JUST […]

With the 7th full-length album, Ghostly White, from long-time running act, Deceased you know what you’re going to get-or do you…? I’ve followed the band for close to 3 decades now and have been a fan since the beginning. The brilliant mixture of death/thrash metal with classic metal and some NWOBHM, for me is insanely […]