Originally released back in 2009 on vinyl, the initial run of this split sold old. At just 500 records pressed, it was only a matter of time before this 7” was gone forever. Considering the slow groundswell that Tokyo, Japan’s Coffins has been enjoying over the past few years, it was inevitable. What else that […]

For anybody wondering what happened to Chton, the answer is simple: they disappeared for a period of time to focus on other projects and when the time was right, created another album. Aside from a demo in 2006 called Death Awaits, the metal world hasn’t heard a peep for the Trondheim, Norway residents since their […]

The gents over at Horror Pain Gore Death Productions have been steady with their reissues and whatnot. This time around, the label was kind enough to re-release the out of print EP from Canada’s thrash troupe Minax. Vengeance Rising is a collection of five pissed off, riff-laden thrash tracks that are as in your face […]

Sick Human Essence, a four-song EP from Italy’s Blessed Dead, is the perfect introductory sample of what the band is about. Mixing elements of Symphonies of Sickness-era Carcass, Symbolic-era Death, some riffs found on Cradle of Filth’s Dusk and Her Embrace, modern day Cannibal Corpse, and various other influences isn’t exactly an easy accomplishment. Blessed […]

After a demo and a few EPs, New York City-based grim black metallers Imperial Triumphant have finally released their debut full-length album. Sporting a rather primitive, crude sound to coincide with their blend of (mostly) American and (some) Scandinavian black metal, Abominamentvm is a raging slab of manic, war-torn blasphemy. In essence, Abominamentvmis a relenting […]

A decade after the metal world saw/heard their debut full-length Meat Hook Ballet, Cobolt 60 is finally back with their follow-up. Comprised of duo Mr. Hustler (ex-Blood Red Throne, ex-Trioxin) on drums/vocals and Dǿd (Scariot, Blood Red Throne) on guitar/bass, Cobolt 60 have taken what they created in 2002 and revamped their approach, arrangements and […]

Who doesn’t like an old-fashioned two-way split on vinyl? Well, I would if I owned a phonograph. I sadly grew up in the time of the cassette tape, which was smashed in between the CD revolution and the death of the vinyl record. The older metalheads who, of course, are the only ones whose opinions […]

Wowsers, this is a pleasant surprise! Sporting a sound and musical approach that I never anticipated, Nova Art is back with their third release; an EP entitled The 3rd Step. The Russian band has been around for a dozen years but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of Nova Art, let alone their […]

From rainy, foggy Sunderland in the UK comes the second full-length album from Wodensthrone, and to say the three-year wait between releases was worth it would be an understatement. Sporting an overall fuller sound and much more mature songwriting, Curse is everything that made their debut album Loss a pleasure to ingest and then some. […]

Easily one of the coolest reissues in recent memory, Horror Pain Gore Death Productions is kind enough to exhume the rotten corpse of the awesome Urine Junkies from the (sadly) defunct Abscess. Originally released way back in 1995 before the Bay Area sickos ever released an official full-length, Urine Junkies is a collection of their […]

It’s often an odd and amusing circumstance when one receives an album from a band and when it’s popped into the stereo (or iTunes), it sounds nothing like you’d expect. The band has completely altered its sound, approach and logo like it’s an entirely new band. Then it hits you: this is a different band […]

Like all the previous albums from Winterfylleth, The Threnody of Triumph takes some time getting adjusted to. The listener simply won’t be able to uncover all that is glorious about this UK black metal band’s newest release in just a single listen or two; this needs to be given the proper number of spins to […]

As you all are well aware, there has been a growing trend for a few years now with this whole “Cascadian black metal” thing and it’s just about reached its breaking point. Obviously Wolves in the Throne Room are the supposed pioneers of this subgenre and, like every other nook or cranny of metal,a million […]

Easily one of the most over-looked albums of the last decade, Epoch of Aquarius will hopefully garner the sort of attention it lacked when it originally was presented to the world in 2006. For those who may not know, Munruthel is a band that fits somewhere inside the whole pagan/folk metal sub-genre but the music […]

Splits are always an enjoyable listen, regardless if one or more of the bands on the micro compilation are even halfway decent. It’s always been a terrific way to sample typically unknown bands in small doses and because the listener will usually be treated to multiple songs from each band, splits are almost always more […]

  Entering he goregrind arena is the up and coming UK-based Engorgement, a group of mates who play a rather rudimentary style of gore-soaked and blood-splattered grindcore. Clocking in at a hair past 22 minutes, the seven songs on Excruciating Intestinal Lacerations are what you’d expect from a band from this sub genre of metal, […]

Stepping deeply into the endless chasm of spiritual enlightenment and partaking on a journey to discover one’s true meaning comes the latest album from Seattle’s Blood of the Black Owl. Light the Fires! is an adventurous creation of music and one that begs the listener to look deeply into spirituality, lift one’s spirits, and hopefully […]

Hailing from a country where professional boxing is illegal, Resurgency certainly doesn’t pull any punches with their debut album False Enlightenment. A relentless slab of punishing death metal this is, Resurgency has clearly demonstrated that they have zero intentions of employing the overly technical or melodic angle of the genre. And that’s a bonus for […]

Something just crept up out of one of the bogs in balmy Alabama and it’s a hideous monster on the prowl to maim and sever anything in its path. That monster is Ectovoid, a new band more or less formed out of the ashes of Bloated Carcass. Cheesy hyperbole aside, the debut album from Ectovoid […]

First we were treated to the awesome Mantas compilation, and now this. Long out of print and virtually forgotten about the world over, Svart Records is kind enough to deliver the lost demo collection of Abhorrence, one of the pioneer death metal bands of Finland. Comprised of guys who eventually left to play in Amorphis […]

  Young bucks on the Swedish death metal scene Usurpress are, having yet to release an official full-length album. However, that hasn’t stopped the Uppsala fiends from creating solid, if not entirely original, death metal in the realm of classic Dismember, Grave, etc. Having just released their second EP In Permanent Twilight, the band is […]

Vetterkult, the newest album from Norway’s Vetter, is one of those albums that just misses on almost all marks. It’s one of the classic albums that builds up to a crescendo but falls short of being dynamic. When the elements and ideas come together on Vetterkult, the album works well. Unfortunately, those moments are not […]

It’s not often these days that a brand-spankin’ new black metal band comes out of the woodwork and does the genre of music properly. Usually the young “kvlt” tikes latch onto the typical Dark Throne/Dark Funeral/Burzum/early Emperor coloring book and fail miserably. The general reasons for said failures is because the kids just don’t know […]

Fans of the slightly more brutal style of traditional death metal will surely gobble this one up and praise it for all its blood-soaked, gory glory. Excruciating Existence, the debut full-length album from Brazil’s Escarnium, is everything a fan of this genre of metal loves: it’s guttural, has crunching guitars, it’s straightforward, without frills, without […]

Thy Serpent’s Cult, the debut EP from France’s Torture Throne has a lot working in the band’s favor. However, there’s also a cornucopia of issues working against it. This is a novice band just piecing together their visions of what great death metal should be so a ton of flack won’t be tossed their way. […]