When founding Nocturnus member, drummer/vocalist Mike Browning, resurrected the Nocturnus spirit, by adding the AD at the end I was very intrigued.  I was a huge fan of Nocturnus, their first 2 albums and saw them on the Grindcrusher tour, in support with of their debut The Key, with Napalm Death, Godflesh, and Confessor on […]

I was a fan of Grey Sky Fallen’s last album, from 2020, Cold Dead Lands.  I enjoyed their take on doom-death metal, alongside some progressive influences.  I did not realize at the time the band had four prior albums, a plethora of EPs, and had been around since the 90’s. Molded by Broken Hands is […]

I am not a musician. I can play drums at a basic level well enough, but my artistic talents find much greater purchase in other avenues. Given how important music grew to become in my life, having to accept that music would probably never be in the cards for me on a more serious level […]

Welcome to the Annual Cynicism Roundtable, where we bring the world’s prominent cynics together to share why we think the world is total bullshit. As always, I’m hosting several well-known guests, such as my first, Neill Jameson of Krieg. I’d ask how you are, but I think we all know the answer. On that note, […]

Canadian record label – Profound Lore Records really likes to have Canadian bands on their label.  I think it’s pretty cool and the label roster is pretty staggering, in terms of the quality of their bands-truly excellent.  Canada’s black metal act Gevurah have been slinging their brutal take on the genre for a little over […]

Long Island NY’s Artificial Brain returns with their third album, a self-titled one. Prior to the release vocalist and my friend Will Smith announced he was leaving in order to focus on being the singer for Afterbirth, also Long Island natives. Will’s departure and vocal style will be missed but I’m not sure who the […]

There are many interesting bands out there today. Back in 1992 I came upon an album from UK’s Sonic Violence called Transfixion. They were an industrial doomy band and the music was heavy distorted bass guitar, drums, samples and vocals. Devoid of guitar, it did not bother me, and that album is still in rotation […]

Comprised of members from underground bands, Fetid, MORTIFERUM, Cerebral Rot, and Magrudergrind, Caustic Wound dropped their Death Posture debut earlier in the year, with punishing impact. Cultivating an authentically, pretension-free formula of old school grime and mud caked deathgrind, Caustic Wound keep it real and serve up a compelling album of barbaric, unvarnished brutality. Performed […]

After departing from Morbid Angel singer/drummer Mike Browning went on to form one of the most original death metal acts of it time,-Nocturnus  I was fortunate to see them on the Grindcrusher tour on Long Island in 1990, while they were supporting their debut album The Key and Godflesh and Napalm Death were also on […]

First, hats off to Mariusz Lewandowski, who created the cover art for Bell Witch‘s third album, for it was this striking artwork that got me to check out this otherwise new to me band. Second, holy. fuck. I have not been utterly moved by a Funeral Doom album for a few years, probably since Funeral’s From […]

So while we wait with bated breath for the long overdue to Disma’s follow-up to their 2011 debut Towards the Megalith the band has put out this new ep featuring the title track: “The Graveless Remains” and “Sempiternal Deformity”.  Some new line-up changes as well.  Guitarist Daryl Kahan and drummer Shawn Edlridge are out.  Taking […]

Originally from my hometown in New York, Artificial Brain return with their follow-up to their monstrous debut, Labyrinth Constellation, from 2014.  I actually saw them live, when they toured with Pyrrhon and Gigan.  What a tour package, and Artificial Brain’s singer, Will gave me a nice shout-out and is a very cool dude.  Artificial Brain play a brand of death metal, which is non-linear in […]

From a very early point in their career it was evident that much lauded Arkansas doomers Pallbearer were something special. Debut LP Sorrow and Extinction brought doom to the masses with its spellbinding mix of traditional doom topped with powerful vocal melodies, an intense emotional pull and enough modern sensibilities to appeal to a broader […]

After a relatively uninspiring start with 2005s War Metal, Colorado’s Cobalt upped their game and became one of the darlings in the USBM genre with 2007s Eater of Birds and 2009s Gin, as good of a duo of releases that any USBM band had or has released. Both blurred lines of what black metal could and […]

Canadian guitarist Phil Tougas is hot shit right now. Not only has he served in the past in Vengeful, he currently plays in Serocs, Zealotry and First Fragment. But his main project right along with fellow former First Fragment/ Vengeful  and current Beyond Creation drummer Phil Boucher, now appears to be Cthulu/Lovecraft inspired death metal act, Chthe’ilist.  Initially, Le […]

The veteran collective of assorted talents comprising the band VHOL cooked up an impressive self-titled debut in 2013. However, like any band assembled in this fashion there was always a hint of uncertainty about whether it would wind up as another short lived entity as the members returned to their main projects, or remain the […]

A sideways glance at the save-some-room-on-your-plate-for-gravy artwork and scraggly logo adorning Philadelphia’s newest dirty needle slingin’ export Pissgrave might lead one to assume that they’re looking at one of the innumerable third-tier groups that sit forever unsold clogging up the CD racks at metal fests. A second look reveals the Profound Lore logo tucked away […]

I’m a sucker for album art. If an album looks semi interesting in anyway shape or form, I will want it. The album doesn’t even have to be good, truthfully. I don’t have a standard or a preference or a guide by which I follow. I impulse buy and either reap the benefits of having […]

A fair amount of controversy has followed Chicago’s Lord Mantis upon the release of their third album, entitled Death Mask. The subject of art verses shock value has been debated at length, with frontman Charlie Fell in the firing line over the symbolic meaning of the disturbed image donning the cover art, created by Jef […]

There has been quite a buzz about the debut from New York’s Artificial Brain, the technical death metal band featuring Revocation‘s Dan Garguilo and Biolich/Andromorphus Rexalia vocalist Will Smith. After hearing it, the buzz is deserved, as is Profound Lore’s bold declaration of the band as ‘next level death metal’. Adorned with more striking artwork […]

It’s their shortest record to date. They are treading less new ground. It’s less chaotic. It doesn’t quite strike the listener like Outre. Now that all of the things you’ve already read about Vexovoid have been reiterated, we can concentrate on just how mammoth of a record it really is.  If you’re not already familiar […]

If you want to have your eardrums shattered due to some of the most brutal and apocalyptic sounding death metal you’ll hear this year, then look no further than the new full length album from the UK’s Abyssal. Not to be confused with the Abyssal from Australia, Brazil, Finland or France, this Abyssal is ready […]

The floundering economy and end of the world hoopla must have had a lot of people feeling down in 2012 because it sure was a great year for all things doomy. Long-running acts, Paradise Lost, Asphyx, and Evoken released what was arguably some of the best material of their over two-decade careers while relative newcomers, […]

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 […]

There is heavy metal, and then there is metal. It bugs me when some people (either not metal fans, or religious authorities, or simply older people who likely still have Tipper Gore/PMRC headlines echoing in their heads from the early 80s) call it all “heavy metal music.” Heavy metal is a specific genre, mostly from […]