Cattle Decapitation needs no introduction. Their trajectory has been astronomical since The Harvest Floor and they’ve yet to disappoint. Death Atlas let me down, but only because it was simply pretty good, and not the greatest album in the history of mankind. I saw them live back in November of 2022, the new one was […]

This new wave of Black Metal is a nasty fucker. In some ways it seems like they want to outdo what their predecessors did years ago, to push the envelope as far as they can before the paper rips. I’m here today to talk about Daysidied and their pretty fucking rad EP The Day the […]

I am endlessly picked on in the Teeth of the Divine break room for admitting in a vulnerable moment that thrash is perhaps my least favorite metal sub-genre. So, one might ask why the hell I am reviewing the new Enforced album. Firstly, mind your business. Secondly, I was able to procure it in the […]

In my limited experience with the Carolinas, one of the many things I’ve learned is to be real careful when and where to expose your more heretical impulses (though I suppose this is becoming increasingly true just about everywhere in America). We’re generally talking a bunch of folks whose love for Jesus is only surpassed […]

The Devil’s lettuce. Let me be your lying, backwoods guidance counselor who tells you it’s a gateway drug. It never led to harder drugs for me, only giggles while playing video games. Not that I’ve ever done it, FBI agent who monitors me. It’s all hypothetical. I don’t think it is hypothetical for Bonginator. Their […]

Switzerland is known for many things.. Celtic Frost, Coroner, Swiss Cheese, Algebra, beautiful Alps and add Aara to the list as they are one of the best atmospheric black metal bands around today. Triade III: Nyx is their fifth album and in their short existence since 2018 they have also released 2 ep’s along with […]

The other day I was driving my mom around and the car decided it wanted to keep playing this album. She was commenting that it isn’t music and even did a growl (which was kind of fucking adorable, I’m not going to lie), however, Death Metal is extreme music for extreme people (and my mom’s […]

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 […]

Belgium’s When Plagues Collide released a damn solid debut album of symphonic/blackened deathcore back in 2019, Tutor of the Dying, before the genre really took off. And honestly, it probably should have got more attention but then Lorna Shore happened, Mental Cruelty happened, Worm Shepherd happened, and Shadow of Intent happened. And then 1,234 other […]

I used to watch Happy Days religiously. Every week my parents and I would be glued to the TV to see what antics those crazy fucks would get into. I mean, they had a fucking band, the Fonz jumped the shark, and every show was wholesome and taught life lessons along the way. Happy Days […]

Look, I am, by my own admission, a long-winded individual. Especially so when talking about heavy metal, but with The Garden, the eighth full-length album from Finnish “Beauty &/vs the Beast” deathly doomsters, Hanging Garden, I simply don’t need to be. The straight up truth is that when it comes to The Garden, I’m just […]

When tech metallers The Eating Cave named their second album The Miscalculation, it makes me think they are talking about something specific. Of course they must be talking about the botched rhythm method that led to my unfortunate spawning. Just ask my parents. Anyway, this band has so much potential. As a big fan of […]

Ya know, I had completely forgotten about this North Carolina duo. This is surprising considering I rather enjoyed the debut from a few years ago, and the fact my enthusiasm, some would even say fanboyish obsession with any sort of metal with symphonic/orchestral elements. Throw in another couple of my weaknesses- history/mythological tales and modern, […]

I think it’s safe to say the Tri-State Area East Coast thrashers Overkill regained their mojo with 2010’s Ironbound album.  They were also armed with a new label Nuclear Blast Records, where they have remained since.  The four albums which followed were also pretty damn ass-kicking and that trend continues with Scorched, the band’s…wait for […]

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 […]

If you were familiar with Lamp of Murmuur’s previous output, it fell squarely into that lo-fi black metal category we’ve all come to know and love. I’ve listened to a lot of it over the years. Some bands do it to mask that they can’t write good songs. Other bands have the aesthetic and do […]

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 […]

Well, well, well, what do we have here?  The 12th album by the biggest metal band in the world.  I consider it their 11th, because Garage Inc., while a great covers album, is an album of.. whelp, covers.  I reviewed the last Metallica album Hardwired… to Self-Destruct in 2016 and I really enjoyed it and […]

Russia’s Experimental/Technical Brutal Death Metal band 7 H.Target return after a 9 year hiatus, since their killer third album in 2014 0.00 Apocalypse.  Yantra Creating was supposed to come out at multiple different times prior to now, but due to a multitude of issues is just surfacing now.  Since the last album, they have filled […]

It’s a sunny day in the Rio Grande Valley. Spring is in the air (for now anyway), all that could change in a matter of days; but for now, it’s a pleasant day. Birds are chirping and I’m reviewing a Melodic Black Metal album. What a time to be alive! I think it’s in the […]

Germany’s environmental warriors, Downfall of Gaia has been one of my reliable go-tos’s when it comes to modern post-black metal, appearing on my year-end list a couple of times since 2012s Suffocating in a Swarm of Cranes). But when I saw the cover for album number 6, I got major Deafheaven vibes and hoped the […]

When listening to the latest full-length from Sermon, I am reminded of a few bands. Namely Tool, Enslaved, and Soen. I used to be a huge Tool fan, but now just feel like they believe their shit doesn’t stink. I am still an Enslaved fan, but Soen doesn’t do it for me. Sermon does. This […]

Who knew there were not one but TWO excellent symphonic/blackened deathcore bands right here in my backyard in, Missouri? One is Kansas City’s Vile Revelation, who released their killer debut EP Ov Vultures and Flesh back in 2022 (though I only discovered it earlier this year, hence no review) and Abaddonia, hailing from the darkest […]

If you like the Panopticon sound, but don’t like Austin’s Progressive politics, you’re a dumb shit, but you should also stay clear of Dawn Ray’d and all of their material, including their new one, To Know the Light. Like Fletcher’s genitals in “Liar Liar,” I lean always to the left, so this is no problem […]

Tribe of Pazuzu is a new international supergroup of sorts. Formed by bassist/vocalist Nick Sagias who was in Soulstorm and Overthrow back in the day as well as a quick stint in Pestilence in 1990. However, he is joined by some inarguably bigger names on this project’s debut, namely Flo Mournier of Cryptopsy fame on […]