Many of the bands I review on this site, I randomly encountered. That’s the case for Tennesse’s  Summoner’s Circle. In my “why the fuck not,” era just last year, I saw a festival of which I had not heard in my state called Toledo Death Fest. Despite the hot sun, they were a stylistic sore […]

Finland. When I think of Finland I tend to think of the recent film Sisu. It’s about this gold miner who finds the mother load in a vein of gold. Long story short, some Nazis are killed in fantastically thrilling ways.  While I was listening to this debut album from Kratti Matka Kohti Kosmista, I […]

Thanks to this YouTube group, I spent much of 2023 discovering newer symphonic black metal, or at least releases in the genre that aren’t from the golden age, or releases that somehow I completely missed from 2010 on. I found superb bands like Spain’s Ensom, Canada’s Obscuris Romancia, Russia’s Skylord, Cuba’s Mephisto, Finland’s Shade Empire, […]

I am new to the Vale of Pnath fan club.  I’ve seen the logo over a number of years, however, I never heard them up until now.  This Colorado technical death metal act has been around since 2006 with 2 prior ep’s and 2 prior full lengths to boot. After hearing Between the Worlds of […]

18 years, 12 albums, 9 labels, 8 vocalists. You have to hand it to the lone remaining founding member/ drummer Dave Astor; he is certainly persistent and keeps shuffling lineups and releasing albums on multiple labels, even with all the above he’s seemingly settled on a somewhat stable lineup for a few albums now (Obie […]

I don’t know about the rest of ya’ll, but summer sure took its sweet ass time showing up ’round these parts. Yeah, it’s June now, and a lot of this country has been caught in the grips of an absolutely hellacious heat wave (sorry), but back when I had originally started listening to this release […]

“Fuck every fucking cop that’s ever fucking lived.” I want to start with those words, which are repeated many times in “No Reform (New Age Slave Patrol)” the fourth track from Terminal Nation‘s second album, Echoes of the Devil’s Den, to simply let you know the message, and to turn back now if offended. For […]

The last Christian metal record I covered was Voluntary Mortification‘s Suffer to Rise back in 2020, which also happened to be Rottweiler Records, which is fast becoming the premier label for extreme Christian Music with bands like A Hill to Die Upon,  Death Requisite, xDOULOSx, Krig, Desolate Tomb, Symphony of Heaven and such, much like […]

25 years is a long time. Hell, over 25 years is a long time, and I’ve realized that a lot of the bands I love are coming up on that side of their longevity, which isn’t much next to the Rolling fucking Stones and we all know they’ve been doing it since the Triassic period […]

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 have seen Exodus live so many times, it’s ridiculous, both on the east and West Coast, mind you.  I know they’re not in the big 4, but for me, if there was a big 5, Exodus, that is right, not Testament would be there.  Still, to this day, whether on studio albums or live, […]

Mining-obsessed German duo Dauþuz (‘Death’) has been on my radar for a while now. I initially heard them on their third album, Monvmentvm in 2019, and then in 2021, they crept onto my year-end list with Vom schwarzen Schmied. I wondered how they would, like other specifically themed bands (i.e. Alestorm) how they would continue […]

What do you think of when you hear the word fluids? Soda? Water? Urine, semen, blood? With the band Fluids you know what you’re about to get… the absolute shit beaten out of your eardrums. Songs about the slimey and worm ridden carcass of this decaying planet and the human shit that inhabit it. Reduced […]

The Headless Ghost is a new Italian band and is also now signed to an Italian label, the excellent Punishment 18 Records.  The Headless Ghost originally started out a few short years ago more as a tribute act to Mercyful Fate/King Diamond.  And as you can see from this kick ass album art, the King […]

“You shake your ass but you’re already dead.” If you don’t know my reference, that’s okay and maybe this review isn’t for you. The truth is Daath hasn’t missed. They have a stellar discography and I’ve never been disappointed. So, their new one The Deceivers, their first in 14 years, was heavily anticipated. What matters […]

I have thoroughly enjoyed New Jersey’s Cognitive rise through the underground ranks since their first EP in 2012 – The Horrid Swarm.  I became friends with guitarist Rob Wharton, reviewed several of their early releases, finally met him on one of his tours years ago and he saw me touring with Internal Bleeding, as well […]

I don’t hear a lot about bands from Iceland. Sure, there’s Solstafir, and I’m positive many others, but they don’t come to mind. Duft is one such band, so add them. The country of origin is notable, but it’s not as if we have a new Solstafir. They’re entirely different. However, you should be paying […]

US Progressive Black Metallers Amiensus return with their fourth full-length record Reclamation: Part 1. The album gets kicked off with “Blink of the Moment” which right off the bat I am impressed with the production values. The clean vocals of James Benson and Kelsey Roe are outstanding. I dig the bass break played by Todd […]

Despite being around since 2016, Beneath the Blazing Abyss is the Finnish band’s debut and boy, is it an excellent, pummeling example of death/doom metal that is a very, very impressive first effort. If you enjoy mid-tempo trundling death with sprinkles of doom like Temple of Void, Grave, Malignant Altar, Vore, Hooded Menace, Frozen Soul […]

I love French Black Metal with every beat of my Black heart. The French have always been pretty brutal; guillotines and revolution were a way of life for many years of the country’s history. Not to mention WW1 and then occupation by the Nazis in WW2. The conflict hardened the country and unfortunately inspired a […]

I don’t know how I missed the debut of this project formed by Mark Reed, keyboardist from Winterfylleth, one of the UK’s very best black metal exports of the last 15 years. They released an album in 2022 called Take Up My Bones, which I shall immediately be procuring after hearing Untouched by Fire. Like […]

Well, well, well the Kerry King band is finally here.  When he announced after the retirement of Slayer, that he was going to have a new band, the only thing he mentioned that we all knew was drummer Paul Bostaph, from Slayer (not the best Slayer drummer-that goes to Lombardo) and the music would sound […]

Blood. Guts. Rotting eyeballs. Spewing bile and bodily fluids, forced to drink vomit… have you heard of McCamey Manor? You probably have, it’s in the public consciousness as a nasty place where you get $20,000 if you make it through and you have to sign a waiver; basically saying the “actors” can do anything to […]

Although one of the USA’s early purveyors of European symphonic black metal in the late 90s and early 00s along with Dragonlord, Scholomance, Dreamscapes of the Perverse, Epicurean, Venificum, Santus, and such, Austin TX’s Vesperian Sorrow and most of those listed) never quite garnered a ton of attention. The Europeans just did it better with […]

Canada keeps kicking out sick releases in 2024. Quebec’s From Dying Suns return with their first LP Calamity. This band features members of: Augury, Killotorious and Aeternam. Matthew Dhani, the vocalist of Killotorious is also the live vocalist for First Fragment. It is also worth noting that Christian Donaldson of Cryptopsy mixed this. Calamity is […]