I wasn’t sure what to think of this one upon the first spin and multiple spins later I still don’t know what to think, which translated means it’s just not very damn memorable. That’s a problem, unless you’ll all about meaningless musical experiences. That sounds pretty shitty of me, doesn’t it? Well friends, it sounds […]

I’d never been the biggest fan of Profanatica, although that had as much to do with my limited exposure to the act as any kind of outright distaste of the sonic pungency. While it’s not like I’m a loyalist now, the last couple of years gave me a new appreciation for Paul Ledney’s (Havohej, ex-Incantation, […]

The name says it all. Kill, you know; like murder, homicide, manslaughter… Like death fucking metal! I got word of the anti-metaphorically titled album by the Polish, uh, killers via a reliable underground U.S. label after said label had secured 10 copies for the distro. In short order, $8 was sent their way and here […]

On Another Breath’s The God Complex it is all about the energy. And we’re talking nuclear-powered energy on this hard rockin’ hardcore/metal gem. It is an album on which the group also takes a deeply philosophical view into questions of faith; the answers found not necessarily uplifting or especially optimistic. The Fulton, NY crew has created what is sure to be one of the year’s best and, in all likelihood, most overlooked hardcore records. Your mission then is to check it out and see what all this raving is about. Vocalist Ted Winkworth answers the questions.

The last chapter has been written and the book of Catholicon has been closed. The Baton Rouge band, which formed in 1994, has disbanded with some members going on to form Heir to the Throne. Throughout Catholicon’s career, which includes four full-length albums and multiple demos, the unique, creative, blasphemous, and downright diabolical style of black/death metal has not only gotten better with each release, it has stood the test of time. The culmination of that improvement comes in the form of Of Ages Past, the final Catholicon album and one that features the act’s best songwriting to date within the quasi-parameters of its unconventional, yet more refined/conventional (relatively speaking, of course) this time around, brand of sonic sacrilege that chills to the bone and melts the face. The release comes with a DVD-ROM containing a veritable treasure trove of material from across the band’s career (more on that below). With that I present to you a Q&A session with Chad Kelly (a.k.a. Blasphyre) the former Catholicon member who was an integral part of the creative/professional process and who has chosen to simply let sleeping dogs lie, rather than continue on in a new incarnation (ala Heir to the Throne) of it.

So raw it’s bleeding, Visions of Death from Moravia, NY’s Disfigured Dead is the antithesis of Pro-Tools death metal. As such, it comes across as an album on which guitar, bass, drums, and vocals electrify and eviscerate in complete contradiction with recordings that are polished and surgically precise. Stylistically, you are a treated to a […]

If that title does not aptly sum up the career and music of Sweden’s Bestial Mockery (R.I.P.), then I’m at a complete loss as to what would. 2007’s swansong full-length, Slaying the Life, might have been the final fuck-you nail in the coffin, a demonstration of the group at its black thrashing war metal best, […]

Well, this is it, the final album from the Baton Rouge blasphemers known as Catholicon. Of Ages Past caps a career of some of the most unique black/death metal ever recorded and the band has done it while remaining fiercely independent, firmly underground, and resolute in its disgust for the three major white-light religions (Christianity, […]

I won’t blather on about how Exodus is one of the greatest thrash bands of all time or that over their last several albums they’ve proved to be better than ever at delivering violent thrash metal. We all know this and if you don’t, you better find out soon, lest you miss out on the excellence that is Exodus. Instead, we thought that an update on the band after the release of the outstanding DVD, Shovel Headed Tour Machine: Live at Wacken (and other assorted atrocities) and before The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit B – The Human Condition drops in May. I caught up with iron man guitarist Gary Holt at his band’s Tyrants of Evil tour stop in Seattle.

I last interviewed Overkill vocalist Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth for the Killbox 13 album in 2003 and since that time have held the man in even higher esteem, not only for his steely resolve and unwavering devotion to thrash metal, but also for the enthusiastic and amiable way he comes across. Why I waited seven years to interview him again is beyond me. His is an interview to which you look forward because you just know it’ll meet the gold standard. This time was no different.

Here’s the deal. If you get all uppity about black/war metal productions that are about 1,000 miles from Pro-Tools and can’t deal with a mix that, for the most part, buries the guitars in a maelstrom of blasts, includes a bass….ah shit, forgot about the bass, ain’t no bass, and hatefully sermonizes with harsh, abrasive […]

Guild of Destruction – a.k.a. G.O.D. – has got to be Australia’s best kept death metal secret. In a land known for its extra ferocious, Christ crushing, war fed metal, G.O.D. fits right in as a behemoth in its own right. It was 2007’s Into Oblivion that first got my attention; ah hell, it knocked […]

Vetis Monarch – vocalist/guitarist/leader of Canada’s Weapon – is a thoughtful sort and one whose art cannot simply be explained by alter ego\ or the commonly accepted conventions of artistic expression. Weapon is his living, breathing personification. Taking a far deeper philosophical approach to concept/lyrical development, Monarch’s worldview is somewhat atypical for black metal in that it is based not on a Christian, and ultimately anti-Christian background, making the exploration of Satanic philosophies far more refreshing. But it is the music of Drakonian Paradigm that sucked me right in and kept me coming back for more, making the album an immediate 2009 Top 10 selection in the waning weeks of the year. Black metal at its core, yet not solely traditional in a tremolo-picked and blast-beaten sense, Drakonian Paradigm brilliantly mixes in elements of thrash, death, and even traditional metal, in the process creating memorable songs and varied arrangements all wrapped up in the kind of palpable genuineness and sinister atmosphere that is lacking on so many BM releases. And now to answer my feebly probing questions, I give you Vetis Monarch.

Liturgy of Dissection arrived just in time, as I needed a fix of bullshit-free brutal death, the likes of which can be found on labels like Unmatched Brutality, Unique Leader, and especially Vomepotro’s home, Sevared Records. If there ever was a form of death metal that most either loved or hated it, it is the […]

That album cover repulses everyone that I show it too, which only makes me want to continue showing it to folks, no matter how disinterested they may be. It kind of reminds you of something Cannibal Corpse might have on a cover, doesn’t it? That would make sense because on Obesidade Morbida (even I can […]

If you fancy yourself fan of vintage, no frills thrash metal and you’ve not yet heard Hirax, then you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of El Rostro De La Muerte as soon as possible. In the way of a brief history lesson, Hirax were part of the early Metal Blade roster […]

Perhaps a better name would be Temple of Balls because Lightslaying Rituals is ballsy black metal from France. And yes, I realize I referenced a swinging pair of elephant balls in my recent Die Hard review, but goddamnit it is applicable here too! Temple of Baal consists of a group of veterans of the heavy […]

After initially turning up my nose at a band named Mr. Death, I somehow got to be ok with the moniker, which may have had something to do with the cool faux VHS movie cover for Detached from Life. The old school, primarily Swedish style, death metal performed on the disc is pretty decent too, […]

Now we’re talking! Die Hard’s Nihilistic Vision is old school thrash metal with a swinging set of elephant balls and a death metal attitude. Featuring members of Watain, the style owes as much to early Slayer and Venom as it does to Exodus or the Bay Area School, and it hits like a pair of […]

Well, it ain’t Christian metalcore; that’s a certainty. Ruination of the Heavenly Communion is a split release from Father Befouled and Helcaraxe, otherwise known as double Satanic trouble. You may know Georgia’s Father Befouled as the act that released Profano Ad Regnum (as in “Regnum? Damn near killed him!”), a hideous exercise in dread-spreading old […]

Many bands talk the talk of file sharing being something to be embraced, rather than eschewed, but how many bands do you know that walk the walk and actually release an album for free, especially a band on a big metal label? You’ll know at least one now, as Ireland’s Gama Bomb have done it through Earache Records with Tales from the Grave in Space, the follow-up to the extremely well written, balls out thrash masterpiece Citizen Brain. At the time of this interview I had not yet heard the album, as it was not available, so the idea was to focus on the band’s/label’s decision to release it for free, a preview, if you will. Now that I’ve gotten my own digital copy of the album (and you can too), I can tell you that it is every bit the rip roaring, fun-filled vintage (with modern sensibilities) thrash extravaganza that is Citizen Brain. Vocalist Philly Byrne fills tells that tale of Tales and how file sharing can be a good thing for metal bands.

Italy’s Faust brought in the big dogs for the recording of From Glory to Infinity. Luckily, the musical aspects of said disc far exceed the visual ones (i.e. the cartoon cover of the amply bosomed nun). Feast your eyes on this lineup and you will understand why the musicianship on the album is top notch: […]

The staying power of Nile, not to mention its rightful place among death metal royalty, has been firmly established for years now. They have never released a bad album – not even close – and in many ways redefined the brutal/traditional end of technical death metal (compared to, for example, a band like Necrophagist). Then […]

It is not often I’m totally smitten with a doom band, much less a funeral doom act, but Germany’s Ahab has shocked and awed me ever since I reviewed The Call of the Wretched Sea, the act’s second release (after The Oath EP) in a trilogy (the “Nantucket Saga”) of sea-based tales, based upon stories […]

So I decided I needed a forum to discuss and generally blather on about the weekly, typically music-related (but not exclusively) activities of my life. And I have a weird obsession with play lists, particularly since my tastes run the gamut from hard rock to extreme grindcore, though extremity and violence generally wins out over […]