Finland’s Hooded Menace have been slogging their brand of doom death metal for over a decade now and continue to hone their craft and get stronger with each release. Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed, their 5th full length is such a monstrous release, I do not know where to begin.  Adding more band members seems to add […]

Okay, here I am venturing outside my normal realms and diving into more black metal. Auðn hail from Iceland and my bud, Graham, Deepsend Records owner, sent me their s/t debut a few years ago and I was hooked. The band sings in their native language and the best way to describe them is atmospheric […]

It’s been damn near 7 years since Belgian grinders Leng Tch’e dropped their last full-length slab of death-y, crusty doomgrind, Hypomanic.  There hasn’t been an original member left in the band since 2007, although these maniacs have stayed relatively true to form sonically over the last 3 records. For me, the filthy highpoint of the […]

There is something foul afoot in the Iberian Peninsula. Some Portuguese  and Spanish acts like The Ominous Circle, Morbid Flesh, Aversio Humanitas, Goldenpyre, have delivered some truly nasty black and death metal of late, and with their second effort Spain’s Altarage look to be the apex of the onslaught. I never heard the band’s debut, […]

Ever since Nile erupted forth with their Egyptian take on brutal death metal, ethnic, and cultural elements have crept into death metal more and from from Ade  to Scarab and others. But here comes France’s Impureza to add one I have not heard before- at least not in this full on capacity: Flamenco. Sure, a […]

Ne Obliviscaris‘s 2014 sophomore album Citadel was one of my top 3 albums for that year, and now 3 years later, the Australian progressive extreme metal collective look to have another of my top albums for 2017 in Urn. The incredibly ambitious and hard to describe sound of these guys is in force again,  as […]

I wasn’t sure how these young Canadians would follow up their excellent 2014 debut, The Lucid Collective, a completely over the top , noodling clinical and triggered tech death tour de force, only since topped by First Fragment‘s Dasein since then as far as sheer tech death insanity goes. Well, they are up the the […]

It wasn’t until 2014s Titan that I got into Greece’s Septiciflesh, which is a surprise considering I’m a sucker for big, epic orchestration in metal. But as with Titan, and even prior releases like The Great Mass that I went back to, Septicflesh remain all fluff and no real substance.  But the fluff, remains some of […]

Necrowretch, from France, return with their third long-player, Satanic Slavery and on a brand new label-Season of Mist.  I’ve been following the band since their debut album, Putrid Death Sorcery in 2013 and struck up some cool convos with guitarist/vocalist Vlad, after interviewing them back then.  The band has no shortage of material, either.  Releasing […]

More often than not, I can formulate and knock out a review of an album fairly quickly- 4 to 5 listens on the average. However, the second effort from the Netherlands’ Dodecahdron has me flummoxed, but in a good way. A twisty, suffocating, avante garde black/death metal record that’s hard to get a grip on, […]

After 2 fine albums on Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions in 2012s Al Azif, and 2014s Teliki-Li, I was curious how this fast rising Lovecraft themed black metal act would fare after the jump to the big leagues on Season of Mist. Well, after a while to grasp the effort, it seems the result is a […]

I’ve been listening to France’s Benighted ever since I reviewed 2004s Insane Cephalic Production for Digitalmetal.com and it blew me away. And it struck me as I prepared for this review that the band is 8 albums and 17 years into their career and all the albums are simply killer (how many current, active death […]

Man, Season of Mist are consistent in their ability to find amazingly diverse artists to add to their roster.  Nidingr’s Third Full length record The High Heat Licks Against Heaven is another prime example of Season of Mist being able to deliver amazing releases. Teloch and company continue to develop their unique style of perverted […]

Intelligence without pretentiousness, focus, and sledgehammer sincerity. Those three qualities defined Saint Vitus when they first adopted the name in 1980 and still does through three different singers, over ten releases, and a thirty years plus long journey along the margins of mainstream music. Their influence, however, is far from marginal and extensively documented. Their […]

If you travel in the metal circles, suffice to say you have heard of Baptism. If not, you have most certainly been exposed to Lord Sargofagian in some way. Be it either with his main group Baptism but also his other projects and or associations; Calvarium, Horna, Behexen, Black Death Ritual, needless to say, the […]

The hot, humid sweltering jungles of Brazil have spawned another bullet spiked, leather clad beast and granted this beast has been lurking in the jungles since 2001, they have been creating and dispersing their own brand of pestilence with various full lengths, compilations and e.p’s since that point. Now with 2016 upon us we have […]

Following up a classic is always difficult. Especially when that classic was 12 years in the making. Thus was the task at hand for Luc Lemay and trying to follow up 2013s Colored Sands, arguably one of the most successful death metal comebacks of all time. But Lemay has played it smart; he waited a while, and […]

Kicking it since 1999, Spain’s best and most brutal band Wormed, have had their fair share of ups and downs.  After several high profile demos, the band released Planisphærium in 2003.  To say this album was phenomenal is an understatement.  I did not find out about this gem of a band until after this album […]

As an uncompromising, grindcore-to-the-bone band that has been going strong for over 20 years, Rotten Sound would definitely be placed on my personal “Mount Rushmore of Grind”, along with Nasum, Napalm Death and Pig Destroyer.  We’ve had to wait five long years since their last LP, but time has done nothing but help as their […]

I sit here today holding a copy of Wildfire in my grubby hands, the fifth full-length album from black thrash titans Deströyer 666. Wildfire arrives seven years after 2009’s Defiance, with an entirely new band in tow behind lone (wolf winter) mainstay KK Warslut. A lengthy break between releases, Defiance itself was released a full […]

  Venomous Concept is a side project of some pretty big names in the metal world: Shane Embury and Danny Herrera from this little know band Napalm Death, are joined by John Cooke (live guitarist for ND), bassist Dan Lilker (way too many band to mention) and vocalist Kevin Sharp (Lock Up, ex-Brutal Truth).  I […]

I have to admit, I was quite hesitant when it came to reviewing the self-titled debut from Abbath. Immortal was/is a band I’ve always held in high regard, and honestly, Abbath is one of my most anticipated releases of the year. Between high expectations and a critiquing ear, I just knew things were going to […]

Tsjuder is back with their brand of uncompromising black metal, their 2nd release since returning from a brief hiatus and they continue to keep the pace and to rise within the ranks of the black metal elite with this release. Tsjuder started out slowly for me, the 1st release I heard from them being Kill For Satan, […]

Season of Mist’s artist dichotomy has changed a lot over the last couple of years.  Adding killer cult riff slingers Kylesa, Floor, Hark (ex-members of underrated UK doom/thrashers Taint), Weedeater and Saint Vitus has certainly deepened the label’s moat and fortified its already armored bunker.  The imprint’s latest riff-heavy signing, Wildlights, features guitarist/vocalist Jason Chi […]

As bands like Funeral, Thergothon, and Skepticism took doom metal to its ultimate depressive conclusion in the mid ‘90s, the funeral doom sub-subgenre was born. Finland’s Shape of Despair formed around that time under the name Raven, but didn’t release their debut, Shades of…, until 2000. By this time, Funeral had moved on to something […]