Symphony Of Heaven is a Christian melodic black/death metal band from Indiana, that used to be on Rottweiler Records. But with their 3rd album has forged out alone like… that one guy…. that went … out to the wilderness? In the bible maybe? I’m trying here, that theology isn’t really my jam. What IS my […]

Get out your pitchforks sluts because we’re about to talk about nu-metal. It’s a dirty phrase for some, but like it or not, it is making a comeback. As inexplicable as that may be, Vended are in that realm, but their famous fathers who are as well are bound to shed some light on the […]

After a killer year in 2022, but then a relatively slow year in 2023, Symphonic/blackened Deathcore is back to having a superb 2024 with killer releases from Synestia/Disembodied Tyrant, Drown in Sulfur, Eden Adversary, Ruins of Perception, A Wake in Providence, The Archaic Epidemic, Vile Revelation, Downfall of Mankind and of course, Immortal Disfigurement (the […]

Australia’s Werewolves have returned with their fifth album Die for Us, having released an album, each year, since their 2020 debut The Dead Are Screaming.  This time around, no longer with Prosthetic Records, like their prior albums, have released this independently. If you have slept under a rock for the last five years, and have […]

Along with Morgue and Sun of Nothing, Axamenta is yet another band I have not heard in 15-20+ years that I am hearing after a really long gap in 2024. I first heard these epic, melodic Belgians on 2001’s Codex Barathi, but it was on 2006s Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture , where they delivered a dizzying true tour […]

Canada’s Atavistia has released 2 incredibly solid albums of epic,  symphonic balanced metal since 2020 in The Winter Way and Cosmic Warfare, which made my 2023 year-end list (I can’t speak for 2017s One Within The Sun debut). And they continue their excellent productivity with a brand new 5 song EP. Inane Ducam (subtitled ‘I […]

California’s Cephalotripsy dropped one of the most disgusting, brutal slam-filled filthy debut albums in death metal history with Uterovaginal Insertion of Extirpated Anomalies in 2007.  The album cover alone was the price of admission!!  Outside of his other bands, some years later, such as Abominable Putridity, this is the album that put vocalist Angel Ochoa […]

I am bewildered by most things in life, but now it’s mostly about not seeing any coverage of Trog’s debut album, Horrors Beyond. It’s not that difficult to bewilder me (looking at you, avocados), but with the musicians involved, it is striking I haven’t seen much chatter. Those musicians in question; TJ Coon of Reeking […]

Wow. Here is some really creative, unique black/death metal from a Dutch band I know nothing about other than they have 1 prior album under their belt. The actual ‘Shiva Hypothesis’ is a theory concerning extinction-level events and meteors, but the band is a 4 piece with ties to various other Belgian death metal acts, […]

So A while ago, I was having a crazy day and gardening was the main task at hand, but it was made all the better because El Jefe had sent me this promo and I was pretty anxious because of the “Black Metal meets Hawkwind” description in the press blurb. The promo went straight to […]

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 […]

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 […]

Hailing from California The Dread Crew of Oddwood, still falls into the metal category, although they play a combination of Celtic and Folk music, all interwoven into the Heavy Metal universe, however, they do it without electric guitars/bass.  Instrumentation ranges from the stand-up bass, mandolin, tin whistle, drums, and accordion, just to name a few […]

Synestia is a new symphonic deathcore duo consisting of Minnesota’s Sam Melchior (all instruments, writing) and Finland’s Ville Hokkanen (vocals). In 2022 they released their fantastic debut album, Malificium, but it was digital only and got kind of bulldozed by that year’s slew of stellar releases in the genre from Shadow of Intent,  Worm Shepherd, […]

This certainly came out of nowhere. It’s an EP, not a new full-length, but new Necropanther is all I, and hopefully by extension, you need to know. Before really getting into the meat (dead panther meat, I guess) of the EP, this is exactly what I want from this medium. I’ve always thought of them […]

This spring, two US-based, keyboard-heavy, melodic death metal bands will be releasing their second albums respectively. One, Philadelphia’s Malphas with Portal (via M-Theory Audio), and this album from Seattle’s more old-school influenced Veriteras. And it’s not even close to who the winner is as The Dark Horizon is absolutely stunning.  Part of my enjoyment of […]

4 years ago I reviewed the debut album, Decay from Glasgow’s Necrocracy and it was a rough and ready, solid release of no-frills, burly black metal. And then out of the blue, the band emails me and tells me about their new digital and cassette-only release they are dropping. So apparently the material on Predestiny […]

If you fell asleep at the end of 2023 then you would have missed up-and-coming band Red Vinter’s We Built Our Own Death Machine demo, which literally dropped, right before 2024.  While it’s a demo, any release that drops at the end of a year is dead in the water, so to speak.  The band […]

How does a New Jersey Tech Death based on the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion sound? Well, I am intrigued. Things get kicked off with “Synchronization.”   First impressions are a mix of Spawn of Possession with a bit of earlier Archspire. The way they use vibrato is impressive. Pretty insane musicianship from these guys. Excellent guest […]

Cariosus is a new young Chicago duo comprised of Alex Pfister on vocals/bass and Kevin Kryszak on guitars (I can’t find any drummer information, so maybe programmed? They sound fine if so). The duo plays a form of modern metal that pulls from metalcore, melodic death metal, deathcore and such that leans into bands like […]

Impalement is the Swiss, one-man project from Beliath (who also helps out with Germany’s Nargaroth for live shows).  But unlike the other recent Swiss one-man project I reviewed, Felonie, which was more melodic atmospheric black metal, this, as the apt album title states, is blistering, black/death metal. The Dawn of Blackened Death is the second […]

Cripes, I haven’t had an album make me scratch my head as much as this in quite some time. OWDWYR is a technical death metal/grind/djent experimental metal trio (aided by a literal army of guest drummers for almost every track- including Kevin Paradis of Benighted and Kenny Grohowski of Imperial Triumphant) that utilizes classical and […]

I realize Deathcore is a polarizing form of extreme metal and quite honestly I could give 2 shits.  Many people and fans, as well as current and former members of my alma mater, Internal Bleeding have even said our earlier work had a direct influence on Deathcore.  The main points discussed were our second album, […]

I have a soft spot for Gothic Metal. It goes pretty deep, this Gothic love. So when this album popped up in the promo bin I picked it out because I saw that Kostas Salomidis was attached to it. In case you haven’t heard of him, then you should be checking out his band Distorted […]

For my real, actual paying job, I do a fair bit of travel and on said travel, I meet some interesting folks. Some good, some bad, some eccentric. What has always been consistent is metal heads, when they identify each other in the wild, generally get along and have a good time. It’s just kind […]