Man, not only has death metal seen some excellent , label released goodness in 2009 (Augury, Gorod, Obscura, Ulcerate, Man Must Die, Nile, As You Drown, The Red Shore to name just a few), along come bands like Cephalectomy, Avicularia, Unconventional Disruption, Burial Ritual, Zealotry and Quebec’s Vengeful to self release some death metal awesomeness […]

On paper, the combination of female vocalist London Wilde (an experienced metal lass with various writing, engineering and vocal credits to her name since 1994, even performing bass tracks on the 2004 Chastain album In An Outage) and Dave Starr, a 25 year metal veteran who served as bassist for relatively legendary Bay area Thrashers […]

How the fuck is it that 3 my favorite albums of 2009 are self released (two being Kalisia and Be’lakor) and one of them, Cephalectomy’s An Epitaph to Tranquility is a FREE FUCKING DOWNLOAD????? That’s right. The full length follow up to 2004 excellent Eclipsing the Dawn (not counting the 28 minute single track, The Dream […]

The entire package presented here is associated with beer. The name Final Gravity is a term used in brewing beer, the CD cover is a picture of the bottom of a wooden keg carved with ingredient symbols, and the band bio will not let you forget how much the band enjoys beer, even going as […]

Though not quite as awe-inspiring as country mates Be’lakor, here’s some more quality Australian metal , this time in the form of unsigned but high quality Melbourne melodic death metal act, Orpheus. Though only a 6 track (one being an intro), 21 minute affair, Orpheus show enough skill and song writing ability to play with […]

Here’s a solid little self released, 11 track ‘album’ (eight 2008 demo tracks and three 2009 demo tracks) from this New York act who should appeal to fans of All Shall Perish, Within the Ruins, Antagony, Born of Osiris, The Faceless and such; that’s to say a form of polarizing modern metal that’s part technical […]

The little bit I did gather from the long-ass, convoluted bio for Italy’s Carnal Rapture is that they’ve been around in one form or another since 1992. What they play on the mysteriously titled Promo 2008 is a mid-paced, jazzy tech death that is all twisted, turning, and lopsided with mid-range scratchy growls that fall […]

Yet another new young thrash band trying their hand at the 80’s sound and feel. Conniption hail from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and A Method to Madness is the bands debut self-released LP originally released last year. Though since I’ve received the album for review, they’ve been signed by Germany’s Rock It Up Records, who are to […]

Futility are an unsigned act from Australia that play an aggressive version of death/doom. For a self-released debut, this isn’t too bad but it seems amateurish in comparison to some of the other premier doom acts coming from Aussie territory.Slowly, “Failed” starts of with harmonized misery, reminiscent of early Anathema and Katatonia. With the somber […]

Man oh man; Australia produces some great extreme metal acts, especially those of the black, death, and war variety. The fertile down-under breeding ground has given us another righteous death metal act in Defamer and its first full-length release, Chasm. This one is all about evil atmosphere and old school spirit, but damn, it takes […]

Attention all extreme metal record labels, Milwaukee’s Burial Ritual deserves a spot on your roster. Check out the precision death metal execution and memorable songwriting of Tower of Silence and I defy you to disagree. That’s not to say that self-released albums aren’t typically worthy of your time, but it is still a pleasant surprise […]

Les Tenebres’ (Norway) is a band that is not easily categorized. The most convenient thing to do is to file them under Doom Metal and be done with it. But as I listen to …And The Waves Came Crushing Down, I hear elements of Doom but I cannot concur with the tag as the overall […]

How in the fuck is a band like Be’lakor not signed to a decent label? (In the US anyway) Not only did they deliver a stunning self released debut, The Frail Tide in 2007, which was universally acclaimed, they have followed it up with a tighter, better produced follow up. All a label has to […]

Heralded as “the new breed of heavy” by guitarist/producer Joey Z, Misery’s Fifteen Years of Aggression should deliver the goods. Technically. While the band is undoubtedly heavy, the tried-and-true brand of metal that they play is anything but original. This is your typical metal/hardcore hybrid, the kind of music that local bands play each weekend […]

Coexistence, formed in 2008, is a long-distance project between guitarist Gregory Giraudo and vocalist Carl Lindquist. One lives in South France, the other in Stockholm, Sweden. Considering the distance between the two, and the fact that the music was recorded in France and the vocals in Sweden, this four-song EP is not a bad little […]

This Australian band mixes neofolk, progressive rock, classic heavy metal and Viking/black metal with an epic, narrative approach that should appeal to fans of Empyrium, Solefald and Doomsword. It’s an ambitious album, and obviously a lot of care and thought has gone into it, although in the end I found it as exasperating as it […]

I’m always a little nervous when I get an independent CD. On the one hand, I hate to rip them apart. They’re usually bands just starting out that still need a lot of work but could develop into something, and being a lousy guitarist that refuses to give it up myself, I hate to discourage […]

I thought this band was called Infernal Folklore, ‘cause that’s the only readable text on the CD. No help from that logo, either. Had to do a bit of research to find out that it’s actually called Infernal Scourge – how’s that for obscure underground status? A bit more research revealed that this is the […]

A 20-part, hour-plus epic concept album mixing virtuoso progressive metal, blistering melodic death and symphonic grandeur? Sold. This French band comes off like the glorious blend of Scar Symmetry, Symphony X and Nightwish, with plenty of other influences – Cynic being a big one – popping up throughout. As you’d expect from those references, the […]

Here’s a promising, nicely packaged, self released, 5 song EP than will not only appeal to you retro thrash fans out there, but maybe fans of modern thrash like Trivium and Cerberus (US). Hailing from Tempe, Arizona, Hemoptysis (coughing up of blood or of blood-stained sputum from the bronchi, larynx, trachea, or lungs), have all […]

I decided to review this self released Italian metalcore effort and the debut, At The Bottom from Canada’s Odium on the same day so you readers could get two slightly different examples of how clean vocals affect the totality of the album. In the case of Inside Process, their heavier, meatier take on metalcore (a la […]

Here’s yet another excellently put together, self – released effort, this time from Phoenix, Arizona’s Loren Battle, however, the music isn’t quite as promising as the cover art and self described mix of “beauty and brutality”. What we have here is a very predictable style of metalcore that’s on the heavier end of the spectrum […]

I remember seeing a couple of full page ads for this release in Metal Maniacs, and thinking there’s no way this can be any good- Viking metal from Ohio? But boy was I wrong. Sharing a lot of elements with Oakhelm, Hammer Horde are not only a Viking metal band from the least Viking place […]

Under the Gun is not you average hardcore album, at least by today’s standards. You will find no pictures of anorexic males with hair combed to the side, girly pants, or eyeliner, nor anything resembling a straightedge ideology. Hell, it’s not even traditional hardcore, although lunatic punk or hirsute hardcore might be fitting descriptions of […]

Let’s get this out of the way first, and put it out there. Inchoate is the instrumental metal brainchild of one man – Brandon Duncan. Brandon Duncan recently designed the new teeth of the divine.com logo and is doing the shirt designs that will be available shortly. First, Mr. Duncan sent me the CD some […]