2020 has been an unbelievable year for the new wave of Traditional Heavy Metal, with the last quarter of the year especially being a veritable battleground of bands vying to solidify their place on everyone’s year-end list. Wytch Hazel, Spirit Adrift, Megaton Sword, and of course Eternal (FUCKING) Champion have all landed monstrous haymakers that […]

At face value, Finland’s Worthless play Swedish styled death metal. They have HM 2 sounding guitars (though not overbearing), gruff, rough vocals and cantankerous, galloping riffs. But if you take a deeper dive (and take into account the band moniker and album title) in the band’s second full length, you get a little more nuanced […]

Long running German death metal act Profanity return with their fourth album – Fragments of Solace, which is 7 songs in 41 minutes guaranteed to rip your head off, slam it against the concrete then shove it through the Earth’s core exploding it in the process.  I have seen the band logo for years, but […]

“We are Power Trio band that plays Metal as close to the glorious early 80’s years, just pure Metal, without nowadays trends.” That’s the bio Colombia’s Witchtrap have written on their Instagram page, and… I mean, that’s job done, really! What the fuck do you need me for? Seriously though – this is just what […]

It happens every year; temperatures start cooling down, the leaves start changing colors, days start having an oddly not-at-all-unpleasant feeling of melancholic gloom as the world’s flora begins its decent towards decay – and inevitably my music rotation turns to that of a much doomier variety. Ghost Brigade and Sentenced are always big fall time […]

The introduction for an album by a band called Rancid Taint Discharge writes itself, but I’m an incredibly serious reviewer. I don’t have time for such childish musings (pushes up glasses). What you’re going to get here is the well-read, researched point of a view of a wise, learned man. So, let’s get right into […]

First things first. I’m not sure what it is Melbourne, Austrailia’s Mr. Kill is trying to say with their moniker, but whatever it is I don’t think it works. To raise one’s self to the level of bonafide “Mr.” in the entertainment and capitalistic world is quite lofty. You just don’t rise overnight to the […]

“Hey, Farva! What’s the name of that restaurant you like with all the goofy shit on the walls and the mozzarella sticks?” “You mean ‘Shenanigans?!’ You guys are talking about ‘Shenanigans,’ right?” “Shenanigans?” “Tomfoolery?” “Fuckery?” All of these could apply in some circumstances to Dethlehem’s latest slab of fantasy, D&D inspired metal, which is called […]

So here’s the thing – I’m going to come right out here and say that, in general, Black Metal isn’t really my favorite form of metal, let alone my strong suit. I know! I know. There’s a chance that a certain faction of our audience have already disregarded anything else I have to say on […]

I’m pretty sure everyone goes through some degree of a dinosaur phase during their childhood, right? I know I sure as shit went through a pretty big one. Look around long enough in my parents’ house and you’ll probably still stumble across some plastic dinosaur figurines, dinosaur bed sheets, probably a few books. Then at […]

Lansing Michigan’s Recorruptor return with their 2nd full length release The Funeral Corridor.  I must admit I had not been familiar with these guys but saw in the liner that Josh Moore of Summon is their drummer.  I was a big fan of Summon’s 2005 Fallen album and wanted to see what these guys were […]

Ah, another review that has suffered the effects of long term tardiness due to an extremely hectic life schedule these past few months. Nevertheless, the term “better late than never” does not aptly due justice to the transgression of not getting the word out sooner on the fantastic second full-length offering, Usurper, from the Netherland’s […]

Are you ready for some Long Island NY Thrash Metal??  Then give me a Hell Yeah!!  I still can’t hear you!  HELL YEAH!!!.  That’s more like it.  Ok, a little bit of personal info and then onto the review.  I grew up on Long Island and seen Maelstrom live several times on the island back […]

What would you get if you placed Hypocrisy, Soilwork, and Children of Bodom in a blender? Well, two things: Several murder charges and a smoothie of which Jeffrey Dahmer would be envious. If you just wanted to mix their musical styles instead of all the people, you may have something similar to Buried Realm. For […]

I have been a fan of Fargo, North Dakota’s Gorgatron for quite some time.  Back in the day Anal Blast used to play shows with them and I have gotten to see and play on many shows with them since then.  Well fast forward to summer 2020 and we have their Third full length record […]

OK, this is an odd, but intriguing one. ( and for clarification its Wood-Scream, not Woods-Cream) Hailing from Russia, with a few releases under their belt and playing folk metal and being female-fronted, I was hoping for some sort of epic eastern European folk romps akin to Dalriada or Grai. But instead, I got a […]

BEAR MACE! (Sorry, I’ve just been yelling that at any opportunity since finding these dudes. It’s fun). Look, I know I harp on this a lot, but my favorite metal usually comes from the bands who seem to be enjoying themselves the most (unless you’re Atilla. Just… no). I’m the buzzed dude in board shorts […]

Never judge a book by its cover. We all know this. Right? I mean it’s only an age old adage that has been around since…well, the dawn of ages. Naturally, one can apply this sage wisdom to the music/metal world when it comes to album covers, band names, song titles, and the like. So knowing […]

Baltimore’s Codex Orzhova are a highly original act.  Whether you want to call them mathcore, deathgrind, Nintendocore, Robotron/Defender grind noise, I feel Baja Blasted is the most original album for 2020.  The band released a self-titled album 2 years ago, however this album contains some of those songs and I am unsure if that first […]

Sarpa ( the Sanskrit term for serpent) is the Austin, Texas-based one-man black/death project from the mind of David Baxter, formerly of industrial thrashers Skrew). The aptly named album Solivagus (roughly translated from Latin to ‘wondering alone’) is his first effort, no demos, no singles, just right into this ambitious 7 song 48-minute affair that […]

So recently, I have received a few progressive experimental and often symphonic metal/death metal albums. The Outsider‘s one man effort, From Ancient and Forbidden Books, Orbit Culture’s hammering, Gojira worshiping self titled album, and this, the second effort from the UKs Rannoch. With Opeth and Gojira worn openly on their sleeve, Rannoch delivers 12 tracks […]

Well, isn’t this just a barrel of rainbows and fucking unicorns? Scottish Hardcore rays of sunshine Razor Sharp Death Blizzard obviously aren’t mincing words about their current outlook on life. If it’s light-of-heart positivity and joy you’re looking for, just keep walking, friend – ‘cuz This shit is bleak. Like, BLEAK bleak. Somebody please give […]

There must be a huge Finnish or Scandinavian poplace or cultural influence in Canada right? Other wise  why is there such a surprisingly  large amount of solid Finnish sounding epic/folk/viking bands there? Blackguard/Profugus Mortis, Crimson Shadows, Vesperia/Bolero, Battlesoul. Will of the Ancients, Nordheim, Valfreya just to name a few. Well, add Vancouver’s Atavistia to that […]

Here’s a little atmospheric, shoe-gazy, post rock serenity to break up the death and black metal by way of UK collaboration Dawnwalker, a project featuring members of UK acts Sacred Son (who you may remember for making metal headlines for their album cover a few years ago), Pijn, Metasoma, Gold Baby and a host of […]

It’s been 6 years since Milwaukee’s Ara released Destroyer of Worlds, and although guitarist Jerry Hauppa (who once wrote for this very site) remained busy with the likes of Steel Iron, Northless and Prezir,(sadly his instrumental project, Concentric is no more) it’s a new Ara record I’ve been waiting for from Mr Hauppa and co. […]