There sometimes comes a point in a band’s career when it becomes very clear they’re no longer fucking around. And I mean come on! Look at that gnarly friggin’ cover art! While it can never be questioned what Ensiferum‘s contribution to the world of Folk Metal has been, it’s also fair to look at the band’s […]

OK, hear me out… 2024 has been a friggin’ WILD ride for the world of metal and extreme music. Like it or not, the spotlight has perhaps never shone brighter on our little deranged corner of the music world than it is right now. Ignore for a moment legendary stalwarts like Metallica, Iron Maiden or […]

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 […]

Despite being around the scene for a bit now, I don’t have any real experience with Wristmeetsrazor, and I’ll be the first to admit a good part of that comes right down to the fact that the word I’d heard most often associated with the band when they first crossed my radar, how ever many […]

So like, as a dude inching closer and closer to 40, I’ve been finding myself doing a fair amount of self-reflecting and fighting through existential crises and all that fun shit. I often end up wondering what the hell is wrong with me because I remember being in my teens and 20s and having a […]

The idea that I, some dumb schmuck from the fuck-all dregs of nowhere, could actually offer anything that might change your opinion of Midnight or indeed this, their latest offering of dick-swinging, occult-obsessed Blackened Speed and Punk, is goddamn laughable. In fact, I’ll just come right out and say this right from the get-go (because the […]

Gotta give credit where it’s due – Finland’s purveyors of thrashy ermine mayhem, Necro Weasel, really hit the nail on the head when it comes to their chosen moniker. If you caught my review of the band’s 2022 offering, Never Again, I made mention of many of the reasons Weasels are not to be fucked with, including their […]

I gotta say, so far I have not been real impressed with 2024. I started the year with a real good case of covid (I’m still not 100%), the Buffalo Bills simultaneously found new, creative ways to break my heart AND  dig in to the “Best of” drawer of misery by once again kicking wide-right […]

I cannot help myself. At the beginning of every year, there’s always an album I hear and say “GUYS! We already have an album of the year contender! Really, I swear!” It’s dumb. That’s not to say any of those albums haven’t merited the attention I’ve given them, but saying something will stand as the […]

Getting all bleary-eyed and waxing poetic about a given band’s “old school sound” is one of the metal world’s most time-honored tropes. It’s not even just the old heads that can’t help but get all nostalgic for a good throwback, either – these days you’ll find no shortage of trucker hat-wearing, often-mustachioed young men with […]

The island state of Tasmania, located just across the southern Bass Strait from mainland Australia, is tiny. And being, you know, an island, it’s pretty isolated as well, despite it’s proximity to Australia. So it comes as no surprise that the output of quality metal bands from there might be a bit limited. That said, […]

I’ll be honest with you, dear reader – usually when an established artist strikes out on their own, regardless of how much I may respect and admire them or their prior work with their respective bands, I just cannot care less. I don’t think it’s going out on too big of a limb to say […]

No one here needs me to tell you, but I’m gonna do it anyway – times is tough! As such, I recently took up a weekend gig to help make ends meet and, after a nearly decade hiatus, rejoined the food service and hospitality industry (bear with me I promise there’s a point to all […]

It seems like forever ago now (as does anything that happened in 2020) that our fearless leader Erik T forwarded me a release from Richmond’s gutter kings of dirty, DnD-loving thrash, Battlemaster. I’d had no prior knowledge or experience with the band, but right away Ghastly, Graven and Grimoireless took me by the throat and […]

Picture this: you find yourself in the hellscape of a charred and broken battlefield. You’re tired, bleeding from a nasty gash left in your ribs by a claymore you were only just lucky enough to avoid having split you in two. Vision is blurred, everything sounds echoed and distant. Desperately, you look in every direction […]

I am not a musician. I can play drums at a basic level well enough, but my artistic talents find much greater purchase in other avenues. Given how important music grew to become in my life, having to accept that music would probably never be in the cards for me on a more serious level […]

The back half of 2023 has provided me with a pretty hefty load of really heavy albums. I don’t mean, like, bone-crushing, headbanging heavy – I mean like, they’ve given me a lot to think about. Really full, robust listening experiences that take a lot of time and focus to really dissect, really understand. Some […]

Shade Empire, if nothing else, is a band who has time and again shown a willingness to let their sound morph and mutate into new forms, almost with every single release. When they entered the chat back in 2004 with their debut Sinthetic, they brought with them a Melodeath attack akin to fellow fins’ Mors Principium […]

Everything about the UK’s Svalbard can be characterized, in one way or another, as high-freaking-impact. Even when the band is taking a brief respite from their usual full-speed-ahead musical approach – a high-octane mix of Post-Hardcore, Metalcore, Black Metal and D-Beat that rarely (if ever) pulls any punches – they’re still likely coming at you face-first […]

In the end, how do you want to be remembered? Will you be remembered at all? The ultimate weight of our own legacy hangs like a formless specter, bearing down on us with every waking moment, growing heavier and more gnarled with every step towards this life’s inevitable conclusion. And that’s kind of a bitch, […]

What the hell is going on over in Indiana? Seriously, I can’t bring to mind anything notable about the Hoosier state, aside from one day a year when a bunch of the world’s finest racecar drivers go to press their lips against some disgusting bricks so they can go around a circle a billion times, […]

HOLY SHIT did I need this album in my life right about now. A couple years ago, Graveripper dropped an EP that, though fairly raw in its delivery, showcased a ton of potential in these thrashing Indiana maniacs. Radiated Remains packed more killer riffs in its brief 20-minute onslaught than a lot of bands can dish […]

For those of you in America and around the world still very much in the hellacious grip of global warming’s wrath, I apologize for what I’m about to say but – ’round these parts, the creeping chill of autumn’s arrival is very much starting to make an appearance, and frankly I need it to just […]

As the days and months and years keep piling up, it’s become more clear to me than ever that the idea of growing “mature with age” can mean two very different things: There’s the literal, more widely recognized notion where time and experience allows you to take stock of the things that actually matter in […]

Logistically speaking, there’s only so many bands that can reach that legendary status of “true originators,” a band that for a period of time – maybe a few years, maybe generations – creates a sound that gets endlessly copied, replicated, ripped off, paid tribute to, call it whatever you want. Obviously, we’re talking the Black […]