Well this definitely on my list for most improved tech death bands of 2020.  Kansas City Missouri’s Ahtme return with their 2nd full length album Mephitic.  I must admit I was a bit ho-hum regarding their 2018 debut Sewerborn.   It beyond clear that the sound of the group has matured a bit and the song […]

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 […]

Having been around since 2009 Death metal international group Serocs are to me one of most underrated Tech Death bands out there right now.  Vore features Laurent Bellemare on vocals who is also the vocalist for the band Sutrah that I reviewed earlier this year.  Serocs also features Kevin Paradis on drums also of Benighted […]

Montréal, Quebec’s ultra-brutal tech-death/deathcore act Beneath The Massacre return with their fourth album, Fearmonger.  The band seemingly going into a hibernation for some years, as their last album Incongruous, was released in 2012.  Much of the band has remined intact, the newest member is Anthony Barone, on drums.  When bands are so over-the-top brutal I […]

I once read a review regarding Belgium’s Pestifier and their then, sophomore release, Reaching the Void, where the group was described as sounding like a collision of Obscura, Beyond Creation, and Vektor. I’ve always like that analogy of the band. It’s true, clean, concise, and includes by association other influential acts such as Pestilence, Death, […]

As I peruse through albums I might consider year end candidates I see a lot of black metal; …And Oceans, Abduction, Kryptamok, Aara, Afsky, Eisenkult, Glaciation, Marrasmieli  to name a few. But there is very little truly special  death metal.Sure there’s some good stuff like the always reliable Abysmal Dawn,  The Project Hate‘s Purgatory or […]

When I heard a few months back that Ulcerate was working on a new album, I couldn’t have been more excited.  I own their entire LP catalog, and after seeing them live in San Antonio 4-5 years ago, I was floored at the atmosphere they create and the fact that they were able to produce […]

Imagine for a moment Abysmal Dawn were your average, every day, 9-5 productive cog in society. It’s not too far from the truth. After all, they do make death metal for a living (although, let’s face it, they probably need other jobs, too). They get up, go to work every day, do a great job, […]

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. […]

Italy’s brutal bastards, Devangelic return with their third album, Ersetu and their first for Willowtip records after departing from Comatose, who released their prior 2 brutal albums.  Devangelic play no frills brutal death metal.  By now you know what you’re getting into with a Devangelic album. 9 songs in an abrupt 31 minutes, but when death metal is played this brutal, this is […]

Starting 2020  with the same productivity (Myth of I, Aronious, Sutrah) as they ended 2019 (Immanifest, Singularity, Flub, Equipoise, etc) The Artisan Era is quickly rivaling Unique Leader Records when it comes to tech death, even if The Artisan Era seems to have a a little more focus on symphonics. However, there may be some […]

When one who is familiar with the label sits down with a Unique Leader release, there are a few items which come to mind. Firstly, this is going to likely be technical death metal. There will be fantastic musicianship on display. Frequently, the production will also be brick walled, and it may be difficult to […]

Tapping into an intriguing mix of tech death and slam, Wormhole aim to expand upon the impressive groundwork laid on their 2016 debut, Genesis, a recent discovery of mine after initially overlooking the album. Some line-up tweaks failed to dull the impact of Wormhole’s cutting edge brand of technical sophistication meets guttural slam approach, and […]

I can’t stop listening to the barrage of amazing Technical Death Metal coming from The Artisan Era.  Recently I reviewed Montreal’s Sutrah which blew my out of the water. Now I am taking a gander at a group from Green Bay Wisconsin called Aronious.  This is a time consuming album to process at being close […]

I was immediately intrigued by this release as it’s another symphonic/tech black/death whatever release from The Artisan Era who have already wowed me in 2019 with the likes of Singularity, Oubliette, Mordant Rapture, The Odious Construct, Warforged and such, but also that the band features former members of Council of the Fallen, one of the […]

I’m not very familiar with the UKs Infant Annihilator, other than the ridiculous prices their first 2 albums are being sold for, and that some of the members are in down tempo act Black Tongue. But The Battle Of Yaldabaoth is my first time actually hearing them, and if it’s any indication, those prices are […]

Greece’s Murder Made God have been on my radar since their 2013 Brutal Bands Release Irreverence. If you are not familiar with the style of death metal Murder Made God play I would describe as quite percussively rhythmic and groovy.  Murder Made God’s 2019 effort Endless Return is no exception.  Kicking things off with “Alive”, […]

The Artisan Era is really starting to come into its own as a label, and is starting to hone in on a pretty specific sound. With bands like Inferi, Equipoise, Warforged, The Odious Construct, Arkaik, Aethereus, Oubliette, Flub, Enfold Darkness, Mordant Rapture and The Zenith Passage, the label certainly has some of the better technical […]

Spain’s Wormed, I can’t believe it, have already been around for 20 years.  Holy crap how time flies.  I would assume this little ditty of an ep, in the spherical form of Metaportal is a precursor to Wormed’s fourth full-length album.  I have been a huge fan of the band and have met them on […]

I’m a sucker for tech death, yet I’m also a picky bastard, all too aware of the downsides that finds bands regularly being swallowed by the pitfalls of the often maligned subgenre. The curiously named Flub arrive with their full-length debut platter of technical wizardry, compiled by current and ex members of established acts, Alterbeast, […]

Though I enjoyed every release from Italy’s Fleshgod Apocalypse, going back to 2009s Oracles, I’ve enjoyed some, like 2011s Agony (My album of the year) and 2016s  King, more than others (2013s Labyrinth), but King, really saw the band create the perfect balance between the tech death chaos and the sweeping orchestral majesty that is […]

Well this is most definitely a front runner for EP of the year.  Wow!  Chicago’s Wounds have got my tech death appetite drooling with their debut EP Light Eater.  I had heard from word of mouth from other bands in my area here in Minnesota regarding this incredible band.   I had been hearing the name […]

Guitarist Jim Tasikas is back with Contrarian’s third album and  again, joining is George Kollias (Nile) on drums and vocals ( though Cody McConnell has joined as a live session vocalist), Sulaco’s Brians Mason (guitars) and Ed Paulsen on bass, and the skilled outfit continues their spot on latter era Death homage to precise levels […]

Unique Leader never ceases to amaze me when it comes to being on top of Californian technical death metal bands. Santa Cruz California death metallers Continuum’s second album Designed Obsolescence is an absolute treat.  Featuring current and former members of Animosity, Deeds of Flesh, Decrepit Birth, Allegaeon, the bar has definitely been set quite high […]

One of the purveyors of the Canadian early death metal scene has always been Rimouski’s, Necrotic Mutation.  I still have the Sepulchre of the Suffering on cassette, from 1993, when I was tape trading back in the day.  Necrotic Mutation had more of an underground cult following and never really got their shit together to […]