That next wave of death metal that everyone seems to be championing as of late tends to involve atmosphere. Think of bands like Rivers of Nihil and Fallujah, or the lesser known Warforged – heavy yet Read more […]
Willing to go where few, if any, of his fellow American shredders will go, Toby Knapp’s black metal fascination gets another go with Waxen’s second album, Weihung Auf Satan. The embodiment of a one-man Read more […]
Avid followers of heavy metal understand that output on the musician side as far as records doesn’t pay the bills these days – at least at a comfortable rate from the 1980’s or 1990’s perspective. Read more […]
While some bands make you wait around for that one shining moment within a song, Nails has always been a band that cuts the fat and simply gives you that ‘best part’ of the song as the entire thing. Read more […]
Speak of Ukrainian black metal and of course, the first name that comes to mind is Drudkh. The men-who-shall-not-be-named (or interviewed, or give live performances) have put the country on the BM map, Read more […]
If there’s one travesty to metal in the modern age, it’s that there’s so much of it that sometimes a rare gem goes unnoticed. Minnesota’s Oak Pantheon (who are brothers in arms with the equally Read more […]
It’s not a big deal that a full-on shoegaze band like Nothing has infiltrated metal’s Teflon stratosphere. We’d be more than happy to list the bands who have adopted elements of the sound and dunked it Read more […]
Usually when the word metalcore is used, it leaves a dirty feeling. The over-saturation of that occurred after bands like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, and Unearth ‘broke through’ resulted in much Read more […]
Chicago has consistently produced some memorable metal from the 1980’s on up- and since 2013 the thrash quartet Reign aim to add their creative stamp through their output. Maximum Carnage is the band’s Read more […]
Black metal has evolved dramatically since its creation decades ago. It has spawned various takes on the original style which have crafted some genuinely polarizing bands over the years. Some artists Read more […]
Lap this one up for a moment: “Vegan Straight-Edge Post-Metal.” That’s how Germany’s Thränenkind label themselves. Good for them. It takes a lot of guts to be straight-edge, vegan, and post-metal Read more […]
Query the old guard of thrash and they’ll speak to what a profound influence Discharge was. As one of the initial practitioners of heads-down, no-frills, d-beat punk, the Brits have seen many of their Read more […]
Yellow is the fourth full length album by The Morningside, a progressive metal band hailing from Moscow, Russia. Labeled as ”melancholic metal”, the album draws heavily on influences such as Porcupine Read more […]
Admittedly, before doing the pre-requisite homework, there was a moment of dread with looking at the name With Heavy Hearts. For some reason, an image conjured up of a modern metal act, with a leaning Read more […]
“Scarlet doom” it is for Messa on their debut album, Belfry. A relatively fresh-faced outfit from Italy, Messa are highlighted, punctuated, et al by the wavy, sometimes off-key vocals of Sara. In earnest, Read more […]
Deeper looks into a particular thrash scene such as Greece occur when one act gains bigger international promotional/tour access – thanks to the success of Suicidal Angels, more people are taking a gander Read more […]
Those looking for melody within their otherwise aggressive death metal would do wise to give For I Am King a listen. Hailing from the Netherlands, their first full-length Daemons is the kind of album Read more […]
A Polish quintet who has been kicking around since 2009, Vidian plays a heartfelt, likeable brand of experimental metal, citing the (just-as-likeable) crew of Isis, Cult of Luna, Katatonia, and Gojira Read more […]
Remember when Brazilian thrash took the world by storm with the release of Sepultura’s Beneath the Remains in 1989? The record caught fire due to speedy riffing with melodic nuances on a musical level, Read more […]
One thing that has been great to watch over the years is the shift in melodic death metal from being a mostly Scandinavian club to one that many up-and-coming North American acts have championed and brought Read more […]
You think of Dark Funeral, then you start to think about Marduk, who come to think of it, have always been more productive, forward-thinking, and ultimately, better than Dark Funeral. Food for thought. Read more […]
Katatonia goes on two album “kicks,” for lack of a better term. Discouraged Ones and Tonight’s Decision were an obvious pairing; Last Fair Deal Gone Down remains the band’s triumphant oddity; Viva Emptiness Read more […]
Once you get to the level of supergroup, how do you top that? Well, in the case of Conflux (or The Conflux Collective if you prefer), you keep a core of members, and allow the rest to be a revolving door Read more […]
The second part of the Tales of Avalon saga comes 12 years after The Terror – separation occurring from a break up in 2005 only to reunite in 2009. Rossom Records in Brazil first issued this in 2013, Read more […]
Hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Aftershok is a group that first crossed my ears back in the early Classic Metal Festival years, as their debut Unfinished Business hit the streets in 2002, when the Read more […]
Signed to One Man Army Records, a fitting title for its owner, current Wolfheart leader Tuomas Saukkonen, Greece’s AmongRuins are somewhat of a no-man’s-land band. While tagged as melodic death metal, Read more […]
Do you like thrash metal? Defiatory certainly do, and with their new release Extinct they’re set on making you toxic waltz until you drop. Well, sort of. Defiatory are thrash in the “newer” (if Read more […]
Forward-thinking bands within the death metal realm such as Black Crown Initiate, Fallujah, and Rivers of Nihil have managed to make an impact quickly because of their focus on keeping the death metal Read more […]
Hard to believe it’s already been a year since The Neologist last hit the Bandcamp waves with Coming Full Circle. Full of old school Gothenburg flavored goodness, it was a fine reminder that Stateside Read more […]
The push and pull over instrumental music generally brings forth the obvious question: Does a singer actually make the songs better? It’s a prescient question in some forms of metal, particularly when Read more […]
