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 […]
The second album in as many years from Sumac, What One Becomes finds Aaron Turner (ex-Isis) and bandmates flanked by more rousing, distortion-laden ugly sounds than before. Turner, of course, was the master Read more […]
The third album Shapeshifter from Edmonton, Canada’s Mortillery comes three years beyond Origins of Extinction – in the interim shuffling in a new lead guitarist Kent Quinlan while gaining a two-month Read more […]
Imagine if pre-Still Life-era Opeth and Sons of Northern Darkness-era Immortal had a one-night stand and accidentally got knocked up. The unholy offspring of such a union could well be Norway’s Sulphur. Read more […]
Coming into the world on a strong note, like Phobocosm’s debut Deprived (which was only held back by its influence-worship), tends to go one of two ways. The first is the sophomore slump, in which the Read more […]
As more bands in the death metal realm veer towards tech, retro-worship, or dissonance, it’s good to know that straight-forward death metal never goes out of style. Such is the case with India’s Godless, Read more […]
Pretty cool of Metal Blade to give a band like Sourvein an increased platform. Guided by T-Roy (real name: Troy Medlin) since their 1993 inception, the band has endured its share of hard times…and hard Read more […]
For once, let’s spare the awe and usual declarations of how unique and exotic the Icelandic metal scene is. We know that already. Instead, it’s more appropriate to dive head-long into a rather sterling Read more […]
Slitherum is a Greek trio that engages in a form of European gothic doom metal more prevalent in the middle of the 1990’s than today: exploring elements of gothic and art rock in addition to a lot of Read more […]
Furthering the case that Iceland is making waves in the extreme metal scene (alongside Kontinuum and Cult of Lilith), Zhrine is next in line to become a larger name on your list to check out. Comprised Read more […]
The release of Desire’s Magic Theater was pushed back in order to accommodate Purson’s quite active touring schedule, of which this scribe recently caught the band opening for Ghost. Seeing Purson in the Read more […]
Tucked away in the true (or “troo”) netherworlds of European black metal, Germany’s Darkestrah have rather quietly made a career out of utilizing ancient folklore to benefit their conceptual cause. Read more […]
Slovenia in Central Europe is a country this scribe has not really been privy too much as far as heavy metal output. So it’s a welcome sight to be exposed to new material from this country, especially Read more […]
Feel like your usual tech death metal is lacking in variety? Do you think the feeling behind the barrage of notes gets lost in translation? Fear not – Connecticut’s Formless have you covered. Expansive Read more […]
Frankly, the USBM scene has moved so far away from adhering to black metal’s original image purpose that seeing a motley bunch like Bog of the Infidel was heartening. No, they’re not a part of the Read more […]
After the last Devildriver album, 2013’s Winter Kills, vocalist Dez Fafara returned to his roots for a bit with Coal Chamber for a bit. But the time was right to return to Devildriver, which now features Read more […]
Will be rather curious to see if Norwegian singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sylvaine is met with the same kind of derision and spite as Mykrur, for after all, metal is a big, bad all-boys club, Read more […]
Shoulder to shoulder Bandcamp discoveries thanks to your esteemed co-editor have put this scribe on a trail of research and hope to bring new talent to the fold beyond record label pastures. Forming in Read more […]
When one tends to think about brutal death metal, it tends to bring to mind a lot of Suffocation worship, slams a-plenty, and not much holding it all together. It’s unfortunate, because over the past Read more […]
Continuing the band’s successful legacy over the years, Realms of Odoric is the band’s twelfth album to date. The folky melodic death metal format that has been the weapon of choice is still armed Read more […]
Lots ‘o familiar faces along for the ride on Winterhorde’s Maestro. In-demand artist Travis Smith handled cover art duties; Triptykon guitarist/producer V. Santura manned the production boards; and Read more […]
Returning hot off the heels of the ear-pleasing retro-death carnage of Savage Land, Gruesome toss fans a bone with a new EP, Dimensions of Horror. The band’s unabashed worship of Death (and acknowledgement Read more […]
The obvious question with In Mourning is this: how much do they want to be Opeth when Opeth doesn’t want to be Opeth these days? It’s a fine line considering how imitable Opeth’s sound is, particularly Read more […]
After testing the waters in the home of melodic death metal (Gothenburg of course), Avatar finally seemed to find a sound that fit them back with their fourth album, The Black Waltz. 2014’s Hail the Read more […]
Pittsburgh, PA is home to sports institutions such as the Steelers, Pirates, Penguins, and our very own editor for DR – as well as this quartet Talion. Forming in 2011, they went through the usual lineup Read more […]
