Coming hot off of the recently issued 20th anniversary celebration that was the Termination Redux EP, Aborted are back with their latest full-length, the lovingly ‘80s-inspired Retrogore. Not exactly Read more […]
Post-metal, instrumental style. A bit hard to foul this one up, although we’ve seen our share of second-rate bands trying to make lemonade out of lemons with the sound. In the case of Barcelona’s Syberia, Read more […]
French tech-death unit Slave One aren’t your stereotypical tech-death band. In fact, it almost seems like a disservice to the band to continue to peg them as such. Sure, the elements are all there Read more […]
Wonder if the teenage/hardcore Emperor version of Ihsahn would be impressed by how far he’s come with his experimental edge. You’d think he would be, as Mr. Ihsahn was one of the few who were suitably Read more […]
Getting my feet wet in the upstate New York metal scene since moving to the lower half of New England, discovery of local bands has been a priority. This quartet came on my radar screen because of prime Read more […]
This is a big ‘ole slog in a bog, which definitely does rhyme with The Fog, but frankly, who gives a toss? A German blackened sludge/doom troupe who’s been working it since 2014, The Fog’s Perpetual Read more […]
The collaborative international project platform exploded in conjunction with home studio and internet connectivity over the past decade (or slightly longer) – as the material can be done remotely and Read more […]
The struggle with Italy’s The Foreshadowing has been this: their debut album, Days of Nothing (2007), was so good, so timely, and so thoroughly intoxicating, that it’s next to impossible for the band Read more […]
It never works out. Like, never. That would be an instrumental band adding a singer late into their career. The most obvious example would be Karma to Burn, who upon signing to Roadrunner Records in 1997, Read more […]
One of the most talked about bands of the last few years, Fallujah made waves when they released the 2014 monster The Flesh Prevails. It wasn’t that they were the first band to infuse atmosphere into Read more […]
Although the lion’s share of headliners in the symphonic metal movement hail from European shores – it’s only natural to see an uptick in United States newcomers wishing to put their creative stamp Read more […]
It takes a lot for a young band to impress in the female-fronted category nowadays. All too many times, you hit play and receive the standard soprano vocals, corsets, and symphonic-laden clichés. Forever Read more […]
In the land where the listener has heard it all, the hybrid reigns supreme. Taking some known metal talent in bassist Steve Di Giorgio (Death/Testament) and Yanic Bercier (ex-Quo Vadis) and spinning them Read more […]
Say “high desert” and you think of Kyuss, Brant Bjork, and the gang. It’s a defined term within stoner and sludge circles, probably because the above-mentioned parties are so influential and unique. Read more […]
Finland’s Ravenia are a relative new entity for these ears- coming together in 2013 and releasing their premiere Wingless EP (is a two-track effort truly an EP or a single these days?) the subsequent Read more […]
Ideally as a genre progressive music should be about expanding parameters in terms of ideas and execution, developing a sense of freshness through successive exposures to the same composition. Interested Read more […]
Well overdue for a book considering Mikael Akerfeldt’s gift of gab and Opeth’s fascinating history, the Swedes have pulled together quite the impressive package with the aptly-titled Book of Opeth. Read more […]
Mantar are indicative of Nuclear Blast’s current roster tussle, where the old (see: Hammerfall) are being replaced by the unconventional (also see: Ghost Bath). Such moves may not reap similar sales figures, Read more […]
Impressing with their 2014 EP, Possessing Entity, Post Mortal Possession have returned with a new EP in the form of Forest of the Damned. Brutal death metal by way of Pittsburgh, the band has found a Read more […]
Running Wild and Venom are name-dropped for Barbarian’s Cult of the Empty Grave. Given the famed pirate metallers current state of festival-only activity and Venom’s never-ending string of subpar albums Read more […]
Akercocke, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Devin Townsend, Omophagia. If you can’t guess the connection yet, it’s that all of the above have brough some suit-and-tie, well-dressed sense to metal (certainly there Read more […]
Bursting onto the scene with their 2013 EP Cosmic Dissonance, anticipation has only grown to see how the band would fare on their first full-length. Gaining even more stock with guitarist Justin McKinney Read more […]
Oftentimes bands blend black metal and death metal into twisted forms that seemingly appeal to one moreso than the other. That’s the interesting thing about Mourning Soul. This Italian band eschews Read more […]
Wait a second…is that some craft beer-loving, pseudo-rugged hipster on the cover of Rorcal’s Creon? The gentleman sure looks like it, eh? This scribe sometimes can’t walk 10 feet in his hometown Read more […]
Congratulations should be in order for Alexander Högbom, for he’s done what no other October Tide vocalist has been able to do: make it to a second album. Obviously, we’re saying this in jest, for Read more […]
At a critical juncture in the band’s career, Crimes Against Humanity could be ‘game over’ literally for this Italian thrash act. Third albums usually launch musicians into a steady, faithful followings Read more […]
Safely nestled into the category of effective band name, the Ukranian death metal outfit Fleshgore isn’t going to stun anyone with the type of music they play based on name alone. Having assembled back Read more […]
New Bedford, MA band Gaskill has been delivering original music since 1995 – sticking to their guns through self-perseverance, a significant break during the late 2000’s and natural lineup changes- Read more […]
Drum and bass. Entirely not the usual method of assault that one tends to find in heavy metal music, but when your band is made up of half of NY’s estranged black metal outlet Krallice, you can assume Read more […]
The struggle now with Rotten Sound, more than ever, is, where else can they go? Is it possible they’ve crested with the Exit, Cycles, and Cursed triumvirate? Surely. When a band is so brazenly extreme Read more […]
