He does fantastic artwork, but from a mile away, you know it’s a Seth Siro Anton (Septicflesh) cover art job on Beneath Abyss. Such was the first thing that came to mind when Caelestia’s Beneath Abyss Read more […]
Blame it on Dimmu Borgir. Or more recently perhaps Septicflesh and Fleshgod Apocalypse. But there’s no denying the impact of an effective orchestration surrounding an extreme metal base. Ouroboros’ Read more […]
The longstanding complaint with Abigail Williams is that they’re almost too adaptable to the times. When keyboard-dominated, metalcore-influenced black metal started to head on out, so did Abigail Williams. Read more […]
The latest case of the disappearing band act, Brazil’s Pathologic Noise recorded several demos starting in the late ‘90s and delivered a full-length, Sodomy and Delight on Flesh, in 2003 only to vanish Read more […]
A bit of a lengthy title on this one, particularly when the album (EP?) only consists of 4 songs and a brief introduction. But there’s no denying the “metalness” and coolness of this particular Read more […]
A bit unnerving to see dude-man-bro-down metalcore/djent ‘core makes it way over to Switzerland, you know? We’ve yet to quarantine the style over here in America, so when it travels over the Atlantic Read more […]
Of the areas that can currently be explored with the black metal lens, one ripe for the taking is that of hardcore/metalcore (old school metalcore, not the Gothenburg-inspired stuff). There’s an interesting Read more […]
There’s no better example of an age-defying band than Saxon. Every album release, it’s a marvel Biff Byford and company are still operating at such a high level; it’s almost as if they’re oblivious Read more […]
Sweden’s Månegarm has been kicking out the blackened/folksy Viking metal jams since the late nineties. Now releasing their eighth studio album, these vets ably demonstrate their staying power in the genre, Read more […]
A musical project between a number of symphonic/power metal musicians known around the circuit such as Delain vocalist Charlotte Wessels, Serenity singer Georg Neuhauser and Everon multi-instrumentalist/producer Read more […]
Originally released in early 2014 on cassette (no less), Sun Worship’s debut effort Elder Giants is getting the proper release treatment via Translation Loss. A German black metal trio who formed in Read more […]
Digging deeper into my new local CT scene, this journalist first took in Shallow Ground from Meriden at a thrash/death show in New Hampshire prior to moving – immediately picking up their debut album Read more […]
It’s very possible the fertile extreme metal country that is Poland won’t be able to hold onto Mord ‘A’ Stigmata for much longer. Active since 2004, the Poles have held court in their own territory Read more […]
Featuring members of up-and-coming, but unsung Australian acts Vespers Descent, Chaos Divine, Noctis, Ur Draugr and Deadspace, Watercolour Ghosts is a relatively new outlet, parlaying the sounds of metal, Read more […]
The wonders of the world today, where you can have a group of musicians in a band that spread themselves from all across the globe. Serocs has members from Mexico, Finland, the US, and Canada, all pulled Read more […]
All hail the eternal, lumbering march towards Golgotha! Particularly as of late, with an enormous push of bands pushing out that combination of Incantation, Autopsy, and Bolt Thrower in order to drone Read more […]
With rumblings ISIS (the band) are gearing up to reform, it looks like post-metal is due for another bloom. Now, this doesn’t mean its current inhabitants aren’t doing quality work; Rosetta are still Read more […]
With the combination of Revocation’s self-titled effort in 2013 and last year’s Deathless, it appears that much of the metal world has finally caught up to what Revocation has been cooking since the Read more […]
As Victory Records’ most unconventional signing, Montreal black metal horde Erimha have taken it upon themselves to be equally as non-conforming. While the band’s 2013 Reign Through Immortality effort Read more […]
The first word that seems to come to mind with Marasmus’ sophomore effort, Conjuring Enormity, is that of intensity. And that’s saying something, because as a writer, you are constantly exposed to Read more […]
Still fresh off their warmly-received 2014 Untrodden Corridors of Hades album, long-running (as in, 1988) Greek black metal ensemble have cobbled together an odds-and-sods EP by way of The Confessional Read more […]
Going against the idea that no one listens to full albums anymore, let alone three, Finnish melodic doom stalwarts Swallow the Sun have started their term on Century Media with the daunting task of releasing Read more […]
Based on 2015 alone, whenever an album comes out through Lavadome Productions you can be assured it’s worth looking into. We’ve been given Ad Nauseam, Heaving Earth, and Destroying Divinity among Read more […]
Another new band with plenty of star-power to back it up, Abhorrent try to craft out their own place within the ever-growing tech-death scene. Comprised of Erlend Caspersen (Spawn of Possession), Lyle Read more […]
Germany’s Fatal Embrace have been together partaking in the thrash scene since 1993 – beginning with the more evil Nosferatu moniker before changing names. After a series of demos they released their Read more […]
A wily Australian bunch with a penchant for stunning artwork (the same bodes for their debut The Wretched Ascetic EP), Ur Draugr fall through the cracks as being neither death nor black, but one of those Read more […]
Having ascended to elder-statesmen of hardcore status, Long Island’s Vision of Disorder are without much to prove these days, outside of whatever motivation the band has to keep going. Even though they Read more […]
Considering the overuse of the “progressive” tag in the modern metal world, it’s hard to give an apt description and/or give the term some actual relevance. Some bands tout being progressive when Read more […]
Graduating from Rapid Fire column ranks (as this journalist tackled their Darkest Horrors debut there in the July 2014 edition), Dying Son hopefully asserts Sweden’s Starblind as more of their own force Read more […]
Once the year wraps up in a bit, it should belong to Night Demon, who in a very convincing fashion, have single-handedly revived pure American old-school metal. Given the lack of available good names, Read more […]
