One of the real wordsmiths/poet laureates of metal is Martin Walkyier. Best known for fronting cult British thrashers Sabbat in the late 80s, then folk innovators Skyclad throughout the 90s, Walkyier’s Read more […]
Combining elements of stoner rock, sludge metal, and southern tinged hooks and grooves, Kansas’ The Midnight Ghost Train aren’t your average act one would expect to integrate these genres in the middle Read more […]
There isn’t another band like An Autumn For Crippled Children. They don’t sound like anyone else, and vise versa. That’s a big deal. With how many bands can you say that? Not many – or at least not nearly Read more […]
When you see a vanilla-like album title such as Grindcore, it usually goes one of two ways: a rote piece of musical recycling that stems from sheer laziness or a definitive statement of a band that wants Read more […]
Greece is not a hot bed for speed/power metal bands, but that hasn’t stopped hungry upstarts Sacral Rage from releasing a quality debut full-length record with Illusions in Infinite Void. One look at Read more […]
The nice thing about thrash bands is that they’re mostly interchangeable. When one breaks up or moves on to another label, there’s always another ready to step in and assume duty. Granted, things aren’t Read more […]
Now that the dust has long settled on the controversial Eurovision contest and “The Dragontower,” Keep of Kalessin have finally returned (not counting the Introspection EP that is). However, those Read more […]
Quickly transforming from their extreme black Wolfheart debut album roots into a gothic/atmospheric metal institution thanks to the success of the follow up Irreligious, Moonspell in their 23 year existence Read more […]
Ah, the dreaded left-hand turn album. The controversial alteration in sound LP. The risk-taking change that no one saw coming body of work. Any of those are applicable when discussing Code’s fourth album, Read more […]
It’s not too often that you can come across a band that allows for The Project Hate as a reference. But Arbitrator’s debut full-length, Indoctrination of Sacrilege, does exactly that. A self-financed Read more […]
Reading the release for Subversion’s second album, Animi, they were given the description of being a melodic technical metal band. Not having seen that particular description before, it seemed worth Read more […]
The lines between speed metal and thrash can be tough to delineate. Many agree upon “Fast as a Shark” from Accept as the launching point to the speed movement, so it’s great to take in bands from Read more […]
Because there are so many of them, the law of averages dictates that at least one of those singular dude black metal projects will squeak through and have an impact. Far too often, this sub-sub-genre of Read more […]
Unabashedly full of anger and menace, Primitive Man’s debut, Scorn, won over Relapse and got the band a label contract. Filling their time with a number of splits since then, Home is Where the Hatred Read more […]
What can be said of Necrowretch that hasn’t been said of their debut and demo reissue disc? The band seems to epitomize the current crop of retro death metal madness in their attempt to cling directly Read more […]
It’s harder and harder to separate singer Phil Labonte’s middle-school level rants from the content of All That Remains itself. The stirring controversy of how All That Remains “had transcended Read more […]
Spinefarm, who are making a concerted effort to extend their reach into the North American market, are obviously taking a risk with Finland’s At the Hollow. Not even remotely metallic or metal (the label Read more […]
Now two albums removed from the shakeup in the band that saw two-thirds of the golden-age lineup of Negura Bunget depart (members Hupogrammos and Sol Faur, part of the team that brought us NB’s masterwork Read more […]
When pondering the definition of muck: a collection of dirt, rubbish, or waste material, it seems that the Icelandic band chose well. Not that their music is a bunch of rubbish, but rather a collection Read more […]
It makes sense that Winterage, a symphonic power metal sextet hailing from Genoa, Italy, began with violinist Gabriele Boschi and keyboardist Dario Gisotti, as both are featured prominently on the group’s Read more […]
One of those bands who fill up many of the numerous back-fill spots in symphonic metal, France’s Whyzdom have reached their third album by way of Symphony for a Hopeless God. Like their 2012 album Blind? Read more […]
One of the first five metal album purchases in my life, Defenders of the Faith would be my second full-length exposure to these legendary ‘British Steel’ artists – as a neighborhood friend let me Read more […]
Stuck Mojo, who enjoyed a run of unlikely popularity circa 1998 with their Rising album (who can forget the WCW tie-in?), were for a stretch, the prime example of a rap metal band capable of underground Read more […]
Wells Valley, to these eyes and ears, translates to an upper-middle-class community, one of those terribly generic housing plans put in to create space for an influx of yuppies. Having lived near or around Read more […]
Talk about a blast from the past. Putrid Offal was originally deathgrinding it up back in the early ‘90s with a demo, EP, and some splits but things never really panned out after that. Much like seemingly Read more […]
Over the years, metalcore has lost a bit of its edge. In the shift to capitalize off of Killswitch Engage’s winning formula of melodic vocals and heavy riffs, many bands surfaced that took things too Read more […]
Rarely are split efforts a true collaboration of talents. On The Quivering Lights, German neoclassical black metallers Nachtreich combine with Greece’s exceptional one-man atmospheric black metal band Read more […]
Imagery seems to be an afterthought in terms of members usually in the crossover thrash/hardcore game – relegated to visually striking cover art or particular mascots/logos that appeal to the underground Read more […]
Former Slumber guitarist/current Enshine mainman Jari Lindholm is gradually becoming one of the more distinctive songwriters in the atmospheric melodic death metal field. Enshine (who should have a new Read more […]
At this point, there’s usually a collective groan when the “post” metal quotations come out and it’s not without warrant. The sound has seemingly hit its stride over the past few years and now Read more […]
