Reviews

Pentacle – The Fifth Moon…Beyond and Back (Vic Records)

A relative unknown on these shores due to their uber-cult status, the Netherlands’ Pentacle can be considered one of its country’s first extreme metal bands. Some of the band’s members have enjoyed Read more […]

Unsacred – False Light (Forcefield Records)

Some albums need to be taken at face value for their frenetic rush of adrenaline. There’s no need to hear subtlety or variation. Occasionally you need an album that is just going to relentlessly pound Read more […]

Dimesland – Psychogenic Atrophy (Self Released)

As previously noted in the Veilburner review earlier this month, Dimesland are among the emergent in a new crop of “weird” death metal. Though with Psychogenic Atrophy, don’t fret if you aren’t Read more […]

Letallis – Resonate (Self Released)

When you hear the term, “one man band,” there is a tendency at this point to associate it with black metal. Not that it doesn’t happen elsewhere within metal, but the number of one man black metal Read more […]

2 Wolves – Shelter (Inverse)

Any sentence with the words “Finnish” and “mournful” should get the ‘ole ears-a-perking up. The starting point for this, as you should know, is Sentenced, a band who took its brash, somewhat reckless death Read more […]

Ruinside – 10 Forms of Dominion (Mighty Music)

Finnish thrash now belongs to Lost Society, who in spite of their relatively young age, have managed to earn a following. Whether it’s because of the label they’re on (Nuclear Blast) or their sloppy/dirty Read more […]

Infestum – Monuments of Exalted (Lacerated Enemy Records)

Really hard to keep track of this one, “Infestum,” from “Infestus” for some reason. Granted, infest is quite the metal term, so it’s hard to keep bands away from it (a quick search will find Read more […]

Pineal – Smiling Cult (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions)

Named for its pine cone shape, the pineal gland serves to secrete melatonin, a hormone that regulates your sleep cycle. Before we discovered its true meaning, it was thought to be the “third eye,” Read more […]

Zero Gravity – Holocaust Awaits (Transcending Obscurity)

Ever feel that some melodic death metal bands like Arch Enemy are a bit too polished? If so, it seems that a search of India’s Zero Gravity is in order. To combine with the initial Arch Enemy reference, Read more […]

Indestructible Noise Command – Black Hearse Serenade (Ferocious Records)

An unheralded thrash band from the 80s reforming to give it another run…not exactly a new refrain. Being that these bands aren’t walking into a pot of gold by reuniting, there’s a certain degree of fortitude Read more […]

Apocryfal – Aberration of Mind (Self Released)

To be fair (or unfair, who’s to say), it’s due to a lingering obsession with the video game Contra that this one ended up in the review bin. Something about that game always brought me back for more, Read more […]

Animus Mortis – Testimonia (ATMF)

Santiago, Chile’s Animus Mortis are on to something with Testimonia, their second album and first in six years. By that measure, they’re a rare black metal commodity who is purposely sideways and avant-garde, Read more […]

Veilburner – The Three Lightbearers (Self Released)

Can we start officially using a “weird” death metal tag? 2014 has seen more than its fair share of the strange and demented efforts from bands like Baring Teeth, Pyrrhon, and Dimesland. You can now Read more […]

Orphans of Dusk – Revenant (Self Released)

When it comes to death/doom, there’s often a tendency for bands to linger on the doomy side of things. There are some exceptions of course (Novembers Doom can write a real jackhammer of a song from Read more […]

Zero Down – No Limit to the Evil (Minotauro Records)

If the cover art weren’t so prototypical Ed Repka-oriented, the church burning, snake holding preacher man on the cross would make me believe we would be in for a black metal record – but alas, No Read more […]

Darkspace – Darkspace III I (Avantgarde Music)

Quite the conundrum in terms of title here. Darkspace’s last album (six years ago at this point) was called Darkspace III. The remainder of the band’s discography is similarly labeled and the tracks Read more […]

Threatpoint – Careful What You Wish For (Self Released)

Scranton, Pennsylvania’s Threatpoint have made quite a robust impression on the scene since their spring 2012 inception – Careful What You Wish For being their second full-length album in two years, Read more […]

Thaw – Earth Ground (Witching Hour Productions)

First being exposed to Thaw with their excellent split with Outre last year, it was a no brainer to ensnare their most recent full-length (following last year’s self-titled affair) for review. Even Read more […]

Isole – The Calm Hunter (Cyclone Empire)

The potential has always been there for Sweden’s Isole. The band’s 2008 opus Bliss of Solitude remains a vastly underrated go at melodic, morose, and spacious doom; doom that had more to do with mood Read more […]

Lonely Kamel – Shit City (Napalm Records)

Better be careful with that title, Lonely Kamel fellas – you have to know some smarmy “journalist” is going to mutate it improperly to accompany a bad review. DR has progressed beyond such things Read more […]

Scapes – One:Unseen:One (Nihil Ultra)

In the busy fall season, sometimes “smaller” albums just get lost in the mix. Such is the case for Finland’s Scapes and their debut effort, One:Unseen:One. Digging into this one while trying to Read more […]

Fen – Carrion Skies (Code666)

Fen’s 2013 opus Dustwalker was (and still is) virtually unbeatable in the competitive field of atmospheric British black metal. The beauty of said album was its reach over and beyond the long-stated extreme Read more […]

Encoffination – III: Hear Me O’ Death (Sing Thou Wretched Choirs) (Selfmadegod Records)

Ever feel like you are having “too good a day?” The type of day that you just need to get back to that soul-crushing brutality of everyday life and ground yourself a bit. Boy, does Encoffination Read more […]

Mandatory – Catharsis (Self Released)

A Rorschach test cover – looks like a guy with a crazy “emperor” type hat, well two of them to be precise, or a butterfly (take your pick or decide for yourself on this one). Regardless of your Read more […]

Taake – Stridens hus (Dark Essence/Candlelight Records)

Taake (pronounced “Toah-keh”), the one-man black metal band out of Bergen, is the music of Hoest (AKA Ørjan Stedjeberg) who has been cranking out seminal releases in the genre since his first full Read more […]

Blind Guardian – Twilight of the Gods EP (Nuclear Blast)

Remembering the early days of this German power metal institution when you had to buy their albums such as Tales from the Twilight World and Somewhere Far Beyond through import channels (as no North American Read more […]

Today is the Day – Animal Mother (Southern Lord)

A workhorse, who despite countless career setbacks (including this most recent terrible van accident), has managed to remain standing, Today is the Day mainman Steve Austin wouldn’t be blamed for giving Read more […]

Singularity – Singularity (Self Released)

Here at the tail-end of 2014, combining death metal with black metal and synths isn’t exactly groundbreaking. At the truly symphonic end, you have bands such as Fleshgod Apocalypse and Septicflesh who Read more […]

Downfall of Gaia – Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay (Metal Blade)

Bleak and hopeless. That’s the impression that one is left with after Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay concludes its last note. Dank and grey in all things, particularly the cover, Downfall of Gaia Read more […]

Soilwork – Beyond the Infinite (Victor Entertainment)

Last year, Soilwork really came out of the gates with their double-album The Living Infinite. The double disc format truly allowed them to test some new waters (as well as revisit some old ones) and was Read more […]