Reviews

Casualties of Cool – Casualties of Cool (Self Released)

For the Dev-obsessed, the Casualties of Cool project has been a long time coming.  He had teased it as “haunted Johnny Cash songs” but that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface and may dissuade Read more […]

Avatar – Hail the Apocalypse (eOne Music)

A sturdy, well-adjusted band (we think) of the theatrical variety, Sweden’s Avatar routinely put themselves in harm’s way by wanting to be linked up with the likes of Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, and Read more […]

Konkeror – The Abysmal Horizons (Lacerated Enemy)

Not too long ago, we featured Konkeror as a band you might have missed, citing The Abysmal Horizons as an album worth checking out.  We at DR weren’t the only ones thinking that Konkeror needed some Read more […]

Vestal Claret – The Cult of Vestal Claret (Cruz Del Sur Music)

Dastardly duo Simon Tuozzoli (bass, guitars) and Phil Swanson (vocals, also of the heavy/doom outfits Seamount and Hour of 13) comprise Vestal Claret, and with the efforts of Michael Petrucci on the skins, Read more […]

Monumentomb – Ritual Exhumation (Self-Released)

The U.K.’s Monumentomb are like a new species of old-school metallers who shuffle around heavy, black, and death metal focuses. If black metal made its way early in the transitional eras between classic Read more […]

Eyehategod – Eyehategod (Housecore)

An album that probably should have never happened (taking 14 years to do so as well), Eyehategod’s self-titled full-length marks a warm and fuzzy return for one of the innovators of the New Orleans’ Read more […]

Dornenreich – Freiheit (Prophecy Productions)

What do we have here? Is it metal, jazz, folk, some strange resuscitated Baroque-style musical act?  Does it sound radiant like light, or mysterious like the dark? Does it express joy more than it exposes Read more […]

A Hill to Die Upon – Holy Despair (Bombworks Records)

Those who think that Christian metal simply cannot compete “with the big boys” should check out A Hill to Die Upon immediately.  Rooted in mid-tempo death metal, Holy Despair sees the band stretching Read more […]

Vassafor/Sinistrous Diabolus – Split (Iron Bonehead Productions)

The newest split from the folks at Iron Bonehead is that of New Zealand’s Vassafor and Sinistrous Diabolus.  Splits often seem to benefit most when the two bands share some common threads, and these Read more […]

Metsatoll – Karjajuht (Spinefarm)

Ever feel like all of those folk bands are just too folky?  When you see folk metal bands live, do you ever feel like you’d rather to bang your head a wee bit more and have less of a drunken renaissance Read more […]

Teitanblood – Death (The Ajna Offensive/Norma Evangelium Diaboli)

Triggering terror, evoking nightmarish spirits, and causing horrific ambiance everywhere they turn, that’s how Spain’s Teitanblood roll. In a word, their new album can basically be described by its Read more […]

Waxen – Agios Holokauston (Moribund)

Best known for his work in defunct American power/shred outfit Onward, guitarist Toby Knapp has a blackened side to him, apparently. It comes in the form of Waxen, a one-man black metal ensemble he started Read more […]

Horrid – Sacrilegious Fornication (Dunkelheit Produktionen)

Score another hit for the retro-death movement!  What’s this you say?  Horrid has been around since 1989!  Okay, so that gives them a bit of a jump in the credibility department as opposed to the Read more […]

Thine – Dead City Blueprint (Peaceville)

Lots ‘o can’t-miss ingredients here: Peaceville, Academy Studios (Anathema, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost), the U.K., an early 90’s formation, etc. etc., which gives Thine’s first album in 12 years a nice Read more […]

Hoth – Oathbreaker (Self Released)

Hoth’s 2012 debut, Infinite Darkness, was recently featured here at DR in a Sifting Through Bandcamp article.  Unique in its devotion to the Star Wars films (why aren’t more bands doing this), it Read more […]

Mekong Delta – In a Mirror Darkly (SPV)

Something may have gone awry with Photoshop during the creation of the album art for In a Mirror Darkly. It’s like a presentation of someone’s first Photoshop attempt…and a really porous one at that. Read more […]

Infecting the Swarm – Pathogenesis (Lacerated Enemy Records)

What is the breaking point at which something becomes too brutal for it’s own good?  While there are some out there muttering “blasphemy” under their breath right now, the truth is that when the Read more […]

Review Face-Off: Obsequiae’s Suspended in the Brume of Eos

[9/10] This is what melodic-metal people (that is, those sincerely fond of metal) really want to hear. From the aloof wilderness of Minnesota, Obsequiae cross high-energy semi-technical death metal with Read more […]

Black Anvil – Hail Death (Relapse Records)

NYC’s Black Anvil start their third full-length with some gloomy Spanish guitar, demonstrating their musical breadth on “Still Reborn” before crashing into the meaty heft of Black Anvil, blackened Read more […]

The Graviators – Motherload (Napalm Records)

Sweden’s Graviators seemingly have one objective: To take listeners on a sonic odyssey to the days of yore (the ’70s) when bands like Black Sabbath were laying the groundwork for metal, all while experimenting Read more […]

Timo Tolkki’s Avalon – Angels of the Apocalypse (Frontiers)

Choosing to avoid the crazier aspects of guitarist Timo Tolkki’s career (remember the fake blood photos and new Stratovarius vocalist ‘Miss K’?) I remember in the mid-1990’s impact albums like Episode and Visions made Read more […]

Cloak of Altering – Plague Beasts (Crucial Blast Records)

The industrial banner is an odd and often difficult one to fly under. It takes a particular touch to work at all, let alone well, and a majority of the time it comes across as little more than a cacophony Read more […]

Crowbar – Symmetry in Black (eOne)

The steady paycheck and NOLA brotherhood of Down wasn’t enough to keep Kirk Windstein away from his first love, which, obviously is Crowbar. Not like he cares, but Windstein will always be third fiddle Read more […]

Archspire – The Lucid Collective (Season of Mist)

Straight to carpal tunnel-ville goes Vancouver’s Archspire, who are one of those “play technical first, ask questions later” bands. It’s either feast or famine with groups of this ilk; some couldn’t Read more […]

Blood Red Fog – On Death’s Wings (Saturnal Records)

The old vibes die hard, especially for some. For this Finnish duo, old-form black metal is the way, the light, and the glory forever. On Death’s Wings is in many regards similar to a release I covered Read more […]

Woman is the Earth – This Place That Contains My Spirit (Eisenwald)

This Place That Contains My Spirit was originally released back in 2012 but Eisenwald saw fit to give it a proper release, with the recent dropping of the band’s second LP, Depths.  If it wasn’t clear Read more […]

Utstøtt – Legender Odin (Self-released)

Oregon’s Utstøtt is a one-man black metal band entirely self-managed, completely independent with no record label, and untainted without outside contaminations or alterations from additional musicians, Read more […]

Epica – The Quantum Enigma (Nuclear Blast)

Post-pregnancy Epica in the house, something we rarely get to utter since you know, metal dudes aren’t popping out kiddies too often. (Or ever.) Indeed the always eye-grabbing Simone Simons gave birth Read more […]

Obdurated – I Feel Nothing (Mighty Music)

Bands like Carnal Forge, The Crown, At the Gates, and early Soilwork all pushed the melody button while attempting to play thrashy riffs as fast as they could.  More modern bands have attempted to recreate Read more […]

Anti-Mortem – New Southern (Nuclear Blast)

Creating a compelling album in the niche style of southern groove metal is startlingly similar to defeating the Undertaker at Wrestlemania: Even with all the natural talent in the world and just the right Read more […]