Reviews

Annihilator – Feast (UDR Music)

Fourteen studio albums over 24 years, Canada’s Annihilator remain steadfast and true to their metal ways. Morphing their sound to include mid-tempo grooves and ballads over the years beyond their semi-technical Read more […]

Ringworm – Bleed EP (Relapse)

It’s a misconception that being pissed and hailing from Cleveland is part-and-parcel. There’s some really sunny folks in that fine city, especially after one its sports teams actually win a darn game Read more […]

Dichotomy – Paradigms (Self-Released)

Nary a band like Dichotomy coming out of Ireland – we’ve largely whet our whistles (at the pub) on the likes of Primordial and their Darkest Era hatchling, so hearing their viciously modern brand of Read more […]

The Mezmerist – The Innocent, The Forsaken, The Guilty (Shadow Kingdom)

Bill Ward reportedly plays on the first four tracks of The Innocent, The Forsaken, The Guilty, a happening that is a mystery unless one picks up the physical version of this release for an explanation Read more […]

Gevurah – Necheshirion EP (Profound Lore Records)

From the cold winter darkness in…Canada? Yes, Canada. Gevurah (comprised of X.T. and A.L.) formed in 2011, having released their first demo in the same year. Necheshirion is the band’s debut EP and Read more […]

Satyricon – Satyricon (Nuclear Blast Entertainment)

Satyr sure sold this one like it was going to be some colossal advancement on their stoic brand of Norwegian black metal…it’s not, unfortunately. He and his cohort, drummer Frost, are still very much Read more […]

Sarke – Aruagint (Indie Recordings)

Black meta: all grown up.  Sarke is a band comprised of a who’s-who of Norwegian metal, including (most prominently) Nocturno Culto- vocalist of the legendary Darkthrone and Sarke, bassist, of bands Read more […]

Carach Angren – Lammendam (Season of Mist Records)

By 2008, symphonic black metal had already become a well-worn thing, and there we met the Netherlands’ Carach Angren.  Their debut is a pretty good album, highlighted by some potent goth atmosphere, Read more […]

Vasaeleth – All Uproarious Darkness (Profound Lore)

Lo-fi death metal doesn’t have the instantly hokey angle to it that lo-fi black metal does. Most of these guys just want to sound like demo-era Incantation or Autopsy; nothing more, while the black metal Read more […]

Moss of Moonlight – Winterwheel (Cascadian Alliance)

Frankly, the allure behind Cascadian black metal should have stopped with Wolves in the Throne Room. They’re the only band that exalts such a territory without coming across like a bunch of coffee shop-turned-black Read more […]

Týr – Valkyrja (Metal Blade)

An unlikely success story if there ever was one, Faroe Islands’ Týr have developed from a little-known progressive folk metal to top-tier status (you better have gotten that one). The novelty of the Read more […]

Shaded Enmity – Forsaken and Forgotten (Self-Released)

Last year, shred lord Jeff Loomis said he’d be integrating some Seattle-based musicians into his solo band as means to shuffle the deck, and add a bit of death metal flavor. Being that Loomis has engaged Read more […]

Sawthis – Youniverse (Bakerteam Records)

Thrash metal now enters a transformative time, especially as younger bands inject cross-pollinated influences to keep the sound up t date. Take Italy’s Sawthis; founded in 2000 and now on their third Read more […]

Majalis – Cathodic Black (Pulverised)

Part of the revolving door of vocalists that has yet to derail Swedish death/doom kings October Tide, Tobias Netzell has landed in Majalis, an outfit of similar approach. Netzell, who appeared on October Read more […]

Black Magician – The Pursuivant EP (Svart)

Borne from long walks in the British countryside (awesome), trips to the pub for ale (nay on ale, but the convos are probably good), and love for 70’s prog (a bit overdone), England’s Black Magician Read more […]

Katatonia – Dethroned and Uncrowned (KScope)

Katatonia has always operated with a degree of minimalism in their music – just reference how simple (but heart-wrenching) some of the riffs on Brave Murder Day and Discouraged Ones are, so the fact Read more […]

Evocation – Excised and Anatomized (Century Media Records)

Cover albums are always unique as they can go in radically different directions depending on a particular band’s philosophy behind covering a song. Some believe they should mimic the original as closely Read more […]

Deals Death – Point Zero Solution (Spinefarm Records)

Just when you thought it was safe to write off Deals Death as Sweden’s resident Children of Bodom doppelgänger, Point Zero Solution drops and radically alters that perception. Showing much more stylistic Read more […]

Gyze – Fascinating Violence (Coroner Records)

Interesting to hear the Japanese take on melodic death metal – it’s not like the American one, you can bank on that. These bands (Blood Stain Child, Evilchoir, and Gyze) tend to eschew major reliance Read more […]

Grime – Deteriorate (Forcefield/Mangrimm)

Rather easy to figure out where these Italian lads are headed…and it’s not pristine and lean fluffy metal. Grime is an Italian trio who formed in 2010, and after a successful self-titled 2011 demo, have Read more […]

Devildriver – Winter Kills (Napalm)

Good grief does Dez Fafara sing a lot. The off-again/on-again vocalist of nu metal jokers Coal Chamber seems to be unaware of the band he has behind him in Devildriver, for Winter Kills (the group’s sixth Read more […]

Dark Design – Prey for the Future (Heaven and Hell Records)

Active since 2008 and finally unleashing a debut album, North Carolina’s Dark Design performs in one of those tough sell genres of metal: progressive power/thrash. You know the type: musicianship is Read more […]

A.M.S.G. – Anti-Cosmic Tyranny (Profound Lore)

A.M.S.G. stands for “Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam,” or “For the Greater Glory of Satan” for you non-Latin buffs. This Edmonton, Alberta black metal troupe came to a life a year after the Gorgoroth Read more […]

Arceye – At First Light (Hostile Media)

The U.K. has become a hotbed for modern thrash, housing lead dogs Evile and Sylosis, as well as the emerging Savage Messiah. All three are technically-proficient, yet fully aware of the style’s backlogged Read more […]

Dead in the Dirt – The Blind Hole (Southern Lord)

Anyone who has spent any amount of time in a band rehearsal room knows that feedback is quite possibly one of the most annoying things ever. Next to playing one’s instrument while another band member Read more […]

Ashes of Ares – Ashes of Ares (Nuclear Blast Records)

A Matt Barlow/Van Williams combo in the early 00’s would have set the North American underground ablaze. Now…not so much, but it’s not their fault the two bands they were so intrinsic to (Iced Earth Read more […]

Born of Osiris – Tomorrow We Die Alive (Sumerian)

Chicago’s Born of Osiris are presently at the three-album crossroads, the point where a band needs to decide to stick with what they got, or see if the grass is greener on the other side. Being that Read more […]

Caladan Brood – Echoes of Battle (Northern Silence Productions)

Are you one of the people who felt a bit let down by the latest Summoning effort Old Mornings Dawn, after such anticipation? [Yes! – ed.]  Have you ever wondered who would pick up the torch and embody Read more […]

End of Green – The Painstream (Napalm Records)

An unknown quantity on these shores. German alternative metal Goth ensemble (get that?) End of Green have seven albums to their credit, with The Painstream being their eighth, and first to receive worldwide Read more […]

Pantheon of Blood – Tetrasomia (Eldtritch Lunar Miasma)

Hovering around the line where raw becomes a bit too raw (i.e. like it was recorded in a shoebox), Pantheon of Blood’s second EP Tetrasomia is a traditional black metal offering with all parts in the Read more […]