Reviews

Deafheaven – Sunbather (Deathwish Inc.)

Sometimes a work of any kind simply overwhelms you. It washes over you, courses through you, leaves you completely and utterly exhausted with amazement and terrified wonder when it has come to completion. Read more […]

Scale the Summit – The Migration (Prosthetic Records)

Instrumental metal has always been an underdog in the sub-genre of heavy metal overall. Often too heady of an experience for some, or too shred/chops-oriented as to only appeal to the ardent school musician Read more […]

Eternal Tears of Sorrow – Saivon Lapsi (Massacre Records)

A band forever lost in the Bodom/Kalmah/Norther shuffle, Finland’s Eternal Tears of Sorrow have been attached to their symphonic melodic death metal style a bit more than they should be. It’s why they’ve Read more […]

Aosoth – IV: An Arrow in Heart (Agonia Records)

The French black metal scene is starting to build a really deep bench right before our eyes. The obvious top-rungers are Blut Aus Nord and Matthew Bowling-obsessed Deathspell Omega, both of whom have manage Read more […]

Zombiefication – At the Caves of Eternal (Pulverised)

From the same duo that holds court in the vastly-underrated Majestic Downfall, Mexico’s Zombiefication play a far more linear style of death metal than their “other” band, who is an odd-duck pairing of Read more […]

Dark Tranquillity – Construct (Century Media Records)

As really the lone true Gothenburg band left standing, Dark Tranquillity usually find ways to prolong their career without becoming banal. They’ll hit a two-to-three album stretch, exhausting their fancied Read more […]

White Wizzard – The Devil’s Cut (Earache Records)

Album #3 The Devil’s Cut finds White Wizzard with another retooled line-up and trying desperately to keep the revolving door of singers at bay. It’s exasperating trying to figure out who is singing, Read more […]

Heaven Shall Burn – VETO (Century Media Records)

No real buzz around Heaven Shall Burn these days. It’s definitely not at 2004 levels, when metalcore of any variety was still relatively fresh and not an annoyance. The Germans were deemed by many to Read more […]

Scarred – Gaia/Madea (Klonosphere Records)

Viscerally modern and at times, eye-poppingly extreme, Luxemburg’s Scarred have a nice little mish-mash going for themselves on their sophomore Gaia/Madea. First plays at making comparisons for these Read more […]

Bone Sickness – Alone in the Grave (20 Buck Spin)

Dyed-in-the-wool, old-school death metal bands like Bone Sickness have always given Dead Rhetoric reason to ponder their thoughts on the current state of death metal. You know, bands with really clean Read more […]

Children of Bodom – Halo of Blood (Nuclear Blast Records)

We’re a bit curious to see if Bodom will stop short of saying they never should have left Nuclear Blast in the first place, this, after over a decade on Finnish mega-label Spinefarm. The years Laiho Read more […]

Sadgiqacea – False Prism (Candlelight Records)

Sadgiqacea is from Philadelphia and their False Prism debut was produced by Woe mainman Chris Grigg. There are four songs totaling roughly 40 minutes. Their name is hard to pronounce and even spell, so Read more […]

Kadavar – Abra Kadavar (Nuclear Blast Records)

A peculiar body on the Nuclear Blast roster, but perhaps unsurprising given the vibrancy of this retro-rock revival scene (as other recent albums covered here have shown). No doom leanings from these German Read more […]

Divided Multitude – Feed On Your Misery (Nightmare Records)

I will admit that I haven’t heard of Divided Multitude before getting this review assignment, but upon listening to their latest release I’m glad I did. The band hails from Norway and deploys a heavy, Read more […]

Morgengrau – The Extrinsic Pathway (Blind God Records)

Austin, Texas-based death metal purists Morgengrau have the right idea by not trying to push the fact that two women comprise half of their lineup. It’s usually a cheap marketing tactic by label and Read more […]

Suicidal Tendencies – 13 (Suicidal)

Old-time recollections of Suicidal Tendencies for this scribe include a 1993 radio spot for the band’s Still Cyco After All These Years, where shouts proclaimed “If you ain’t Suicidal, you ain’t Read more […]

Aborym – Dirty (Agonia Records)

One those niche bands that have never been fond of staying in place, Italian industrial metal titans Aborym are back with another strange head trip in the form of their sixth album, Dirty. It appears that Read more […]

The Amenta – Flesh Is Heir (Listenable Records)

This band of Aussie noise sculptors have been around since 2002, somehow flying under my radar with their previously recorded efforts, 2002’s Mictlan, 2004’s Occasus, 2008’s n0n and 2011’s v01d. Read more […]

Magister Templi – Lucifer Leviathan Logos (Cruz del Sur Music)

Labels have come around to the fact that there is presently, an insatiable need for anything of the occult rock/metal variety. You can blame both Ghost and The Devil’s Blood for that, so it’s important Read more […]

Surachai – Embraced (Self-Released)

The avant-garde is strong with this one. Change is a tricky thing to engage in for any band but based on experiences with Surachai’s past work, Embraced is a testament to how to do it well. Unfortunately Read more […]

Dillinger Escape Plan – One of Us is the Killer (Sumerian/Party Smasher/Inc.)

Plenty of fascination, interest coming along with Dillinger as those kamikaze Relapse years become more in the rear-view. Frankly, there were plenty that didn’t think these guys would last, this scribe Read more […]

Black Star Riders – All Hell Breaks Loose (Nuclear Blast)

Let’s get one thing straight: Black Star Riders is not Thin Lizzy. That fabled 70’s outfit died in 1986 when Phil Lynott passed away from a drug-related illness. Essentially though, Black Star Riders Read more […]

Paganizer – World Lobotomy (Cyclone Empire)

Yet another Rogga Johansson band, someone whom we’ve already espoused his seemingly endless supply of time and creativity. Does the man even hold a job? Eh, let’s not waste much time pondering that, Read more […]

Witch Cross – Axe To Grind (Hells Headbangers)

Danish metal outside of Mercyful Fate, offshoot King Diamond, and current Elvis-metal headliners Volbeat has maintained more of a cult-status appeal across the globe. Take the traditional act Witch Cross Read more […]

Svartsyn – Black Testament (Agonia Records)

Probably teetering a bit too close to the line of unimaginative, unimpressionable black metal, Sweden’s Svartysn have nonetheless found cause to reel off three albums in three years. Discussing the number Read more […]

Immolation – Kingdom of Conspiracy (Nuclear Blast Records)

Every genre has those carbon copies musicians who year after year release washout records unto the athirst masses, not to mention artists who haven’t the slightest clue of when to call it quits. Immolation Read more […]

Cynthesis – ReEvolution (Sensory)

The second part of a dystopian album trilogy, ReEvolution is the follow up to 2011’s DeEvolution from California progressive metal outfit Cynthesis. For those of you in the know, this quartet features Read more […]

Wormed – Exodromos (Willowtip)

Production, among many other things, has often come to define death metal. The never-ending debate over Scott Burns creations, or Colin Richardson manned recordings, or the present-day arguments over the Read more […]

A Canorous Quintet – The Quintessence (Cyclone Empire)

Well, here’s a name that hasn’t come down the pike in a while: A Canorous Quintet. Primarily known for the band in which current Amon Amarth drummer Frederick Andersson got his start, ACQ also features Read more […]

Thousand Year War – Kingdom of America (Self-Released)

The product of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Hiram Lohr, Thousand Year War is a poorly-conceived, ragged death/thrash concoction. Now, there’s no threshold for how far someone can push the double-tracked Read more […]