Reviews

Fullforce – Next Level (SPV Records)

I keep saying this over and over, but the power metal scene is truly oversaturated. This year alone, there has been a plethora of bands releasing material and on the SPV label, the trademark sound continues Read more […]

Hacktivist – Hacktivist EP (Self-Released)

Love it or hate it, the world of djent has been around long enough and populated by enough bands to reach a point where it takes on a myriad of peculiar and exotic new forms. In the last year alone, there Read more […]

Death – Spiritual Healing Reissue (Relapse Records)

The last of the totally primal Death albums, Spiritual Healing came to find Chuck Schuldiner in a state of transition, still grappling with the bludgeoning sounds of Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy, Read more […]

Wallachia – Shunya (Debemur Morti Productions)

Mention the term “one-man black metal band” and right away, images of a dude in his studio apartment with a Tascam 4-track recorder, crappy amp, crappier guitar, and demented thought process comes Read more […]

Skeletal Remains – Beyond the Flesh (FDA Rekotz)

Death metal regurgitates itself moreso than any other style in metal, which in a way, is understandable. There’s only so much leverage bands have when it comes to developing their style, but the lack Read more […]

Hellbastard – Sons of Bitches EP (PATAC Records)

Amen, Hellbastard. Sons of Bitches is dedicated to “those who are currently outraged by the sheer patheticness humanity throws around on a daily basis.” File Blistering in that department and probably Read more […]

General Surgery – Like An Ever Flying Limb (Relapse Records)

A band that makes it almost too easy us on perpetually lazy metal scribes, Sweden gore-grinders General Surgery have returned with an EP in the form of Like An Ever Flying Limb. Clearly a take on Dismember’s Read more […]

Trail of Murder – Shades of Art (Metal Heaven)

Owner of one of the best names in power metal, along with a killer set of pipes, Swedish vocalist Urban Breed has been a musical nomad since his departure from Tad Morose in 2005. Breed has done time in Read more […]

Sacred Reich – Live at Wacken CD/DVD (Metal Blade Records)

Form in the 80’s. Release a few albums. Break up in the 90’s. Reunite ten years (or more) later. Sounds like a familiar formula, eh? Metal doesn’t shy away from the reunion bug; in fact, it embraces it Read more […]

The Very End – Turn Off the World (SPV/Steamhammer)

About as bonafide of a death metal “vocalist” as we have, Bjorn Gooses announced his departure from German melodic death metallers Night in Gales to focus on the band in question, The Very End. It was Read more […]

Bonded by Blood – The Aftermath (Earache Records)

Initially, Bonded by Blood did themselves zero favors by naming themselves after Exodus’s seminal debut. At least it took all of the guess-work out of what kind of band they are. When they were mucking Read more […]

Secret Sphere – Portrait of a Dying Heart (Scarlet Records)

After 12 years, six records and numerous world tours Roberto Messina decided to leave Italian power metal outfit Secret Sphere due to musical differences. This could have been a major blow to the band, Read more […]

Imperial Triumphant – Abominamentvm (Self-Released)

We’re unsure of when the American black metal scene will be taken as seriously as the Scandinavian incarnation, but that time could be rapidly approaching if more bands like Imperial Triumphant come Read more […]

Ophidian I – Solvet Saeclum (Soulflesh Collector Records)

The left-turn The Faceless made on their new album rocked the technical death metal world. Such a lazy pun is necessary here, only because of the divide it has created, spawning tension between those who Read more […]

Kylesa – From the Vaults Vol.1 (Season of Mist Records)

Simply stating “Vol.1” for anything gives off an inflated sense of ego. Cue dumb band-dude voice: “This is our first best-of collection, ‘Vol.1,’ ‘Vol.2’ should be on its way in a few years.” Sure it Read more […]

Nonexist – From My Cold Dead Hands (Pivotal Rockordings)

Lost in the melodic death metal onslaught that came and went in the early 00’s was Nonexist’s 2002 Dues Deceptor. The product of Andromeda guitarist Johan Reinholdz, then recently-exiled Arch Enemy Read more […]

Bell Witch – Longing (Profound Lore Records)

The second funeral doom band on Profound Lore to put an album out of importance in 2012 (the first being Pallbearer), Seattle’s Bell Witch are cut from nearly the same cloth, albeit with some minor tweaks Read more […]

Surrounded by Monsters – Novella (Nuclear Blast Records)

When an album kicks things off with a track entitled “Dr. Phuck”, one can begin to assume a few things about what’s about to come roaring out of the speakers, and none of those several assumptions Read more […]

Incite – All Out War (Minus Head Records)

The Cavalera apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, you know? And rightfully so – if your father/stepfather was a veritable metal legend, you’d probably follow suit…or at least give it the old college Read more […]

Vicious Rumors – Live You to Death (SPV/Steamhammer)

Pumping in crowd noise was rumored to be a tactic the Indianapolis Colts employed throughout the 00’s, giving them an advantage at the now tenant-less Hoosier/RCA Dome. As legend has it, the team would Read more […]

De Magia Veterum – The Deification (Transcendental Creations)

Indeed the question mark in the rating is intentional. Rare when Blistering stumbles upon an album that eludes a proper score out of 10, but such is the case for De Magia Veterum, who happen to be the Read more […]

Monsterworks – Man::Intrinsic (Mortal Music)

Hats off to the Monsterworks lads for broad-siding the current album versus singles conundrum that infests all corners of the music business. Rather than pimping an entire full-length to the masses, the Read more […]

Whyzdom – Blind? (Scarlet Records)

Putting a question mark after a word does wonders for voice inflection. Case in point, when Blistering’s dog Goji wants to go for a walk, simply saying “Walk?” instantly sends him into a frenzy. Read more […]

Varg – Guten Tag (Napalm Records/NoiseArt)

The sound of a car rolling to a stop, footsteps, followed by knock on the door, then…“guten tag!” HELLO! It’s Varg at your door: This is how Varg’s fourth album, Guten Tag begins, Read more […]

Andre Matos – The Turn of the Lights (earMusic)

Establishing a presence in the power metal community as a singer with Brazilian notables Viper, Shaman and to a greater extent Angra, Andre Matos has been working on his solo career since 2006. The Turn Read more […]

Hell Militia – Jacob’s Ladder (Season of Mist Records)

Poaching a concept from the book of Genesis is hardly new in the world of black metal. The parties lend themselves to each other and seem to have come to a sort of unwritten/unspoken mutual agreement that Read more […]

Fistula – Northern Aggression (PATAC)

Learning what a fistula is…not a good moment in Blistering’s life. Because we are a family-friendly and generally gross-out adverse website, we’ll spare you the gory details, so if you want to find Read more […]

Machine Head – Machine F**king Head Live (Roadrunner Records)

Free agents now that their contract with longtime label Roadrunner has expired, Bay Area modern metal kings Machine Head are signaling the end of an era with an obligatory live set/contractual filler, Machine Read more […]

Eryn Non Dae – Meliora (M&O Music)

Wow, France is really starting to make a name for itself in the heavier realms of music, no? With the juggernaut Gojira reaching an international level of acclaim and recognition, it would seem as though Read more […]

Skalmold – Born Loka (Napalm Records)

Viking metal is ubiquitous these days. The genre’s facing over-saturation at times, since so many bands sound roughly the same. As for Skalmold though, they hail from Iceland and stick closely to the Read more […]