Pelican – What We All Come To Need (Southern Lord Records)
Really, there is no way for Pelican to top 2005’s The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw. Its follow-up, 2007’s City of Echoes has been resolute, even if it doesn’t contain the striking brilliance of...
Between the Buried And Me – The Great Misdirect (Victory Records)
Thanks to the advent of the Internet, revelatory moments atconcerts are a thing of the past. With every band so accessible, chances are, there is some degree of familiarity with each and every act. Blistering...
Dismember – Under Bloodred Skies DVD (Regain Records)
There’s never been any room for fucking around in the Dismember camp – Swedish death metal they are, through and through, so it’s no surprise that the band’s second DVD release, Under Bloodred Skies follows suit....
Three (3) – Revisions (Metal Blade Records)
The trend of re-recording one’s old recordings is getting annoying and the results are never anything to go nuts about (see: Exodus, Arch Enemy, etc.), but for a band like 3, it’s a wise...
Crucifist – Demon Haunted World (Profound Lore Records)
The fraction of the underground that enjoys sloppy death metal (read: Autopsy, Abcess, early Venom, et al) will no doubt fall prey to Crucifist. It’s loose and jagged, featuring Danny Lilker of Brutal Truth...
Defiance – The Prophecy (Candlelight Records)
More retro thrash, but this stuff is actually authentic. As part of the third or fourth tier of Bay Area thrash bands, Defiance made only a slight dent with 1988’s Product of Society, an album that...
Gorgoroth – Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt (Regain Records)
Truth be told, the last two Gorgoroth albums (2003’s Twilight of the Idols and ‘06’s Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam) weren’t all that great. Sure, the drumming of Satyricon’s Frost on Ad Majorem… was kinda cool, but that grimy, dirty...
Arch Enemy – The Root of All Evil (Century Media Records)
Many still hold Johan Liiva-era Arch Enemy near and dear, not budging from the stance that the lanky Swede is the definitive voice for Arch Enemy. This scribe has always been in both camps...
The 11th Hour – Burden of Grief (Napalm Records)
Lots of luminaries from the Dutch metal scene here, but 11th Hour isn’t worth going bananas about – it’s a bit here and there, but nowhere really important. It’s slow doom, not funeral doom,...
Barren Earth – Our Twilight EP (Peaceville Records)
Seriously…keep this vintage Sentenced/Amorphis stuff coming. We can’t get enough here. With members of Kreator, Swallow the Sun, Moonsorrow and an ex-Amorphis dude in its ranks, Barren Earth recreates the vauntedTales/Amok sound, with a little...