Testament – The Formation of Damnation (Nuclear Blast Records)
It seemed like this would never come. Testament have taken almost a decade to produce the follow-up to 1999’s mammoth The Gathering, having endured a cancer scare for Chuck Billy, some lineup shuffles, and eventually...
Zero Hour – Dark Deceiver (Sensory)
A great idea on paper: the combination of over-the-top tech metal ala Cynic, Atheist, et al, with clean, progressive vocals, Zero Hour are now coming dangerously close to perfecting their own indelible brand of...
Septicflesh – Communion (Season of Mist Records)
The holy godfathers of the Greek metal scene (Rotting Christ is a very close second), Sepeticflesh return after a short breakup with Communion. As far as natural dark metal bands go, few are more invigorating or adventurous...
Distorted – Voices From Within (Candlelight Records)
Oddly reminiscent of Amaran, a now-defunct melodic death metal band with clean female vox, Israel’s Distorted are a cool mix of the aforementioned sound and haunting Goth metal. Distorted is a bit more progressive...
Midnattsol – Nordlys (Napalm Records)
erhaps best known for featuring Carmen Elise Espenaeas, the sister of Leaves Eyes’ Liv Kristine, Midnattsol (that’s “midnight sun” in case you were wondering), return after a three year layoff with Nordlys. Quite impressive, this...
Mourning Beloveth – A New Disease For the Ages (Prophecy/Grau)
One of the pillars of the slo-mo doom style, Ireland’s Mourning Beloveth return with A New Disease For the Ages, a vast improvement over the inconsistent A Murderous Circus. Rife with prolonged, sobbing emotional passages, Mourning...
Farmakon – Robin (Candlelight Records)
You know, there are rip-offs, and there are rip-offs. Our Finnish friends Farmakon make little or no effort to prove they are anything but an Opeth tribute band in hiding, with Robin being the ill-begotten follow-up to...
Warrel Dane – Praises to the War Machine (Century Media Records)
Essentially “Nevermore-light,” which for all intents and purposes would be their first, self-titled album, Praises to the War Machine bears the unmistakable mark of one of metal’s last true voices, Warrel Dane. Very much a metal...
Arsis – We Are the Nightmare (Nuclear Blast Records)
Arsis may not quite be Death yet, but if anyone can lay claim to the neo progressive death metal tag for this generation, it would be James Malone and co. Their previous two efforts, 2004’s A...
Firewind – The Premonition (Century Media)
All-star guitarist Gus G.’s burst of productivity has carried over into ’08, barely a year after Allegiance was released. Sorta surprising why more bandsdon’t do this – it was commonplace in the 70’s and 80’s and now...