General Surgery – Corpus In Extremis (Listenable Records)
Carcass worship at its finest, it’s most “exhumed,” so to speak. Veteran Swedish death metallers General Surgery have made a career out of aping Carcass circa 1991 and considering how well the recently reunited...
Amesoeurs – Amesoeurs (Profound Lore Records)
Anyone bowled over by the blissful serenity of Alcest’s Souvenirs D’un Autre Monde will no doubt be charmed by Amesoeurs. The “other” project for Alcest mainman Niege, Amesoeurs are a revealing cross-section of most things pertaining...
Despised Icon – Montreal Assault DVD (Century Media Records)
Notoriously delayed, Montreal Assault suffered from a litany of problems on the manufacturing side of things, causing its released to be pushed back from a proposed fall of 2008 release to now. Nevertheless, it’s an all-encompassing...
Burning Human – Resurrection Through Fire (E1 Music)
The new/old/but now side-project band of Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner, Burning Human takes a couple pages and then some from the creative wasteland that was mid-90’s American death metal. Bittner once again proves...
Hellsaw – Cold (Napalm Records)
The name “Hellsaw” won’t strike fear into anyone and with song titles like “Psycho Pastor” and “I Saw Hell,” one could almost write this off as slap-stick black metal. Yet it’s not and Cold is more...
Sirenia – The 13th Floor (Nuclear Blast Records)
Methinks Sirenia will take quite the tomato tossing for The 13th Floor from some less-than forgiving members of the metal press, but you gotta hand it to these Nords: the bulk of these songs are sticky-sweet, loaded with...
Mono – Hymn To the Immortal Wind (Conspiracy Records)
The first thing you’ll notice about the latest Mono album, their fifth, is the packaging - the booklet and artwork tying into the story of the music, giving a further dimension to this stunning...
The Boy Will Drown – Fetish (Earache Records)
Earache Records have a brand new fetish and it comes in the form of The Boy Will Drown. Get beyond the clunky name and you’ll soon find yourself elbow deep in dirty, filthy, jazzy...
Lord Mantis – Spawning the Nephilim (Seventh Rule Recordings)
Featuring ex members of Nachtmystium and current members of Indian, one approached Spawning the Nephilim with a degree of hopeful trepidation, if that makes sense. You see, Nachtmystium are great and probably the best metal band...
Mastodon – Crack the Skye (Reprise/Sire)
Lots of derision around this one; Crack the Skye is not the bruiser people were expecting to it be, but if it’s anything, it’s more rich, wide, and built-out than 2006’s Blood Mountain. Those in search of...