A Finnish ensemble who has already made good on their comeback by way of 2013’s most-excellent Evil Prevails, Convulse appear to be more than capable of meeting the good ‘ole “follow-up challenge” Read more […]
It’s always worth investigating a new release when one checks out a clip and notices it doesn’t instantly sound “like a combination of band X and band Y.” Such was the case when The Burning Dogma’s Read more […]
The hearty, often firebrand Aussies have never been the most productive of bands, with Wildfire being their first album in seven years, but to state the obvious: Destroyer 666 always makes it count. In Read more […]
After a decade long silence, one of the earliest entries on the 1990’s Swedish gothic metal scene Beseech returns for their sixth studio album. My Darkness, Darkness not only features vocalist Klas Bohlin Read more […]
Isn’t Firespawn more Entombed than Entombed A.D.? The band’s Shadow Realms album from last year possessed more teeth and death metal servitude than Entombed A.D’s iffy first album Back to the Front, and Read more […]
It’s been a treat to watch Omnium Gatherum work their way up over the years. Seemingly stuck in ‘middle of the road’ status, that all seemed to change when The Red Shift hit. With their next album, Read more […]
What often begins as a studio project can evolve into a full-fledge active outfit – as the case is here for UK thrash quartet Reacher. Their debut album Generation Kill is a 12 song affair, chock full Read more […]
As much as one loves the newer death metal approach of trying to balance songwriting with technical flair, sometimes it’s nice to hear a band that keeps things a bit more rooted in the old ways. And Read more […]
Do you long for the days when melodic black metal had a true feeling of majesty to it? Bands like Dissection, Emperor, and Naglfar were carrying the torch for weaving in soaring and fantastic melodies Read more […]
Finland’s metal scene is no stranger to melancholy. One can quickly rattle off an easy dozen bands that fit the bill, from death metal to black metal to progressive. Finnish upstarts Reveries End easily Read more […]
It’s hard to look at the title of this album without thinking of the mighty Entombed. But thankfully for Abyssus, that’s as close to Entombed as they come with their version of old school death worship. Read more […]
Poised to be examples of one of those bands that fits their label like a charm, Omnihility sounds very “Unique Leader” when you hear them. Spiraling and frantic riffs, low growled vocals, and modern Read more […]
Twenty years is a long investment into a metal act – kudos to Criminal for continuing to unleash their brand of vicious crossover thrash/death on Fear Itself, their eighth studio album. Five years have Read more […]
Guttural, seething, and pummeling death metal. Atrocious Abnormality’s second full-length effort, Formed in Disgust, hits just about all of the wanted/needed death metal adjectives that you’d like Read more […]
Chances are most North American thrash followers may glance at this German band who’ve been around in one form or another since 1986 and know the name, but never take in any albums due to a lack of proper Read more […]
Listening to an album like Affirmation of Entropy almost feels like a flashback in time. One can really get a very good impression of the band’s number one influence in a matter of seconds, because Read more […]
This scribe remembers Gehennah scouring about the pages of Metal Maniacs in the late-90s, all part of a short-lived stint under the “retro thrash” tag. The Swedes pre-dated a lot of the beer-swiveling, Read more […]
Admittedly kids of the 1990’s and fortunate to grow up around everything from Watchtower, Absu, Pantera, and Stevie Ray Vaughan among others – this Houston, Texas sextet known as Oceans of Slumber Read more […]
Back in 2011, Ordinance unleashed their first album, Internal Monologues, but despite its progressive death metal goodness, it failed to generate as much hype as it should have. Since that time though, Read more […]
A Bathory tribute album with no sign of any song off of Octagon. Shame on Ereb Altor. Actually, not – everyone knows what a pile of junk Octagon is. (The same could be applied for Destroyer of Worlds, Read more […]
Dispute as you may, but Anthrax’s 2011 Worship Music was the best album released by any member of the Big 4 in the last 25 years. The revitalization of Joey Belladonna, the ten-ton/accessible riffs, and Read more […]
A hereby unknown Finnish epic black metal entity, Draugnim have quietly kicked around the always-fertile Finnish metal underground since 1999 in varying stints. As such, Vulturine happens to be the band’s Read more […]
Together for over ten years, Norway’s Pictures of Pain live by a ‘wait until it’s just right’ credo for album releases. Their first album for Pitch Black The Reckoning came out in November 2010 Read more […]
It takes a lot to stand out and impress when it comes to female-fronted symphonic/progressive metal. One really needs to find a way to sell your product, and the Tunisian band Persona does a thorough Read more […]
A common reel-in before an album is released is to advance stream its best song. Any label worth its salt can plough through an LP and determine which track is best suited to be heard first by the masses; Read more […]
A thematic album of symphonic black metal focusing on tales of warfare, mythology, and legends might not might not initially sell you, but give it some time. Protean have done their homework here, and Read more […]
More and more convincing is the argument that Russia is setting themselves up to be the next “Gothenburg,” as the country continues to put out some of the strongest melodic death metal (Sunless Rise Read more […]
It’s a push over who sounds more like Trouble these days – the still-active Trouble with Kyle Thomas out front, or, The Skull, who have a handful of ex-Trouble men in the ranks, mostly notably vocalist Read more […]
These days, classifications for particular bands can be a challenging proposition. Especially when you throw around the ‘progressive’ tag – because that alone can mean anything from djent stints Read more […]
For modern melodic death metal fans, it’s easy to get a little bit of a smile when The Unguided announces a new album. There’s little trepidation or wonder about if the band is going to be veering Read more […]
