Reviews

Trouble – The Distortion Field (FRW Music)

When the voice of an iconic act leaves not once, but twice in a band’s career, you better step up to the plate for the replacement or risk alienating a healthy reputation. Eric Wagner possessed such Read more […]

CROWN – Psychurgy (Candlelight Records)

Guys, the French have done it again. After listening to CROWN’S latest offering Psychurgy, I feel it’s safe to say that the record is a worthy addition to the growing pantheon of forward-thinking metal Read more […]

The Pete Flesh Deathtrip – Mortui Vivos Docent (Pulverised Records)

Pete Flesh (he of Deceiver, Maze of Torment, and Thrown fame) is hardly a prominent name in death metal circles, but hey, when trying to get your name out there, what better way than to name your band Read more […]

Averse Concept – Symbol of Loss (Self-Released)

A two-man black metal crew from Flip, Flip, Flip-adelphia (sorry, was watching It’s Always Sunny prior to writing this), Averse Concept, like their city mates Woe, play a sort of raw, viscerally-tinged Read more […]

Armed for Apocalypse – The Road Will End (Ironclad Recordings)

Would Armed for Apocalypse be a nu metal band if this were 1998, and not 2013? DR certainly wonders such a thing, what with the band’s love of all things down-tuned and simplistic, two rudiments of the Read more […]

Witherscape – The Inheritance (Century Media)

Between DR and our Blistering.com predecessor, perhaps no name has been dropped more than Dan Swanö’s. As a producer and multi-instrumentalist, Swanö’s imprint is on some extraordinarily vital bodies Read more […]

Black Tusk – Tend No Wounds EP (Relapse)

Thank goodness actual full-length album releases haven’t gone the way of the dinosaur – how else would a band like Black Tusk give us a stopgap EP? It’s almost a negative term, you know? “Stopgap.” Read more […]

Seven Witches – Rebirth (FrostByte Media)

Guitarist Jack Frost has traveled a lot in his pursuit for the art of metal through the years. Recording and touring opportunities that include Savatage, Metallium, Lizzy Borden, the Bronx Casket Co. and Read more […]

Angels of Babylon – Thundergod (Scarlet Records)

No one will ever out-cheese Manowar in the chest-bumping, loin-cloth wearing, quasi homoerotic arena…that’s pretty much a given. It’s in the bands that have spawned from Manowar is where the line Read more […]

Circle of Silence – The Rise of Resistance (Massacre Records)

If you like power metal bands that flirt with the thrash aesthetic, then Circle of Silence may be the band for you. Hailing from Germany, the band can easily be grouped into the Mystic Prophecy and Iced Read more […]

Civil War – The Killer Angels (Despotz Records)

In early 2012, a mass exodus took place when Rikard Sunden, Oskar Montelius, Daniel Mullback, and Daniel Myhr all left Swedish power metal band Sabaton. The move was shocking to say the least, but ultimately Read more […]

Fatality – Psychonaut (Self-Released)

Self-proclaimed “party thrashers,” Toronto’s Fatality went the Indiegogo route in order to fund their Psychonaut second album. There’s a growing stigma toward bands who opt to solicit for funding Read more […]

Morne – Shadows (Profound Lore)

If funeral doom is the proverbial snail pace-setter, then a group like Massachusetts’ Morne are the slightly more motivated tortoise. Their 2011 Asylum effort hunkered down with bogged-down doom riffs, Read more […]

Lesbian – Forestelevision (Translation Loss)

Lesbian’s Forestelevision is one long song, so get your Crimson (Edge of Sanity) or Holy Mountain (Sleep) comparisons out right away. It’s not that big of a deal, to be frank, for there’s a vast Read more […]

Spirits of the Dead – Rumors of a Presence (The End Records)

The retro psych bands of the 60’s and 70’s keep on coming and Norway’s Spirits of the Dead exhibit all the hallmarks of progressive folk rock of yesteryear. To a very large degree much of this style Read more […]

Dio – Magica Deluxe Edition (Niji Entertainment)

Having escaped the 90’s by the skin of his teeth, Ronnie James Dio found fresh footing in the 00’s, starting with Magica. Looking to bounce back after the poorly-received (and clunky) Strange Machines Read more […]

Venomous Maximus – Beg Upon the Light (Napalm Records)

Perhaps the most integral part of a traditional rock band is also the most difficult to secure.  I must have listened to hundreds of what could have been notable bands, diminished by a bad voice or maybe Read more […]

Ereb Altor – Fire Meets Ice (Cyclone Empire)

Considering 2/3’s of Ereb Altor’s lineup holds court in Swedish doom masters Isole, a certain expectation of quality loomed for their third album, Fire Meets Ice. You can see the Bathory homage based Read more […]

Lord Dying – Summon the Faithless (Relapse Records)

Summon the Faithless is the debut album from Portland’s Lord Dying, a band made up of members from other established bands, who have (rather impressively) released an album and are embarking on a national Read more […]

Sannhet – Known Flood (Sacrament Music/ConSouling Sounds)

Released earlier in the year via Sacrament Music, Sannhet’s Known Flood debut is getting the worldwide treatment via ConSouling Sounds. Hailing from Brooklyn, the trio of Christopher Todd (drums/samples), Read more […]

Mercenary – Through Our Darkest Days (Prosthetic)

Admittedly, this scribe on some level is still smarting over the fact Mercenary never became metal’s next big thing. They have all the ingredients for such an ascension, of which we’ll detail below, Read more […]

Månegarm – Legions of the North (Napalm Records)

Enslaved’s Eld make it possible for Scandinavian bands to play Viking/folk inspired death/black metal without having to resort to native instrumentation as a point of focus. From there (read: early 90s), Read more […]

Mouth of the Architect – Dawning (Translation Loss)

Five years ago, Mouth of the Architect looked like the next band to break out of the post-metal ruckus and ascend to sub-Isis levels. Their 2008 effort Quietly was achingly broad and cerebral, with a title Read more […]

Void Meditation Cult – Sulfurous Prayers of Blight and Darkness (Hell’s Headbangers)

The production on Void Meditation Cult’s Sulfurous Prayers of Blight and Darkness is horrendous. Okay? Certain members of the metal journalism community sometimes have difficulty overlooking such a fact, Read more […]

I Killed Everyone – Necrospire (Pavement Entertainment)

Quite hard to dig this band and their name, maybe because it makes DR think of the short-lived metalcore supergroup I Killed the Prom Queen, who came and went in a New York minute (they were from Australia). Read more […]

Autopsy – The Headless Ritual (Peaceville)

The second album back from a post-reformation act is definitely the hardest. Without the buzz and/or excitement that predicted the initial comeback platter, veteran bands that actually do make it to this Read more […]

Erimha – Reign Through Immortality (Victory)

Black metal. The new frontier for Victory, who once housed chart-toppers Hawthorne Heights and Thursday, allowing the label to establish itself as one of the top independents in America. The label has Read more […]

Church of Misery – Thy Kingdom Scum (Metal Blade/Rise Above)

Like Macabre, Japan’s Church of Misery know of only one subject: serial killers. Whereas Macabre make you feel like you’re watching one of those specials on E! that chronicle some sadistic freak’s life, Read more […]

Unkind – Pelon Juuret (Relapse Records)

If Finland’s Unkind were smart in the marketing department, they’d come up with a shirt that says “Unkind Mind Grind.” For starters, rhyming is fun and easy, and then you throw in the grind aspect Read more […]

Pest – The Crowning Horror (Agonia Records)

Scoffing at any notion of progression (see Darkthrone too), Sweden’s Pest are one of those hardened black metal bands who seemingly can’t get past the first few Venom and Bathory albums for inspiration. Read more […]