Plugging away since 1986, Italy’s Extrema has transformed beyond their thrash origins into a more palatable groove oriented metal act without forsaking their heavy roots. Their sixth full length The Read more […]
The refinement of the Norwegian second-wave sound hit its climax around the time this album was originally released in 2004. 1349 found itself laying waste to absolutely everything in sight, Immortal had Read more […]
First thoughts about the double-album that is The Living Infinite? The Soilwork of the mid-00’s could never pull something off like this, primarily because they were trying to take shortcuts, shortcuts Read more […]
The prospect of an instrumental black metal album opens up the floodgates for asinine comments. Like, “The vocals are usually so bad in black metal, I already feel like I wish I was listening to an instrumental Read more […]
The continued evolution of USBM into different geographical varieties is a fascinating thing to behold. For Woe and their east-coast heritage, the sonic ties to groups Krallice and Castevet are clear Read more […]
The hand signal depicted on Will, Love, Life looks awfully familiar to the one former pro wrestler “Diamond” Dallas Page used to do. Along with his calling card of “self high-five,” DDP busted Read more […]
Still a very much relevant entity on the death metal front, Suffocation presently characterize “old man” death metal about as anyone. Since their 2004 reformation, the New Yorkers have put together an Read more […]
The sludge derived world is a fruitful one, spawning bands as wide in influence as they wind up producing in sonic signatures. To imagine Mastodon and Warhorse once grouped under the same heading is a Read more […]
Thrash appeal remains worldwide. The thirst for speed picking, up pace snare hits and tom fills, and multi-part gang vocals roaring out the choruses is at an all-time high once again. People clamoring Read more […]
“From the muddy shores of the Po River in Piacenza” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as “from the Bayou” or “The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah” (holy smokes, a Nirvana reference? Yikies!), Read more […]
A death metal live album essentially embodies the term “useless,” even as the parties involved try to convince the metal public otherwise. Heck, it wasn’t until the last decade that death metal started Read more […]
Vreid really rocked, thrashed, and everything else’d on 2011’s V. Excuse the cliché, but it was the album they were always threatening to make, with Milorg serving as the breeding ground for the band’s Read more […]
A curious beast, this one. A kind of side-band (same members, different music) of the French avant-garde monsters S.U.P, Supuration is a groove-laden but left-brained take on death metal that in parts Read more […]
A prime example of how fast the underground moves – and how easy it is for a band to get lost on the shuffle – California black metal brigade have gone mostly quiet since their 2010 Extra-Dimensional Read more […]
Former Savatage singer Zak Stevens continues to plod away with Circle II Circle after parting ways with his former band. During his tenure in Savatage, Zak gave new life to the struggling outfit after Read more […]
Mr. Rogga Johansson has so many projects going on at the present time that Dead Rhetoric wonders if the Swede rolls out of bed, tunes up his Pro-Tools, and records another album. The frequency in which Read more […]
Biff and the boys are no dummies – they know what works, perhaps moreso than any old geezer band going right now. This run of glory (surprised the band hasn’t used that tag…Run of Glory sounds totally Read more […]
Quite a laugh to hear old ‘mate Timo Tolkki speak of Nemesis’ production and songwriting values…the dude said not too long ago that Strato wouldn’t last another five years. Could he be trying to Read more […]
When you follow an artist from their underground demo days through a series of albums, it’s exciting to watch the transformation as they mature and grow older. Especially in the case of progressive rock Read more […]
This is the sound of being slugged by a biker drunk on rage because his wife left him and fucked the neighbor. This is the sound of waking up in a dark alley covered in blood and hobo hair. This is the Read more […]
Apparently, there’s a lot to gain from being part of the sludge rank-and-file. You get accepted quicker, people become less prone to comparing you to other bands, and if you have even the slightest differentiator, Read more […]
Omnium Gatherum are now six albums in and they have truly perfected the style of melo-death on the Beyond. This new release is riveting, sticking closely to their trademark sound of atmosphere, aggression, Read more […]
Thriving times for thrash fans. Everywhere you look, you can find prime albums churned out throughout the globe, as the veterans and newcomers aim to take residency in a competitive marketplace. Look at Read more […]
Australia’s Portal find themselves in the unique class of death metal bands where upon they have their own set of descriptors. Oftentimes, the words “warped,” “vacuum” and “abyss” get shuttled Read more […]
The new year is alive and well, bursting at the seams with a wealth of sludge/doom derived groups, coming to the fore in a variety of forms. For Norway’s ALTAAR, it’s the long and drawn out experimental Read more […]
It takes six men to play death metal in Ulcer. This “strength in numbers” attempt would suggest there’s a lot more to the band’s grisly grind, but let us not be fooled – this is straight-up, Read more […]
For those of you who don’t know, the German thrash metal juggernaut known as Destruction actually began life as Knight of Demon. Now can you imagine almost 30 years of playing at a fierce level of intensity Read more […]
There are times when an album catches you completely by surprise and leaves you out cold. It takes familiar elements (in this case in both cases, a pairing of oft-overused elements) and fuses them in such Read more […]
One of the bands that pops up only when discussion for the usual brutal death metal suspects has waned, Dallas’s Devourment are back on the ‘ole killing trail with Conceived in Sewage, their fourth Read more […]
A lot of angle-less black metal has been parading around lately, hasn’t it? Maybe it’s because of the voluntary faceless nature of Cascadian BM, or the noticeable lack of anything exciting happening Read more […]
