Anytime Germany’s Grave Digger releases new material it’s always a major treat. The power metal stalwarts are back with their 16th studio album entitled Clash of the Gods and what we have here is Read more […]
Someone needs to send out a search party for Necrophagist…and fast. The European technical death metal throne they once manned has been toppled by Obscura, thus opening the doors for bands of lesser Read more […]
No country does a better job at developing its metal bands than Finland. There’s a bottomless pit of quality acts and each (including the big names) go through the same process of recording a promising, Read more […]
There’s something about black metal from the UK and their tendency toward glorious pagan/ancient themes (Cradle of Filth doesn’t count here) that just brings so much joy to my dorkiest side. All the Read more […]
Young bands are always looking for some type of measuring stick. In order to attain one’s goals – lofty or not – a certain barometer must be set or a lowly career playing the bar scene will become Read more […]
This must be a nice little creative retreat for the Kataklysm guys, you know? In their side band Ex Deo, they don’t have to hyper-blast, nor do they have to follow the playbook they’ve so strongly executed Read more […]
While they may be more famous for their work with electric guitars and noise the trio of Scott Kelly (Neurosis, Shrinebuilder), Steve Von Till (Neurosis, Harvestman) and Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich (The Read more […]
Concept albums can be a mixed bag sometimes. I guess it all depends on the theme and or subject matter to truly make a conceptual piece work as a whole. It worked for Rush on 2112, Iron Maiden’s Seventh Read more […]
As George “Mr. Scary” Lynch once put it, the musical definition of compromise is “doing the music other people want you to do, rather than the music you want to do.” Lynch and his Dokken pals of course, Read more […]
It’s been 25 years since Udo Dirkschneider left Accept and started a new musical chapter under his namesake as just UDO. In that amount of years the dynamo singer from Germany has carved out an impressive Read more […]
The initial listen of a new piece of music can have a profound impact on how it affects the listener from that point forward. Something is captured in that series of moments and simply lingers with the Read more […]
If the Mayans are correct, then cockroaches, Twinkies, and Grave Digger will be the only things left standing when the apocalypse comes this December. The Germans are virtually indestructible and like Read more […]
Ensiferum weren’t necessarily the first band out of the epic/folk gate, but they’re probably the best, or at least the most consistent. One jaunt through 2009’s thoroughly captivating From Afar supports Read more […]
For Scott Kelly the last 30 years (or so) have no doubt been dumbfounding in the sheer gravity of the scope and depth they’ve covered. Neurosis’ early hardcore beginnings and transformation over time Read more […]
The obvious sonic limitations and ceiling that vintage melodic metal presents itself with usually spells mediocrity. The bands who fancy this still are often too wrapped up in the time capsule they’re Read more […]
Have you seen the cover to this new release? It’s quite horrific looking and there’s a frantic feeling found in the striking images of an army of insect warriors charging forward in a swarm. I’m Read more […]
There are few things in life more inspiring than redemption stories. One such tale is that of Sweden’s The Forsaken, returning from a nine-year hiatus this month with their aptly-titled release Beyond Read more […]
Always dug Evan Seinfeld, especially during Biohazard’s prime years when Urban Discipline and State of the World Address were rap metal staples. Dude can definitely kick a rhyme when he has to…and Read more […]
In the States, Metal Hammer doesn’t quite have the same impact as now-defunct rags like Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Metal Magazines, and even Pit. Because it started to drift into alternative Read more […]
The Middle East isn’t a geographical area that metal seems to bleeding from. Quality bands are few and far in between but when they hit, they hit hard. Case in point, this stunning release from Jordan Read more […]
We don’t hand out very many awards on Blistering, probably because various awards and faux internet trophies cheapens the only category that matters, i.e. Album of the Year. Yet if yours truly had to Read more […]
Sometimes really fantastic things come in painfully small amounts. The box of Apple-Cinnamon Chex I bought last week, episodes of Squidbillies, and in the case of British blackened thrash act Cultfinder, Read more […]
If Dew-Scented had a dollar or a Euro (they’re German after all) for every time some hack inquired about their name, then they probably wouldn’t have to worry about releasing safe and predictable albums Read more […]
The deluge of quality USBM releases that have been so prevalent this year had to lose steam eventually, and unfortunately for the grimy looking fellows that make up Mutilation Rites, their equally grimy Read more […]
More and more bands seem to be going back in time and re-recording past songs in an effort to “update” them. Whether this is to re-make some songs with more current production standards, seeing what Read more […]
In 1987, thrash metal was the music of choice for those who worshipped the frantic rush of sounds set to a leather studded fist. A whole a slew of new metal gods were thriving for metallic supremacy, proclaiming Read more […]
Baleful clouds consume the sky and choke out the sun, a frigid wind emaciating flora and fauna alike – the world left behind a lifeless husk. Though apt for an end of the world scenario, such is not Read more […]
The retro thrash movement has inundated us with both quality and fluff. Rumpelstiltskin Grinder has always done a more than serviceable job in providing some speedy, riff-driven thrash tunes to whet the Read more […]
Even though Morbid Saint only had one full-length release, the band is a definite classic in the thrash genre. Spectrum of Death is a pristine example of how to tear a person limb from limb in a musical sense. Read more […]
Seeing a bunch of doom vets put together something more than a run-of-the-mill Sabbath affair can warm one’s heart. Going said route would be too easy, for apparently, everyone and their mother thinks Read more […]
