Prior to On Death and Cosmos, the goal of Ephel Duath was to never let the listener quite “get” them. As in, their music was more avant-garde than it should have been, and it certainly was reflected Read more […]
Bands like Burning Point are a tough sell. They rely heavily on a generic, unoriginal power metal base that offers nothing new to the genre. Worse yet they hail from Finland and have to fight for notoriety, Read more […]
Rooted in bombast and flanked by the underrated shape-shifting of Nordic power metal, Norway’s Tedor Tuff have created one those albums that carefully straddles the line between full-on symphonic applause-seeking Read more […]
All kinds of weird and strange – not to say that this is the good kind of weird and strange. One man black metal bands are pervasive in number and vary wildly from absolute shit (everything Xasthur has Read more […]
The path to ascension continues for the mystery-cloaked members of Deathspell Omega. The first new material from the band since their stellar 2010 release Paracletus sees an influx of all that made that Read more […]
Appropriately marketed for the Katatonia/Anathema/Porcupine Tree crowd, Finnish atmospheric rockers The Chant craft these sort of carefully calculated songs that are as wistful as they are gentle. Like, Read more […]
Seemingly incapable of being laid to rest no matter how many members they go through, California grind masters Phobia have managed to survive another round of band turnover prior to the recording of their Read more […]
Easily among the more obscure releases a listener will come across this year, Revulsion of Seraphic Grace is nonetheless an admirable piece of work. Sharing more than a few traits in common with Incantation Read more […]
Like Krallice and Deafheaven, albeit with a more mysterious vibe (no promo pics or interviews to be found), the Bay Area’s Bosse-de-Nage fit rather snug into the confines of American black metal. And Read more […]
Thirty years with one shtick…now that’s dedication to your original plan. For Germany’s Tankard, their fondness for all things alcohol-related has garnered them as the sole proprietors of the “alcohol Read more […]
Granted, my personal experience with the world of progressive death metal has often been limited, at least insomuch as the tag is actually applied to bands. The band that most readily comes to mind is Read more […]
Here comes another trip into the chunky abyss that is the old-school death metal revival. Sharing numerous traits (aesthetically and aurally) with labelmates The Grotesquery, Puteraeon have come again Read more […]
Post-Emperor life for guitarist Samoth hasn’t been exactly all that rosy. Some may have found value with his work with Zyklon, yet said band was grossly overrated and fizzled out two years ago, while Read more […]
The golden age of symphonic black metal is long dead. A decade ago this couldn’t be further from the truth: Emperor may have disbanded but they had just released their triumphant Prometheus: Of Fire Read more […]
It’s very likely that you know where this is going already. Whitechapel, along with the likes of Suicide Silence and Bring Me the Horizon, exist as the popular poster children of the deathcore scene. Read more […]
Venom, and their various spin-off bands have not exactly been well-received by Blistering of late. Rightfully so – if one is looking for the most inoffensive-while trying to be-offensive music around, Read more […]
It’s a brave new world for Luca Turilli, especially after leaving Rhapsody of Fire in 2011 to essentially recreate the essence of his former band in a new version. Now calling the band – Luca Turilli’s Read more […]
Doom sure has become a far-reaching term, eh? Like, one could say that Candlemass are traditional doom, but someone like Pallbearer are neo doom, although that doesn’t make a great deal of sense since Read more […]
The “unauthorized” tag is usually cause for concern, but it shouldn’t be in this instance. Britain-based author Neil Daniels has clearly done his share of Internet sleuthing and research to pull together Iron Read more […]
Rare when we type “tasteful” and “hardcore punk/metal” in the same sentence (let alone have the same thought sequence), but Ghostlimb have managed to inject some much-needed intelligence into the Read more […]
Hailing from Canada, my first ever review for Blistering is an appropriate one; given that Titans Eve list Vancouver, British Columbia as their homebase of operations. Beyond that, what you need to know Read more […]
Much higher stakes for France’s Gojira now that they’ve gotten the call-up to the big leagues with Roadrunner. They can’t really sneak up on people like they did with 2005’s brilliant From Mars to Sirius, Read more […]
A hurricane indeed. Relatively hot on the heels of last year’s solidJordpuls, this summer finds the Swedish folk/Viking/progressive/black/whatever metal duo returning with a new set of melodic rollercoasters Read more […]
No apologies for the influx of Grand Magus-related content of late – they rock and rock really hard, much harder than the slew of Johnny-tightpants deathcore bands that come across our desk. Methinks Read more […]
Originally released last year and now getting the reissue/repackaging treatment via Relapse, Primate’s Draw Back A Stump debut isn’t exactly the Brutal Truth-meets-Mastodon exercise that many had figured Read more […]
Sometimes all a person can do when a torrent of ills consumes their world is rage. Just rage and rage and when that’s reached an end…rage some more. A cursory glance at the Swedes who make up Martyrdöd Read more […]
As important as the Bay Area has been to the development of thrash, we cannot forget the impact of the German thrash brigade through the years, especially their own “big three” of Destruction, Kreator, Read more […]
Any band that purposely namedrops the likes of The Kovenant must have little, or no regard for people’s perception. The Kovenant, of course, was the much-maligned Dimmu Borgir/Mayhem electronic black Read more […]
Anyone that has been in a band and has entered a Battle of the Bands knows they’re practically rigged. The judges are in cahoots with at least one of the bands, or said band has paid a truckload of money Read more […]
Hailing from Edmonton, Canada (most known to ardent hockey fans where Wayne Gretzsky won several Stanley Cups before their team exodus to America), Murder Kill Death, the debut album from thrash band Read more […]
