It’s rough terrain in the music business these days. Physical sales are down, online sales are up, and yet much of the current generation in this instantaneous marketplace clamor for new music and Read more […]
A rather wide divide has always surrounded these Frenchmen, for they’re not as sideways as Deathspell Omega (who really is?) and they’re hardly straightforward, so that space in between is what has Read more […]
Had a feeling this wouldn’t be as monolithic and graceful as 2008’s Communion, but that’s not a big deal – few albums of recent memory are. With The Great Mass, Septicflesh are not a victim Read more […]
How Profound Lore stumbles across bands like Salt Lake City’s SubRosa is anyone’s guess, and it’s getting to the point where a “Profound Lore” sound could be in order. That is, unless label Read more […]
Impossible to knock something like this. Methods To End It All is self-released (on their own Cure For Poison Records) and is as good, or better than a lot of the Goth metal going around now. The brainchild Read more […]
Windfaerer has successfully “Jersey turnpiked” epic/folk metal onTribus. Such an utterance is made because not only is the band from New Jersey (land of Bon Jovi and Tony Soprano), but their effective, Read more […]
Take the 7/10 rating for what it’s worth – Amon Amarth are about as likely to deviate from the course as Charlie Sheen is to make a coherent statement (no more social commentary from us). No surprise Read more […]
Now that their back catalog is getting the much-needed reissue treatment from Relapse, it’s more apparent than ever where the kiddie death metal pool has been swiping their ideas from – Dying Fetus. Read more […]
If this were 1997, Symfonia would be the biggest since like…ever. But it’s not, rather, a dreaded “supergroup” consisting of once-viable power metal cast-offs, most notably ex-Stratovarius guitarist Read more […]
Wino and an acoustic guitar. Should work just fine, thank you very much. The long-revered doom legend has totally stripped things down on Adrift, with a collection of personal and heartfelt songs that Read more […]
The UK thrash scene has been just as active in this second resurrection as the American scene this go-around. Taking cues from all sources past and present, no one can deny the impact of Sabbat, Onslaught, Read more […]
Another one of those fabled “heritage” bands that have been able to stick around, Vicious Rumors have long been beset with lineup alterations and label squabbles. Main dude Geoff Thorpe has managed Read more […]
When it wants to be, grind can be good times across the board. When it doesn’t want to be (read: when it opts to be crusty and dirty), then it’s some of the most worthless music metal can offer. In Read more […]
Riffs, man. They’re everywhere here, and it’s a bit of a surprise considering how bland Blooddrunk was. Alexi Laiho and the boys have totally righted the ship on Relentless Reckless Forever, an album Read more […]
Widely considered to be the strongest new force on the European technical death metal scene, Obscura now must live it up the lofty expectations created after the overwhelming success of 2009’s Cosmogenesis. Read more […]
Hard to picture a band from Israel not channeling the sounds of its homeland, but give credit to Betzefer for this: they don’t sound a thing like Orphaned Land. On their third album Freedom To the Slave Read more […]
On North American shores, excitement for a new Haunted album has drawn to a whimper, thanks in part to the Swedes’ gradual evolution into a non-thrash, non-melodic death, non-anything band. Really, who Read more […]
Any band that can successfully volley between all-acoustic and avant-garde metal without a skipping a beat is one to take note of. Such is the case for Austria’s Dornenreich, who aren’t the first name Read more […]
Right in the wheelhouse of classic Burzum (yes, please), Sweden’s Srodek offer up the usual one-man BM production tactics on Förfall , albeit with a much higher grade of success than its contemporaries. Read more […]
If there’s one continent that passionately comes up from touring bands in the embracing metal music landscape, it would have to be South America. Iron Maiden’s 1985 Rock In Rio performance set off Read more […]
Man, Belus is barely a year old and here comes a new one in the form of Fallen. ‘Ole Varg is certainly making up for that span of inactivity related to his stint in jail, isn’t he? Essentially a continuation Read more […]
Long considered an unheralded classic, Souls At Zero is the set-up album for Neurosis’ ascent into underground darlings. Originally released in 1992,Souls saw the Californians move away from their Read more […]
If you really want to ruffle the feathers of your audience, then start your album with the sound of an alarm clock going off…that’s real horror for some people. Frankly, the morning is the best Read more […]
Surely My Inner Burning had all the right intentions when coming up with their moniker, but surely there’s a segment of assholes out there who will poke and prod at the band’s name, comparing it to Read more […]
This Danish act epitomize the “underrated” moniker in the metal world. Their sound has enough rambunctious hooks and fierceness to achieve a broad cross-section of appeal, and yet in the United States Read more […]
Stolen Swedish riffs be damned, Darkest Hour are still around, remarkably, and back with an album in the form of The Human Romance that may (or may not) be their most effective in years. Their weak spots Read more […]
Imagine a filthy three-way pile-up between Kylesa, These Arms Are Snakes and Torche jamming Floor songs. If that’s getting you aroused in the downtown, trouser area and setting your ears a tingle you’re Read more […]
Funny how it’s taken such a considerable amount of time for people to finally give Crowbar their just due. Fact of the matter is, almost every sludge-oriented band going right now owes something to Kirk Read more […]
As history has demonstrated, a female singer is a good way to change the landscape, or at least get more eyeballs pointed in the desired direction. And since there a few landscapes as dry as power metal, Read more […]
Considering it will be the 10th anniversary of Chuck Schuldiner’s passing this December, it’s quite fitting that Death is getting the reissue treatment. We would be remiss to not convey the band’s Read more […]
