Now having fully severed ties with Mayhem, guitarist Rune Eriksen (aka “Blasphemer”) can now turn his focus to Ava Inferi, a far less black metal-tinged outfit with two albums already under its belt Read more […]
God is the target this time out for Goatwhore. Not Hurricane Katrina or the painstaking healing process singer Ben Falgoust endured after a 2003 van accident. It’s a fitting approach for the New Orleans Read more […]
With 25 years in the business and God knows how many albums under her belt, the legendary Doro is always up to something. Whether it’s cutting the 2009 Wacken theme song, doing some symphony work or Read more […]
This one really could have gone either way. Having always managed to stay a few steps ahead of the rest of the melodic, metalcore crowd, Killswitch Engage seemed to slip a little with 2006’s As Daylight Read more […]
These Hungarians usually take a beating from the metal press for obvious reasons. Seriously, who wants to hear a third (world)-rate version of latter-Max era Sepultura and Soulfly? Not very many, eh? Lampooning What Read more […]
Good enough to open for Katatonia during the Swedes 2007 run in Russia, Forest Stream could be the most visible Russian metal band since Mental Home, who came as fast as they went. While it’s unlikely Read more […]
More than just a step up from 2007’s formidable The Wanderer And His Shadow, Worlds I Create is a gigantic leap for Pantheon I, one that propels this Norwegian quintet into rarely-grazed pastures. Read more […]
Quite the fuss around these Dutchmen (and woman), primarily because of Martjin Westerholt’s (ex Within Temptation) involvement and the fact singer Charlotte Wessels is another in a now very long line Read more […]
The majesty of Mandylion and Nighttime Birds seem so far off that The Gathering feels like a different band. Well, they are, obviously and that’s both with the departure of longtime singer Anneke Read more […]
A stop-gap EP before the next full-length (due sometime later this year or early 2010), Ephemeral is merely a snippet of what Pelican (far and away the best instrumental metal band of the last decade) Read more […]
Now three albums deep into their reformation (wow…already?), legendary Floridian death metallers Obituary have come through in the clutch yet again with Darkest Day. It’s more of the same, and since Read more […]
Anytime anyone deviates from the norm in black metal, you run the risk of it working or falling flat on its face. Black metal may forever be out of its fully-experimental phase that occurred earlier this Read more […]
The age-old question: “How do you keep brutal death metal interesting over the course of 10 songs?” is a tricky one. It’s a bit maddening really; you take music so rhythmically pummeling and brutal Read more […]
For those of you who like your death metal devoid of cliché then the cover of Jungle Rot’s latest release, What Horrors Await is going to be immediately off-putting. Once you get beyond that though, Read more […]
Opening with a sustained burst of feedback and slowly building noise, Magrudergrind are back, ready to tear off faces with the aptly-titled “The Protocols Of Anti-Sound.” It’s both a statement of Read more […]
A lazy person would dub Ex Deo as “Kataklysm without the hyper-blasts,” but it’s not that way at all, dude. Sure, all four current members of Montreal-based DM mongrels comprise Ex Deo, yet this Read more […]
We’re barely a year removed from the quite excellent Land and here comes the even more excellent By the Light of the Northern Star. It’s no coincidence that Tyr are perhaps the preeminent Viking/folk/Pagan/whatever Read more […]
Avast, this be pirate metal of the highest order mateys. Hang on, of the highest order? Anyway you get the gist. You’re not going to get anything groundbreaking or too mentally challenging with Alestorm, Read more […]
Entwine’s 2005 effort DiEversity remains a pop Goth metal hit in the Gehlke household, a domicile that is usually not very forgiving of such meanderings. Then again, those luscious, seductive hooks Read more […]
Is Eclipse not the best “return-to-form” album of the past decade? It is, right? Seriously, Amorphis’ 2006 opus has proven to have more staying power than most albums with that “hey, we’re Read more […]
A boggy, almost stagnant doom concoction, Battlefields are yet another in a long line of sludge doom bands that like to make impatient people (read: me) wait for good things to develop. More often than Read more […]
A Tolkki-less Strato, eh? That’s like a Mustaine-less Megadeth or a Schaffer-less Iced Earth (which might be a good thing). Now finally beyond the soap opera that led to the axeman’s apparent dissolution Read more […]
It’s not like we throw a 9/10 rating around here every day, but the unbridled vitriol and contrasts on Bloodstained Endurance practically begged for this mark. All this, after Trail of Tears nearly Read more […]
Lots of blasting here, almost too much, even for an album with nine songs. Being one-dimensional is not necessarily a band thing in black metal, but with variety not being Endstille’s forte, Verfuhrer bogs Read more […]
It would be wise to keep SWAATS (sorry, we’re not spelling that name out again) away from the whole new-jack, deathcore nonsense. Clearly, they’re not playing that game, but when you have a moniker Read more […]
The final salvo from Al Jourgensen and co., Adios celebrates the self-imposed end of Ministry, whose long-running career has endured tremendous highs and multiple lows. A CD/DVD (there are two) of various Read more […]
Falling in line with the numerous Opeth-infused/inspired bands, Spain’s Nahemah have quite the quirky, but charming creation on their hands with A New Constellation. It’s not direct Opeth worship Read more […]
Despite getting off to a doomy start and progressing onto some definite Baroness-style southern-ish metal, this album by Brooklyn five-piece Hull fails to strike the mark on many levels. Despite drawing Read more […]
Mixing European prog-ish metal, big windswept symphonic songsand you’d imagine a top hat or pencil mustache at the very least Oliver Palotai (Doro, Kamelot) certainly hasn’t strayed too far from Read more […]
Now fully relegated to being a studio musician (blame the burnout from Strapping Young Lad and this thing called “starting a family), Devin Townsend has shifted focus to building his solo name once Read more […]
