Art is a reflection of life. Thus the upswing in Death Metal – a renaissance that is not just a matter of marketing hitting just right. There is a wide breadth of different stylistic turns being taken, rather than just a worldwide tribute to the Tampa of the eighties. As someone who lives in Tampa at present, this might be the one city without an abundance of the deathly goodness that the rest of the world is nailing right now. Continue reading
Names are everything in Death Metal. So choosing one to best reflect the preferred brand of pneumatic skullfuckery can be just as important as the music itself at the beginning. Continue reading
A beguiling atmosphere. A deliberate sense of urgency. A cacophony of turmoil and finality: blackened Grindcore-meets-crust purveyors Yersin needed only a hair under twenty-five minutes to effectively and enthusiastically encapsulate all of the above mentioned techniques, and then some.
The Scythe Is Remorseless (Trepanation Recordings) sounds as if the Sunderland-based trio recorded seven tracks in the midst of an apocalyptic phenomenon known only to them. The sound bites and pierces; the vocals pummel and decimate. Together, it’s enthralling.Continue reading
It is fitting that 2024 finds the resurgence of death metal gathering even more momentum as death spreads across the globe. Death is a logical progression to the cycle of life, so death metal should be a celebration of this. Paul Speckmann has shown up to this celebration with this 14th album as Master. At sixty, he shows little sign of slowing down. Is it more deliberate than their 1990 album? Yes, but the songwriting is more polished. This album is a study on the roots of death metal, so prepare to take notes, there will be a quiz.Continue reading
One of the many things Resin Tomb got right on Cerebral Purgatory (Transcending Obscurity) is how compact yet fully fledged the tracks are. None of the eight songs run longer than 4:20 (nice), and even so, there is a recurring theme of individuality permeating through the entire debut full-length. A combination of desolate Death Metal and gregarious Grindcore is never a bad thing, either. Continue reading
What Domination Campaign, a duo comprised of Psycroptic bandmates Jason Peppiatt (vocals, guitar, bass) and Joe Haley (drums), have tried to do with A Storm Of Steel (Prosthetic Records) is craft a Death Metal record that reveals the perils and horrors of war (World War II, in particular) in a way that is less sensationalist, and more raw and real.Continue reading
As the days grow ever shorter and the year creaks to an end, Matt Cook ventures into the subterranean in search of death (metal) and depravity to warm his decomposing cockles…
Nothing keeps your cheeks rosy and your heart warm in the cold, Northern winters like some good ol’ technical brutal death metal. Just in time for Christmas, from the opposite end of the globe in Australia, Revulsed have dropped their second full-length album, Cerebral Contamination (Everlasting Spew Records) which drags you through a near thirty-six-minute cesspool of guttural vocals, some slam, and highly proficient guitar licks.Continue reading
The year is ending, the days grow shorter, the sun sets earlier, and death metal gets more gruesome. Newcomers Abyssal Rift have dropped their debut release in the form of Extirpation Dirge (Sentient Ruin Laboratories). Six tracks spanning over thirty-six minutes is the perfect snack-sized introduction the metal world needs to get their first taste of the Ohio group.Continue reading
With the end of the year approaching swiftly, new albums are dropping and trying their damndest to make it onto different Album of the Year lists.