Seventeen albums in and German thrash legends Sodom are still out there throwing riffs like hand grenades, and singing about war while worshipping at the feet of Motörhead. Of course, after forty-plus years in the business, this is a very different band to who started out in 1982, and not just in terms of personnel. The raw, youthful enthusiasm of their early years has long since been replaced with maturity and experience.Continue reading
Although only formed in 2022, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that Leipzig speed metallers Morbyda have been around since the early eighties as debut album Under the Spell (Dying Victims Productions) hits all the right nostalgia notes while delivering something uniquely its own.Continue reading
Change often comes at the most inconvenient time. Something Pennsylvanian Progressive Death Metal act Rivers Of Nihil discovered when they were forced into parting ways with enigmatic frontman Jake Dieffenbach after 2021’s groundbreaking album The Work. Hiring from within to avoid losing momentum, bassist Adam Biggs took over the now vacant vocalist position while second guitarist Andy Thomas was recruited from fellow Pennsylvanians Black Crown Initiate.Continue reading
Proving that career paths often never work out quite the way you imagine, Finnish experimentalists …And Oceans was founded by the two guitarists of Death Metallers Festerday and began life as a fairly straight-forward Black Metal act. After metamorphosing into something more akin to Black Cybermetal on their 2001 album A.M.G.O.D., in 2005, the band changed their name to Havoc Unit before reverting to Festerday a few years later. A band that continues to exist despite the reformation of …And Oceans in 2019. Continue reading
After two high quality short-form releases, French death/crust act Death Whore erupt fully onto the scene with full length debut Blood Washes Everything Away. A co-production by Duality Records, Crypt of Dr. Gore, Specific Recordings, Hecatombe Records, and No Good to Anyone Productions, the band from Nancy unleashes thirty-five minutes of deeply unpleasant sonic punishment in the nastiest possible way.Continue reading
The wait for a new Candlemass album can often be slower than their riffs so it’s always a pleasant surprise when an interim release appears on the horizon. Four-track EP Black Star (Napalm Records) might only contain two original songs from the Godfathers of Swedish Doom but, as usual, it’s a tale of quality over quantity. Continue reading
Having undergone a major upheaval in 2022, Illinois thrashers Misfire return with a very different line-up and some of the gnarliest ’80s San Francisco Bay Area riffs to come out of modern-day Chicago. Second full length studio release Product of the Environment (MNRK Heavy) not only finds the band in devastating form, but also boasting guest performances from the likes of Rob Cavestany from Death Angel, and Rob Dukes (both formerly and currently of Exodus).Continue reading
Rebranding himself simply as Changeling for this eponymously titled release, German guitar maestro Tom Geldschläger (aka Tom Fountainhead) is one of those musicians who never seems to stop working. Whether it’s projects like Despotic, NYN or My Atomic Majesty, his studio engineering and session musician work, or as a music clinician, author, and speaker on music production and musicians’ mental health, Geldschläger always keeps a full diary. Continue reading
Having already dropped a handful of short-form studio releases, Massachusetts Progressive Death Metal act Ancient Death finally unleash Ego Dissolution (Profound Lore Records), their full-length debut album. Having already built up a well-deserved reputation in just a few short years, the four-piece from Walpole throw their psychedelic hat into a ring occupied by such luminaries as Gorguts and current darlings of the scene Blood Incantation.Continue reading
Revitalised and rejuvenated by the homecoming of original frontman Ezra Haynes, Colorado Tech Death act Allegaeon return with its seventh full-length studio release The Ossuary Lens (Metal Blade Records). Since Haynes’s return at the back end of ’22, the quintet has already teased fans with two singles before finally unveiling what everyone has really been waiting for. Continue reading