A friend of mine describes bands that just seem to pop off in their respective subgenre of music as “having the sound.” Bands that really found the secret sauce for their artwork that resonates with many. Drain has been one of those bands in the crossover thrash space as they drop their third release, …Is Your Friend (Epitaph Records). Keeping it under thirty minutes but above the max of the energy meter.
Four and a half decades ago, Agnostic Front headbutted their way onto the New York punk and hardcore scene, rose quickly to the top, and despite a four year split in the nineties, stayed there. With songs built on the foundations of social injustice, corruption and inequality, AF might have changed musically over the years but their messaging and their warnings have not.Continue reading
Alpha 1128 (Seeing Red Records) is the debut album from LA-based Cattlemass. They are a band that crosses heavy sludge with Hawkwind-like vocals. They do not get started roaring like lumberjacks, which makes them more interesting than most of the bands doing this sort of thing. More aggressive than doom, their strength as a band lies in the fact that they are not afraid of taking chances, nor are they slaves to the sludge bible. To their credit, they are also not just another band that is smoking weed and trying to be Black Sabbath. The chanted drone of the vocals seems to be the approach they are sticking with, going into the second song. The chug is a little faster on this one. Continue reading
The new Tombs album, Feral Darkness (Redefining Darkness), is another chapter in the sonic tome chronicling Mike Hill‘s travels to throb of the abyss. To say this sounds like a Tombs album is a broad statement that neglects the stylistic shifting due in some part to the band’s revolving lineup. The first thing you might notice upon first listen is that there are fewer Black Metal moments. Instead, the album is driven by the kind of aggression that characterizes Death Metal. The vocal approach is not all guttural. Forceful declarations, not unlike what you might have heard on a Celtic Frost album. Continue reading
If you enjoy grinning like an idiot while banging your head and playing all manner of air instruments then that probably means you’ve already discovered the mighty Battle Beast. Twenty years into their career, and the Finnish Power Metallers are still delivering instantly enjoyable records chock full of riff-heavy anthems designed for maximum Metal enjoyment.Continue reading
Despite Dissonance Theory (Century Media Records) being Coroner’s first album in 32 years, there is little effort to ride the coattails of former glories and revisit what they did on masterpieces like “Punishment For Decadence”; instead, they have updated their sound to smooth out any of the wrinkles from the eighties to present something very vital for 2025. This means some things have changed. Tommy Baron and Ron Royce return without Marquis Marky behind the kit, a change that is more pronounced when you are a trio.Continue reading
When Brooklyn hardcore crew Biohazard released new single “Forsaken” in June – their first in thirteen years, and their first with the band’s original line-up since 2012 – it felt like being on the receiving end of a sweetly delivered but completely warning-free uppercut from an old friend. From bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld‘s no-nonsense “Let’s fucking go!” to the song’s monstrous groove and welcomingly familiar violent energy, it was made extremely clear extremely quickly that Biohazard was well and truly back in business.Continue reading
On Para Bellum – (Nuclear Blast Records) Testament continues to uphold the legacy of quality decades in the making. Despite not being the household name like the bands of the Big Four, these had chops that rivaled Megadeth’s most shredding line-up. Of the Big Four, Slayer was the only band darker and more aggressive than the classic mid-to-late Eighties period for this band. While this new order marks the debut of Chris Dovas, the former drummer of Seven Spires, whose youthful exuberance gets the job done. Bassist Steve Di Giorgio (Death, Death To All), who goes back to “The Gathering.”Continue reading
It seems with every listen, Vestiges (Fiadh Productions) has something more somber to offer.
Intraether, the Atmospheric Black Metal outfit responsible for the new album, succeeds in creating distinguishable songs that all still contain a common thread of melancholy and bombast that brings everything together.Continue reading
