No airs, no graces, no gods, no masters; this is hitting hard, beating down, aggressive music. Armed with their seventh studio album, Total Retaliation (Nuclear Blast/Pure Noise) and bucket load of muscle and testosterone to palm-mute chug into your face, LA five-piece Terror, bastions of traditional Tough-guy Hardcore, bring the chants, the slams, the pit-anthems and the attack in their own inimitable and unmistakable approach.Continue reading
Formed in Lahti, Finland in 2012, melodic Death Metal act Wolfheart was originally created as a solo project by producer and multi-instrumentalist Tuomas Saukkonen after the dissolution of his other musical ventures, Before The Dawn, Black Sun Aeon, Dawn of Solace, and RoutaSielu.Continue reading
Californian band Hail The Sun have been knocking around for a few years now with their debut, the brilliantly titled POW Right In The Kisser being self-released back in 2010. They have always seemed to me at least a band with an intriguing set of influences and styles that have never quite meshed together over an entire album. Latest release Mental Knife (Equal Vision) is set to change all that and then some.Continue reading
I’m looking at Spirit Crusher (Prosthetic) the latest release from Sweden’s Dödsrit and I’m getting a feeling. Not super familiar with the band but judging by the font and the presence of umlauts we know extreme music is on the way, particularly of the Black Metal persuasion. And these song lengths certainly suggest experimentation and a non-commercial nature. Dödsrit is a one-man project isn’t it?
Those one man acts always have the most to say.Continue reading
Anyone who thinks that Black Metal is a conservative and formulaic sound need only look at (amongst the plethora of progressive and avant-garde entities) Norwegian’s Vreid and how have incorporated outside and wider aspects into their black metal fabric. Whilst that more typical black metal sound is firmly at the band’s core, their willingness to bring in the sounds of Hard Rock and sixties and seventies influence has afforded them the “Black n’ Roll” moniker and thus helps them stand out in some capacity to many of their peers. Following on in this trend, eighth album, and first on Season Of Mist, Lifehunger is not only one of their strongest to date, but possibly the easiest of their catalogue to break into.Continue reading
Rising death metallers Horrendous are releasing their new album. Idol, this Friday, September 28th, via Season of Mist. You can stream the entire new album now, right here! Continue reading
Formed in 2009 by guitarist/vocalist Matt Knox, his elder brother, drummer Jamie Knox, and guitarist/co-vocalist Damian Herring, the trio of university students decided to reinvigorate the Death Metal scene by taking elements of the differing US and European styles and fusing them together. Writing and recording the Sweet Blasphemies demo the same year, the band took their time, got themselves a record deal, and in 2012 released their full-length debut The Chills (Dark Descent).Continue reading
Since arriving in 2013 with their self-titled EP (Midnight Werewolf), Bostonian quintet Fórn have allied themselves to the dark, visceral yet mournful slurry plied by the likes of Bell Witch and Lycus. Sophomore album Rites of Despair (Gilead Media) is their first full-length for four years and is another harrowing journey through the mire.Continue reading
Along with his Kyuss bandmates, Brant Bjork helped create and define Desert Rock. And, across a dozen more solo albums, he has stayed largely in the comfy confines of hazy, laid back stonerisms. Mankind Woman (Heavy Psych Sounds/RidingEasy), the man’s latest effort, feels like a man happy to jam whatever he’s fancies and put it out there.Continue reading
Are you ready for another top ten metal albums list? So far we’ve heard from Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, Lars Ulrich, Corey Taylor and Joe Duplantier, and now Slayer’s Kerry King has revealed his list to Rolling Stone. Continue reading