It was a blistering cold night in New England as Slayer guitarist and co-founder Kerry King unleashed a hellish sonic assault upon the small Boston nightclub, The Royale for his first North American Headline Tour. King’s band is made up of metal legends that include Mark Osegueda of Death Angel on vocals, former Vio-lence and Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel, Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders, and Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph.
A record called Parasomnia (InsideOut Music) which explores many of the unusual behaviours and emotions experienced during sleep, written by a band called Dream Theater (a spelling which, due to my almost painful levels of Englishness, never fails to make me shudder) seems the most obvious pairing in the world. The question of why it’s taken until their sixteenth full-length studio release for this to happen is something for the band to explain but it’s here now, and in true Dream Theater tradition, you’re going to need time to absorb it fully.Continue reading
Sorry for some video issues from Nik.
Nik and Keefy of Ghost Cult Magazine are joined by Danny Nichols of Capuchin Punks (ex-Torchlight Parade) to discuss the best rock or metal album of each year of the 1980s.Continue reading
Thrash Riffs – Werebeasts Shredding – and Fire, Oh My! Wisconsin’s long-running Crossover Thrash disciples Bray Road are dropping a new single this week – “Burn!” Teaming up with Ghost Cult Mag to premiere the new video ahead of the drop, this track and clip are a fever dream from the psyche of Beavis and Butthead! Hailing from Milwaukee and formed in 2011, Bray Road derives its name from an actual road in Elkhorn, WI, where stories of the popular cryptozoological werewolf-like creature, the Beast of Bray Road, are said to stalk the area. See the beast come to life in this banger of video and song! It will leave you giggling and screaming Fire! Fire! Continue reading
Canadian thrash metal veterans Sacrifice return in 2025 with their first new album in more than sixteen years. Volume Six, the band’s sixth album overall and second since reforming in 2006, features ten new originals and a cover paying homage to the Toronto scene from which they originally emerged. The band has dropped a new single and a lyric video – “Antidote Of Poison” which you can see below! Continue reading
Bloodlust. Carnivore. Manslaughter. and now Merciless (Century Media/Sony Music). The latest in a string of one-word, no-messing-about album titles since the return from their hiatus in 2014, Body Count deliver their eighth full-length studio release and it’s every bit as acerbic and confrontational as you could imagine.Continue reading
In this episode, Ghost Cult’s Keefy chats with prolific artist Sofia Fraz of Exiled Hope and Forgotten Shrine. Sofia released a series of recent singles, including “Lightborn” in 2024. Her new album, the culmination of several years of work, Apocrphya releases in spring of 2025. Exiled Hope will also release a split album in early 2025 with Steel Forge, and also put out the Where Shadows Lie album with Forgotten Shrine this year as well! In addition to all her music, Sofia is a full-time law student and is fast becoming a trusted source of expertise in legal matters and PR in the music industry. We cover a lot of ground in this fun chat. Continue reading
For fans of Heavy Metal, finding a band that authentically channels the genre’s timeless essence while delivering a fresh live performance is akin to striking gold. Night Demon, a trio hailing from Ventura, California, embodies just that. On my second encounter with them, their mastery of head-banging anthems clearly cemented my status as a devoted fan.Continue reading
The third album from Joliet, Illinois-based Molder, Catastrophic Reconfiguration (Prosthetic Records), is a collection of sonic brutality.
Presented here are ten cuts where each stands on its own, each vying to be the song that kicks the most ass.
It may be a dying art form these days, or I might be living under a rock. Either way, Paganizer have put strong emphasis on their title track, which elicits a sigh of relief from this writer.Continue reading