CD Review: ‘Winter Thrice’ by Borknagar
Borknagar continues its progressive push on the band's tenth record Winter Thrice. The band keeps its black metal roots to a minimum. Instead, there is a greater shift towards folk metal and even power metal. The result is a multi-textured record that dra ...
CD Review: ‘Shadow Realms’ by Firespawn
There is nothing like a Swedish death metal supergroup to shake things up. Firespawn is comprised of vocalist L.G. Petrov (Entombed A.D.), guitarist Victor Brandt (Entombed A.D.), bassist Alex Impaler (Necrophobic), guitarist Fredrik Folkare (Unleashed, N ...
CD Review: ‘Out Of Respect For The Dead’ By Grave
Swedish death metal band Grave return from the dead with its 11th record. Out Of Respect For The Dead is pure Stockholm death metal, complete with gory lyrics, buzzsaw guitars and manic drumming. The opener “Mass Grave Mass” is a brutal headbanger that do ...
CD Review: ‘With The Dead’ by With The Dead
Doom power supertrio With The Dead making a lumbering impression with its self titled debut. With The Dead is abundant in molten riffs and colossal drumming. Lee Dorrian (Cathedral, Napalm Death), Tim Bagshaw (Electric Wizard) and Mark Greening (Electric ...
CD Review: ‘I Worship Chaos’ by Children of Bodom
Children of Bodom are a four-piece for the first time in its 20-plus year career. Roope Latvala left the band this past May before the recording of I Worship Chaos. Well, the absence of a second guitarist has not hindered the band's aggression. “I Hurt” k ...
CD Review: ‘Suicide Society’ by Annihilator
Annihilator founder and guitarist Jeff Waters has made it to album no. 15 with Suicide Society. Not only is this the band's 15th release, it is also to first album since 1997 where Waters handles lead vocals. This is not a plus or a negative, as Annihilat ...
CD Review: ‘Broken Flesh’ by Broken Flesh
Christian metal often gets a bad reputation for being soft or fake. Well, one cannot say that about Oklahoma metal act Broken Flesh. The band's self-titled third album is straight up guttural, tech-death metal with a groove. In fact, one would not even kn ...
CD Review: ‘Wolves of War’ by Burn Halo
It is hard to make extreme music with commercial appeal. Fans of extreme metal will cry “sellout,” while casual music listeners may find the music too hard. Still, when it a band pulls it off right, the results are rewarding. Burn Halo's new record Wolves ...
CD Review: ‘Forged in Fury’ by Krisiun
Four years have passed since Krisiun's last album, The Great Execution. The gap has not slowed the death metal outfit at all. Krisiun is all business on album opener “Scars of the Hatred.” The unorthodox song structure, mechanical riffing and relentless d ...
CD Review: ‘Fire & Ashes’ by Xandria
Hot off the release of its 2014 release Sacrficium, Dutch symphonic metal outfit Xandria's new EP, Fire & Ashes, is a mix of old and new. The mini-album features 3 new songs, two covers, and two re-recordings of older songs. Vocalist Dianne van Giersb ...