Album review: “Portal To Darkness” by Unblessed Divine
Unblessed Divine add a dose of electronica to death metal on its debut effort Portal To Darkness. The band is comprised of former members of Malevolent Creation, Sinister and Decapitated. Therefore, this is not a band of rookies that discovered a blas ...
Album review: “The Way of All Flesh is Decay” by End Reign
Baltimore, MD quintet End Reign serve a batch blackened crossover on its debut, The Way of All Flesh is Decay. “Desolate Fog” opens with a haunting spoken word and eerie guitars before speeding to a punkish tempo. Vocalist Mike Score's tortured, shrie ...
Album review: “Bloodlines” by Pyramaze
Danish power metal quintet Pyramaze deliver a dynamic batch of metal on its seventh album Bloodlines. The title track is an instrumental that opens the album. It starts with a mysterious piano melody that is joined by string samples and bombastic drum ...
Album review: “Killing Innocence” by Graveworm
Italian dark metal outfit Graveworm have returned from its eight year slumber with the release of Killing Innocence, out June 2nd, 2023. “Escorting The Soul” opens the record with sorrowful piano and strings creating a haunting atmosphere, before indus ...
Album Review: “Hellriot” by Mystic Prophecy
Mystic Prophecy's twelfth album, Hellriot, initially surprised me. I expected a bombastic, over the top power metal album and heard an album filled with grit, groove, catchy choruses and virtuoso guitar leads. The Bavarian quintet do not play around a ...
Album Review: “The Curse of Kwanyep” by Xalpen
Chilean black metal trio Xalpen return from the bowels of Hell with its sophomore effort, The Curse of Kwanyep. “Chenke” is an infernal whirlwind of riffs and blast beats that rarely relents. The satanic trio are seamless with their rhythm changes an ...
Album Review: Dark Embrace-Dark Heavy Metal
Spanish metal quintet Dark Embrace enfold all things heavy and dark, Dark Heavy Metal, its third album. The tongue-in-cheek album title is also appropriate as Dark Embrace churn out nearly 40 minutes of gothic tinged death metal. The title track open ...
Album Review: Atrocity-Okkult III
German death metal group Atrocity complete its trilogy with Okkult III. Okkult treads the line between commercial accessibility and uncompromising brutality on this record. Songs will shift from grooving riffs reminiscent of Machine Head and Slipknot ...
Album Review: Obituary-Dying Of Everything
Six years have passed since legendary death metal band Obituary released its self-titled tenth record. The band's newest release, Dying Of Everything, is replete with Obituary's swampy riffs and John Tardy's guttural vocals. Unfortunately, th ...
Album Review: “Ritual Violence” by Armed For Apocalypse
Californian sludge metal outfit Armed For Apocalypse return with its third proper album Ritual Violence. Ritual is the band's first LP in nine years, and its first release in four after the Palm Reader EP. This album is replete with walloping production, ...