RELEASE YEAR: 2026 BAND URL: https://kreator.bandcamp.com/album/krushers-of-the-world With Gods Of Violence2018, Kreator, an ANTIFAscist German band who, having attempted formation as Tyrant and Metal Militia in 1982 and Tormentor until 1984, finally had settled on Kreator as Miland “Mille” Petrozza (vocals, guitars), Jürgen “Ventor” Reil (vocals-1987, drums-1994) and Roberto Fioretti (bass-1992), seemed to have lyrically tried…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025 BAND URL: https://testament.bandcamp.com/album/para-bellum The great Roman General Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus once said “if you want peace prepare for war” and that latter sentiment, in Latin “para bellum”, is the driving force behind the legendary Oakland Californian thrash metallers Testament’s 13th full length. After a very good but creatively staggering Titans Of Creation2020,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025BAND URL: https://paradiselostofficial.bandcamp.com/ Paradise Lost’s Ascension2025 (Nuclear Blast) is a towering return that finds the Halifax, UK legends operating at a level few bands their age could dream of. Clocking in at 51:02 with 10 tracks as their 17th studio album, Ascension stands as their strongest and most satisfying full-length since the untouchable Icon1993,…
VENUE: The Forge, Joliet, Illinois, United StatesDATE: 13.09.2025ORGANIZER: QRock and Forge LivePHOTOGRAPHER: ER On Saturday, September 13th, 2025, I, Eternal Terror’s U.S. resident reviewer-who wishes to be exclusively referred to as ER for the purpose, and in the commission of, all my publication-attended my first metal concert in over 18 years, along with my friend…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://warbell.bandcamp.com/ The Polish Lower Silesian melodic death metal ensemble Warbell was founded by Paweł “Bloody” Szczypka (bass, vocals), Kamil Ziobro (drums-2008), Patryk Kryński (drums-2013), Marcin “Maroon” Witeska (guitars-2016) and Piotr “Peter” Hasioli (guitars-2019) in 2008 breaking up 2 years later for 3 years without a single recording. Reactivated, the melodeath…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://the-true-deceased.bandcamp.com/ Let me paint you a picture of a bright unscathed new world where mankind would live in joyous peace and cherish his life on Earth, our children would play in safety and real love would own our hearts, true sincerity lives away from greed…Now let me paint you reality’s picture,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://enrapture1.bandcamp.com/ The Norwegian progressive post death metal ensemble Enrapture’s third installment, Drønn²⁰²⁴ EP, independently released last April 5th is, to, again (as I’ve used it before) quote Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho” a curious little dish I was surprisingly presented by our dear chief editor, Andrea, quite a while ago,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://infraredmetal.ca/ There are few things more satisfying as a metal fan than watching a band evolve and consistently deliver, and few modern thrash bands have done that quite like Ottawa’s Infrared. With Manifestation²⁰²⁴, their fourth full-length released (again) independently last September 6th, the Canadians reaffirm their place in the XXI-st…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.witherfall.com/ The following expose is not a mere review – it is a personal reflection by a listener reborn.There are moments in a music fan’s life when an album doesn’t just impress—it devastates, heals, confronts, and ultimately resurrects you. Sounds Of The Forgotten²⁰²⁴, the fourth full-length offering from Los Angeles…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.fourstrokebaron.com/ After carving out a niche with their theatrical blend of heavy progressive rock and ’80s-inspired new wave with Four Stroke Baron²⁰¹⁴ EP, and King Radio²⁰¹⁵, Planet Silverscreen²⁰¹⁷ (debut for Prosthetic) as well as Classics²⁰²¹, Nevada trio Four Stroke Baron returned with last year’s May 31st Data Diamond²⁰²⁴, their fourth…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://wheresmybible.bandcamp.com/ When a band finds its voice, the result can be transformative — not just for the group itself, but for the genre it inhabits. With Kave²⁰²⁴, released last September 11th via Inverse Records, Finnish melodic death doom metal act weirdly, possibly jokingly named (no, they’re not Christians) Where’s My…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.flotstildeath.com/ For the past three albums, the eponymous²⁰¹⁶, The End Of Chaos²⁰¹⁹ and Blood In The Water²⁰²¹, the Phoenix Arizonian power thrash heavy metal outfit Flotsam And Jetsam have been on a roll with fantastic records full of heavy metal anthems that make Metallica, Megadeth and even Anthrax sound outdated…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://zakula.bandcamp.com/ In the movie “La La Land”, Keith (John Legend), tells his bandmate and friend, Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling), essentially, that jazz is dying because the latter keeps it too traditional without opening himself for new ideas. How often true of heavy metal, how silly it sometimes sounds in the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://mysilentwake1.bandcamp.com/ As melodic death doom metal is hands down my all time favorite genre which fits my complex internal psychology like a glove, I am always on the look out for the finest representatives thereof. Naturally, the so called Peaceville Trinity (Anathema, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost) would be the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://sepulchralcurse.bandcamp.com/ After my glowing review of Sepulchral Curse’s debut, Only Ashes Remain²⁰²⁰, I anticipated even greater things to come from these Finnish blackened death metallers on their follow up and, sure enough, Abhorrent Dimensions²⁰²³, released on CD on October 27th 2 years ago however, hear me out, on limited edition…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://wingless.bandcamp.com/ While Nonconform²⁰²¹ (via Selfmadegod Records) was a very good album from this Polish death metal ensemble, my review was hopeful of the follow up to take more risks in order to distinguish Wingless from Behemoths, Azaraths and Vaders of my native land on one hand, and from the way Malevent…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.suidakra.com/ Appearances can be deceiving and many a war has been founded on such deception. Take the name for the band: Suidakra, even typecast weirdly as SuidAkrA. Is that like a fancy name for suicide, such as harakiri (male) or seppuku (female) shame/honor self-killing? Or is it a name of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025 BAND URL: https://redmoonarchitect.bandcamp.com/ Two albums by the Finnish melodic death doom metal sextet, Red Moon Architect (RMA) have made quite a stir in the genre: Concealed Silence²⁰¹² (on Inverse Records) and Fall²⁰¹⁵ (on Playground Music), the latter of which was my introduction to their craft, a very enjoyable addition to my musical…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025 BAND URL: https://www.desertedfear.de/ The German melodic death metal trio really impressed me with their 5th long play (remember that ancient euphemism?) Doomsday²⁰²² album (on Century Media Records) so my review reflected that seemingly out-of-the-blue fantastic record but the quality of the recording fit the mold well. What I mean is that not…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://fatesmessenger.com/ In the reviewer’s, indeed, a metalhead’s experience, one of the best moments is when you hear that one guitar sound that just takes you emotionally to the next level, one where you go “Holy cow, who are these guys?!” and your metal is never the same. For me, there…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/burning.creation5/ My native country of Poland had always been a vibrant heavy metal scene but, with the exception of Acid Drinkers, Kat and Vader there had not been many of renown until the day Adam Michał “Holocausto” “Nergal” Darski recorded the infamous Eternal Damnation¹⁹⁹² demo signalling a new wave of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.woundcollector.com/ For my second perfect score review this year (yet concerning last year) I’ve chosen the Belgian progressive death metal quintet uniquely named Wound Collector and their 1st EP after 2 full lengths, Begging For Chicxulub²⁰²⁴ independently released last June 15th. What makes this outfit compelling is how they seamlessly…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://gravewithaview.bandcamp.com/ Admittedly, I review so few black metal albums that one may think I’m not a fan of the genre because it has the highest percentage of Satanic bands. However, that is not exactly so. For one thing, black metal is the closest metal genre to classical music, for another,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025 BAND URL: www.unboundedterror.com The vibrant Spanish Palma Mallorca scene connected to guitarist/bassist Vicente Payá released three albums recently: Golgotha’s Spreading The Wings Of Hope²⁰²⁴ , Holycide’s Towards Idiocracy²⁰²⁴ and, just in, the death metallers’ Unbounded Terror’s 4th full length, Something Is Rotten In Humanity²⁰²⁵, out since April 1st (April 11th on vinyl)…
RELEASE YEAR: 2025 BAND URL: https://www.archenemy.net/en/ Whenever you consider the band’s name, Arch Enemy (AE) (pronounced “arkenemy” like in “archangel”?), you’re bound to have questions. Who is that arch enemy? Is he or she real, symbolic or both, or, perhaps, the Amott brothers purposely keep it ambiguous so that everyone interprets it how they please?…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://facebook.com/octoploidmusic/ It has become almost a custom among heavy metal (and rock) artists that members of well-established and successful bands either make solo albums or join other bands while remaining active in their main abode. It used to be (80s and 90s), due to time and space constraints (both now…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.skeletal-remains.com/ Except for my brief church choir stint and occasional singing for and with children as an English teacher, I am not much of a musician, however, even I can still make the claim, as an over 30 year metal fan, that it seems not a complicated thing to make…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://officiumtriste.com/ Even though I knew what the Dutch atmospheric doom death metal sextet was capable of by the excellent Mors Viri²⁰¹³ and The Death Of Gaia²⁰¹⁹, I never expected their 7th album in 30 years, Hortus Venenum²⁰²⁴, released on September 6th via Transcending Obscurity Records, to be this utterly deep and…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://goremageddon.be/ The Belgium-founded gore death metal quartet, Aborted, is one of those bands which are not amongst my favorites yet which I, nevertheless, have had a special relationship with for over 17 years, beginning with their 5th full length, Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture²⁰⁰⁷, which I had obtained via the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://holycide.bandcamp.com/ If you miss the essential Megadeth from their first 4 (arguably 5) albums, equally essential Kreator from their first 5, Slayer from their first 6, some Sepultura from Beneath The Remains¹⁹⁸⁹ and don’t mind some D.R.I. thrown into the mix poured into a Sodomic basin, then the Spanish deathly…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.wordsoffarewell.com/ Sometimes it’s interesting to watch a band evolve from a genre typical act through being a lot of things at once with mixed results to, finally, come full circle and come up with something hard to define. A good example is German progressive melodic death metal sextet, Words Of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://nightrage.com/ Although one of the Gothenburg melodic death metal three, In Flames, had stopped making music with the “wow” effect (to borrow from a commercial) after the fantastic Clayman²⁰⁰⁰, arguably they haven’t stopped making melodeath until after Reroute To Remain²⁰⁰², Soundtrack To Your Escape²⁰⁰⁴ where they started Kornizing their sound. It…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://painband.bandcamp.com/ My head is empty and I need a break. I have to be hungry again to breathe and create – Pain “Coming Home” When Hypocrisy’s Swedish mainman, Peter Tägtgren sang the above words in the title track of Pain’s painfully mediocre Coming Home²⁰¹⁶, an album I panned in my review,…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: http://www.rage-official.com/ I tell you Jesus Christ was just an ordinary man, but he was wise, much wiser than the rest, the few to see wrote tales about him but time perverted it all – Rage “Echoes Of Evil” One of the bands which had had a very long history, tons of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://nyktophobia.bandcamp.com/ As much as I appreciate complex and progressive direction in melodic death metal, sometimes I want my melodeath to be just a deluge of luscious melody as in Hypocrisy¹⁹⁹⁹, Insomnium’s Across The Dark²⁰⁰⁹ or Omnium Gatherum’s The Burning Cold²⁰¹⁸, and I am always happy to discover another fantastic album of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://omnivide.ca/ When Opeth gave up (thankfully, temporarily) on the “death” part in their progressive death metal stylings after Watershed²⁰⁰⁸ (now we know why so called) there came what usually comes after a legendary metal force mellows down: an onslaught of would be successors, some whom had started while Opeth was…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://enforced.bandcamp.com/ Thrash metal and crossover (with a little death metal for good measure) can make great bedfellows when handled with passion, talent and caution. Such is the case with the Richmond Virginian trio (yes, the same as Lamb Of God) founded in 2016 by Knox Colby (vocals), Will Wagstaff (guitars)…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://suicidalangels.net/ Once again, I must admit that I have never heard any of the Greek thrash metallers’ previous albums, but, if their 8th album, Profane Prayer²⁰²⁴, released on March 1st via the mighty Nuclear Blast Records, is any indication, to quote “Pretty Woman’s” Vivien Ward, big mistake, huge! Frankly, I have…
RELEASE YEAR: 2023 BAND URL: https://sadusofficial.bandcamp.com/ Before the universally regarded as one of the most brilliant bassists in heavy metal, Steven “you can hear my bass louder than any other instrument in the mix” Di Giorgio, appeared in Death’s seminal Human¹⁹⁹¹ (by many regarded as their magnum opus) he had begun in the Californian technical…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: http://www.golgothaofficial.com/ Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are destructive, greedy wolves. You will recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every healthy tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces bad…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: http://swallowthesun.net/ We’ve last left the Finnish melodic doom death ensemble Swallow The Sun (STS) on their second album dedicated to, and in mourning of, the tragically and too early departed South African singer, Julia Liane “Aleah Starbridge” Stanbridge and her thus brutally ended romantic relationship with Swallow The Sun’s founding…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: http://www.meltedbodies.com/ Who’s to say it’s impossible to make both original and catchy heavy music these days? The Californian avantgarde experimental eclectic metal quartet Melted Bodies is proof positive that it’s possible, especially with their 2nd album (after People Watching²⁰¹⁹ EP and Enjoy Yourself²⁰²⁰ debut full length), The Inevitable Fork²⁰²⁴ self-released…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/hideousdivinity/ Adveniens²⁰¹⁷ (Unique Leader Records), the Italian death metallers’ Hideous Divinity’s third album (after Obeisance Rising²⁰¹² and Cobra Verde²⁰¹⁴, both on Unique Leader Records) which I awarded a perfect score here, was universally acclaimed as their finest work. I had missed the subsequent Simulacrum²⁰¹⁹ (which brought a change of the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://www.exhorder.com/ And you will hear wars nearby and reports of wars far away. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must come to pass, but it is not yet the end. For group will rise against group, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://theabsenceofficial.bandcamp.com/ As is my custom, stated earlier, many times in my reviews, in order to gain a perspective on new material, I often listen through the back discography, especially with more known and established acts. I am sometimes surprised how my feelings about certain albums, especially those reviewed here, change…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://replicant.band/ Most of the time a reviewer generally agrees with others on the quality of reviewed material, differing but in a slightly lower or higher score or a few subjective details, but, every once in a while, one has to stand out from the pack and call an album average…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://onceupontheend.bandcamp.com/ One of the most interesting and innovative melodic death metal bands in recent memory, the French quartet is even uniquely named, Once Upon The End. After one EP and one full length, plus a change of vocalist, they have independently released (yet promoted by Imperative PR) another EP, the…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://burndowneden.de/ Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, so that he does not reach out his hand and ALSO take of the tree of life and eat, and live forever….” So Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://motherofallofficial.bandcamp.com/ Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy s@#t we don’t need…We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And…
RELEASE YEAR: 2024 BAND URL: https://borknagar.com/ For one of the three major Norwegian black metal institutions, next to Emperor and Enslaved, Borknagar have comparatively only briefly dealt pure genre, from their 1994 inception through the eponymous¹⁹⁹⁴ and, maybe even the now legendary The Olden Domain¹⁹⁹⁷, only to deviate into then unknown and uncharted territory with…
