Musikken til japanske Defiled har jeg fulgt med på siden jeg fikk oppleve dem live på Inferno i 2004. Kanskje ikke så mye a skryte av, ettersom de kun har gitt ut et album siden den gang og det kom i 2011. Men det var til gjengjeld et album det luktet svidd av. «In Crisis»…
«The Obedience to Authority» is my first encounter with the sickening and vile French band named Autokrator, and I must say this 8-track effort of theirs is pleasantly intense, morbid, and dark to listen to. While the music is raging and aggressive most of the time, quite a few atmospheric passages and ambient-like elements have…
The Polish entity Occultum vomits forth ugly, grim, and bitter black metal on «Towards Eternal Chaos», and I must say that they do so rather convincingly. While the music is firmly rooted in traditional black metal, which is to say raw and intense black metal in a sense, the band has managed to create an…
13 years after their last album, the German hard rock act Zar returns with "Don’t Wait for Heroes". Pared down to a two-piece as guitarist Tommy Clauss takes on vocals and bass for this effort along with long-time drummer Lars Nippa in tow, you’ll get 13 tracks of 80’s style hard rock – primal, in…
Years back I remember reviewing "Medusa’s Coil", the fourth album by Italian melodic power metal band Highlord on Arise Records, and then losing sight of the band for quite a while. So it’s a welcome addition to my catalog to hear "Hic Sunt Leones", their eighth studio album and first with latest guitarist Marco Malacarne.…
The second album from Greek five-piece Madleaf, "House of Lust" has a lot in common with the 90’s alternative/grunge metal market from the USA. Think of the times when Alice in Chains, Kyuss, and Pearl Jam ruled the airwaves – as songs like "Angel Eyes" and the moodier, darker "Mold" attest to the power of…
Traditional heavy metal never went away in Germany – it keeps reveling in the greats of the past through reunions, festival performances, and recordings while newer bands keep pumping out their own brand of tunes that they hope will be come this generation’s future soundtrack to turn to. Fresh off last year’s "Time Machine" debut…
The blackened death metal duo named Pyromancer, which hails from the US, released this rather cool and bestial demo (appropriately entitled "Demo MMXV") on tape last year, but, unfortunately for some of you molly-coddlers out there, it was then released on CD by Gods ov War Productions just a few months ago. Primitive, brutal, ugly,…
The magical voice of Jorn Lande – bluesy, deep, and powerful, it’s one of those deliveries that can carry any style convincingly. So it shouldn’t be that surprising that he decides on this go around to tackle some of the rock radio staples of yesteryear on "Heavy Rock Radio". 12 songs from the 1970’s and…
Shouldn’t be surprising that these Finns decide to blend two sub-genres into their own cocktail for "Atlas". Intertwining industrial metal and melodic death, it’s easy to surmise that songs like "Divided" and "Adrenaline" have a lot of Fear Factory cyber-angst meeting Soilwork primal force going on. The band also add in a more modern electro-dance…
Her kommer ny skive fra Deathstorm fra Østerrike. Dette er et rent gitarkaosspeedmetalhelvete. Som på debuten «As Death Awakes» fra 2013, som du kan lese om her, handler dette om en kjapp krysning mellom thrash og speed metal. Kaos, fart og ville gitarsoloer er hovedingrediensene på ei skive som foreløpig ikke har nådd opp til…
Bay Area thrasherne i Death Angel bør være kjent nok for de fleste og i stedet for å bruke tid på bandets historie, hopper vi rett på deres nye skive kalt "The Evil Inside". Bandets åttende studioalbum har 10 låter på totalt 45 minutter. En variert og variabel skive. Noe er veldig bra, noe bra…
In the heavy metal arena, two school of thought exist. One that every recording should be a little bit different, as natural experience and maturation should challenge musicians to become creative in their output. The second school subscribes to tried and true principles: once establishing a foundation stylistically, don’t rock the boat and give the…
In Aevum Agere is an Italian doom metal quartet who has released a few singles, EPs, and a full-length album previous to this brand new 5-track EP of theirs entitled "Fugit in Solitudine". Truth be told, I have never encountered these guys before or listened to any of their releases other than this new one,…
Howls of Ebb describe their brand of metal as limbonic death hymns, which I suppose makes some sense, but might not be that much help to someone trying to figure out whether they should take the plunge on this latest release. For my money, this is very textured death metal full of idiosyncratic choices, disharmonic…
Green Death is something entirely new to me, which is to say that I had never previously heard or read anything at all relating to this US thrash metal outfit, but you know what they say; better late than never. "Manufacturing Evil" is a thunderous and well-executed thrash metal attack that reeks of precision and…
Up next is a release of the 2016 demo from Holland’s Necromantic Worship. This really has the feel of the early Greek black/death metal scene. This is dark, heavy and kvlt, with a strong emphasis on setting a seamless tone. As you might expect, Necromantic Worship are adept at setting up a rhythmic vibe and…
Rebaelliun var det aller første brasilianske death metal bandet jeg hørte. Deres «Annihilation» fra 2001 står fortsatt som en bauta i vinylsamlingen min og er utvilsomt Brasils mest brutale death metal skive noensinne. Bandets debut «Burn the Promised Land» er heller ikke så dum. Deres kompiser i Krisiun har levert noen gode skiver, men ingen…
Rimfrost is a Swedish black metal band from Hagfors. Their new album is the 3rd album they have released and the first one on Non Serviam Records. The album opens up nicely with As the Silver Curtain Closes. A track that in many ways reminds of Immortal’s "All Shall Fall". The ending of the song…
Shelved for 30 plus years due to label shuffling, Billy Satellite reunited for a show at Slims in San Francisco, CA on January 31st, 2010 – pushing interest along for this material to finally see the light of day. The five-piece play a guitar-oriented brand of melodic rock – very much in line with early…
