Reviewed: [May 2020] Released [2020 Woodcut Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Since no one can fucking go anywhere these days, I had big plans to take an audio trip around the world this month and explore the most “foreign” promos that had turned up of late – bands from…
Monolith ZA – The Lord Conspirator
Reviewed: [May 2020] Released [2020 MMD Records] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Since no one can fucking go anywhere these days, I had big plans to take an audio trip around the world this month and explore the most “foreign” promos that had turned up of late – bands from…
Katatonia – City Burials
Reviewed: [May 2020] Released [2020 Peaceville Records] Rating [4.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson To pilfer from Dickens, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times for veteran Swedish mopes Katatonia to return from their brief hiatus – which the band used to recharge the batteries and recover…
Jazz Sabbath – Jazz Sabbath
Reviewed: [April 2020] Released [2020 Blacklake] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson For such an elaborate gag, how the folks behind Jazz Sabbath missed the obvious opportunity to issue this album on April Fool’s Day boggles the mind. Yes, I know April 1 is a Wednesday, and album release day is…
Beneath The Massacre – Fearmonger
Reviewed: [April 2020] Released [2020 Century Media Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson After nearly eight years of relative silence, Canada’s Beneath The Massacre have returned with a fucking vengeance. Fearmonger, the band’s fourth full-length, is an absolutely ridiculous collection of blast beat-powered, jaw-dropping tech death topped by Elliot Desgagnés’…
Unmerciful – Wrath Encompassed
Reviewed: [April 2020] Released [2020 Willowtip Records] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Sometimes you can judge a book, or in this case an album, by its cover. Wrath Encompassed, the third full-length from Topeka, Kansas-based brutes Unmerciful delivers everything its name, title and the demonic presence on its ominous cover…
Body Count – Carnivore
Reviewed: [April 2020] Released [2020 Century Media Records] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Even without all the controversy and hoo-ha, Take 2 of Body Count makes much more of an impact and feels a hell of a lot more legitimate than the first go-round for rapper Ice-T’s metal/crossover offshoot did…
Aronious – Perspicacity
Reviewed: March 2020 Released: 2020 The Artisan Era Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Nearly a decade after their formation, and six years removed from the debut EP Truth In Perception, Wisconsin-based prog/tech death quintet Aronious have finally got around to releasing their first full-length, Perspicacity. And the band make up…
Berzerker Legion – Obliterate The Weak
Reviewed: March 2020 Released: 2020 Listenable Records Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Peter Atkinson A supergroups go, Berzerker Legion have pretty impeccable death metal bona fides. Featuring members from Hypocrisy and Asphyx – guitarists Tomas Elofsson and Alwin Zuur, respectively – as well as Wombbath, Dark Funeral and Vader/Bloodshot Dawn – vocalist…
Pestifer – Expanding Oblivion
Reviewed: March 2020 Released: 2020 Xenokorp Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Belgian death metallers Pestifer might not be the most productive band around, but what they lack in quantity, they have to this point made up in quality. Expanding Oblivion is just the band’s third album in 16 years, but…
Opeth – In Cauda Venenum
Reviewed: February 2020 Released: 2019 Nuclear Blast Records Rating: 5/5 Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Better rather late than never to tout the 13th studio album by Sweden’s ever-evolving Opeth. Issued in late September, In Cauda Venenum somehow got overlooked here, perhaps in a case of everyone just assuming someone else would…
Ihsahn – Telemark
Reviewed: [February 2020] Released [2020 Candlelight Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Emperor’s prolific frontman Ihsahn is back with his eighth solo release in Telemark, the first to two EPs he has planned for the coming year, both of which will continue to expand the already broad sonic palette he…
Greve – Nordarikets Strid
Reviewed: [February 2020] Released [2020 Purity Through Fire] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson The Swedish duo Greve have obviously studied the big book of old school Scandinavian black metal long and hard. From the incomprehensible logo and curious nom de guerres of the members – vocalist Lik and instrumentalist/vocalist/member of…
Best of 2019 – Peter Atkinson
Personal Top 20 01. Torche – Admission The fifth album by Miami’s Torche is a veritable cavalcade of cascading guitar, a wondrous wall of riffage that so many bands boast about or promise, but rarely deliver – at least in the sheer volume, meaning both quantity and decibel level, that…
Cattle Decapitation – Death Atlas
Reviewed: January 2020 Released: 2019 Metal Blade Records Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Peter Atkinson There’s something about Cattle Decapitation that seems to scream “the holidays.” A year ago, on the Black Friday after Thanksgiving, the band served up Medium Rarities, a collection of nasty bits – B-sides, rarities, demos and the…