Reviewed: [January 2022] Released [2021 Self-Released] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Kinda lost this one in the shuffle of late summer stuff, but glad I stumbled upon it while sifting through end of the year stuff. The debut EP from Demonicera delivers Swedish-style death metal by way of Austria with…
Mental Devastation – The Delusional Mystery of the Self (Part I)
Reviewed: [January 2022] Released [2021 Blood Harvest Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Chile’s Mental Devastation do a stellar job of mashing up the unbridled energy and agility of vintage thrash and technical metal on their long-in-coming second album. The loftily titled The Delusional Mystery of the Self (Part I),…
Lock Up – The Dregs of Hades
Reviewed: [December 2021] Released [2021 Listenable Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Despite losing all-star drummer Nicholas Barker after re-emerging in 2017 with Demonization, on-again, off-again death-grind super-group Lock Up have come back all the more “super” with their fifth full-length The Dregs Of Hades. Taking over for Barker is…
Negură Bunget – Zău
Reviewed: [December 2021] Released [2021 Lupus Lounge/Prophecy Productions] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Four years after the death of drummer/band leader Gabriel “Negru” Mafa, the surviving members of shape-shifting Romanian black/prog/pagan metallers Negură Bunget have completed what is likely the band’s swansong as a tribute and properly epic sendoff to…
Sense Of Noise – Sense Of Noise
Reviewed: [November 2021] Released [2021 Self Released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Mexico’s Sense of Noise describe their music as “Elegantly Crafted Melodic Death Metal.” And while that might sound more like pretentious ad copy for artisanal cheese or somesuch, based on what the band delivers on their self-released debut…
Outre-Tombe – Abysse Mortifère
Reviewed: November 2021 Released: 2021 Temple of Mystery Records Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Old school death metal from Quebec. And pretty much all en Francais. Cest-ce bien? Mais oui. Sorry for the high-school French, but in any language the third album from Quebec City’s Outre-Tombe is putain de génial.…
Feed The Corpses To The Pigs – This Insidious Horror
Reviewed: [October 2021] Released [2021 Horror Pain Gore Death Productions] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Have to admit I was caught a little off guard by these guys. With a name like Feed The Corpses To The Pigs (or FTCTTP) – and nicknames like “Murder Pig” and “Torture Pig” –…
CROCELL – Baptized In Bullets/Funeral Bliss
Reviewed: [October 2021] Released [2021 Self Released] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson The latest effort, or I should say efforts, from Danish bangers Crocell is the simultaneous release of two EPs – a la Guns ‘N Roses’ Use Your Illusion I and II, though in much more modest form. And…
Anakim – The Elysian Void
Reviewed: [August 2021] Released [2021 Self Released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson British death metallers Anakim step up their game considerably with the second album, and first in four years. With volatile new singer Matt Small in tow, and a more evolved, technically adept and professional approach, the band build…
Wormwood – Arkivet
Reviewed: [August 2021] Released [2021 Sound Pollution] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Funny – or at least very odd – thing happened as Swedish black metallers Wormwood worked toward the release of their third full-length. Originally titled Vita Arkivet – which translates as “The White Archive,” an official document detailing…
Hexenklad – Heathenheart
Reviewed: [August 2021] Released [2021 CDN Records] Rating [3/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Hexenklad deliver Northern European inspired black/folk/pagan metal by way of North America. Yet the Ontarians do with an authentic and inspired vigor and aesthetic that recalls Ensiferum, Moonsorrow and vintage Amon Amarth, with an element of Korpiklaani’s cheese…
Bossk – Migration
Reviewed: [July 2021] Released [2021 Deathwish Inc.] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson If you’re looking for some light, good-time party anthems to rock out to this summer after being stuck in relative isolation for the last fucking year, you should probably steer clear of the second full length from English…
Eonian – The Nomad
Reviewed: [July 2021] Released [2021 Self Released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson A whole mess of ingredients go into the five-track debut EP from symphonic metallers Eonian, which is essentially a solo project of Spanish guitarist Jaume Antuñano that quite literally spans the globe. Thanks to the Internets, he is…
Coiled Around Thy Spine – From The Ashes
Reviewed: [July 2021] Released [2021 Self Released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson For a duo, the Italian combo Coiled Around Thy Spine – very cool band name that unfortunately, for our purposes here, abbreviates as “CATS” – kick up quite a racket on their second album. From The Ashes is…
Alluvial – Sarcoma
Reviewed: [June 2021] Released [2021 Nuclear Blast Records] Rating [4/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Alluvial has morphed from something of a solo project by ex-The Faceless/Black Crown Initiate guitarist Wes Hauch into an extreme metal super group that has brought together current The Merciless Concept/former Suffocation touring vocalist Kevin Muller, Entheos…