Reviewed: [August 2020] Released [2020 Self-released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Supernatural Tales is the second full-length from Arizona-based one-man band Vampiric. Self-released less than a year after 2019’s The Magic Of The Night, it shows some notable and impressive growth and lessons learned by master-mind and sole studio member…
Album Reviews
Abramelin – Never Enough Snuff
Reviewed: [August 2020] Released [2020 Self-released] Rating [3.5/5] Reviewer: Peter Atkinson Abramelin may have helped pioneer Australian death metal way back in the day, but after doing so they essentially did an epic mic drop and fucked off into The Outback or somewhere. The band issued their second album, Deadspeak,…
Jesus Wept – Apartheid Redux
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Redefining Darkness Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Andrew Shirley Detroit’s Jesus Wept come storming through with their new release “Apartheid Redux”, a re-recording of their debut digital-only EP “Crushing Apartheid” released in 2017, along with two new tracks previously unreleased. It’s made very clear from the…
Elmsfire – Wings of Reckoning
Reviewed: August, 2020 Released: 2020, Recordjet Rating: 2.5/5 Reviewer: Pete Mutant Elmsfire have been about since 1999 and have had two full lengths and a few demos up until this point. The band from Düsseldorf have been in a bit of a transition again as they shake up the lineup…
Scolopendra – Those of the Catacombs
Scolopendra – Those of the Catacombs Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Nuclear War Now! Productions Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz Boasting a history of Italian horror and rich culture steeped in the occult, Scolopendra attempt to summon that spirit on their debut, THOSE OF THE CATACOMBS. The press release accompanying…
Shining Black – Shining Black
Reviewed: August, 2020 Released: 2020, Frontiers Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Erich Frontiers Records can always be counted on to help put together interesting projects from different artists on their label. The latest is a collaboration between singer Mark Boals (Yngwie Malmsteen, Royal Hunt) and guitarist Olaf Thorsen (Labyrinth, Vision Divine).…
Sanity Control – War on Life
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Selfmadegod Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Jack Merry Sanity Control is a crossover thrash metal band hailing from Warsaw, Poland who pay homage to the classic metal sounds while combining it with a distorted hardcore punk assault and shoving the whole thing through a blender repeatedly. I…
Cardiac Arrest – The Day That Death Prevailed
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 27 July 2020, Boris Records/ Memento Mori Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Annalisa Orlando Staunch and pleasantly straightforward death metal from Chicago veterans. The record kicks off with “Thrive On Fear” with a howling siren. It’s a real headbanger, the best of roaring, aggressive death metal, with screeching…
Sepulchral Curse – Only Ashes Remain
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Transcending Obscurity Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Demitri Levantis Bands who fuse black and death metal are among this critic’s favourite genres. Blackened death metal is all well and good but it is nice to come across a band with a very catchy death metal sound but…
From The Depth – Moments
Reviewed: August, 2020 Released: 2020, Rockshot Records Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Pete Mutant Italian power metallers From The Depth have brought the band back after a bit of a gap since their last recorded effort, 2014’s EP ‘Perserverance’. There’s a few new faces to the lineup which now is purported to…
Bull Elephant – Created From Death
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Eat Lead and Die Music Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Rossy Maguire UK anonymous collective BULL ELEPHANT will release its second album, Created From Death, in August on Eat Lead and Die Music. The album, part two in the BULL ELEPHANT trilogy mythos, picks up where the debut ended. The eponymous creature,…
October Falls – A Fall Of An Epoch
August 2020 May 30th, 2020 / Purity Through Fire Rating: 5.0 / 5.0 Reviewer: John Haseltine Many of you out there may have an inkling of the band in question here. Many of you may not, as I too have not been fortunate enough to come across October Falls…
Jupiterian – Protosapien
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Transcending Obscurity Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Kieron Hayes Sometimes you really need to be in the right mood for certain music. Jupiterian’s Protosapien is one such example, and the mood it wants you to be in, the atmosphere it revels in and drips with, is…
Dubin, Adam-Murder In The Front Row (DVD Review)
Reviewed: August, 2020 Published: 2019, MVD Visual Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP Back in 2011 a pair of gentlemen by the names of Brian Lew and Harold Oimen released a book called MURDER IN THE FRONT ROW. These guys were fans and members of the bay area thrash scene in the…
Bear Mace – Charred Field Of Slaughter
Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020 – Self released Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Beandog Since forming in 2012, Chicago death metal quintet Bear Mace have, by their own account, mostly operated in the shadows. Influenced by classic bands such as Death, Bolt Thrower and Massacre, the band initially made their presence known…