Heads For the Dead – Slash ‘n’ Roll Reviewed: October 2021 Released: 2021, Transcending Obscurity Records Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz At the time of my typing these words, we’re exactly 30 days from Halloween 2021. Which makes Heads For The Dead’s latest EP SLASH ‘N’ ROLL surprisingly timely. Stewarded…
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Bizarre – Invocation Codex
Reviewed: October 2021 Released: 2021, Transcending Obscurity Records Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Kira Levine Old school death metallers Bizarre bring forth their debut album Invocation Codex via Transcending Obscurity Records. Hailing from Spain, they are heavily influenced by late 80s-90s metal from Finland and the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. “Exhumed from…
Maze of Terror – Offer To The Fucking Beasts
Maze of Terror – Offer To The Fucking Beasts Reviewed: October 2021 Released: 2021, Xtreem Music Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz Across a body of splits and EPs, Peru’s Maze of Torment have been honing their blackened chops since 2012. And with their recently released sophomore full length OFFER TO…
Memoriam – To The End
Memoriam – To The End Reviewed: April 2021 Released: 2021, Reaper Entertainment Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz While it’s true that Memoriam have never represented themselves to be any sort of Bolt Thrower version 2.0, let’s be real…If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and plays mid-tempo…
Crypts Of Despair – All Light Swallowed
Reviewed: April 2021 Released: 2021, Transcending Obscurity Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Kira Levine Lithuania’s death metallers Crypts Of Despair have followed up their 2017 debut album Stench Of The Earth with their latest All Light Swallowed, which will be released on April 23rd this year through Transcending Obscurity Records. The cover…
Age of Woe – Envenom
Reviewed: March 2021 Released: 2021, Lifeforce Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Demitri Levantis Age of Woe, hailing from Sweden’s death metal capital, Gothenburg, have released their third full-length album, Envenom. This, along with their previous ventures into the worlds of doom, sludge, and crust punk, has made the band stand out…
Altered Dead – Returned To Life
Reviewed: January 2021 Released: 2021, Memento Mori Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Kira Levine Five years after their self-titled debut, Canadian old-school death metal duo Altered Dead have Returned To Life with their sophomore full-length, which will see its initial physical release through label Memento Mori. A doom-esque introduction announces “Mental Suicide”…
Benediction – Scriptures
Benediction – Scriptures Reviewed: January 2021 Released: 2020, Nuclear Blast Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz Despite sporadic touring and the occasional festival appearance, it’s been 12 mother loving years since we’ve had a proper new Benediction LP. In that time we’ve had 3 US Presidential election cycles, 3 new…
Church of the Dead – Church of the Dead
Church of the Dead – Church of the Dead Reviewed: October 2020 Released: 2020, Stay Heavy Records Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz I was a huge fan of Church of the Dead’s collection of EPs from a few years back. Spread across 5 volumes between 2013 and 2015, the Helsinki…
Cardiac Arrest – The Day That Death Prevailed
Cardiac Arrest – The Day That Death Prevailed Reviewed: August 2020 Released: 2020, Memento Mori Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz Chicago’s Cardiac Arrest are like that mosquito from Jurassic Park – stuck in amber, frozen in time while the world evolved around it. And you remember how much crap that…
Fire for Effect – Artillery Unleashed
Fire for Effect – Artillery Unleashed Reviewed: January 2020 Released: 2019, Independent Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz Cancer is a Motherf@#ker. Originally conceived as a solo project for former Malevolent Creation guitarist Gio Ceraca, Fire for Effect really started to gain some legs after Brett Malev Hoffman joined the band…
Cianide – Unhumanized
Cianide – Unhumanized Reviewed: January 2020 Released: 2020, Hells Headbangers Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz Sometimes you just need some good ol’ fashioned, knuckle dragging mid-west death metal in your life. Long running Chicago scene vets Cianide are back to fill that void with their first collection of new tunes…
Deiformity – Corpse Stomper
Deiformity – Corpse Stomper Reviewed: January 2019 Released: 2018, Self Released Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz Here’s the thing about new bands playing Old School Death Metal – you’re not expected to break new musical ground, and it doesn’t even have to be played all that well if it’s done…
Pyrexia – Unholy Requiem
Pyrexia – Unholy Requiem Reviewed: November, 2018 Released: 2018, Unique Leader Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz The phrase “Return to Form” is one of the most hacky statements you can make when reviewing a record, but then again, I’ve never be mistaken for an English Lit major. But instead…
Internal Bleeding – Corrupting Influence
Internal Bleeding – Corrupting Influence Reviewed: November, 2018 Released: 2018, Unique Leader Records Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Aaron Yurkiewicz From adversity comes strength. Such a statement has rarely been truer for a band than it has for Internal Bleeding. Rewind to last April – the band had regrouped with a new…