Serpents Crawl Stealthy Dec. 14, 2016

Primordial Subjugation
by Necroven

The Pitch: Band from Spain mixing old school with blackened death metal for fans of Morbid Angel, Incantation, Immolation, etc. What I Like: Necroven manage to navigate quite smoothly between death and doom extremes. They can rage with ferocious drumming or shift gears (see "The Pyre Cycle") for a ...

Glass Shrine Dec. 14, 2016

Lapidary
by Glass Shrine

The Pitch: New label Night Rhythms Recordings (Texas) puts out their first official release from Americanpost-black metal band Glass Shrine. "An ongoing study of beauty within decay." What I Like: This is a pretty unique fusion of black metal with bright, upbeat surfer rock. On some levels it remin...

Instrumental Tech Death? Dec. 13, 2016

Magnitude of Thoughts
by Teramobil

The Pitch: Montreal "instrumental tech death" for fans of Animals As Leaders, Scale The Summit, Archspire. What I Like: This is just plain madness. I was skeptical of the whole "instrumental tech death thing." My thinking was "wouldn't that just be progressive metal?" Nope, this is about asheavy as...

Stocking Stuffer Dec. 13, 2016

Astrophobia
by Youdash

The Pitch: Polish progressive, technical death metal with the mind-bending chaos of Gigan, Gorguts, and Mr. Bungle. What I Like: EVERYTHING. It's like Deformeathing Production wanted to give me one last Christmas present before the year was done. These compositions are biz-onkers. Not only do the t...

Good Thrash Dec. 12, 2016

Demon
by Maligner

The Pitch: Sweden-based, Latin American death thrash trio channels Slayer and other old school influences on their latest tape release. What I Like: The racing riffs channel elements of both Kerry King and Anders Bjrler; with a similar melding of American and German thrash groups with Swedish death...

The Next Gojira Dec. 12, 2016

Talks to Innerself
by Karma Rassa

The Pitch: Russian prog band Karma Rossa channel Tool, Gojira, and others on Talks To Innerself What I Like: These compositions are gorgeous. There are so many great hooks and killer drum patterns that if you blink you might miss one. This album isvaliantly true to the prog label in that they don't...

The Most Beautiful Suicide Dec. 12, 2016

Empire of Nothing
by La Fin

The Pitch: Italian band combines elements of post-metal, post-hardcore, sludge, and black metal to create some crushing and compelling compositions inspired by by the famous picture of Evelyn McHale after she leapt from the Empire State Building. What I Like: That first track hits like a ton of bri...

Ungodly Old School Dec. 9, 2016

Ungodly Forms
by Sentient Horror

The Pitch: New Jersey old school death metalmastered by Swedish mastermind Dan Swan (ex-Edge of Sanity, ex-Bloodbath, Witherscape) and mixed by Damian Herring (Horrendous). What I Like: Ripping solos, wicked hooks, dominating vocals. Everything you could want for a release in this style is represen...

Oslo: Now with 100% More Hardcore Dec. 9, 2016

Sibiir
by Sibiir

The Pitch: Dark and decrepit hardcore from the black metal capital of Oslo, Norway. What I Like: I really love how hardcore bands from this region have achieved new levels of darkness in their atmosphere. They have in essence started with the benchmark set by Botch and culturally infused that alrea...

Weight On My Shoulders Dec. 9, 2016

Transient
by Through Lucid Eyes

The Pitch: Canadian progressive metalcore band for fans ofERRA, Northlane, Kardashev What I Like: The atmosphere on this album is undeniable. Rather than just going for an emo, sad set of lyrics and hooky guitars; it really emulates the feeling you get whennothing seems to begoing your way.That wei...

Ursus Tempestatem Dec. 8, 2016

Biophobia
by Bearstorm

The Pitch: Virgina band delivers a strange fusion of black metal and psychodelic, progressive sludge on Biophobia. What I Like: What a seemingly mismatched-yet-wonderful combination of sounds. I doubt you have heard this yet in 2016. The raspy,wretched black metal vocals are already delightful on t...

The Ritual Aura Dec. 8, 2016

Taether
by The Ritual Aura

The Pitch: Australian progressive technical death metal band, The Ritual Aura,dial up the weird just a year after earning a spot on my favorite death metal albums of 2015. What I Like: In my previous review I commended this band fortheir experimentation on "Erased in the Purge." I don't know if the...

Shredding Over Substance Dec. 7, 2016

Armorican Deathrites
by Venefixion

The Pitch: Iron Bonehead unleashes blackened thrash and death metal from France filled with cavernous reverb. What I Like: It's righteous to listen to. Plenty of old school nostalgia and thrashy riffage, especially on the first proper track, "An Ankou." For its simplicity, this short release doesn'...

Signals of Greatness Dec. 7, 2016

Escaping Velocity
by Signals of Bedlam

The Pitch: Unsigned New York progressive band (friends of Bangladeafy) inspired by the likes of Karnivool andThe Mars Volta pour their time and resources into a well-produced new record. What I Like: The time and money put into this were worth it. The production is strong and helps highlight the ta...

Happy Music Dec. 7, 2016

May Nothing But Happiness Find You
by Falls Apart

The Pitch: Beatdown hardcore from Cleveland, Ohio fusing elements of 90's metal with groups like Hatebreed and Left Behind. What I Like: Some of the guitar and bass work on this album reminds me a bit of the groove and stop-go dynamics of Helmet's Meantime. All other aspects are more relatable to a...

Nightmare Traveler Dec. 6, 2016

Oneironaut
by Crimson Moon

An Oneironaut is "a person who explores dream worlds, usually associated with lucid dreaming." Here to tackle the subject from W.T.C. Production's ever growing roster of impressive black metal bands (Ascension, True Black Dawn, Shrine Of Insanabilis) is U.S./German project Crimson Moon. Fronted bySc...

INTERVIEW: Dan Kelly of THE HUDSON HORROR Dec. 6, 2016

Ruiner
by The Hudson Horror

There are certain smaller groups out there that I just connect with for one reason or another. It usually has a lot to do with a perfect storm of quality music, clear passion, and personability of the musicians involved. The Hudson Horror undoubtedly meet these criteria. I was initially drawn in dur...

Ragnarok Has Begun Dec. 6, 2016

.​.​.​en doodenakkers tot den horizon
by Fenris

The Pitch: War. The battles around us and also within expressed through the blackened death stylings of Dutch band Fenris. Ragnarok has begun. What I Like: I really enjoy these vocals. Something about their specific quality and personality is just so vivid and vicious. A perfect union of blackened ...

Where's The Beef? Dec. 6, 2016

The Well​-​Intentioned Virus
by Zao

The Pitch: It's been 7 years since Zao released their last album, Awake?. Finally breaking the hiatus, the legendary West Virginia mathcore/hardcore/metalcore band with possibly their most dynamic record yet.. What I Like: Zao's sound somewhat defies genre labels. You could call it metalcore, but w...

Just A Little Spark Dec. 5, 2016

Frown Upon Us
by As A Conceit

The Pitch: Italian metalcore/post-harcore quintet unleash rebellious new anthems in the vein of Architects. What I Like: Quality riffs: melodic leads mixed with djenty, off-kilter blasts of distortion. The resulting hooks are fun and well-produced. Vocals are very passionate, rebellious,and ripe fo...
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