Legends, keyboards, icons, road-pavers…what else can be said about Deep Purple? The status-quo enjoys ranting about “Machine Head” or other timeless releases, yet items created after the pay-day bonanza are left in the dark, forever lonely. Shame on those that willingly ignored everything conceived past “Purpendicular.” The dawn looks on 2005, when...Read all

Grab a bucket and prepare to discharge everywhere: we have a revolutionary band progressing symphonic influences we could never ponder! Well, I’d like to think that, but it ain’t happening. You see, Neurolepsia boast an agenda similar to Emperor’s final recordings, yet “The Apocalyptic Symphony” kindly covers the band’s feeble appearance with horrendous ideas...Read all

Melodic death metal is almost a lie. Hardly any bands are able to keep the “melodic” label, and some just smother themselves in it while leaving that “death metal” part exiled. Thankfully, Agamendon is a rare breed: they have both stances on loyal ground, firmly cut in half for a true melodic death seizure. Throughout “Nuclear Rodeo,” you won’t find yourself strapped up...Read all

When I heard that members of legendary NY Hard Core outfit Kill Your Idols went on to form a black/thrash group, I won’t lie, I was very skeptical. I mean, really what do a few aging hardcore kids from NYC know about the dark cold roots that lie within black metal? Beyond that, the simple transition from hardcore to black metal is neigh impossible, seeing as each genre upholds blatantly ...Read all

Marblebog’s Forestheart is a strange beast. Many people argue these days that depressive black metal has been done to death; certainly, the Burzum knockoffs are flooding the Internet at an almost alarming rate, and producing some rather mediocre music. At first blush, this album seems to show all the signs of falling neatly into this category...Read all

I actually bought this CD on a wild card, wondering what lurked beneath that slipcase promising something twisted and gory. Indeed, the nun didn’t have much fun from what I perceive, but Wurdulak’s “Severed Eyes of Possession” is actually a kicky offering, even despite Killjoy forging and ruining a billion side-groups like our present squad throughout ...Read all

After the massive success of “With Oden on Our Side”, Amon Amarth literally reached the heavy metal Valhalla, the level of maturity displayed by the Swedes in that album is something most extreme bands will never reach, due to the fact that most metal bands forget real songwriting for the sake of making albums that are loud and monotonous in nature. Well, Amon ...Read all

Scar Symmetry has often been the scapegoat of an obviously-failing scene of Swedish melodic death metal bands that look up at one-step-ahead Gothenburg factions and wish they could be like those dreamy cool-cats. “Holographic Universe,” however, is more than another dull record our community wouldn’t embrace; instead, it’s a wonderful glimpse into Scar Symmetry’s finest ...Read all

For the first few seconds of Metallica’s new album, you can hear a slow and eerie heartbeat followed by a dark melody that slowly draws you in, almost like seeing a monstrous beast waking from its deep slumber, ready to tear and mangle anything in its path. The dark passage is followed by a crunching power chord and the slow but menacing pounding...Read all

De Oppresso Liber was my introduction to Sothis, and, from its description as being derivative of Emperor could only mean one of two things: tasteful epic black metal, or Dimmu Borgir keyboard meltdown. A few seconds of the first track the answer became abundantly clear, this album was going to be a Dimmu doo-doo. The keyboards, as cliché’d s they are can actually be used ...Read all

Clowns and posers are only a couple of the names people have used to describe Slipknot ever since these nine masked individuals exploded into the metal scene with their self titled debut in 1999. Well, looking back at the time when people first got into Slipknot it was hard not to like them, they had a different image (albeit a cheesy one, but appealing none the less ...Read all

Being new to Esoteric, when I ripped open the little promo pack from Seasons of the Mist I was intrigued but also a little scared. Seasons of the Mist have put out some amazing records such as Arcturus-Sideshow Symphonies, the new Cynic (ok it hasn’t come out but it WILL be classic!), …And Oceans-The Symmetry of I, but their artists always tend to be on the weirder ...Read all

After building a landslide of anticipation when it was announced that vocalist Matt Barlow would be returning to Iced Earth, the buzz surrounding the follow up to “Framing Armageddon” was spread like wildfire. The first part of the Something Wicked saga was a massive album that took a while for most fans to embrace. Most of the songs were intertwined ...Read all

Short, catchy, dark and off course old school. This Pagan Records version of Flesh for the Devil comes with a new album artwork and off course a couple of improvements on the overall sound; reintroducing the band to those unfamiliar with this Pennsylvania outfit that can surely deliver some maemorable brutality and a pretty tight composition of old school death and very ...Read all

If you reduce Epitaph to only 5 tracks, it’s impact within death metal will be much more welcomed than if you managed to go through it’s 11 “groove” based death metal, that despite been fun and catchy, tends to repeat the same formula over, and over and over and over again.
Epitaph, is definitely a fun record to listen, drawing many ...Read all

In an age where concept albums and rock operas are a cliché reserved for power metal, Biomechanical bucks the trend by not fitting in any particular genre. Combining elements of ‘Painkiller’ and ‘Far Beyond Driven’ with the last Dimmu Borgir album, all held together by a futuristic story, the band’s musical outcome is breath taking. But the secret ingredient is John K. using his ...Read all

As a British citizen it is a legal requirement that I listen to this album, much like it was compulsory for me to see Iron Maiden at Twickenham Stadium last month. The UK isn’t as grand as it used to be, we’ve lost the empire, the colonies and the gargantuan army, but at least we still have Motörhead, something that will last longer than all of the above. The only thing ...Read all

Waterloo Records decided to put four bands onto this release, presumably for ADHD sufferers who can’t listen to the same band for more than 5 minutes without jumping out of the nearest window. The grey horse on the front cover has a very apprehensive look on his face, as if worried that the record might be on its way to bombing ...Read all

You have probably heard the many statements Black metal bands post on their web sites, or promo packages that sound something like this “… the true way black metal should sound like” or “real underground Black metal” or without any evidence they claim “gaining a lot of underground support and recognition”; ...Read all

Susperia started out, playing maybe not a revolutionary kind of black/thrash metal, but their sound was acquiring a unique aspect to it that would have eventually made them easily recognizable and respected as an extreme metal act… but something happened on the way and Cut from Stone despite been catchy as hell sounds more ...Read all

As I read decibel magazine’s studio report on Nachtmystium and visionary Blake Judd claimed that Assassins was going to be a 70’s rock album with a black metal twist. This made me very skeptical, but since Instinct: Decay delved into the darkest pits of black metal I trusted Blake’s new ...Read all

A lot of metal fans may dislike Soulfly, but everyone knows that they sell albums rather well and have some die-hard fans, whether they are all just Sepultura fan-boys is still yet to be confirmed.
But I’m one of those rare few semi-elitist metal fans who does not detest Soulfly; I enjoyed Prophesy and Dark Ages. Dark Ages was a surprisingly good ...Read all

Blowjobs from strangers, motorbikes, swords, conquering, drinking and smoking. If you have a pair of balls and the last sentence didn’t make you want to buy this album then I suggest you get yourself checked. This album manages to incorporate all manners of manly things without sounding...Read all

To those truly involved or conscious about the existence of Finnish ST, this MCD comes as no surprise; no new elements, no experiments here, just plain and simple Darkthrone, Mayhem inspired black metal.
Clichés are created and reproduced for a reason… because it works, so others try and amplified those ..Read all

It can be hard to define the nature of the USBM scene. These days, the most popular artists seem to specialize in the depressive variety of black metal; Leviathan, Xasthur, and Wolves in the Throne Room fall, more or less, into this category. However, many would argue that more bands deal with the raw and hateful side of things; Judas Iscariot being the prime example of...Read all

I felt quite daunted when approaching this band, having imagined them to be following the same ilk as Sunn O))) with their hooded robes and apparent designs on reinventing the soundwaves. The only points of reference that I have with this kind of thing are the side projects of The Mars Volta (De Facto, Omar’s solo project etc): and most of the time I had found these hard ..Read all

One of the many super groups to rise in the last couple of years, Five Finger Death Punch has a line up consisting most notably of singer Ivan Moody from the Mudvayne-esque band Motograter. Moody is joined by guitarists Darrell Roberts of W.A.S.P. fame, and Zoltan Bathory who has been in cult bands such as U.P.O...Read all

Satariel might not play a surprising variation of what is expected from a Swedish melodic death metal band; but what they lack in inventiveness they excel in great riffs and melodies.
Chifra is the follow up of the 2005 album “Hydra”, a record that certainly took the band from obscurity and raised a couple of eyebrows because...Read all