self-released

Until this month, Death Metal Invasion was just another illegal download blog, with traffic far in excess of that of this site. Then it admirably switched to featuring only legal, band/label-approved downloads. Its readers revolted. People up in arms over not being able to download illegally — when the rest of the Internet is available […]

If technical metal and meandering psych/prog have you looking for something more straightforward, Speedwolf is the answer. This Denver 4-piece is a no-frills thrash/punk assault on all things ironic. While many of their more successful peers are kitschy or disingenuous, Speedwolf is the real deal. Bark at the Poon (2009, self-released) has the same kind […]

Have you ever wondered what Celtic Frost would sound like as a hardcore punk band? Me neither. The idea of replacing Tom G. Warrior’s beanie with a cadet cap is ludicrous. But Chicago’s Like Rats have gone ahead and done it — and the results are tasty. Sun Guitarist Todd Nief, who is Weekend Nachos’ […]

Here’s another band that strangely remains unsigned: Stonecutters. They’re sludgy yet technical, like early versions of Kylesa, Baroness, and Mastodon. But Stonecutters are thrashier and more shredtastic. The Louisville, KY band includes guitarist/vocalist Brian Omer, who was in a ’90s hardcore band on Century Media called My Own Victim. Christhammer Their second full-length, Christhammer, is […]

The back of Birth A.D.‘s Stillbirth of a Nation says, “Fuck your party metal, we’re here for war!” This is the key to its greatness. The band plays crossover thrash like its acronymic influences D.R.I., C.O.C., M.O.D., S.O.D., and so on. But unlike today’s retro thrashers who play the music for its style — white […]

When I interviewed Complete Failure drummer Mike Rosswog for a Decibel feature (#45, Opeth cover, order here), he was diplomatic about Steve Austin, Today Is the Day frontman and Supernova Records head. Austin had given Complete Failure’s debut, Perversions of Guilt (Supernova, 2008), strange production, to say the least. It was fuzzy, messy, and drum-heavy. […]

Photo by Return to the Pit Every so often I come across a band whose unsigned status is utterly incomprehensible. Boston’s Revocation are by far the greatest example. I saw them live last fall. They were a trio and could have used a second guitarist. Still, they killed. In guitarist/vocalist David Davidson, I saw the […]

by Cosmo Lee One sign I’m getting old is that bands are tuning down to depths I’d never imagine. When I was growing up, an E string was an E string. Jimi Hendrix’ Eb and Helmet’s dropped D tunings seemed outré. I was thunderstruck when I discovered that Testament had tuned down to (gasp!) Db. […]

by Cosmo Lee Costa Rica isn’t just a popular tourist destination. It’s also, at last count, home to 59 metal bands. Some of the more intriguing names include Mad Klown, Necropedophilia, Pseudostratiffied Epithelium, Linfogranulomatosis Inguinalis, and Alastor Sanguinary Embryo. Evidently, the latter was originally called Alastor, but added more words to avoid confusion with other […]

by Cosmo Lee One day, as I was perusing Slayer’s discography on metal-archives.com, I saw this tucked between the Combat Tour Live video and Hell Awaits in 1985: Jeff Hanneman home recording. What?!? I tracked it down. Turns out it’s more of a riff tape than a demo. It’s just Hanneman with a drum machine. […]