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Gorod‘s debut, Neurotripsicks, was absolutely shredding, sounding like if Joe Satriani played lead guitar in Symbolic-era Death, with low death growls for the vocals. However, thin production hobbled the album somewhat. That’s definitely not the case with Leading Vision (on Willowtip), which has a deeper and beefier sound while retaining the clarity typical of Willowtip […]

Here’s footage of Pantera practicing with Kerry King in 1989 at Joe’s Garage in Ft. Worth, TX. At the beginning of the video, Phil Anselmo says, “We’re learning ‘South of Heaven’ for tomorrow.” It seems they’re rehearsing for a show in which King would make a cameo. In Part 1, they run through “South of […]

Another Napalm Death album??? These guys have been ridiculously productive since they left Earache after 1999’s Words from the Exit Wound. Since then, they’ve had a release of some sort each year, including four albums, two Leaders Not Followers covers collections, and the awesome Noise for Music’s Sake compilation. This is almost oversaturation, but Smear […]

Across Tundras sound like if Sonic Youth lived out in the woods and jammed with Neil Young’s Crazy Horse. Some of the thicker distortion does suggest Hum or Neurosis, as the bio states, but the creaky, folksy feel of this Denver band places it closer to Pelican. Why Decibel and freakin’ Blabbermouth are covering this […]

Intronaut review is now up at Stylus.

Cattle Decapitation has gore-grind roots, but over time the band has added sonic variety and song length to the point that it’s basically playing technical death metal (Cephalic Carnage falls into the same “über technical grind” camp). 2004’s Humanure experimented with varied tempos and ambient bits; Karma. Bloody. Karma (on Metal Blade) takes that three […]

Morbid Saint was a thrash band from Sheboygan, WI that released one album, Spectrum of Death. In 1989, a small Mexican label, Avanzada Metallica, put out the album, which Grind Core reissued in 1991. The band also recorded a set of demos called Destruction System, which Keltic packaged together with Spectrum of Death into one […]

“This is Satanic black metal,” hisses Trondr Nefas to kick off Urgehal‘s new album, Goatcraft Torment (on Agonia Records). Well, no shit, Sherlock. I suppose there’s some Christian black metal out there, but the vast majority of black metal inverts its crosses. But while Urgehal doesn’t break any new ground, the band offers a solid, […]

Mastodon and Iron Maiden reviews are now up at Stylus.

I recently saw Vreid open for Enslaved. They killed it, as did Enslaved. The pairing was apt, as both play black metal but stray from the blueprint – Vreid with rock influences and Enslaved with prog leanings. CD’s are expensive here in Germany (for this album, I paid 15 euro, which is considered cheap), but […]