AUTOPSYThe Headless Ritual Peaceville (2013)Rating: 8.5/10 And so they have returned, with blood dripping from their foaming jaws and all manner of mutilated limbs stashed in their cars… the mighty Autopsy. Moving on quickly from 2011’s Macabre Eternal, the San Francisco combo have jumped into a new coffin and called it The Headless Ritual, which, […]
HUNTRESSStarbound Beast Napalm (2013)Rating: 9/10 Just a little over a year past the release of their 2012 debut album, Spell Eater, Huntress return with Starbound Beast. The band’s sophomore release was recorded by Zeuss (Hatebreed, Shadows Fall, Agnostic Front etc.) in Los Angeles, California, at Hobby Shop Studios. While the band’s debut focused solely on […]
11 PARANOIASSuperunnatural Ritual Productions (2013)Rating: 4/10 What an almighty noise this is. 11 Paranoias are a loathsome beast who hail from the British Isles, and are another of those grime-clogged sludge / doom / stoner acts whose only aim is to coat the town in silt. Superunnatural is a debut chamber of fog which boasts […]
EXTOLExtol Indie Recordings (2013)Rating: 9/10 I first heard Norway’s Extol on the Rowe Productions’ (the label owned by Mortification’s Steve Rowe) Northern Lights compilation (1996) back when there was a blossoming market for Christian metal. I then saw them perform in Illinois while supporting their 1998 debut album Burial and I was sold. Their technical […]
MOSS OF MOONLIGHTWinterwheel EP Cascadian Alliance (2013)Rating: 7.5/10 Y’know what, I’ve always been sceptical of American black metal bands, possibly due to the fact that the original early to mid-90s wave of bands seemed so obsessed with the Nordic way of life, despite a majority of these acts never experiencing such a tundra. Even so, […]
SKILTRONInto The Battleground Hellion (2013)Rating: 4/10 I can take or leave folk metal to be honest, not really having been bothered or convinced by the numerous bands doing the rounds over the years. Skiltron however – who hail from Argentina – have garnered my attention with their brand of folky rock. These guys formed in […]
OLIVARaise The Curtain AFM (2013)Rating: 8.5/10 So after 30 years of Savatage, Jon Oliva’s Pain and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, mastermind Jon Oliva releases his first ever solo album. The album is, for the most part, a solo album in the strictest sense with most of the instruments (even drums and lead guitars on select tracks) played […]
INSANITYDeath After Death (Reissue) Hells Headbangers (2013)Rating: 8.5/10 Originally released in 1994, Death After Death is the debut platter from Californian thrashers Insanity. Not to be confused with goodness knows how many other bands of the same moniker, this San Francisco four-piece most certainly live up to their name. Death After Death is eight tracks […]
PESTThe Crowning Horror Agonia (2013)Rating: 8/10 Sweden’s Pest has been involved in the black metal scene since 1997, although their first full-length opus didn’t emerge until 2003 under the title of Desecration. Hailing from Stockholm, Pest has, for most of its lifespan, consisted of two members: Necro (drums, guitars, vocals) and Equimanthorn (bass, guitars). The […]
PAST UNDONETime Lapse EP Self-released (2013)Rating: 7/10 Despite the rather bland band moniker Portugal’s Past Undone are a rather intriguing quartet made all the more striking by the fact that each member contributes to vocal duties. I was, naturally, drawn to the female vocals of the opus which are extremely haunting and gothic and literally […]
