ORACULUMSorcery Of The Damned EP Invictus Productions (2014)Rating: 8/10 Well guys and gals, it’s time to grab those inverted crosses and flick the goat horns up in the name of Satan, because we’re going to get battered by Sorcery Of The Damned; the debut EP from Chilean deathsters of doom, Oraculum. Not to be confused […]

WHITE EMPRESSRise Of The Empress Peaceville (2014)Rating: 9/10 White Empress is the new band featuring ex-Cradle Of Filth guitarist Paul Allender and Luna Mortis’ Mary Zimmer. The Minneapolis-based band is rounded out by bass player Chela Harper (Coal Chamber), guitarist Jeremy Kohnmann (The Awakening), keyboardist Will Graney (Damnation Angels) and drummer Zac Morris (whom has […]

SEMPITERNAL DUSKSempiternal Dusk Dark Descent (2014)Rating: 8/10 This is the self-titled debut album from Portland, Oregon-based death metallers Sempiternal Dusk; a trio which go by the names TC vocals / drums), JH (guitar) and TG (bass). This five-track album comes two years after debut demo Demo MMXII, and one of the tracks from that demo […]

AUDREY HORNEPure Heavy Napalm (2014)Rating: 9/10 Pure Heavy is the fifth album by Norway’s Audrey Horne, and it seems that with each release they are getting bigger and bigger. Eleven tracks of glammed-up, high energy rock ’n’ roll, this is a fantastic trip back into the heyday of 70s and 80s rock. What may surprise […]

NECROHOLOCAUSTHolocaustic Goat Metal Iron Bonehead (2014)Rating: 7.5/10 Lo and behold, it’s the unholy return of your grandmother’s favourite band; the almighty Necroholocaust, who have emerged from their stuffy chamber of horrors with this dank, growling mess of maggot-ridden blasphemous metal. Nine heavily diseased tracks are offered to the ears, all constructed of drums which sound […]

EXECRATIONMorbid Dimensions Duplicate (2014)Rating: 8.5/10 Described as one of “death metal’s best kept secrets”, Norwegian posse Execration return from the murk with their third opus Morbid Dimensions. It’s an album that begins life with an ominous Black Sabbath-styled lumber called ‘Cosmic Mausoleum’ – that typical Tony Iommi-influenced thunder plod and pensive, stormy drums of apprehension. […]

THY DARKENED SHADELiber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet W.T.C. Productions (2014)Rating: 8/10 The A. and Semjaza are the mysteriously named members of Greek metal band Thy Darkened Shade and Liber Lvcifer I: Khem Sedjet is their follow-up to 2012’s Eternvs Mos, Nex Ritvs. It’s a record I’ve eagerly anticipated and it’s one which should gratify those […]

HORRENDOUSEcdysis Dark Descent (2014)Rating: 8.5/10 Praise be to any band that can go by such a wonderful moniker. But then again, it’s not as if this American bunch is churning out country ’n’ western music. As you may have guessed by the band name of this trio, Horrendous is a gore-obsessed death metal slap in […]

HAREM SCAREMThirteen Frontiers (2014)Rating: 9.5/10 Harem Scarem is one of those classy heavy rock bands that have always had its finger on a pulse; a skill that not many other bands can find. I recall back in 1991 being mightily impressed by the Canadian band’s self-titled debut, and wondering why they weren’t huge as they […]

THORNAFIREMagnaa FDA Rekotz (2014)Rating: 9/10 FDA Rekotz is another record label that rarely puts a foot wrong, so it’s no surprise then that Thornafire’s latest descent into darkness is another veritable feast of the vicious, the volatile and the volcanic. Magnaa is the fourth episode in the career of this Chilean extreme metal act which […]