DEATH FEASTRisen From The Tomb Haloran / Larvae (2023)Rating: 8/10 Lisbon, Portugal-based death thrashers Death Feast have battered us with a trio of devastating albums, including this latest release, since their inception in 2017. Risen From The Tomb just charges from the coffin like a zombie with a rocket up its arse; the organic guitar […]

ARMSTRONG GUNStruck With Steel EP Self-released (2023)Rating: 8/10 Hot on the heels of last year’s superb self-titled debut album, Surrey rockers Armstrong Gun continues its journey whereby old school metal traditions are channelled with further fury and fluidity. Of all the UK heavy metal acts, Armstrong Gun is the act I expect to get the […]

TRASTORNEDInto The Void Dying Victims Productions (2023)Rating: 8/10 It’s important that bands such as Trastorned exist because it reminds us – well, some of us – what thrash metal is and isn’t. Sounding like it was concocted in the mid-80s, Into The Void is the debut full-length album from Chilean maniacs Trastorned who formed in […]

SEQUESTRUMPickled Preservation EP Extremely Rotten Productions (2023)Rating: 8.5/10 In 2022 I revelled in the sludge and sickly sediment that this Danish combo puked up; their debut demo The Epitome Of Putridity coated my nostrils in a squelching, bubbling film of metallic swamp mucus. It was a case of total Carcass worship in many respects, but […]

ZOMBIE RIOTWorld Epitaph Kernkraftritter (2023)Rating: 6/10 German death metal band Zombie Riot return with their second full-length and serve up a platter of chunky riffs and barking vocals which at times hints at the likes of Deicide and a mid-to-late 90s sort of aggression. The vocals of Matze do have a Glen Benton vibe to […]

SEVEN DOORSFeast Of The Repulsive Dead Redefining Darkness (2023)Rating: 8/10 And so the healthy layers of the UK death metal scene are made all the more sturdy by the arrival of the long-awaited debut full-length opus from Cornwall’s Seven Doors. Feast Of The Repulsive Dead is the work of multi-instrumentalist Ryan Wills, who also features […]

RONNIE ROMERORaised On Heavy Radio Frontiers (2023)Rating: 7.5/10 Albums which consist entirely of cover versions are so difficult to review because rarely do musicians set out to intentionally murder classic songs. Last year former Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider destroyed several songs on his My Way outing, but thankfully Ronnie Romero (Michael Schenker Group / Ritchie […]

CRONENBERGGrandiose Throne Of Grotesque Flesh Blackened Death (2023)Rating: 8/10 The hilariously named Grandmaster Flush is the person behind Cronenberg, a fiendish Nova Scotia, Canada-based cacophony that is now onto its second full-length offering which has emerged just a few years after the impressive 2020 debut, Gorehammer. For any death metal fans who like slurping vocals […]

ARCTIC RAINUnity Frontiers (2023)Rating: 7/10 Somewhat sickly sweet in spite of the cold and pallid cover design, Unity is one of those surprisingly uplifting hard rock records that drift by with all the classic AOR ingredients. I guess any record fronted by Tobias Jonsson is going to be a winner; his powerhouse Graham Bonnet-esque soothing […]

METHANEKill It With Fire Self-released (2023)Rating: 8.5/10 Providing a thrashing, groove-based bridge between Sweden and the US, four-piece act Methane sends out a second missile in order to nuke the landscape with its scorching, driving riffs and aggressive, barked vocals. This is very much modern metal, although you’ll also get flashes of Pantera, Exodus, Metallica […]