OUTER HEAVENInfinite Psychic Depths Relapse (2023)Rating: 8/10 While there is no doubting the mind-expanding talents of this Douglassville, Pennsylvania-based death metal posse, I have failed miserably in taking to their perplexing prose which has screwed with my brain since their debut full-length outing, Realms Of Eternal Decay, way back in 2018. Even so, Outer Heaven […]
PUTRESCENTInhuman Infestation EP Rotted Life (2023)Rating: 8.5/10 Inhuman Infestation is the debut EP from Los Angeles, California-based band Putrescent, a miserable quartet that has conjured up one of my favourite releases of the year so far. Guttural, grim, and doomy, the opening track ‘Obscure Putrescent Growls Of Death’ sums up what the sound is; a […]
CADAVERThe Age Of The Offended Nuclear Blast (2023)Rating: 8/10 At the start of the 1990s Norwegian band Cadaver released a brace of cult classic albums in the form of Hallucinating Anxiety (1990) and …In Pains (1992), which followed on from several decent demos. In spite of these records being of high quality, Cadaver, like so […]
DISIMPERIUMGrand Insurgence Upon Despotic Altars Sentient Ruin Laboratories (2023)Rating: 8.5/10 Bereft of subtlety, Portland, Oregon-based death metallers Disimperium spits out its debut full-length outing as if it were a discarded chunk of gristle. Such an opus comes thick, fast and aggressive with combinations of cavernous noise and flickers of grindcore madness. Forget the alarm clock […]
WANTEDLate Attraction Self-released (2023)Rating: 9/10 With a slight play on the title of White Lion’s 1991 Mane Attraction opus, Michigan hard rockers Wanted returns soon after last year’s incredible Chain Reaction debut full-length. Once again the band taps into the classic American 80s heavy rock sound, a time when big hair and tight pants were […]
BLOODLETTERA Different Kind Of Hell Wise Blood (2023)Rating: 7.5/10 Very much camped in the contemporary thrash metal void but with occasional nods to the Bay Area 80s scene, Chicago act Bloodletter unleashes its third full-length outing. The band has certainly improved with each album, but their sound remains a rather frantic blur that will no […]
GATEWAYGalgendood Transcending Obscurity (2023)Rating: 9/10 A lot of murky and mucky extreme metal has emerged this year, so why not add one-man algae muncher Gateway to the steaming pile of moss. During July of 2015 Belgian professor of the putrid Robin van Oyen coughed up Gateway’s self-titled debut full-length outing, and now, eight years later, […]
CHROMESKULLScreaming For The World Sangue Frio Produções (2023)Rating: 6.5/10 In 2019 Brazilian speedsters Chromeskull released their debut EP, Deads Shall Rise, which boasted some of the worst cover art I’ve ever seen! Musically, the band were a rather slapdash metal act and they remain so but with dollops of charm hidden beneath such scales of […]
SCAR SYMMETRY Premiere ‘Xenotaph’ Music Video July 19th, 2023 Swedish progressive melodic death metal band Scar Symmetry have released a music video for the track ‘Xenotaph’. Created by Wayne Joyner and David Letelier, the clip can be viewed below. Speaking about the song and video, guitarist Per Nilsson said: “‘Xenotaph’ concludes Phase II in an […]
OCCULT WITCHESMastermind Self-released (2023)Rating: 8/10 Don’t let the dreadfully corny band name put you off of what is essentially a tasty slice of psychedelic hard rock from Québec in Canada. My concern here is that this combo has arrived a little too late to the black mass because the sound they so wistfully create, although […]
