DETHROPIAGood For Nothing Self-released (2024)Rating: 7/10 This looks like a death metal album but does in fact veer towards thrash that is ruled by the rattling bass of Henri Herlevi. Dethropia is a Finnish foursome which formed three years ago and Good For Nothing is the band’s debut full-length offering. This record features a deadly […]

GLYPHHonor. Power. Glory. Black Note Music (2024)Rating: 5/10 Featuring members of Greyhawk, Ravenous, Gatekeeper and Hjelvik, Glyph is a Canadian / American act which formed in 2022 and this is their debut full-length album. Admittedly, this is not the sort of heavy metal I go for; it has that Hammerfall, Powerwolf, Sabaton et al. sort […]

DEAD HEADShadow Soul EP Hammerheart (2024)Rating: 8/10 If you know your thrash / death metal then you’ll be aware of Netherlands act Dead Head. Back when many of you were in nappies, or yet to set foot in the world, Dead Head released their 1989 demo which, the following year was followed by a trio […]

COFFINSSinister Oath Reprise (2024)Rating: 8/10 For their sixth full-length studio album, Japanese psychopaths Coffins drag your sorry arse into a blender and liquefy your bones to mulch. It was on Valentine’s Day when I heard the wonderful chimes of ‘Spontaneous Rot’ and I just knew that Coffins would once again obliterate all in their path. […]

THE HEADLESS GHOSTKing Of Pain Punishment 18 (2024)Rating: 7/10 Starting out as a tribute to Mercyful Fate and King Diamond, The Headless Ghost is a five-piece from Milan in Italy that still wears its roots on its leathery sleeve. Everything about this debut release, from band name, to album cover and track titles, has that […]

TERRAVORESpiral Of Downfall Punishment 18 (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 Killer album cover, savage vocals, ripping riffs; welcome to the third full-length outing from Bulgarian thrashers Terravore. Although this record does have a contemporary edge, the quartet is clearly drunk on the old school values. There is a Teutonic approach, more so with the vocal snaps of bassist […]

RAGEAfterlifelines Steamhammer (2024)Rating: 8.5/10 So impressed was I by the last Rage full-length, Resurrection Day (2021), I almost held a house party for one in honour of the potent longevity of this German clan that’s been rattling off supreme metal since 1986. No real shock then that with studio album number 25 Rage delivers another […]

CORPUS OFFAL Demo 2024 It came as quite a shock that one of my favourite death metal acts, Cerebral Rot, had split, but Corpus Offal is a rather instant result of the American band dissolving and with this demo the grimness continues. Consisting of ex-Cerebral Rot members Ian Schwab (vocals and guitar) and Clyle Lindstrom […]

CIVEROUSMaze Envy 20 Buck Spin (2024)Rating: 8/10 Suffocating. Crushing. Bludgeoning. Heavy. Just a handful of words to describe the second full-length experience from Los Angeles, California-based Civerous. Again we are treated to another garish album cover within this ever burgeoning scene of kaleidoscopic death metal as Lord Foul leads his gang through a batch of […]

ATOMIC WARDEADBeware The Dead Self-released (2024)Rating: 7/10 This album looks like one of those witch n’ wizard stoner / doom records but in fact sound a lot like Megadeth… a little too much, right down to the Mustaine-styled vocal sneers. Beware The Dead is a debut album that seems at odds with itself, the Prague, […]