WRAITHFueled By Fear Prosthetic (2024)Rating: 8/10 With their fourth full-length studio album, Indiana metalheads Wraith churn out another dose blackened speed n’ punky thrash. You certainly get your money’s worth with Fueled By Fear as the band storms forth with 14 cuts all of which boast joyously teenage lyrics – check out the ghoulish ‘Horses […]

ANVILOne And Only AFM (2024)Rating: 4.5/10 Long before primitive man and long after the planet has disappeared up its own sorry arse, Anvil exist. They walked the earth with the dinosaurs, and after the apocalypse strikes they will stride from the debris. Anvil doesn’t give a shit, it’s a band that has no time for […]

CRYSTAL VIPERThe Silver Key Listenable (2024)Rating: 6/10 Since forming in 2003, Polish headbangers Crystal Viper have become veterans of the scene, and with full-length studio album number nine have cemented their place further as Euro metal royalty. However, in my opinion, the combo has never matched their debut 2007 platter The Curse Of Crystal Viper, […]

RITUAL EXECUTION Demo 2024 Creeping like a fetid black mass of sediment, the UK death metal scene adds further silt to its ever growing sickening structure by way of a debut Ritual Execution demo. Comprised of three mysterious members named Funeral (guitar and vocals), Wretch (bass and vocals) and Arachnid (drums and vocals), Ritual Execution […]

PORTRAITThe Host Metal Blade (2024)Rating: 8/10 Set your mind aside for an hour and 15 minutes and succumb to the dark pleasures of The Host, the sixth full-length studio album from Sweden’s Portrait. As with the return from Germany’s Attic and their latest offering, Return Of The Witchfinder, Portrait continues the Mercyful Fate and King […]

ELLE TEAThe Past From Which I Ran Self-released (2024)Rating: 8.5/10 Only a short while ago I was telling you about the latest EP from the intriguing Italian act Elle Tea, who blew me away last year with the Fate Is At My Side debut album. Admittedly, the recent EP Pain And Vengeance threw me a […]

HYPERDONTIAHarvest Of Malevolence Me Saco Un Ojo / Dark Descent (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 Danish / Turkish outfit Hyperdontia may not be happy with me calling them a “reliable” death metal act, but that’s exactly what they have become. You’ll hear better albums than this but Hyperdontia are a consistent brood that provides solid death metal that […]

CRYPT SERMONThe Stygian Rose Dark Descent (2024)Rating: 8/10 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based doomsters Crypt Sermon has risen from a five year silence with their third full-length studio outing, The Stygian Rose. As expected, you get hit by six epic doom metal compositions, the shortest (‘Heavy Is The Crown Of Bone’) runs for five minutes, the longest (‘The […]

SLAVE TO SIRENSEchoes Of Silence Self-released (2024)Rating: 8/10 It’s very rare to find an extreme metal band from Lebanon. In fact, this all female Beirut-based thrash combo is probably the first act I’ve come across from the region. Slave To Sirens has existed for almost ten years but Echoes Of Silence is the band’s debut […]

ANGEL SWORDWorld Fighter Dying Victims Productions (2024)Rating: 8/10 With their third full-length album, Helsinki, Finland-based Angel Sword once again reminds us of their prowess as they charge through the smoke, clad in leather and rattle off another bunch of melodic anthems. This is simple yet driving metal with a rough edge, particularly in the vocals […]