SOLDIERS OF RAGENew Age Of Inhumanity Self-released (2024)Rating: 5.5/10 Having been created a decade ago by Diogo Jones (vocals and guitar) in Portugal, Soldiers Of Rage has remained inactive to say the least. Now rocking out of the UK, the band has finally issued a debut full-length album which fuses thrash and groove metal. At […]
BREAKKERBreakker EP Self-released (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 Looking like another of those long forgotten 80s gems is the self-titled debut EP from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based combo Breakker. This is your standard yet entertaining bar room metal given a subtle edge by the vocals of Clare Mairéad who brings a haunting fragility alongside a punky, New Wave vibe as […]
BLOODCROWNSound Of Flesh And Bone Gruesome (2024)Rating: 7/10 Sweden’s Bloodcrown is a new band on the scene, arriving just two years ago, and with their debut album carve out 11 storming tracks of crisp death metal that is laced with a blackened aggression. Anyone expecting the rather predictable buzzsaw sound should look elsewhere because Sound […]
IRONFLAMEKingdom Torn Asunder High Roller (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 With their fifth full-length studio album since forming in 2016, Cleveland, Ohio-based power metallers Ironflame continue to crack the sky with the power of raised fists. Mastermind Andrew D’Cagna rides on a mare of steel once again, his commands ringing out over the smouldering horizons in order to […]
LACERATIONI Erode 20 Buck Spin (2024)Rating: 8/10 Drifting across the waters of San Francisco’s Bay Area like a deadly mist, ripping death-thrash machine Laceration spits forth its sophomore slab in the vein of today’s Skeletal Remains, and from the past, Morgoth. Although I’m not a fan of the “un-title” title, I Erode quite literally leaves […]
DUSKWALKERUnderground Forever Black Lion (2024)Rating: 7/10 If you’re not drawn by the striking cover art then you’re in the wrong game. I introduce to you the latest full-length album from Canadian death thrashers Duskwalker, who originally formed in 2015 as The Offering before a name change to their current moniker in 2018. Loitering at the […]
DEMON SPELLEvil Nights EP Dying Victims Productions (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 Back in the mid-80s, releases of this ilk were a two-a-penny, often turning up in the reviews section of Metal Forces magazine and, if you were lucky, in the import racks of any decent record shop. Now of course such outings are more readily available and […]
DEMON SACRIFICEUnder The Blacklight Of Divine EP Ironbound (2024)Rating: 7/10 Beginning like some rainy 80s British goth rock track, ‘Summoning From The Abyss’ is the first track from this debut EP from intriguing Indonesian band Demon Sacrifice. The occult cover art has all the fiendish lashings of a doom or death metal release, but musically […]
CHEMICAL STORMDigital Dementia EP Self-released (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 Hailing from my old stomping grounds of Kent in the south-east of England is five-piece thrash act Chemical Storm. Digital Dementia is the second EP from the group, emerging six years after Doomed From Day One. According to the press release, Chemical Storm “…honours the greats that came […]
MORBUS GRAVEFeasting The Macabre Memento Mori (2024)Rating: 8/10 It took over a decade for this Italian death metal act to release their debut album Lurking Into Absurdity in 2022. I was concerned that a follow up might not emerge for another decade too, but here we are, just two years later, with Feasting The Macabre. […]
