DESECRATEDRavenous Pestilence Self-released (2024)Rating: 7/10 Lake County, Illinois-based upstarts Desecrated are the latest unsigned thrash / death act doing the rounds and they’ve somewhat dived in headfirst with a full-length. The album art reminds me of something slime-coated Pukewraith might vomit out! It’s a shame this quintet used such a bland moniker so they might […]
SUMMONING DEATHTombs Of The Blind Dead Chaos (2024)Rating: 7/10 The 1972 Spanish-Portuguese zombie horror movie Tombs Of The Blind Dead (with a plot that concerns the hooded Knights Templar rising from the soil to wreak havoc upon a local community) has been a big favourite of mine for years so it’s always nice to see […]
VIPËRWITCHWitch Hunt: Road To Vengeance Stormspell (2024)Rating: 7/10 There’s some serious nostalgia going on with Denver, Colorado-based demons Vipërwitch. Like extras from a Mad Max movie, Vipërwitch rocks the neon album cover and worships movies like Red Sonja because their quest is to bring back, or at least attempt to visit, an era they were […]
MORBID CROSSDenied Salvation EP Self-released (2024)Rating: 6.5/10 Oh boy, when I heard the opening doomy chords and saw the band name and cover art the fetid juices began to flow. Sadly, my excitement dwindled within a minute as New Jersey-based combo Morbid Cross very quickly became just another generic thrash act. That’s not to say […]
SPITFIRETrinity Witches Brew (2024)Rating: 6/10 German rockers Spitfire have a rather unsettled past so I’m surprised to see the Karlsruhe-based combo dishing up their third full-length platter since forming in 2016. What also doesn’t help is that over the years there have been several bands with the same name, but here we are with Trinity, […]
BLACK CURSEBurning In Celestial Poison Sepulchral Voice (2024)Rating: 9/10 As if the burning and bloody pits of Hell have opened their gates and been spewed onto the sleazy streets of Earth, so Denver, Colorado-based Black Curse makes another frightening entrance with their second full-length album. Spilling forth like some boiling liquefied mass of stinking lava, […]
POUNDERThunderforged Shadow Kingdom (2024)Rating: 5.5/10 Back in 2021 I reviewed the sophomore album from Los Angeles, California-based trio Pounder, Breaking The World, and wasn’t exactly excited or convinced by guitarist Matt Harvey’s (Gruesome, Exhumed, Dekapitator etc.) vocal performance. As albums go there were plenty of weighty moments, but its generic nature meant that no feathers […]
DISARRAYReligious Disease Jawbreaker (2024)Rating: 8/10 Providing nothing new whatsoever, Stockholm, Sweden-based thrashers Disarray still pack a mighty Kreator-styled snap with their sophomore release. As the young foursome marches through ‘Bound To Kill’ I hear a Megadeth traipse mashed with a Brazilian rawness, especially in the lethal vocal spits of Lucas Lee. Religious Disease is one […]
CHALLENGERForce Of Nature Dying Victims Productions (2024)Rating: 7/10 Emerging after a five year silence, Slovenian metalheads Challenger finally follow up their 2019 EP Turned To Dust with a sharp and attractive looking eight-song full-length debut album. What a gem of a return this record is; tight in its construction and galloping like a steel mare […]
SENTIENT HORRORIn Service Of The Dead Redefining Darkness (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 Trampling the unexpected underfoot with a serious amount of thrashing death is In Service Of The Dead, the new full-length opus from New Jersey’s Sentient Horror. Bubbling like a ravenous mulch offspring of classic Dismember and Entombed, In Service Of The Dead belligerently hones in […]
