BÜTCHEROn Fowl Of Tyrant Wing Osmose Productions (2024)Rating: 8/10 2024 produces another slice of cool album art (courtesy of Kris Verwimp) this time from Bütcher, the Antwerp, Belgium-based quintet who are now on their third full-length opus. If you’re not familiar with the works of vocalist R Hellshrieker and lead guitarist KK Ripper then now […]
ANIALATORDeath Is Calling Xtreem Music (2024)Rating: 7/10 Now here’s a blast from the past as Texan cult thrashers Anialator emerge once again from the underground and finally hit us with a debut full-length album since forming in the mid-80s. I was introduced to these guys via their 1988 self-titled EP which was issued by Wild […]
MIDNIGHT RACEHeavy Metal Owls Steel Shark (2024)Rating: 6/10 As a band previously unknown to me, Ecuador’s Midnight Race come equipped with an album cover that, art wise, reminds me of 80s releases by Cities or Shok Paris. Musically, the guys bridge the ever recognisable gap between heavy and speed metal resulting in 31 minutes of […]
ASHEN TOMBEcstatic Death Reign Everlasting Spew (2024)Rating: 6.5/10 Another grisly death metal debut drops within the fields of mulch, and this time it’s from Finnish act Ashen Tomb. Two years after a reasonable self-titled EP, this debut full-length length comfortably dredges the lake of the genre and emerges with plenty of Bolt Thrower, Dismember, Dead […]
FERALTo Usurp The Thrones Transcending Obscurity (2024)Rating: 8/10 Album number four from Sweden’s Feral offers more of that HM-2 consistency we’ve come to expect. Since the band’s 2011 debut full-length Dragged To The Altar, the combo has served up lashings of buzzsaw metal that takes influence from the masters of the field: Carnage, Grave and […]
EXTORTEDCognitive Dissonance Self-released (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 Some seriously good death-thrash comes your way here for a talented New Zealand mob known as Extorted. Cognitive Dissonance is a barnstormer of a debut full-length album created by Joel Campbell (vocals), Ivan Roberts (lead guitar), Diego Pasqual Del Pobil (rhythm guitar), Brad Lucas (bass) and Bryce Tozer (drums). From […]
WAR DOGSOnly The Stars Are Left Fighter (2024)Rating: 8/10 The return after four years of Spanish traditional metal act War Dogs will be welcomed by many because the 2020 debut album Die By My Sword was so highly regarded. With a cover painting by Russian artist Victor Vasnetsov, Only The Stars Are Left is a […]
GORED EMBRACEChicago Death Compilation Iron Fortress (2024)Rating: 7/10 We are back in the cesspit of the Iron Fortress with Gored Embrace and what is essentially a compilation of the Chicago, Illinois-based band’s demo and single releases. I like it when labels do this because a lot of demos, especially when released on cassette format, are […]
PUTRIDARIUMNecrología Del Sadismo: Excerpts From A Deranged Mind Headsplit / Night Terrors (2024)Rating: 7/10 As if someone has drained a remote swamp of sediment, algae and gunk and unloaded it on my doorstep, mongers of gloom Putridarium come knocking with their long awaited debut full-length album. If you’ve followed these German ratbags you’ll know that […]
STAR RIDEROutta Time Self-released (2024)Rating: 5.5/10 With band members called Killer Kim (vocals), Läther Deth (lead guitar), Chainsaw Charly (rhythm guitar), Alex Renegade (bass) and Lizzy Kicks (drums) I expected some sort of beefy, theatrical W.A S.P. throwback, but instead I got hit by some Enforcer worship, which is rather strange considering the French band […]
