CELLAR FLUIDSDemons Gate EP Iron Fortress (2024)Rating: 7/10 Clogging up drains and toilets for a few years now, Savannah, Georgia-based Cellar Fluids continue their unhygienic slither through the sewers of the ear canal by delivering another grinding death heap. At just under 17 minutes long, Demons Gate wades through slurry, snot and slop in equal […]

SPEEDRUSHDivision Mortality Jawbreaker (2024)Rating: 6.5/10 Now here’s an album that makes me want to reach for those early Kreator and Sodom records. Division Mortality is the sophomore release from Athens, Greece-based Speedrush, and it’s certainly been a while coming; the band’s debut full-length, Endless War, was issued eight long years ago. To get to the […]

VITRIOLICBlack Steel Vengeance Headsplit (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 Doing exactly what it says on the rickety coffin lid, Black Steel Vengeance is more blasphemous than someone taking a crap on a crucifix. Emerging three years after debut full-length Renegade Ascension, this ten track dose of black speed metal is stuffed to the hilt with teenage lyrics, whether […]

THE CROWNCrown Of Thorns Metal Blade (2024)Rating: 7/10 Embarking on their 12th album, Swedish quintet The Crown churns out another consistent expression of melodic death n’ thrash. Original guitarist Marcus Sunesson has recently rejoined the fold alongside bassist Mattias Rasmussen and drummer Mikael Norén, both of whom joined in 2022, while guitarist Marko Tervonen and […]

SCUMRIPPERFor A Few Fixes More Headsplit (2024)Rating: 8.5/10 Five years have passed since this Finnish trio excreted their All Veins Blazing debut album, which emerged four years after the self-titled demo. Now, with another half a decade gone, Scumripper brings a sophomore outing riddled with snappy vocal retorts and a gnarly death-thrash assault. The cover […]

WRATHPRAYEREnkoimeterion Nuclear War Now! Productions (2024)Rating: 9/10 In 2009 a mysterious demo entitled In Utter Darkness spiralled from the Chilean underground like black wisps of toxic smoke. The creators of such a cacophony were the elusive God Of Torment and Pestifer Fides who, three years later, produced the debut full-length The Sun Of Moloch: The […]

PATXAJust Heavy Metal Maldito (2024)Rating: 6/10 Now, this is what I call a self explanatory album title, Just Heavy Metal. Patxa is a dose of pure steel from the Basque Country, and this is their debut full-length album. The record features song titles like ‘Children Of Metal’, ‘New Metal Blood’ and ‘Steel Soul’, so if […]

NASTY SAVAGEJeopardy Room FHM (2024)Rating: 8/10 Nasty Savage is one of my favourite heavy metal bands, responsible for three classic albums in the 1980s: Nasty Savage (1985), Indulgence (1987) and Penetration Point (1989). After that particular era the band suffered several breaks before releasing a fourth full-length in 2004, Psycho Psycho, before dissolving. Even so, […]

THRASHERWOLFInside The Sickened Mind Vicious Witch (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 Back on the hunt, bloodthirsty London, England-based combo Thrasherwolf embark upon a sophomore full-length release four years after debut We Are Revolution. Since the release of the 2020 debut, bassist Alex Mitsis and drummer Billy Lucas have been replaced by Raimonds Dobelis and Zaq Razaq respectively. Such […]

UNDEATHMore Insane Prosthetic (2024)Rating: 7.5/10 So shocked was I by the appalling new Maul release (In The Jaws Of Bereavement) that I quickly turned my attention to the third full-length album from Rochester, New York-based deathsters Undeath. Now, here is a band capable of keeping things simple yet without resorting to generic and tepid metallic […]