Sonic Poison are a Finnish grindcore band and this is their latest release.
Playing a primitive, old-school strain of grinding violence, this EP combines grind, crust, ugly thrash and Repulsion-worship into under 10 minutes of nasty carnage. There’s even a hint of Brutal Truth at their ugliest in some of the guitar riffs. Continue reading “Sonic Poison – Harsh Demonstration (Review)”
This is the fifteenth album from Countess, a black metal band from the Netherlands.
I enjoy Countess a lot. Both Sermons of the Infidel and Ancient Lies and Battle Cries have been featured on this site previously, and it’s with great pleasure that we now turn to this latest album.
With a slightly rougher sound this time around, these tracks Continue reading “Countess – Fires of Destiny (Review)”
Warfather play death metal and this is their second album.
Warfather’s debut album Orchestrating the Apocalypse was a bit hit and miss. Although it was, overall, an enjoyable affair, over time it revealed itself to be a little unfocused in places and had a rather thin production that didn’t do the music any favours.
Two years later, enter The Grey Eminence. First off, there are no problems with the production this time round. On this latest release it’s thick, chunky and muscular, just as it needs to be. Being produced by Erik Rutan, I would expect no less. Continue reading “Warfather – The Grey Eminence (Review)”
Black Mass 
Pervertor are a Finnish black metal band and this is their debut album.
This is filthy, fast and furious black metal with crust and punk influences. It’s the kind of thing you might expect to come from the black metal underground, appealing to fans of the likes of Impaled Nazarene, Watchmaker and Black Witchery. Phanerosis sees the band carrying on the tradition of short, ugly songs that want to rape and kill you just for fun.
Rooted firmly in the oldest of old schools, Black Mass Pervertor Continue reading “Black Mass Pervertor – Phanerosis (Review)”
Spellcaster’s third album Night Hides the World is a release that I’ve found so very easy to get on with. The high energy delivery, the sterling, soaring melodies, the insanely catchy songs…it all makes for an album that’s got high-repeat value and is just really, really good. Guitarist Bryce VanHoosen gave me a bit more background to the band and what makes them tick…
SPELLCASTER was started in 2009 as a fairly traditional speed metal band and released their debut, Under The Spell, in 2010. I joined in early 2013 after there was a fairly severe lineup shift. Tyler, our vocalist, originally played guitar, but moved to vocals after we parted ways with the original singer. I jumped on second guitar, and Colin took over on drums after the first drummer quit. We released our second album, SPELLCASTER, in 2014 and started a touring cycle for that album. We caught the attention of Prosthetic Records and signed a deal with them for our newest album, Night Hides The World, and are starting a touring cycle for that album now. Continue reading “Interview with Spellcaster”
Cicatrix are a Polish deathgrind band, and this is their second album.
Featuring 10 originals and 2 covers of Dead Infection and Terrorizer songs, Cicatrix wear their influences on their collective sleeves and deliver 29 minutes of utter carnage.
This is a mix of brutal death metal and ugly grindcore. The band know how to play fast, but Continue reading “Cicatrix – Suffocated Faith (Review)”
This is the latest EP from this US death metal band.
Here we have a short blast of ancient, occult death metal that reeks of the old-school and decayed corpses.
With a playing time of less than 10 minutes the band waste no time in getting down to business. These songs are mouldy examples of the atavistic art of death metal, played with the fervour of fanatics and the skill of veterans. Continue reading “Impure Consecration – Succumb to Impurity Fire (Review)”
Hostis are a Serbian death/thrash metal band. This is their debut album.
Holy riff bonanza! This is thrash with a side order of death metal for good effect. Or the other way around, I suppose. Who cares when it shreds so hard that you’ll need bandages?
With a quality guitar sound, there are lots of good, energetic riffs on this release. Taking their cues from some of the old-school thrash greats, the guitars are one of the highlights of this release for me, fashioning soundscapes Continue reading “Hostis – Hostis (Review)”
This is the debut release from Somnium Nox, a black metal band from Australia.
Somnium Nox are harbingers of esoteric progressive/atmospheric black metal that plays out over one 16 minute track, revealing an expansive tapestry of music that explores the underground world of black metal with aplomb. Continue reading “Somnium Nox – Apocrypha (Review)”
Jinjer are a metal band from the Ukraine, and this is their second album.
King of Everything mixes metalcore, hardcore, thrash metal, groove metal, melodic death metal and djent…Okay, that’s a lot of sub-genres. Let’s just say they cover a lot of bases.
That’s putting it too simply, though; in reality, Jinjer have managed to produce a complex and diverse album that has a whole lot more going on than you might expect for a band that’s labelled Continue reading “Jinjer – King of Everything (Review)”
Wonderbox Metal 