Black Shroud – Death Culture (Review)

Black Shroud - Death CultureThis is the debut album from Black Shroud, a blackened death metal band from the US.

Black Shroud play a black/death metal hybrid that focuses on muscular death metal backed up by blackened aspects that provide an extra layer of grimness and macabre atmosphere. This blurring of the black/death lines in Black Shroud’s capable hands makes for an enjoyable and satisfying listening experience. Continue reading “Black Shroud – Death Culture (Review)”

Tomb Mold – Planetary Clairvoyance (Review)

Tomb Mold - Planetary ClairvoyanceThis is the third album from Canadian death metallers Tomb Mold.

2018’s Manor of Infinite Forms was a mutated delight, revelling in its exploration of what death metal was capable of when subjected to the right stressors. I wasn’t expected a new record quite so soon after their exemplary second one, but I’m certainly not complaining. Continue reading “Tomb Mold – Planetary Clairvoyance (Review)”

Rogga Johansson – Entrance to the Otherwhere (Review)

Rogga Johansson - Entrance to the OtherwhereRogga Johansson is a Swedish death metal legend and this is his second solo album.

Rogga Johansson is a man of many bands – listing groups like Paganizer, Down Among the Dead Men, and Echelon only scratches the surface. Not content with his many, many projects, he also has this eponymously named new album. As you would expect, it’s death metal, pure and undiluted. Continue reading “Rogga Johansson – Entrance to the Otherwhere (Review)”

Osiah – Kingdom of Lies (Review)

Osiah - Kingdom of LiesThis is the second album from Osiah, a deathcore band from the UK.

Deathcore is a genre that is easy to get wrong. Far too many deathcore bands simply go through the motions of producing music, however passionately, but without ending up with anything that has any sort of real Continue reading “Osiah – Kingdom of Lies (Review)”

Kavara – Weathered & Lost (Review)

Kavara - Weathered & LostKavara are a Canadian melodic death metal band and this is their debut album.

This is sharp, energetic, melodic music that takes influences from a number of death metal avenues, and then sprinkles engaging melodies over everything quite liberally. Continue reading “Kavara – Weathered & Lost (Review)”

Disentomb – The Decaying Light (Review)

Disentomb - The Decaying LightThis is the third album from Australian brutal death metallers Disentomb.

I’ve seen Disentomb live a few times over the years, and they’ve always impressed with their energetic brutality. I have to say that The Decaying Light is not what I expected, as alongside the utter brutality I was prepared for, there’s an intricacy and depth of delivery here which caught me off guard. Continue reading “Disentomb – The Decaying Light (Review)”

Burial Remains – Trinity of Deception (Review)

Burial Remains - Trinity of DeathBurial Remains are a death metal band from Germany/the Netherlands, and this is their debut album.

Across a mere 25 minutes Burial Remains tear out Swedish-styled old-school death metal like it never went out of fashion. Hell, as far as I’m concerned, it never did. Continue reading “Burial Remains – Trinity of Deception (Review)”

Brand of Sacrifice – God Hand (Review)

Brand of Sacrifice - GodhandThis is the debut album from Canadian death metallers Brand of Sacrifice.

At a lean 26 minutes, God Hand gets in, does its damage, and gets out again. One of the things I like about Brand of Sacrifce, however, is even though their songs tend to be short, the band aren’t afraid to play with the modern death metal formula. Continue reading “Brand of Sacrifice – God Hand (Review)”

Vulvodynia – Mob Justice (Review)

Vulvodynia - Mob JusticeThis is the third album from Vulvodynia, a death metal band from South Africa.

If you haven’t encountered Vulvodynia before, they play brutal slamming death metal, and do it extremely well. Along with a handful of others they’re pretty much at the top of the pile when it comes to this sort of thing. Continue reading “Vulvodynia – Mob Justice (Review)”

Hex – God Has No Name (Review)

Hex - God Has No NameHex are a Spanish death/doom metal band and this is their second album.

Hex are a band that play a base of death metal that’s been infused with doom. It is, in general terms at least, a mix of old-school bands such as Paradise Lost, Bolt Thrower, Behemoth, Hypocrisy, and Dismember, with a few others thrown in too. Continue reading “Hex – God Has No Name (Review)”