This is the latest EP from Alluvial, a modern death metal band from the US.
Following on after 2021’s Sarcoma, Death Is But a Door contains four new songs and has a total duration of 17 minutes. Strap in, it’s gonna get heavy. Continue reading “Alluvial – Death Is But a Door (Review)”
This is the debut album from US solo death metal act Engulf.
Across 36 minutes The Dying Planet Weeps spans a range of influences, from the old-school to the new. The music of Engulf prioritises a non-standard song-based approach that combines sinuous riffs, expressive harsh vocals, and macabre darkness. Continue reading “Engulf – The Dying Planet Weeps (Review)”
Yersin are from the UK and play crust/metal. This is their second album.
Yersin play a hybrid style that combines grindcore, crust, death metal, black metal, and thrash metal into 25 minutes of sludgy filth and fury. This may be a short album, but it packs a punch. Continue reading “Yersin – The Scythe Is Remorseless (Review)”
This split is between two US bands, Aberration and Diabolic Oath, both of whom play black/death metal.
Each band contributes one song to this split. We start with Aberration, with the six-minute Divinations of Flesh. Aberration contain members of Nothingness, Void Rot, and Suffering Hour, so it’s safe to say expectations are high. Continue reading “Aberration/Diabolic Oath – Divinations – Split (Review)”
Welcome to my annual attempt to make sense of the ridiculous amount of good metal albums out there, awaiting discovery by intrepid metal explorers.
2023’s best of list has been one of the more difficult ones to put together, placing-wise, which is one of the reasons that I’m posting it later than I usually do. Even more so than normal many of the slots are interchangeable, and I especially struggled with positions two-nine – if such a thing were possible, they all deserve to be higher! In the end I decided to stop overthinking it and go with my gut, but the usual caveat of these lists being very subjective and subject to change depending on mood, feelings, etc. is larger than normal here.
There are some notable acts missing form the below. Not because they’re not worthy of inclusion, but because there are only so many spaces to be had. In fact, I almost ended up limiting this list to 20, rather than the now-customary 30, as I found it really difficult to know who to include and who not to. In the end I went with the standard 30 so that I could promote a few extra bands, as they absolutely all deserve it.
As for the top position, I wasn’t expecting it to be filled by a band I’d never heard before, playing a style that I don’t listen to as much as I used to. However, I suppose after last year, I shouldn’t have been too surprised.
I do hope you enjoy this list and find some new music to obsess over. Like always, thanks for your support if you have ever visited this site before, and here’s to a great 2024 for as many of us as possible. Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2023”
This is the second album from Australian death metal band Revulsed.
Cerebral Contamination is a 36-minute assault of brutal riffs, blasting technical savagery, and guttural vocals. Yes, Revulsed play brutal death metal, and they’re here to rip the skull out of your head by the eye sockets. Continue reading “Revulsed – Cerebral Contamination (Review)”
This is the second album from Devils Reef, a death metal band from the US.
Following on from 2021’s Chosen by the Sea, The Droste Observer is an evolved form of this death metal predator. Offering up a lean, mean 36 minutes of new material, Devils Reef demonstrate that they are worth being mentioned in the same breath as bands like Revocation, The Black Dahlia Murder, Obscura, Allegaeon, Black Crown Initiate, and the like. Continue reading “Devils Reef – The Droste Observer (Review)”
This is the third album from Canadian death metal act Phobocosm.
Foreordained contains 41 minutes of cavernous, doom-infused death metal. It’s a journey into the lightless places that are hard to reach, but if you can endure the extreme environments they offer, then there are many potential rewards to be had. Continue reading “Phobocosm – Foreordained (Review)”
Convocation are a funeral doom band from Finland, and this is their third album.
Having been impressed with Convocation’s colossal doom offerings on 2018’s Scars Across and 2020’s Ashes Coalesce, the arrival of No Dawn for the Caliginous Night is a welcome one. Continue reading “Convocation – No Dawn for the Caliginous Night (Review)”
This is the second album from Swedish grindcore band Walking Corpse.
A grindcore band named, (presumably at least), after a Brutal Truth song? Count me in. I instantly knew I had to check this out. Good grind is hard to come by, so I crossed by fingers and dived right in. What did I find? Continue reading “Walking Corpse – Our Hands, Your Throat (Review)”
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