Haxprocess – Beyond What Eyes Can See (Review)

Haxprocess - Beyond What Eyes Can SeeThis is the second album from US death metal band Haxprocess.

Beyond What Eyes Can See contains 45 minutes of music divided into four epic songs. Haxprocess play progressive death metal, although that simple appellation doesn’t really due justice to what you’ll discover here. This record is a real beast. Continue reading “Haxprocess – Beyond What Eyes Can See (Review)”

Retromorphosis – Psalmus Mortis (Review)

Retromorphosis - Psalmus MortisThis is the debut album from Swedish death metallers Retromorphosis.

Well, this was an instantly enticing proposition. It’s death metal brought to us by ex-members of Spawn of Possession, (four out of five of Retromorphosis’ members), and an ex-member of Decrepit Birth, which is enough to get anyone’s notice. However, when you look at their collective history though, you realise just how much experience they bring to the table – Alkaloid, Blood Red Throne, Deeds of Flesh, Defeated Sanity, Eschaton, Obscura, Necrophagist, Visceral Bleeding, and many others. What a list! Considering this, expectations are high for Psalmus Mortis, perhaps unfairly so. Continue reading “Retromorphosis – Psalmus Mortis (Review)”

Iniquitous Savagery – Edifice of Vicissitudes (Review)

Iniquitous Savagery - Edifice of VicissitudesThis is the second album from UK death metallers Iniquitous Savagery.

Containing a current/ex-member of Laceration, Party Cannon, and Gendo Ikari, Iniquitous Savagery play brutal death metal. It’s been a long time since 2015’s Subversions of the Psyche, but now the band are back – with a new singer – to cause carnage and mayhem with 31 minutes of new material. Continue reading “Iniquitous Savagery – Edifice of Vicissitudes (Review)”

Alluvial – Sarcoma (Review)

Alluvial - SarcomaThis is the second album from Alluvial, a modern death metal band from the US.

Sarcoma contains 38 minutes of progressive death metal. Alluvial fuse their modern approach to the style with technical, progressive, and atmospheric flourishes, yet do so in a restrained song-based way. This results in songs that are atypical expressions of Continue reading “Alluvial – Sarcoma (Review)”

Empty Throne – Glossolalia (Review)

Empty Throne - GlossolaliaThis is the debut EP from Empty Throne. a blackened death metal band from the US.

After giving the promo email the once over, how could I not want to give Glossolalia a spin? Recommended for fans of bands such as At the Gates, God Dethroned, Dark Tranquillity, and Carpathian Forest? Containing current/ex-members of Possessed, Decrepit Birth, Black Crown Initiate, The Kennedy Veil, and Angerot? Listening to this was always going to happen. Continue reading “Empty Throne – Glossolalia (Review)”

Continuum – Designed Obsolescence (Review)

Continuum - Designed ObsolescenceContinuum are a technical death metal band from the US, and this is their second album.

Featuring current and ex-members of bands such as Decrepit Birth, Scour, Deeds of Flesh, Arkaik, Allegaeon, Inanimate Existence, Pathology, and Rings of Saturn, before even listening to Designed Obsolescence you know that there’s a wealth of extreme metal experience that’s gone into its forging. Continue reading “Continuum – Designed Obsolescence (Review)”

Dysmorphic – An Illusive Progress (Review)

Dysmorphic - An Illusive ProgressDysmorphic are a death metal band from France and this is their second album.

Dysmorphic play a mix of technical and brutal death metal, meaning that they fuse straightforward extremity with wandering basslines and intricate guitar complexity that probably requires more fingers than the average human possesses. Continue reading “Dysmorphic – An Illusive Progress (Review)”

Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2017

2017 was an amazing year for music, with so many top-notch albums seeing the light of day. I pretty much say this every year, of course, but that doesn’t seem to stop it being true. With this in mind, the 2017 list was especially hard to put together, and I agonised over this one more than I did for any of the lists in previous years.

As is traditional, I also want to mention some releases by bands that could easily have made it onto the list, and should have by many rights, if only I could have somehow managed to fit them all in –

Abhorrent DecimationAmenra, Apes, Artificial BrainAu-Dessus,

CelesteDesecrate the FaithEarth RotEarth WitchFalls of Rauros,

Full of HellGnawGutslitHelplessHenry Kane,

Hundred SunsIngurgitating OblivionInto OrbitJohn FrumKarne,

KvalLividMorbid AngelPrimitive ManCraven Idol,

SlowSoulskinnerThe Kennedy VeilUlsectWildspeaker.

I urge you to check out all of the above releases, in addition to the ones in the actual list below. I could probably keep adding more bands you should give a listen to, but a line has to be drawn somewhere, I suppose.

So, without further ado, let’s get right down to it… Continue reading “Wonderbox Metal End of Year List – Best Metal of 2017”

Scour – Red (Review)

ScourThis is the latest EP from US black metal band Scour.

Containing members and ex-members of bands such as Pig Destroyer, Decrepit Birth, Cattle Decapitation, Down, Pantera, Misery Index, and many, many others, before you even listen to this you know that a lot of experience has gone into it. Continue reading “Scour – Red (Review)”

Blood of the Prophets – The Stars of the Sky Hid from Me (Review)

Blood of the ProphetsBlood of the Prophets are a death metal band from the US and this is their second album.

This is a modern brand of extremity, one that mixes elements of modern, melodic, technical death metal, and deathcore together into a sci-fi themed 24 minutes. Continue reading “Blood of the Prophets – The Stars of the Sky Hid from Me (Review)”