Review: Black Anvil – Time Insults The Mind [2008]

Emanating from the likes of Kill Your Idols, Madball, and Deathcycle, Black Anvil undergoes a complete makeover into the realm of blackened death ‘n roll on TIME INSULTS THE MIND. This NYC trio’s nine-track debut captures early thrash and doom’s glacial overtones pretty well, although the D-beat does come into play here, providing the occasional […]

Review: Rabid Rabbit – Rabid Rabbit [2009]

Two bassists, minimal vocals, and swirls of dense psychedelic avant garde metal arrive via Chicago’s Rabid Rabbit on the crew’s latest jaunt, an elitist-friendly vinyl-only eponymous seven-track affair. Sounding like a cross between Sonic Youth, Melvins, and Giant Squid, this foursome fearlessly hammers out a cavalcade of over your head noise rock mired in sludge […]

Review: Omnium Gatherum – The Redshift [2008]

Finnish sextet Omnium Gatherum, fresh off their last release Stuck Here On Snake’s Way, return with another 11-track endeavor entitled THE REDSHIFT. This melodic death metal unit’s latest batch of tunes demonstrates this act’s versatile composition skills, as this album branches out from the usual melodeath malaise long enough to dabble in Goth metal, progressive, […]

Review: Thyrfing – Hels Vite [2009]

Swedish Viking metal veterans Thyrfing have undergone some lineup changes (most notably vocally) since their last offering in 2005, yet this quintet seems to have gained strength from the shakeup and have decisively become darker in the process. HELS VITE is the troupe’s icy seven-track statement, a releases which comes complete with a proper balance […]

Review: Capricorns – River, Bear Your Bones [2008]

UK instrumental metal menaces Capricorns inject an undercurrent of visceral volatility into their latest sludgy sojourn RIVER, BEAR YOUR BONES. Setting off a dastardly stoner rock feel that trades genre-typical flashes of excess for barrages of skull pounding passages that could easily be mistaken for pit stomping hardcore if not for the spacy interludes in […]

Review: Xystus – Equilibrio [2008]

Dutch metal project Xystus surpasses typical rock opera expectations on the troupe’s latest grandiose expose entitled EQUILIBRIO. This brazen theatrical affair boasts a cast and crew over 130 members strong, including a massive choir reserved for religious celebrations and a show-stealing full scale orchestra to properly carry mainman’s Bas Dolmans’ epic vision to life. Highlighted […]

Review: Lacuna Coil – Shallow Life [2009]

Female fronted Italian modern rock band, Lacuna Coil offers the 12 track conceptual affair Shallow Life. Even though Cristina Scabbia continues to reign as the best female metal lead (and best looking), the album as a whole, falls into the realm of mediocrity due to lame programming, predictable lyrics, and out-dated guitars—the riffs employed on […]