Review: Ghouls – Until It Bleeds [2008]

After putting out numerous demos, Italian gore metal troupe Ghouls have finally released a full-length record, Until It Bleeds, an eight-track self-titled affair that champions a hearty old school death metal appeal with a barrage of depraved lyrical content that borders the redundancy line. Radiating the retro brutality of Obituary and Cannibal Corpse on “The […]

Review: Order Of Ennead – Order Of Ennead [2008]

Order of Ennead is a bold blackened death metal troupe whose latest eponymous offering showcases a band with a serious multifaceted extreme metal strike. Featuring Deicide skin basher Steve Asheim, this quartet’s scope explores the vastness of both the forests in the Netherlands and the catacombs in Stockholm with a diabolical rasp and an adventurous […]

Review: Impiety – Dominator [EP-2008]

Singapore black metal troupe Impiety maintain a dastardly level of speed throughout the course of their latest five-song, 15-minute endeavor DOMINATOR, as this black-death hybrid troupe bludgeon the ears with a speed-driven assault exploding with bad intent. Tracks like “At War with Temujin” demonstrate this veteran squad’s penchant for whipping up a maelstrom of malevolent […]

Review: SSS – The Dividing Line [2009]

Liverpool, UK quartet SSS (Short Sharp Shock) provide an expedient excursion to relentlessly bang your head to in the form of the 20-track THE DIVIDING LINE. This crossover crew’s dead-on thrash metal acumen and authentic skate punk methods would make both Suicidal Tendencies and Destruction proud (“Toxic Bee,” “Purple Reign”). Displaying a unit at the […]

Review: Maegashira – The Stark Attic [2009]

New Jersey doom merchants Maegashira clobber your cranium with a sludgy six-track sixty minute deluge into the depths of this quartet’s off-centered musical soul, drudging up shards of boogie-laden stoner metal and heinous hardcore metal heft from their collective musical wreckage along the way to comprise THE STARK ARCTIC. Not afraid to allow their inner […]

Review: Hatebreed – For The Lions [2009]

Metalcore staple act Hatebreed, unleashes 18 influential metal covers on their latest studio endeavor For The Lions. Honoring bands from the early thrash era (“Ghosts of War” Slayer, “Escape” Metallica), to the roots of hardcore punk (“Hatebreeders” Misfits, “Shut Me Out” Sick of it All), to sludge (“All I Had I Gave” Crowbar), Hatebreed diligently […]

Review: Mantic Ritual – Executioner [2009]

If the story of Pittsburgh, PA thrash metal neophytes Mantic Ritual’s heading out west, scoring a record deal and recording their debut in Germany (but not before touring the world with the likes of heroes Destruction and Exodus) sounds too good to be true, then you need to get a little less jaded, as this […]