Metal playlists from the underground
Once the horns blast in about a minute into “Prolog Auf Erden”, you know what kind of experience you’re headed for courtesy of Bavarian quintet Equilibrium and their authentic 13-track folk metal explosion SAGAS. Shades darker than their peers, this act bashes out with the same strep throat vocals and voluminous velocity of bands such […]
Arizona extreme metal quartet Ekser demonstrate their firm handle of technical death metal intricacies on the 10-track PATTERNS OF REPRISAL. This offering combines blinding percussive work and breakneck rhythms with clinical guitarwork on tracks like “Sinners Reflection” and “Cold Blooded Embrace,” much like the wares of bands like The Black Dahlia Murder and Arsis. Despite […]
Canadian crushers Kataklysm return with their tried and true death metal assault set to destroy on PREVAIL. Faithfully following the punishing playbook this squad has executed since the early ’90s, this extreme metal quartet’s skull-cracking 10-track contribution meshes warmongering vocals with pounding rhythms and machine gun guitarwork on such smoldering tracks as “The Chains of […]
To commemorate their 25-year run as the premiere Polish death metal band, Vader has released XXV, a twin-disc set which finds the band re-recording a slew of their songs from their humble beginnings to their later works. Adorned with liner notes explaining each track straight from mainman Peter as well benefiting from the technological advances […]
Deathcore troupe Carnifex unleashes the well-balanced THE DISEASED AND THE POISONED upon the hapless masses. This predictable but succinct 12-track affair contains a smörgåsbord of malicious elements needed in order to steamroll over legions of modern metalheads. From the demonically chugging riffs on 4 to rousing yet obligatory breakdowns snugly fit in between the chaos […]
Veteran Swedish band Grave returns with another installment of sinewy death metal that blends high-speed velocity and doom-laden crunch on the nine-track Dominion VIII. This devastating affair demonstrates the band’s ability to go from slow crawl to rapid-fire pace in the blink of an eye (“Annihilated Christ”) in addition to displaying Grave’s unwavering attachment to […]
By Peter O’Brien In the beginning, there was violence and there was metal. Two entities that, while separate in nature, became fused forever when bay area thrash originators, Exodus, wrote and recorded their debut album, Bonded By Blood. Now, twenty-four years after it was first released, Exodus returns with a re-recording of their debut album […]
Playing melodic death metal with a wealth of sinewy snarl and crushing riffs (“The Passing,” “Reason is the Truth”), Machinery’s nine-track excursion, The Passing, does more than the norm to avoid sounding like your garden variety endeavor. Demonstrating a blend of In Flames, Nevermore, and The Crown throughout the duration of this disc, this Stockholm […]