GRUESOME: “SILENT ECHOES”

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Jun 102025
 

(Here is Todd Manning‘s review of the tremendous new album by Gruesome, out now on Relapse Records.)

Critics love to beat up on bands that aren’t original enough, but to be fair, most bands try to downplay any obvious influences. Cross-continental death metal masters Gruesome are being very open about their latest album, Silent Echoes, due out on Relapse Records on June 6th. It is supposed to sound like Death’s 1991 masterpiece, Human. But the inspiration for such imitation comes from a very genuine, heartfelt place.

Drummer Gus Rios was mentored by and a close friend of Sean Reinert, the drummer who put such a unique stamp on the aforementioned classic record. Reinert passed away unexpectedly in early 2020, and Silent Echoes is a tribute to him. Continue reading »

OBSTRUKTION – THE END TAKES FORM

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Jun 092025
 

(Andy Synn investigates what form the new album from Sweden’s Obstruktion will take)

As has already been pretty well documented (if you’ve been paying attention, at least) I’m not a huge Thrash guy these days.

Don’t get me wrong, I acknowledge the seminal importance of the style – it does, after all, form the foundation of so much of what we listen to – and still have a lot of love for the classics (and will always have time for Kreator).

But, these days at least, it’s only when it gets mixed up in other styles – Death Thrash, Blackened Thrash, and especially the thrashier side of Hardcore – that it really gets my proverbial motor running.

And the new album from Obstruktion, which smashes a bunch of hefty Death and Thrash influences into the group’s central Hardcore sound, definitely ticks all the right boxes for me.

Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: UKHU PACHA, VAITARANA, IANTHIN, SUMERIAN TOMBS, LYUAOIEN, JORDFÄST

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Jun 082025
 

(written by Islander)

Welcome to another Sunday column focused (mainly) on black metal. This one goes pretty deep underground, with music from four debut releases, leavened with songs from two bands whose discography is more extensive.

I’m going to start with reviews of an album and an EP, to make sure I have time to say what I want to say about them, and then turn to a group of individual songs and videos. Continue reading »

OSSUARY: “ABHORRENT WORSHIP”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 052025
 

(This is Wil Cifer‘s review of a debut album by the Wisconsin death metal band Ossuary, which is out now on vinyl via Me Saco Un Ojo Records, and on CD and tape via Darkness Shall Rise.)

Embarking upon the path of death metal, it seems that a band is confronted with the choice, much like a video game, where they must choose a class, think Dungeons & Dragons in this regard. For this metaphor, we’ll use Mage (Morbid Angel), Fighter (Entombed), Barbarian (Cannibal Corpse), and Necromancer (Incantation).

This particular band, Ossuary, featuring members of Jex Thoth, has chosen to play as a Necromancer, with a darker sound, more atmospheric, with a mood as depressive as doom, and a great deal of sonic depth. Continue reading »

BALMOG: “LAIO”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 052025
 

(In his review below, our Norway-based contributor Chile has some very nice things to say about the recently released fifth album by the Galician black metal band Balmog.)

Apart from being a generally well-conceived idea, black metal is also an excellently executed idea, evidenced by thousands if not tens of thousands of bands in existence. Bands coming from all four corners of the world, bringing their own cultural identities to the table and letting them shine through their music. Obviously, black metal being the subject, “shine” is maybe a bit misleading, but you get the idea.

All this makes life much easier for us reviewers, because you can pick any place on Earth, and you’ll find something interesting. Like our guests today, for example. Coming from the town of Soutomaior in the Spanish province of Galicia, Balmog is an undoubtedly interesting band, and also a very experienced one. With a career pushing on two decades, the band has been constantly releasing quality stuff and in good quantity too.  Continue reading »

AN NCS EP AND VIDEO PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): STORTREGN — “ONE ETERNAL”

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Jun 052025
 

(Today we help announce, and premiere a video playthrough, of a new EP by the Swiss metal band Stortregn, preceded by DGR‘s review of this very interesting and hair-raising new work on the eve of its release.)

Given the length of Stortregn‘s career it is impressive that they’ve been able to keep to such a consistent clip. Even while slowly metamorphosizing into a different genre from where they started, Stortregn have been a on a strong two-to-three-year cycle of quality releases. They even managed to land one well enough with 2023’s Finitude that it wound up ranking pretty highly at this here website’s year-end celebrations. If nothing else, we were certainly ready to throw down in defense of the one-two punch of “Xeno Chaos” and “Cold Void” in the early part of the album.

Stortregn specialize in a form of compositional chaos that is tightly controlled but still just off the map enough that they pleasantly surprise. Each song is a musical showpiece on its own without devolving into instrumental demo work, and that they do this at such a high speed for the majority of their last few releases has been stunning. Without ever letting their extremity become milquetoast, Stortregn have put in a valiant effort in the tech-death world. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVEIW): BIAŁYWILK — “WNIEBOWSTĄPIENIE”

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Jun 042025
 

(written by Islander)

On June 6th, two days from now, Fiadh Productions will release the third album by Białywilk, the solo atmospheric black metal project of California-based but Polish-born musician Marek Cimochowicz (formerly a member of Vukari). The album’s name is Wniebowstąpienie, which is Polish for Ascension Day. Marek describes it as “a deeply personal record about getting older and finding your place in the universe,” about “aging, and being comfortable in your own skin.” On Wniebowstąpienie he is accompanied by sessions musicians Elijah Debey (drums) and Abel Jara (bass).

We’ve reviewed Białywilk‘s two preceding albums, Próżnia (here) and Zmora (here). They each had their own distinct inspirations and were musically distinct (but uncommonly distinctive) as well. They gave the sense of a very talented artist engaged in exploratory and experimental creative ventures, and so they created a sense of intrigue about what Wniebowstąpienie would bring us.

Now we know, and now you’ll know, because we’re hosting a full stream of the new album today. Continue reading »

T-800: “ANTIHUMAN”

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Jun 042025
 

(April of this year brought the debut EP from the Colombian death metal band T-800, and today we bring you DGR‘s review of it.)

There is an art to taking things at face value when it comes to music sometimes. All one needed to do was glance at Colombia’s newly formed death metal act T-800 and its constituent pieces to know that this would not be some big, world-changing event in music. Instead, and purely based off of how the group are constructed out of their local scenes in various other brutal death, slam, and even one tech-death and deathcore band, to know that T-800 are likely going to be about as rock stupid as it comes in death metal.

That is, of course, if you hadn’t already caught the Terminator homage in the name or song titles, or the fact that the artwork for their newest EP Antihuman goes with the classic pile of skulls, zombies, and mutilation for its overall motif. There’s not going to be anything progessive in the mission statement of Antihuman. This is death metal in a form about as thick-headed as it could come… and sometimes that is what you need. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 042025
 

(Andy Synn takes yet another look back at what May had to offer us)

For anyone keeping count… yes, this is the third edition of “Things You May Have Missed” that I’ve done in a week, which is a testament to just how much stuff I missed last month while I was busy shirking my blogging responsibilities.

Hell, the truth is there’s more than enough artists/albums left over on the proverbial cutting-room floor – Escarnium and Eschaton, Orphaned and Obsidian Tongue, Morgu and Mayon, etc – to make up at least one more of these articles too (if only I had the time).

Continue reading »

AGABAS: “HARD ANGER”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jun 022025
 

(We present Didrik Mešiček‘s vivid review of a new album by the Norwegian “deathjazz” band Agabas, which will be released on June 13th.)

Have you ever been so sick you’ve hallucinated things that made absolutely no sense when your fever dropped and you got better? Something so surreal it’s actually not possible to put it into words? Or perhaps you’ve done an incredible cocktail of drugs and went on an amazing trip, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that can never be repeated?

Well, Agabas have, to my knowledge, done neither of those two things, yet they’ve invented deathjazz. Which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s jazz. Mixed with death metal. Lots of yelling and lots of sax. And today we’re gonna delve into this mess(?) and see what their new album, Hard Anger, which will be released on June 13th, is really about. Continue reading »

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