THE HAUNTED: “SONGS OF LAST RESORT”

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May 142025
 

(After a very long wait The Haunted are returning with a new album now set for release by Century Media on May 30th, and below you’ll find DGR‘s musings about it.)

We’re not doctors around here. We have crew on the staff of this site that have higher education degrees and have made something of themselves – not yours truly, though – but at last check we don’t maintain anyone with the ability to diagnose anything or write a prescription. That said, if you’ll allow for some folksy wisdom, we can definitely see patterns and recognize solutions that seem to work.

Given that The Haunted experienced a second extended hiatus where it seemed for a while that the future of the band was up in there air, only for them to return with a ferocious new single that makes them seem scrappy again and with some vitality in their step, perhaps an argument is to be made that The Haunted are a band best served with a nice break between albums. Continue reading »

AN NCS DEMO PREMIERE: VEIA — “TUCHULCHA / IL RITORNO DI TUCHULCHA”

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May 132025
 

(written by Islander)

Frequent visitors to our site (and other people equally intelligent and tasteful) will know the names Thecodontion and Clactonian. If you don’t know those names, you can find out why I think you should know them by plowing through the volumes of words we’ve spilled about their music (collected here and here, respectively). Both bands are the brainchildren of Italian musician G.E.F., joined with other very talented friends in each group.

Now we have another name you need to know, another brainchild of G.E.F. This one is Veia. Under the banner of Veia G.E.F. is the vocalist and lyricist, joined here by bassist extraordinaire G.D. (also from Thecodontion) and exceptionally talented people from Svart Vinter and Veil of Conspiracy on drums and guitars.

Unlike Thecodontion and Clactonian, Veia is predominantly a vehicle for black metal. The band’s members have been at work on a debut album to be entitled Vacal, and they expect the recording sessions to be completed later this year. But to help introduce Veia to listeners, G.E.F. decided to release two “raw excerpts” from the album this month through his new-ish label Prehistoric Sounds, and we have premiere streams of both songs for you today. Continue reading »

…AND OCEANS: “THE REGENERATION ITINERARY”

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May 122025
 

(We present DGR‘s review of the new album by Finland’s …And Oceans, which will be released on May 23rd by Season of Mist.)
When it comes to Finland’s …And Oceans, sometimes I wonder if there are black metal fans out there who get a thousand-yard stare whenever the band starts up due to being constantly tossed the unexpected on an almost visceral level. …And Oceans have never been shy about a love for industrial and electronics and it has become their calling card within the extreme metal world.

I also often wonder if perhaps people are telling the same stories I am, wherein you’re describing this ambitious and explosive song barreling through guitar part and riff after riff as if they were being given away, a wall of drums behind them, and ear-burning vocals lofted above… only to then get completely sideswiped by some out-of-left-field electronics that barge their way into the song as if every story finds its ending at “and then the keyboards began.”

…And Oceans are stubbornly and wilfully unconventional, burning as many musical bridges as they have built, and just as easily turning to dust every bit of conventional good will they might have bought. Continue reading »

CAUSTIC WOUND: “GRINDING MECHANISM OF TORMENT” (TWO REVIEWS)

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May 092025
 

(Our writers make their own decisions about what to review. Our editor tries to coordinate so that two people don’t review the same album. In this instance his wires got crossed, and so in this feature we have not one but two vivid reviews — by DGR and Chile — of Caustic Wound‘s new album, which is out now on Profound Lore Records.)

GRINDING MECHANISM OF TORMENT — A REVIEW BY DGR

Washington’s Caustic Wound was only ever built to travel this particular path. The sense of inevitability that comes with knowing the musicians involved with this group, and how much further down the path into the dankest corners of the pits of death metal with their grinding side project, is natural. The combination of parts – Motiferum, Fetid, Magrudergrind… – makes perfect sense; there was no way it wasn’t going to sound like this.

When Quill Onkko asks you “was it ever thus?” after seeing all possibilities laid out before him while you’re visiting the backroom of Cetus, it contains similar feelings evoked by all the possibilities that Caustic Wound could have sounded like, given the band members making up the roster here. It was only ever going to narrow down to this. Everything else was a smokescreen. Continue reading »

BENEDICTION (“RAVAGE OF EMPIRES”) AND CANCER (“INVERTED WORLD”)

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May 082025
 

(Todd Manning prepared the following dual reviews of the latest albums by two UK legends, Benediction and Cancer, out now on Nuclear Blast and Peaceville, respectively.)

Resurrecting old school bands can often be a hit or miss affair. At least half, if not more than half, fail to capture anything resembling the magic of their earlier years. However, for those who do pull it off, listeners are beyond thrilled.

For some of us, the early ’90s were one of the greatest eras of metal. The death metal bands from then created such amazing music, full of brutality and a unique atmosphere. While we often hear about Swedish, New York, or Floridian death metal bands, we can’t forget the great British masters as well. Carcass and Bolt Thrower, of course, top that list, but Cancer and Benediction were important as well, and they both have new albums out. Continue reading »

LIK: “NECRO”

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May 082025
 

(Here’s DGR‘s review of the latest album by the Swedish death metal band Lik, out now on Metal Blade Records.)

We are now eleven years and four full-length albums into the death-obsessed career of Sweden’s Lik and it feels as if the group have been ever-present in one form or another. Formed right as the OSDM and Swede-death resurrections were full steam ahead, Lik have been steadily present just under the surface of the wider metal world.

There have been some decently long gaps between the group’s releases as well; a quick glance over their musical timeline suggests a pretty traditional three years or so gap between material but it always seems as if the band are always there in one’s listening habits. Perhaps it’s the fact that many of its members are spread out among larger bands like Bloodbath and Katatonia, so it seems almost inevitable that you’ll find yourself musing “Oh hey, it’s one of the guys from Lik!”

Or it could be that despite their clearly prescribed formula and tribute-paying at the altar of gore, Lik have proven themselves to be savants in the genre of death metal and happen to be particularly good at this. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ANCST / CAPITALIST / MELTING / OSTRACA

 SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
May 082025
 

(Andy Synn highlights four recent EPs he thinks you need to hear)

Today’s collection of “short but sweet” reviews features four ripping releases from across the ‘core spectrum – from blazing Blackened Metalcore and filthy, fire-breathing Crust to monstrous, Death Metal-influenced Metallic Hardcore and visceral Post-Screamo violence – which serve to remind us all that this sort of music truly lives in the moment, delivering a short, sharp (but also sweet) shock to the system devoid of pretense or pretention, each of them possessing an immediacy and intensity, as well as a sense of individuality, which makes them impossible to ignore.

Well, that’s how I feel anyway. Let’s see if you do too.

Continue reading »

FRACTAL UNIVERSE: “THE GREAT FILTERS”

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May 072025
 

(Today DGR circles back around to one of his favorite tech-death bands, the Parisian unit Fractal Universe and their new album The Great Filters, which was released by M-Theory Audio on April 4th.)

When did we settle on France’s Fractal Universe becoming tech-death’s younger brothers? Other than the part where it seems like they’ve discovered a fountain of youth and seem to appear perpetually young.

Founded in 2013, by the time of their second album Rhizomes Of Insanity Fractal Universe were already a polished and terrifically talented band, constructing songs out of guitar riffs just on the left side of bizarre and forever jagged as rocks slowly worn down by nature. Over time, they’ve become a being all their own that have absorbed as many influences as they themselves have influenced, each release some new permutating on a core sound honed well over the course of a decade.

Yet, it seems that the tale of Fractal Universe is just as much a tale of “well fuck you, I can do that too!” on every album. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: ACCEPTANCE / EMPLOYED TO SERVE / KNIVES

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May 072025
 

(Andy Synn is hoping for even bigger things for all three of these bands)

If everything has gone to plan, while you’re reading this I’m going to be in Seattle getting ready to attend another edition of Northwest Terror Fest.

And if something goes wrong?

Well, at least you’ll have this edition of “The Best of British” to remember me by.

Continue reading »

OMINOUS RUIN: “REQUIEM”

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May 062025
 

(Below we present DGR‘s review of a new album by California-based Ominous Ruin in advance of its release this coming Friday by Willowtip Records.)

Is it possible for a band to do a complete lateral in their music and yet feel as if they are starting from the same spot they stepped away from? Bay Area tech-death group Ominous Ruin have been around a little over ten years now, yet it sure does feel like with their new album Requiem the group have stepped out to soft-relaunch themselves.

You’d almost never guess it based off the gap of close to four years between releases – and a lot can happen in four years, mind – but it’s as if the Ominous Ruin crew effectively never stopped. Instead, they just did a step to the side and started over again with about the same bar in quality that they established on their album Amidst Voices That Echo In Stone as the starting point. The result is interesting, less cross-pollination among three different subsections of the tome of death metal and instead a laser-like focus on one particular chapter, the tech-death section. Continue reading »

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