Authors: Megan Kennedy
Review: TesseracT – Altered State
After going through the heinous task of finding a new lead singer, the djent-prog outfit have returned with a massively infectious new record that is a definite achievement. … read more
Review: Starkill – Fires of Life
The debut album promises a big and bright future for this Chicago-based band. Blending elements from several different subgenres, including power and melodic death metal, this is an album full of blood and fire and battle (which I now dub “warrior metal”), free of clean singing, arranged with occasional symphonic and piano elements that really bring out cinematic properties in the sound. … read more
Review: Seventrain – Self-Titled
Seventrain = Alter Bridge + early Daughtry + a dash of classic rock … read more
Review: Pyrithion – The Burden of Sorrow
Apparently, Tim Lambesis doesn’t have enough hobbies between As I Lay Dying, Austrian Death Machine, his charity work, and all his iron-pumping; now he’s joined up with ex-The Famine guitarist Andy Godwin and Ryan Glisan of Allegaeon to create this surprisingly ferocious modern death metal EP under the name Pyrithion. … read more
Review: Psalm Zero – Force My Hand
It’s tough to rate the band on this debut single, because one of the two songs is a cover of Today Is The Day’s “Willpower,” which they transformed from its distorted, noise-metal roots into a gothic dirge with what the band calls “medieval vocal harmonies.” … read more
Review: Old Wounds
There is a certain, special je ne sais quoi about the sound that Jersey-based Old Wounds deliver. It’s not new or groundbreaking, nor is it a completely tried-and-true homage to some old hardcore sound. Devastatingly simple, it is heavy music stripped to its rotted bones and delivered without pretense or gimmick. … read more
Review: Myrkur – Self-Titled
Myrkur—Icelandic for “darkness”—is making waves in the black metal community. All we know of this mysterious act is that a single Danish woman has created a gorgeous atmospheric black metal album, which is apparently controversial, because what would black metal be without its constant bitching about authenticity spiced with a little misogyny? … read more
Review: Myrkur – M
Myrkur = Agalloch + Darkthrone … read more
Review: Lamb of God – VII: Sturm Und Drang
Lamb of God = Chimaira + Pantera … read more
Review: Lie In Ruins – Towards Divine Death
Hail Satan, hail death, indeed. This album is the band’s second full-length since they were resurrected from the heyday of early ‘90s death metal to bring back what is a decidedly old-school sound to the genre. It’s longer on both song and album length than most death metal works, which seemed to give the whole thing a more cohesive feeling. … read more