At the Gates requires no introduction, not from someone the likes of me at the very least. Hailed among the forefathers of the Gothenburg melodic death metal scene, these Swedes have been iconic in shaping a genre and spawned a legion of like-minded bands in their decades-long career.
Dying Fetus is one of those artists that are always on the list of bands I use to scare away my non-metalhead friends, especially those who subscribe to the “metal is noise” school of thought. Just to bristle their jimmies some more, the band name itself is like adding cayenne to their already bleeding ears. I cannot get enough!
Imagine the metalcore-world we live in now, where Asking Alexandria is still trying to find its way back to its metalcore roots, and Bring Me The Horizon have arguably made the decision to go in a more commercialized direction with their new record. Pray tell where should we find our new Warped Tour-core messiahs now? I have found the answer: Bad Omens. They are setting the scene on fire with…
Sumerian Records are one of my favorite modern metal record labels and its founder Ash Avildsen has a keen eye for up and coming artists. Veritable modern metal juggernauts like Periphery, Animals as Leaders, Veil of Maya, Born of Osiris, etc. have been pushed into the limelight by Sumerian Records and they have instantly become crowd favorites in the metal scene. So when Sumerian signed Dræmings, I was admittedly confused.…
Belgium, home to arguably the best waffles, arguably the best beer, and certainly, the best deathgrind band in the world, Aborted. It seems that the Lords of Gore decided to turn the crazy dial to maximum insanity on the 12 track, 43-minute carnivorous abomination that is their newest record, Retrogore.
You cannot talk about German melodic death metal and metalcore and not mention the two giants, Caliban and Heaven Shall Burn. We are lucky to see stellar new releases from both bands. Gravity by Caliban is already on my lists of must-listen albums, and HSB’s new banger Wanderer proves to be another favorite for a long time to come.
Oh boy, this one yanked me straight back to my high school days. I grew up as a melodic death metal and metalcore fanboy, and the German dudes in Caliban were always a staple on my playlist. To tell you the truth, in my earnest effort to be a trve metalhead, Caliban were one of the unfortunate bands to fall through the cracks, but when I was asked to…
Deathgrind has always been one of those genres that I can only listen to for a few songs by a few bands before I move onto something else, but I definitely love those few songs. Seattle natives Theories have definitely cemented themselves on my list of formidable artists in this niche genre. They can be easily hailed among the ranks of Aborted, Misery Index, and even grind-ier bands like Napalm…
In the beginning there was Death, then there was Necrophagist, and now there is Obscura, paving the way for technical death metal in the new era. I loved their last offering in 2011’s Omnivium, but was dismayed by the amount of line-up changes that were happening in the German camp leading up to the writing of what would be Akróasis. As soon as the first song Sermon of the Seven…
The first time I heard the name Toothgrinder, I was instantly thrown back to San Francisco’s now defunct metal juggernauts Animosity and their 2007 song of the same name. I loved Animosity’s brand of metal, so I secretly hoped that this New Jersey five piece would live up to the hype created by its name alone. And my God, they did!
