Blackened Thrash

The Absence – The Absence Review

By Saunders on April 13, 2024 in Reviews, Melodic Death Metal, 11 comments

“Florida’s The Absence have carved out a tidy career of dependable material across two separate career arcs since forming way back in 2002. Their first few albums were thrashy, slightly blackened melodeath bangers with killer riffs, striking melodies and catchy hooks in tow. Hardly groundbreaking stuff but solidly entertaining, nonetheless. Following an eight-year recording hiatus, The Absence kicked back into gear in 2018 and now we arrive at the third album of their recharged second era, and sixth overall, following on from 2021’s reliably solid Coffinized release. On this occasion, the veteran act decided to go the self-titled route, which often translates to a stylistic reinvention, or assertive back-to-basics approach.” Absence makes the heart do something.

Bulletbelt – Burn It Up Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on September 20, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Power Metal, Thrash Metal, 35 comments

“When the inscrutable beings who rule over the promo sump shackled me to New Zealand’s Bulletbelt, I approached with caution. Formed in 2009, Bulletbelt has operated on a (mostly) biennial release schedule of bog-standard black/thrash albums a la Skeletonwitch. Their line-up has been in a constant state of flux, regularly churning through both vocalists and guitarists, a fact that didn’t exactly inspire much hope for my latest ball and chain.” Bulletbelts to spare.

Systemik Viølence – Negative Mangel Attitude Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on June 30, 2023 in Reviews, Crust Punk, Hardcore, Thrash Metal, 19 comments

“Punk and metal have a complicated relationship, or at least we treat them like they do. As fans, we like to be something—a metalhead, a punk, a dissobro. As music seekers, we like to have genre guides—punk-born tags like crust, mathcore, grindcore, metal-born tags like doom, death, black, kissing cousins like sludge, thrash, deathcore. And the bands we value tend to play to or play with these expectations. Others eschew the norms of where they’re placed or even fight the idea of being the guitar music we’ve all come to love—but not Systemik Viølence. These Portuguese knuckleheads just wanna play screeching chords, overdriven bass, and venomous vocal lashings loud, fast, and loud.” Feel the wiølence.

Tulus – Fandens Kall Review

By Dear Hollow on February 16, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, 18 comments

“For the uninitiated, Tulus has been around since ’91, 1996 debut full-length Pure Black Energy considered a cult classic of early black metal. Although taking a six-year break between 2000 and 2006, the trio has amassed six full-lengths and a compilation over the project’s career.” Olde and still Khold.

Sarcator – Alkahest Review

By Maddog on November 20, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, 14 comments

“I was hoping that Sarcator would be short for something cool like “Sarcastic Alligator” or “Sarcophagus Emasculator.” Sadly, it’s just an unforgivable portmanteau of Sarcófago and Kreator. I trudged on undeterred, enticed by the description of Sarcator’s Alkahest. These Swedes bill themselves as blackened thrashers inspired by ’80s German thrash, a shortcut to my listening queue. And it’s exciting to review albums by teenagers; they may be hit-or-miss, but nothing warms my shriveled heart like hearing youngsters trying to drive metal onward.” Young, dumb, full of Sodom.

AMG Goes Ranking – Goatwhore

By Ferox on October 4, 2022 in AMG Rankings, 31 comments

“The life of the unpaid, overworked metal reviewer is not an easy one. The reviewing collective at AMG lurches from one new release to the next, errors and nOObs strewn in our wake. But what if, once in a while, the collective paused to take stock and consider the discography of those bands that shaped many a taste? What if two three aspects of the AMG collective personality shared with the slavering masses their personal rankings of that discography.” Vote Goatwhore.

Sinnery – Black Bile Review

By Itchymenace on September 30, 2022 in Reviews, 18 comments

““Forged by the love for metal and hatred for anything else, “states the band’s promo materials so, you know plenty of attitude accompanies the contents within. Sinnery is an Israeli four-piece that serves up a creamy hummus of influences with the prevailing flavor of a crispy blackened thrash. Olde skool vibes meet olde world angst in this sophomore release that finds the band looking at their inspiration’s inspirations.”. Sin after sinnery.

Blasted Heath – Vela Review

By Ferox on August 17, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, 16 comments

“All is not well at the edge of the cosmos. Some of us look to the heavens and see a frontier, a blank page for all mankind to fill with the best of ourselves. Others, like the black thrash cosmonauts of Blasted Heath, can only widen their eyes in horror at the vast and indifferent expanse. This foursome may hail from Indianapolis, but their first transmission Vela sounds like a broadcast from a far corner of the galaxy. The message? No one is living long or prospering out here, the ship’s AI is starting to get cheeky, and we’ve lost contact with the colonists on LV-426.” Space madness.

Disembody – Reigniting Hellfire Review

By Saunders on April 19, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Thrash Metal, 13 comments

“Ah, who doesn’t like a hellish blast of blackened thrash mayhem? While it may not top my list of metal drugs of choice, nor do I claim the expertise or passionate dedication to the style as our resident Z-man, it regularly delivers a refreshingly crude, ragged, riff-ready charm that goes down easily. Best served raw and unpolished, Finland’s Disembody, um…. embodies, the retro characteristics often found in the subgenre, pulling influences from the darker corners of ’80s thrash and imbuing these fast, fiery traits with ample doses of vitriolic blackened mayhem and grim first wave crudeness.” Disnuance.

Bastard – Rotten Blood Review

By Ferox on March 9, 2022 in Reviews, 17 comments

“What we have here is the devil’s own bar band. After a seven-year layoff and a slew of lineup changes, Bastard swaggers back onstage with sophomore full-length Rotten Blood. These four likely parolees mine a vein of blackened speed metal and thrash that will be familiar to fans of Nifelheim, Goatwhore, or, more recently, any of your finer bands ending in the suffix “-er” (Bütcher, Bewitcher, Hellripper, Demiser, etc.). The album is all Motörhead riffs played at 78 rpm and mad-lib lyrics that pay homage to Satan or whatever–mostly, it seems, because cozying up to Old Man Splitfoot is the fastest way to get your hands on the good whiskey.” Bastards, bourbon, Battlestar Galactica.