Incantation

Ritual Necromancy – Disinterred Horror Review

By Ferrous Beuller on June 19, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Dark Descent Records, Death Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 41 comments

“When I’m preparing for a full day of preaching stentorian from the mount, I always make sure said mound is grade A golgothic — nothing more, nothing less. Portland’s Ritual Necromancy are fellow infernals, further bolstering Dark Descent’s ridiculous roster with their second coming, Disinterred Horror. Now, masochist that I am, I rather enjoyed debut, Oath of the Abyss, but it was far from perfect, with a few stylistic choices that perhaps could have been better considered. Seven years later, Disinterred Horror casts a ruby eye to the sky and wisely makes some appropriate alterations, so as to more effectively spread their occult plague.” Can you undig it?

4 Days of Death: The Maryland Deathfest Diaries

By Mark Z. on June 16, 2018 in 2018, Blog Posts, Live Reviews, 41 comments

“Anyone who’s seen The Wire knows Baltimore can be a rough place, but on Memorial Day weekend every year, things get especially brutal. Hundreds of rabid metal fans from all over the world descend on ‘Charm City’ to participate in Maryland Deathfest, and the result is four days of moshing, headbanging, and partying like it’s 1989.” Death to all.

Tomb Mold – Manor of Infinite Forms Review

By Ferrous Beuller on June 12, 2018 in 20 Buck Spin, 2018, Canadian Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 40 comments

“Life can often be confusing, gross and unnecessarily sticky. Three words one might use to describe Canada’s Tomb Mold, who, after tearing classic death metal asunder with 2017’s debut, Primordial Malignity, have since returned with an expanded line-up and another installation of their corporal jigsore quandry. Manor of Infinite Forms arrives rancid, raucous and ready to rot.” Rotting in the free world.

Apocrophex – Æternalis Review

By Kronos on May 23, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Reviews, Self-released, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 40 comments

“It’s heartening to see musicians still figuring out the formulas and successfully imprinting their own identity on what is unquestionably the world’s greatest form of music. And in that vein, it’s time to unsheathe your wallet and supplicate the hard-earned fiat currency of your worldly region before Apocrophex.” A penny for the prog-death.

Nigredo – Flesh Torn – Spirit Pierced Review

By Master of Muppets on April 26, 2018 in 2018, Black Metal, Death Metal, Greek Metal, Reviews, Transcending Obscurity, Black Metal, Death Metal, 37 comments

“Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk about you again. Try though I did to abandon my pursuits ov the fabled black dragon, there is only so much one can do to wrest themselves from the hands of their own addictions. There is also only so much one can do when the Madam herself slams the needle directly into your feeble, velvety arm and says “you’re going for a ride, ready or not!” Addiction is an ugly, fearsome thing, and so are Greece’s Nigredo.” While Behemoth Sleeps.

Grave Upheaval – Untitled Review

By Kronos on April 24, 2018 in 2018, Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Nuclear War Now! Productions, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 42 comments

“Much like their country~~men~~ country~~people~~ fellow Austral beings in Portal, the only thing Grave Upheaval cherish more than cavernous production is their own obscurity — though this could be because Portal, Impetuous Ritual, and Grave Upheaval are the cast of a half-dozen or so shadowy musicians. Call them kvlt, call them private; the result is the second Grave Upheaval album once again untitled and once again filled with indecipherable moaning, squealing terrors, and suffocating doom-death.” In a cavern, no one can hear you spelunk.

Skeletal Remains – Devouring Mortality Review

By Saunders on April 19, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Dark Descent Records, Death Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 50 comments

“Californian upstarts Skeletal Remains is a solid exponent of old school death, worshiping early ’90s (mostly) American death like Christians cherish the Bible.” Remains of the death day.

Nightmarer – Cacophony of Terror Review

By Eldritch Elitist on March 27, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Season of Mist, 112 comments

“A non-metal listening friend of mine recently posited a question that I’ve been pondering over the past week: ‘Are there any metal bands that aren’t heavy?’ For a moment I was puzzled because he wasn’t referring to aesthetics, but rather to the use of the term as a genre qualifier. I briefly explained how ‘heavy’ can be used in either instance and, at that moment, I was struck with the irony that, with metal’s myriad offshoot genres, the two uses rarely coexist. We use the term ‘heavy metal’ to categorize bands like Iron Maiden, but is Maiden really heavier than, say, Incantation? Wouldn’t the descriptor be more apt, then, to classify bands that we currently refer to as death metal? When stacked against a band that fucks around as little as Nightmarer, arbitrary genre tags are proven moot. Call them heavy metal, death metal, doom/death, whatever; these Floridians play heavy goddamn metal.” Heavy, man.

Antichrist – Pax Moriendi Review

By Mark Z. on March 15, 2018 in 2018, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Iron Bonehead Productions, Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 49 comments

“I’ve often wondered about the importance of a band’s name. Would Death be as big, or produced the same groundbreaking music, if they’d named themselves Erotic Diarrhea Monster? Would Kreator have become the thrash legends they did if they instead called themselves Pee Wee’s Scrotal Shitstorm? The world may never know, but it certainly seems having a more common and accessible name puts pressure on a band to produce better music. Case in point: Antichrist, a Peruvian quartet originally formed in 2004 and later reactivated in 2012.” The Devil is in the details.

El Cuervo and Diabolus in Muzaka’s Top Ten(ish) of 2017

By Steel Druhm on December 28, 2017 in 2017, Blog Posts, Lists, 115 comments

“Making a successful and popular Top Ten list involves a series of complex calculations, comprised of, but not limited to the following: a tallying of recorded scores, estimated scene cred, a precise proportion of big and underground bands, a spot for that one record universally praised during the year, and a pathological need to seem like one has not missed anything.” Making a list, checking it thrice.