Lamb of God

Vane – Black Vengeance Review

Vane – Black Vengeance Review

“If you’re anything like me, you often find yourself pondering the great questions of the universe. For instance, like me you’ve probably wondered what would happen if Lamb of God and Kataklysm made sweet love while Alestorm sat in the corner reading them a bedtime story. Unlike most of the big questions plaguing humanity, we no longer have to speculate on this one. Polish band Vane love drama on the high seas, and on their debut album Black Vengeance, they throw their three-pointed hat into the hotly contested ring of pirate metal. Is this going to be worth the pay-per-view fee?” Hoist the N00bs and batten down the skull pit!

Betzefer – Entertain Your Force of Habit Review

Betzefer – Entertain Your Force of Habit Review

“Picture this, if you will. It’s Friday night, for at least a little while longer anyway. The air is thick with smoke and raised voices, illuminated only vaguely by various neon signs and their reflections off countless bottles and glasses. Here at the Angry Metal Bikerer Bar®, the music matches the mood: from a cramped corner masquerading as a stage, four angry metal guys unleash gravely growls and swagtastic riffage unto the leather and denim-clad patrons with a gritty little ditty titled ‘Ain’t No Party ‘Til You Hurt Somebody.'” Far beyond dreidel.

Carrion – Time to Suffer Review

Carrion – Time to Suffer Review

Ferrous and I, drunk or otherwise, recently groused about who to blame for death metal’s modern sound. Much like my lumping of base-camp thrash into two molds, modern rip-offs and retro rip-offs, I think death metal organizes along similar lines. OSDM has its own originality problems, but it clearly surpasses the hyper-modern tripe so often homogenized that telling bands apart is like asking infant quintuplets which one shit their diaper.” Let’s blamestorm!

BornBroken – The Years of Harsh Truths and Little Lies Review

BornBroken – The Years of Harsh Truths and Little Lies Review

“The scene: Endscape #1047, adj: barren, industrial, gratuitous visual filters. The hero: Gas Mask Mook, exhausted after another long day of near-future photoshoots and fighting off angry crows. The soundtrack: the precise blend of death, thrash, groove, and metalcore that the astute reader might have already surmised lies behind this cavalcade of tropes. Montreal’s BornBroken forego silly grammatical conventions in their pursuit of a record that welcomes all comers, within the Hall and without. Is the soundtrack to your apocalypse, or will BornBroken be forced to face some harsh truths of their own?” Gas mask revival?

Final Hour – Final Hour Review

Final Hour – Final Hour Review

“I often wonder why bands ape a particular sound to death, but pass over another. Is Iron Maiden truly more worthy than Judas Priest? Why does Dark Tranquillity never get the same love as In Flames and At the Gates? What makes Bathory a hot ticket but not Type O Negative? Final Hour, as you may suspect, evoked this line of questioning with their take on melodeath’s tried and true tropes. Their influences are exactly the ones you would expect, and their music works inside the box.” Crazy like a box.

Accuser – The Mastery Review

Accuser – The Mastery Review

“I guess it’s only fitting that I’d follow up a review of the newest Machine Head record with another long-lost thrash band. This time, it’s a German outfit that hit the scene in 1986 and has more thrash metal cred than the thrash/groove/rap-metal outfit from Oakland, CA. Even if no one has any idea who they are. Accuser’s first two records, 1987’s The Conviction and 1989’s Who Dominates Who?, are underrated thrash metal classics. The latter, in particular, is a thrashpiece that combines the technicality of Testament and Annihilator with Kreator, Metallica, and Destruction. But after 1987, the band swan-dived straight into the groove-metal pavement for the next four releases. With this nightmarish Pantera-like tailspin finally coming to a halt after Taken by the Throat. And, to no one’s surprise, the band was no more.” Thrash through the ages.

Genus Ordinis Dei – Great Olden Dynasty Review

Genus Ordinis Dei – Great Olden Dynasty Review

Genus Ordinis Dei (GOD for short) by their name wonder what the biological classification of an Abrahamic God would be, and they do this by seemingly breaking the rulebook and combining symphonic death metal with elements of the traditionally blue collar of deathcore.” Symphonic deathcore? Surely you can’t be serious.

Threat Signal – Disconnect Review

Threat Signal – Disconnect Review

“Five years ago, another metal blog referred to As I Lay Dying’s Awakened as “the world’s first retro-metalcore album.” While that same not-to-be-named blog was also recently guilty of authoring one of the most idiotic self-serving shitposts I’ve ever read, in the case of Awakened they were actually right. With its melodic Gothenburg riffs, gang vocals, soaring clean choruses, and pummeling breakdowns, the record hearkened back to mid-00s metalcore at a time when the rest of the scene was too busy being balls deep in whatever Periphery was doing.” Old core, new core. At this point, what does it matter?

The Hate Colony – Ascending Review

The Hate Colony – Ascending Review

“When my first exposure to The Hate Colony’s debut Dead or Victorious elicited thoughts of a Lamb of God-turned-metalcore, the title of their new album made much more sense. Ascending? “Descending?” Right? Wrong. The Norwegians dropped that shit the second they got their hands on a Soilwork CD. With grooves suddenly sporting melodic textures, 2014’s Navigate offered an alternate take on metalcore, one with some halfway decent ideas buried under all the bleeding knuckles and douchey band pictures.” Post-colonial bad blood.

The Haunted – Strength in Numbers Review

The Haunted – Strength in Numbers Review

“It’s strangely liberating to write about a high profile record after its official release when, presumably, all those interested in hearing it have done so and made their decisions on its merits or lack thereof. Such is the case with The Haunted’s new record, Strength in Numbers. Those who are longtime fans will already be enjoying their disc or LP, and those on the fence will likely not be swayed in their opinion by the prose of a halfway decent writer on the internet, but instead by another run-through on Spotify.” Revisiting old haunts.