Morbid Angel

Pestilence – Obsideo Review

By Steel Druhm on October 24, 2013 in 2013, Candlelight, Death Metal, Dutch Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 17 comments

“Nothing burns with the same intensity as hate born of a once great love. While I worshipped early Pestilence albums like Consuming Impulse and Testimony of the Ancients, I hated their Doctrine release with the white-hot passion of a scorned fanboy. The dramatic back story to this epic tale of spurned love is a simple one. Pestilence began life as a primitive, old school death outfit and really had a lot going for them, but they rapidly evolved into a weird, proggy entity, freely dabbling in jazz-fusion. I didn’t care for the paradigm shift and neither did many of their original fans. When the band reformed after 16 years in the ground, I hoped they would return to their roots…” Who doesn’t dig a good story about love turned to hate? But can that hate turn back to love? How about love peppered with hate?

Hail of Bullets – III The Rommel Chronicles Review

By Steel Druhm on October 19, 2013 in 2013, Death Metal, Dutch Metal, Metal Blade, Reviews, Death Metal, 8 comments

“While the mighty Bolt Thrower lies in their house at R’lyeh, dead but dreaming, Dutch super group Hail of Bullets have become the undisputed champions of war-themed death metal. Featuring the likes of Ed Warby (The 11th Hour, Demiurg) and the immortal Martin van Drunen (Asphyx, ex-Pestilence, ex-Bolt Thrower), these grizzled veterans have made a name for themselves by adopting a winning Bolt Thrower meets Asphyx meets more Bolt Thrower schtik and they’ve churned out some truly tank-busting, old school death over their short but nasty career. Their albums always feature a fantastic mix of classic death grooves and monstrously oppressive doom riffs (especially on On Divine Winds) and they remind me of long forgotten Winter and the dirgey glory of vintage Celtic Frost and Hellhammer. III The Rommel Chronicles doesn’t upset the ammunition cart and the band delivers another broootal, throwback album with little in the way of finesse.” Old school death metal about war and battle. That shit just sells itself, don’t it? Yes it does!

Abyssous – …Smouldering Review

By Natalie Zed on September 25, 2013 in 2013, Death Metal, German Metal, Iron Bonehead Productions, Reviews, Death Metal, 2 comments

“Hailing from the Saxony region of Germany, death metallers Abyssous first appeared on the scene with a sodden, bone-breaking crunch with 2012’s …Smouldering demo. The raw, cavernous quality of those tracks attracted the attention of Iron Bonehead Productions, who have released the demo as a full-length with the addition of two new tracks. The LP version of …Smouldering is every bit as dank as the original release, but the additional tracks do more than pad out the length of the record. There is a sense of a more complete narrative arc and a fuller musical construction that improves the album as a whole.” Old school death is plenty good, but when you add in some old timey Morgoth influence, then it deserves real attention!

Wolfheart – Winterborn Review

By Steel Druhm on September 24, 2013 in 2013, Black Metal, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 8 comments

“Tuomas Saukkonen is no stranger to the pages of AMG. We’ve spoken very highly of his Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon projects and generally came across as nuthugging fanboys of the man’s work. Needless to say, we were as shocked as everyone else when he unexpectedly laid both bands to rest (along with several others) and announced his intention to focus solely on a new act called Wolfheart, which at least initially would consist of just him.” Since we lose two great bands in order to get Wolfheart, is it a fair trade off or did we get screwed? Steel Druhm examines the details and overall fairness.

Torture Division – The Worship Review

By Angry Metal Guy on July 26, 2013 in 2013, 4.0, Death Metal, Grind, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Death Metal, Grind, 4 comments

Torture Division is what some would call a “supergroup,” made up of Lord K. Philipson (The Project Hate, ex-God Among Insects), Jörgen Sandström (Krux, The Project Hate, ex-Grave, ex-Putrefaction), and Tobias Gustafsson (Vomitory, The Project Hate). And let’s just say that these guys play a mean fiddle.

I Killed Everyone – Necrospire Review

By Happy Metal Guy on July 11, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, American Metal, Death Metal, Pavement Entertainment, Reviews, Death Metal, 0 comments

“Part of the description that accompanied the promotional material for this Chicago deathcore quintet’s debut full-length album is as follows: ‘Unlike most bands of their genre, I Killed Everyone is influenced by classic death metal bands from the 90’s such as Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, and Morbid Angel. The band incorporates many of these influences to form a unique sound of modern deathcore with undeniable classic death metal overtones.’ Needless to say, Happy Metal Guy scoffed at these words and nearly choked to death on his alphabet soup. Is there really a need to say that so-and-so deathcore band is influenced by the classic death metal bands Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel? Duh!” Happy Metal Guy isn’t a big fan of promo kit language, but does he like deathcore? He just might be crazy enough to say yes.

Svart Crown – Profane Review

By Madam X on May 27, 2013 in 2013, 4.5, Black Metal, Death Metal, Listenable Records, Reviews, 33 comments

“Cast your mind back to Feb 2011 when Steel Druhm came across what he referred to as a particularly ‘insane, claustrophobia inducing, vicious, ugly, hateful’ blackened death album by brutal French metallers, Svart Crown. Witnessing the Fall quickly worked its filthy, sharp claws into Steel Druhm’s brain, battering and shredding his grey matter in a way that Behemoth and Belphegor have rarely done.” Can Svart Crown top their 2011 release? Join Madam X as she opens her mind up to a whole lot of evil to find out!

Immolation – Kingdom of Conspiracy Review

By Steel Druhm on May 8, 2013 in 2013, 3.5, American Metal, Death Metal, Reviews, Death Metal, 7 comments

“New York’s own death metal juggernaut, Immolation have seen their stock rise steadily over their lengthy career, to the point where they’ve become one of the most consistent and impressive units in the field. Their ability to blend technical proficiency with savage and broootal, groove-based death has developed and blossomed through the years and rarely have they disappointed the metal masses with a dud of an opus…” Immolation is about as close to a sure thing as one gets in the metal world. Does Steel Druhm think their new ten ton opus is up to snuff or not quite enough? Only one way to find out….

Deathchain – Ritual Death Metal Review

By Dr. Fisting on April 10, 2013 in 3.5, Death Metal, Dynamic Arts Records, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Uncategorized, 6 comments

“I first heard Finnish death metallers Deathchain nearly a decade ago, when a friend introduced me to what he described as “just crazy fast-ass death metal” (I’m paraphrasing here). His statement was accurate — at the time, the band’s style was straightforward and riff-driven, played at lightning speed with a heavy dose of thrash influence. Despite liking it a lot, I failed to keep up with the band’s progress over the years. Turns out this is a huge error on my part, since Deathchain has apparently evolved into a dark, weird death metal beast while I wasn’t paying attention.” A Finnish death metal band goes from “evil” to “more evil,” and Mr. Fisting rejoices. Grab a beer and begin the Fisting Dance!

Hate – Solarflesh Review

By Madam X on February 8, 2013 in 2.5, 2013, Black Metal, Death Metal, Napalm Records, Polish Metal, Rating, Releases, Reviews, 23 comments

“As part of the Polish Big 4 (Decapitated, Vader and Behemoth) I haven’t yet figured out why Hate, with seven hefty albums already under their belts, never quite seem to reach the notoriety of their counterparts, Behemoth (hazarding a guess here, but a lack of court cases maybe?).” Madam X isn’t a morning gal and needs a good dose of Polish death to get moving in the AM. Will the new Hate opus be her new alarm clock?