Morbid Angel

Heaving Earth – Darkness of God Review

By Maddog on May 30, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, 31 comments

“While I usually avoid harming animals, I had to chase a certain Abbathian cat up a tree to get my hands on this promo. My feline colleague gushed about Czechia’s Heaving Earth in 2015, calling Denouncing the Holy Throne a shamelessly uncreative but satisfying slab of vintage death metal. The band is back with its third record Darkness of God, but the seven intervening years have seen its sound evolve. Much like the latest Golgothan Remains, Heaving Earth’s newest offering adorns old-school death metal with speckles of dissonance and malice, and influences from across the death metal universe.” Darkness before divinity.

Wachenfeldt – Faustian Reawakening Review

By Holdeneye on May 6, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 62 comments

“Just over three years ago, I lost my damn mind over Wachenfeldt’s debut album The Interpreter. I gushed so mightily over its symphonic, thrashened, blackened death metal that hazardous material mitigation crews are still working around the clock to clean up the contamination. That record executed its dark mission so well that it eventually became my Album ‘o the Year for 2019, so if I said that its successor was my most anticipated album of 2022, it would be a gargantuan understatement.” Fanboys awaken.

Mortify – Fragments at the Edge of Sorrow Review

By Felagund on April 10, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 27 comments

“South America has an enviable metal pedigree. Like the early 90s Floridian filth we know and love, or the Gothenburg school that scratches that brutal yet melodic itch, the South American scene has delivered its own unique set of sounds, approaches and atmospheres to the heavy metal maelstrom. Perhaps that was why I was so eager to pick up Fragments at the Edge of Sorrow, the sophomore release from Mortify, a Chilean group who specialize in a murky, bass-forward death doom concoction verging on the technical.” Life on the edge.

Pestilength – Basom Gryphos Review

By Dear Hollow on March 10, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 15 comments

“Although divisive, Portal’s influence in the death metal world is undeniable. Featuring riffs that seem to crawl with murk and dissonance aplenty with an eldritch monstrosity roaring from the pulpit, there are few who can accurately channel this particular breed of otherworldly alienation. Many have tried and failed, but getting that squirming aesthetic just right is nearly impossible. Basque duo Pestilength is the latest to try their hand at the next Vexovoid.” Cake? No cake!

Schizophrenia – Recollections of the Insane Review

By Steel Druhm on February 18, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 50 comments

“In the Year of Our Plague 2020, a lusty and savage dose of black/speed/thrash hit the planet with the force of a 6-megaton billy buck. I speak of Bütcher’s sophomore platter, 666 Goats Carry My Chariot. It was such a wild, unruly paean to excess that it proved nigh impossible to resist. 2022 sees a band emerge from Bütcher’s bloody Belgian backyard carrying fewer goats but much of the same speed-drenched lunacy. Schizophrenia’s Recollections of the Insane debut assaults with a thrashing, skull-bashing style of death metal sure to conjure nostalgia as it curb stomps the unwary with lightning riffs and flashy chops.” Mad Maximum.

Necrophagous – In Chaos Ascend Review

By Steel Druhm on January 8, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, 44 comments

“The first dive into the promo sump at the start of a new year is fraught with risk and peril. Somewhat refreshed after the ever-so-brief holiday break, you may be a bit too eager to start the year with a winning find. Anticipation and expectation must be carefully managed as you regird the loins and begin the Sisyphus-esque uphill grind. Thus it was with freshly girded loins that I stumbled upon the debut from Sweden’s Necrophagous.” Death eaters, score beaters.

Malignant Altar – Realms of Exquisite Morbidity Review

By Steel Druhm on December 9, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, 18 comments

“Like a cesspool creamsicle, Malignant Altar seep out of Texas with their debut full-length, Realms of Exquisite Morbidity. Proud members of the “Morbid Angel coated in shit, sludge and tentacles” mini-genre, they glissade up alongside other poo-encrusted acts like Decrepisy who believe Incantation needed more murk and muck in their formative years. And over the course of 33 minutes, Malignant Altar do their damndest to force-feed you all the medical waste and filth they can as they gleefully cavort through the unspeakably foul gunk of some godforsaken cavern of inequity.” Altars of jaundice.

Summoner’s Circle – Chaos Vector Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on September 6, 2021 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, 7 comments

“Describing themselves as “theatrical metal,” Summoner’s Circle is a swirling morass of influences that, peculiarly, leaves little lasting impression. Chaos Vector takes the most accessible parts of mainstream death metal and mainstream black metal and mixes them with the accessible melodies of modern progressive metal. Given that the vocals are largely blackened rasps a la Rimfrost, the guitars pull double duty in trying to make the proceedings overtly heavy and melodic. Progressive is definitely used in the catch-all way here.” Chaos and design theory.

Oxygen Destroyer – Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind Review

By Holdeneye on August 28, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 26 comments

“Oxygen Destroyer is devoted to spreading the terrible gospel of the Kaiju — giant monsters who lay waste to cities, and often, each other — and their music matches that mission perfectly. Blending death metal and thrash metal in their many forms, the band paints with a varied influence palette, ranging from the deathened thrash of Morbid Saint, to the thrashened death of Morbid Angel, to the groovy violence of Demolition Hammer.” R U morbid?

Sun of the Suns – TIIT Review

By GardensTale on August 26, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, 34 comments

“There is all sorts of weirdness going on with this release. It’s a debut album by a band that by all means does not seem to have existed until late May this year. Sun of the Suns have no Metal Archives page and their only social media channels, Facebook and Instagram, both dropped out of the sky one day with the album announcement as the first post. Yet the Italians helming the project have sufficient pedigree in their national death metal scene, enough to pull session participation from Fleshgod Apocalypse drummer Francesca Paoli and DGM bass player Simone Mularoni. Not to mention this sounds absolute leagues away from the exploratory, not-quite-sure-where-we’re-going-with-this tentativity you might expect from a debut.” First Sun of the first Sun.