Relapse Records

Gatecreeper – Deserted Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on October 4, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Relapse, Reviews, Death Metal, 60 comments

“Well, the dog days of summer are upon us. Except they’re not. It’s 5 am and 68 degrees outside and I’m freezing my ass off. Come on, sun. Get the fuck up and shower me in your relentless rays of sunshine. Cook the desert sand once more and soften the asphalt so it’ll nestle my broken body when I fall dead from heatstroke. Anything to keep me from shivering under my pelt blankie as I settle down to Gatecreeper’s new record, Deserted. My only hope is that this new release will warm my blood like the band’s 2016 debut did before.” Fire and Ricin.

Monolord – No Comfort Review

By Huck N Roll on October 2, 2019 in 2019, Doom Metal, Relapse, Reviews, Stoner Metal, Swedish Metal, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, 26 comments

“No Comfort is an interesting name for a Monolord album, because every time I’ve played their records I’ve felt a great sense of comfort. I know what I’m in for, and each time the band delivers. Kind of like a lot of the fuzzy stoner metal bands out there. They will bestow upon us massive riffs that are fuzzier than a giant peach, drenching their Black Sabbath worship with Electric Wizard sauce. It is a recipe for short-lived success; while I enjoy drinking at this particular well, I can only do so for a short time before moving on.” Quick comfort.

Exhumed – Horror Review

By Saunders on September 30, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Grind, Relapse, Reviews, Death Metal, Grind, 39 comments

“I fucking love Exhumed. The veteran death metal collective have been kicking out their deathly gore metal jams for over 20 years and time has not slowed them down. Quite the opposite in fact, as Exhumed have arguably improved with age, becoming increasingly refined, melodic and technical without sacrificing the raw edge and blood soaked brutality of their early days. And the band has been on quite the hot streak, with their previous offering, 2017’s Death Revenge, continuing the momentum from 2011s potent All Guts, No Glory and 2013’s exceptional Necrocracy albums. On their latest platter of splatter, Exhumed hearken back to their earlier death metal roots, spattered with grind elements.” The horror.

Angry Metal Primer – Insomnium and Exhumed

By Dr. Wvrm on September 29, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Century Media, Death Metal, Finnish Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Relapse, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 36 comments

In which we take a Blind Guardian song far too literally.

Yer Metal Is Olde: Morgion – Solinari

By Grymm on August 10, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Blog Posts, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Relapse, Yer Metal Is Olde, Death Metal, Doom Metal, 40 comments

“Let’s face it, peeps; 1999 sucked for metal as a collective whole. Nü-metal sank its black-nail-polished talons into our favorite genre, with heroes trading speed and heft for JNCOs and wildly-colored dreadlocks while jumpingdafuckup over a DJ and 7-string guitars. And doom? Well, Anathema started their shift from doom metal darlings to prog rock just a year prior with Alternative 4. Paradise Lost dabbled with da Mode with One Second but went Full Gahan on Host. And My Dying Bride were roughly 34.788% themselves before righting the ship with The Light at the End of the World.” Wow, what the hell happened?

Pinkish Black – Concept Unification Review

By Huck N Roll on June 12, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Doom Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Relapse, Reviews, Doom Metal, Psychedelic Rock, 12 comments

“I have a soft spot for this band: they went through hell back in 2010 when, as The Great Tyrant, their bass player committed suicide. The remaining duo carried on as Pinkish Black, a morbid reminder of the color of the bathroom where Tommy Atkins killed himself. 2015’s Bottom of the Morning was their strongest release, a haunting, propulsive, cathartic album where all of the duo’s ideas meshed beautifully. How will they follow that?” Cinema metal.

Full of Hell – Weeping Choir Review

By Cherd on May 18, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Grind, Hardcore, Noise, Powerviolence, Relapse, Reviews, Sludge, Death Metal, Grind, Noise, Powerviolence, Sludge, 30 comments

“Trumpeting Ecstasy’s untempered viciousness and surprising experimentation was a breath of putrid air amongst the usual Cherd-bait of 2017. Had I been employed by this hallowed site at the time, I would have seriously considered slapping a 4.5 on it and endured the cries of ‘Overrating bastard!’ hurled at me from my superiors. So when I saw follow-up Weeping Choir pop into our promo bin, I jumped on it faster than Game of Thrones’ quality tanked once it outstripped the books.” Hallowed grind.

Inter Arma – Sulphur English Review

By Cherd on April 9, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Post-metal, Progressive Metal, Relapse, Reviews, Sludge, Death Doom, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Post-Metal, Progressive Metal, Sludge, 95 comments

“Inter Arma will not be pigeonholed. They’ve repeated this statement with each subsequent release, evolving subtly across a range of styles, but always sounding unmistakably like themselves. When a new album was announced for 2019, I quickly contacted resident man cat Grymm, who glowingly reviewed 2016’s Paradise Gallows, and pathetically begged confidently informed him that I would be handling this one. He pitied me respected my assertiveness and relinquished review duties.” Burning expectations.

Yer Metal Is Olde: Nasum – Inhale/Exhale

By Saunders on January 6, 2019 in 2018, Crust Punk, Grind, Relapse, Swedish Metal, Yer Metal Is Olde, Crust Punk, Grind, 35 comments

“Nasum’s influence on modern grindcore and the entire history of the genre can not be overstated. Across a relatively short recording career, featuring four full length albums, the Swedish legends created an intimidating, high quality body of work that helped propel grindcore into the modern era. Along with other modern innovators like Pig Destroyer, Nasum played a crucial role in raising the genre’s underground profile, without losing an ounce of the white knuckle intensity and raw aggression typical of grind.” It’s all in the grind.

Cripple Bastards – La Fine Cresce da Dentro Review

By Kenstrosity on November 9, 2018 in 2018, Grind, Italian Metal, Relapse, Reviews, Grind, 33 comments

“When I think of grind, the last place to which my mind takes me is Italy. But here I am, in the Piedmont region of the beloved boot-shaped country, whiplashing my upper vertebrae to smithereens with Cripple Bastards. This is their seventh full length since their inception in 1988, but along the way these bastards have also released one single, one live album, seven EPs, and more splits than would grace the stage at a drag queen lip sync competition. Cripple Bastards deal a chaotic brand of grind, unsatisfied with adhering to a single formula. While the band has embraced different influences successfully more often than not, the constant mutation Cripple Bastards undergo makes for an inconsistent discography. The goal, then, is for La Fine Cresce da Dentro to beat Cripple Bastards’ best album: 2008’s Variante Alla Morte.” Wow, he traveled to Italy just to listen to this band? These n00bs are dedicated as hell.