Exil – Warning Review
Experience matters. Between the four of them, the members of Stockholm’s Exil have a lifetime’s worth of experience in hardcore and metal, from the raging Umeå punk of DS-13 and UX Vileheads to the grinding …
Cathexis – Untethered Abyss Review
Tech-death is a monster with many forms. Sometimes the monster takes the form of a juggernaut, come to bludgeon you to death with brute strength, its fists the size of asteroids attached to arms with …
General Surgery – Lay Down And Be Counted Review
Like so many of us, the five Swedes in General Surgery spent the past year or so in lockdown. So they did what we all should have done with our unexpected spare time: They wrote …
Flotsam & Jetsam – Blood In The Water Review
Whatever fires were relit somewhere around the self-titled record; whatever mystical chalice was drunk from to restore the waters of life; whatever devilish bargain was struck to recover the spark of a long-lost youth… …it’s …
Fluids – Not Dark Yet Review
Generally speaking, “stupid” means “unintelligent,” and then again, I’ve also been known to use it as a superlative. And sometimes, it works both ways, like when I say “Fluids is stupid heavy.” This Arizona-based trio …
Sunbomb – Evil And Divine Review
Another of Frontiers Records’ apparently endless combinations of hard rock all-stars, Sunbomb is the pairing of Stryper vocalist / guitarist Michael Sweet with L.A. Guns / ex-Brides Of Destruction shredder Tracii Guns. Per Guns, the …
Birdflesh – All The Miseries Review
Heavy metal, of course, is very serious business. Anger, misanthropy, pessimism, dour facial expressions, dark clothing, corpse paint, all the loud, all the fast, the ugly, and the brutal… It’s all Very Very Serious Business. …
Terminalist – The Great Acceleration Review
Self-described genre tags are always a mixed bag. On the one hand, many bands don’t conform to the pre-existing parameters of whatever style or sub-style, but on the other hand, the reason those styles and …