2019 Albums

Album Review: Horrific Demise – Excruciating Extermination 8.8 (Brutal Death)

I can’t imagine this album not being up to the standards of the modern metalhead. It’s a good length with a distinct sound drawing from both old school and modern influences. It doesn’t use trendy techniques or gimmicks, it just nails down some solid as fuck death metal. It has good presentation and perfect production. Horrific Demise could very quickly become a heavy hitter within the metal scene, especially with such early label support from Comatose Music. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Gurt – Bongs Of Praise 7 (Stoner Doom)

Gurt are back, a sludgy UK band I’ve posted on IG in the past for their wonderful album covers, something they’ve kept consistent. Presentation is an important thing to Gurt and we are all rewarded for this. They have a unique style that’s difficult to pin down with elements varying between doom metal, death rock and punk and just a lot. They are a lot. Bongs Of Praise in particular is a weed fuelled doom/sludge album that will be a sure hit for stoner doom fans. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: The Callous Daoboys – Die On Mars 9 (Mathcore)

You know that feeling when you hear about an album and know immediately that it will be right up your ally? That’s how I was with this new Callous Daoboys record. These guys are an Atlanta, Georgia based mathcore band. Before I get into the album, I wanna preface this by saying, this will not be for everybody. This album is very weird and chaotic. It’s a niche that not everyone will vibe with, and I get that. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Tool – Fear Inoculum 8.5 (Prog)

This is no doubt a divisive release and there’s a lot of context to consider such as a subversive band history. I’ve always considered Tool to be reliable, I don’t think they’ve ever released a bad album but I can definitely see how their fanbase tainted their image in the social media age. Like many frontmen in the history of music, Maynard has had plenty of cringey moments that get stuck in the spotlight. On a purely musical level, the decades of experience and their connection to the music is still apparent and at the bare minimum is a stellar performance. The question is, whether or not you will care about it I guess. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Knocked Loose – A Different Kind Of Blue 9.2 (Hardcore)

A Different Shade Of Blue is a really appropriate album for 2019. You can hear the exhaustion and frustration in every bit of the music, this isn’t aimless-angry that the metallic hardcore scene is often guilty of. If blue is melancholy then this is something else, a late stage of melancholy brought on by living in a fucked world. This kind of blue is tragic and disgusting. It’s a bruise on the world and our very souls. […]

2019 Albums

Tape Review: Maggot Cave – Pub Full Of Maggots 9.69 (Grindcore)

I knew I was in for some grindcore but I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. The deal with this project is that if I can, I will listen to an album for the very first time on tape. It’s a great approach that leads to a lot of surprises and discovery. There’s things you just don’t notice or care about digitally because our attentions spans are just fucked when we’re given a screen. There’s quite a few vocal techniques used throughout the tape – even at one point offering a howling heavy metal scream which completely caught me off guard. Combined with the great use of comedic samples there’s a lot of appreciate here, most of which seem to be taken from films, sitcoms and Australian radio shows. They all sounded super familiar to me but I can’t quite place them, I suspect the opening one is from Reno 911.  […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Shadow Of Intent – Melancholy 8.5 (Deathcore)

After reviewing a few black metal records on this site I figured i’d change it up a bit, after all I enjoy all types of extreme metal, including deathcore. Deathcore is easily one of the most controversial extreme metal genres, because everyone has very strong opinions about it. I enjoy a great deal of deathcore myself, despite some of the more boring and generic bands and records in the genre. One of the biggest bands in the genre right now is Shadow Of Intent. Much like the genre they play, opinions on them are very divided. […]